6 cavity lee mold

[joelsteinbach]

Yesterday, I cast about 200 bullets with my new TL240gr 430 swc lee 6 cavity mold. Tumble lubed in xlox , left over night to dry. This AM I Started sizing with my Lee 430 size die about one third of the bullets stuck in the die, I had to use a heat gun to remove them. I measured the bullets , and found the diameter on about a third to be 433 - 434, upon examination of the die I noticed that there was not a tight fit on the base of the mold, I could see light shinning thru it we held up to a bright light. Do I call Lee or is this normal with some of these dies?

[odfairfaxsub]

Hmm any flashing on the bullets? Normally the bullets slide right in after xlox/alox. Hmm I wonder if your mold has enough burrs around the bullet cavities to open that up? Is there some lead that happened into onto your allignment pins

[bangerjim]

Agree with odfairfaxsub........check for lead on the mold halves, flash, burrs, garbage on the pins and sockets. Should NOT be any light between the halves. Surprised you do not have any flash on the sides of the boolits. THAT will REALLY cause sticking!!!!!!

I know many say to not check while doing casting because "it breaks your rhythm", but the definition of insanity is doing the same wrong thing over and over again. I stop every 75 or so, put the mold on top of the pot, and grab a few fresh drops out of the water just to be sure everybody is well and good. You will not mess up your casting with a short pause like that. Or do it during the time you are letting your mold cool a bit when it gets overheated. Not to be confused with the mold operator becoming overheated with the excitement of having all those fresh new boolits to shoot!

Let us know what you find is causing your troubles.

banger

[Larry Gibson]

Are you holding the sprue handle when casting? If so don't, it pivots the base of the mould blocks slightly apart if held "closed" with the mould handles. Try closing the sprue plate with the handle and then slightly pivot it out....very slightly. Then just hold the mould blocks closed with the mould handles.

Larry Gibson

[joelsteinbach]

Problem solved! A little bit of lead on the bottom edge of the mold, Heat gun & a bit of mineral spirits and your input has solved my problem, at least it gave me a new caveat to work with. thank you for your suggestions.

[Fishman]

It happens to everyone. Keep an eye out while casting in the future and with a hot mould that lead will just wipe off.

[Garyshome]

It hasn't happened to me....today!

[shoot-n-lead]

I have sized bullets that were that much oversized through my sizing dies and never had one get stuck. Oh,well...