Cleaning my Lee 6 holer .45ACP mold..

[21Glock]

Hi guys,
I know this may have been discussed here many times, but I have been cleaning the old Franklin's Drop Free graphite that is sprayed on before my casting sessions from my Lee alum. 6 hole .45ACP mold. I use mineral spirits and a nylon type of gun cleaning brush that looks like a tooth brush.

Is there something else I could or should use to get this 6 holer cleaner, better and faster?

Thanks!!!

[cabezaverde]

Acetone works well.

[stubshaft]

Try Kroil.

[azrednek]

I don't know if it will work better than the previous suggestions. I clean mine with dish soap, water and a fairly stiff finger nail brush. A few years back I had got a bit carried away with the spray on graphite and was casting under-sized. I soaked the mold over night in ATF and gasoline. The following day the graphite easily brushed out with soap and water. I don't know if the gas was necessary. I didn't have quite enough tranny fluid to completely cover the mold and topped it off with the gasoline.

[21Glock]

Thanks, guys. I may go the gasoline route, too since it seems it really does do a good job of removing paint and stuff on the hands. Although, not the best thing to have on your skin at all.

Somebody if they haven't already, ought to come up with a Mold Cleaner especially made for cleaning casting molds used in casting bullets.

Call it "Mold Cleanse, Don't Cast until you Cleanse" or something catchy like that.

[462]

Why are you using a release agent, in the first place? If the boolits aren't dropping with nothing more than a love tap to the handle hinge, there is something wrong and the release agent is just masking the problem. Fix the problems and you won't have to use the release agent.

Since the mould is a Lee, have you Leemented is? If not, read the Leementing sticky...you will be glad you did.

[21Glock]

Why are you using a release agent, in the first place? If the boolits aren't dropping with nothing more than a love tap to the handle hinge, there is something wrong and the release agent is just masking the problem. Fix the problems and you won't have to use the release agent.

Since the mould is a Lee, have you Leemented is? If not, read the Leementing sticky...you will be glad you did.

I have using Kroil for some time for my guns. What do you think of using this in my Lee Alum mold? I looked at some older posts here and it seems to have a following with alot of the folks here.

How has it worked for you if you have used it?

[Doby45]

Horse, meet water..

[462]

I have a Lyman 358311 that refused to drop boolits without a lot of persuasion. Kroil remedied it to the point that, now, the boolits almost jump out. However, Kroil has not made any difference on some other moulds...they required different fixes.

[21Glock]

Try Kroil.

I did tonight in my casting session and I'm a believer!!!!! I should have used KROIL all along. Bullets came out with light tap. No sticking in the mold and doesn't cake up like the graphite spray. Works great! Good looking bullets, too.
A little wrinkling at first but went away after a few casts. Out of 255 bullets, only 4 were unusable. NOT BAD for the first time with Kroil!
Wonder I'll do with the spray can now.

TARGET!!!

[onondaga]

I like "Mean Green" from the Dollar Store and also use a fingernail brush. Then a hottest tap water complete rinse and dry.

Gary

[Swede44mag]

I like "Mean Green" from the Dollar Store and also use a fingernail brush. Then a hottest tap water complete rinse and dry.

Gary

Mean green is some great stuff for removing Cooking Oil off clothes or porch after using a smoker.

[casterofboolits]

I use Barkeeps Friend and a toothbrush to remove the mould prep on several Lee moulds and two NEI moulds I recieved in trade several years ago. The aluminum moulds have sat on my shelves for at least 20 years and the stuff was pretty stuborn to remove as the previous users had applied the mould prep with a generous hand.

Since the moulds have sat for two decades, I am cleaning them up and will put them up for sale.

After using the BF, I then use Dawn dish washing liquid to remove the residue left by the BF.

I'm a great beliver in using a dry graphite film spray on the bottom of the sprue plate and top of the mould, but not in the mould cavities or the face of the mould halves.

[21Glock]

Why are you using a release agent, in the first place? If the boolits aren't dropping with nothing more than a love tap to the handle hinge, there is something wrong and the release agent is just masking the problem. Fix the problems and you won't have to use the release agent.

Since the mould is a Lee, have you Leemented is? If not, read the Leementing sticky...you will be glad you did.

I did another casting session this morning and Kroils is great stuff. As I mentioned, I have been using it for gun cleaning and such for about 5 years.
Bullets a little wrinkled again at first, but after a few casts they straighten out and look great. In fact, my slugs look the best they ever have out of this 6 gang mold.
Thanks so much for letting me know that the solution to keeping my mold cleaner also gave me the best bullets that I ever have cast! They fall right out of the mold, too.
No going back to graphite spray. No way!
In fact, I'm going to try casting without putting any Kroils on the next time. I think my mold is getting seasoned like a frying pan now.