Cleaning a mold

[35isit]

I have a Ideal 429421 mold. It casts a beautiful bullet. The only problem with it is it has some very small surface rust spots on the outside and inside the mold. All these areas have no real detrimental effect on the boolit. What is the best way to remove the rust?

[Old_School]

I've used EvapoRust with great success on more than a dozen rusty molds. If the metal isn't pitted, you rarely will even see discoloration in the rusty areas. I usually remove the handles & sprue plate & leave the molds submerged for 12-24 hrs, rinse with water, dry, & oil them down.

Sent from my Sprint EVO 4G

[Reload3006]

Well dont know if its the best thing or not but I coat my molds for storage with LPS or A similar rust preventive oil. (Gun oil works pretty good) then before i use them I Scrub them with a tooth brush and Dawn(or similar dish washing liquid) then I rinse them off with White gas (colman fuel) to make sure I get all the Oil off of them. If I know that I will be using my mold in the near future (no more than a month or two I just leave my last pour in the mold. Dont know if what i told you is the best method but has worked pretty good for me for several years now.

[melter68]

best to cast a bullet from the mold you are going to clean, then drill a hole in the base of the bullet and insert a screw, this will allow you to put the screw into a drill.Add some autosol or other cleaner to the cast bullet, close the mold and turn the screw with the drill, so it spins the bullet, cleaning the mold, but dont use this method too often, it may make oversize boolits.
hope this helps

[stubshaft]

best to cast a bullet from the mold you are going to clean, then drill a hole in the base of the bullet and insert a screw, this will allow you to put the screw into a drill.Add some autosol or other cleaner to the cast bullet, close the mold and turn the screw with the drill, so it spins the bullet, cleaning the mold, but dont use this method too often, it may make oversize boolits.
hope this helps

I've found toothpaste to be a good cleaner.

[Bent Ramrod]

On moulds that have only slight surface rusting, I have found that boiling them in distilled water and rubbing them with steel wool gets rid of the rust and leaves the finish almost indistinguishable from that of a new mould.

Sometimes just casting boolits in a rusty mould will do this job, but I find that sometimes the rust can come back quite rapidly. In either case, a thin coat of preservative on the mould after this treatment is a good idea.

If there is heavy rusting or pits of any size, the boiling takes a good bit longer to convert the red oxide to black oxide and the the thicker areas of black oxide might be too hard for a wad of steel wool can remove. Then it's time for a bore brush, carefully applied, or lapping as Melter and Stubshaft have noted.

[mooman76]

For very light rust you can use pencil lead and draw on it like you are trying to scrape the rust. Also if you have an old ink eraser, that works too.

[williamwaco]

I use CLR.

The same as you see on late night tv.

You can get at any hardware store.

It works GREAT with NO scrubbing.

[runfiverun]

wow calcium,lime,and rust remover.
removes calcium.lime,and rust.
says so right on the bottle.....
pretty novel concept.
wear gloves with the stuff though.

[Dutchie]

Sometimes Coka Cola does the trick, but, slow proces though..

Hans.

[ShooterAZ]

A toothbrush and a small dab of comet worked for me on an old rusty mold someone gave me.

[MtGun44]

Toothbrush and Comet. Rinse well with REALLY hot water to dry the mold or it will rust
again very quickly.

Bill

[blackthorn]

Quote" Toothbrush and Comet. Rinse well with REALLY hot water to dry the mold or it will rust
again very quickly."

Then oil it as quick as you can!