New Accurate brass molds ?

[bigmike13]

Just received two beautiful accurate 45-230m brass molds and was wondering if they required a number of heat cycles prior to casting or just clean and cast?

[runfiverun]

just do a couple of short sessions the mold will oxidize and will drop boolits easier.
i do this with aluminum molds too and it breaks them in nicely, after about 3 heat cycles i'll do a long run with them.

[dbarnhart]

I took Gear's advice and put mine in the oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes and then let it cool completely down, then repeat that two more times.

[Grandpas50AE]

I did same as R5R - heat cycle 3 times (after cleaning with hot soapy water and toothbrush) on my hot plate. Boolits drop easily very soon after beginning the first casting session.

[geargnasher]

They do seem to work better, faster, if you get them to casting temperature and back to room temperature somehow at least three times before you start casting "keepers". Never judge any mould's performance until you've used it a few times unless it doesn't pass the loupe test for burrs and alignment straight out the box.

Gear

[yottey]

Ok whats the"Loupe test"?

[captaint]

Magnifying glass - a closer look dontcha know. That's all. enjoy Mike

[white eagle]

I have never had to cycle any brass molds to get the to werk correctly
I have Tom's molds,Mihec's molds,NOE molds
never really bother to clean them either
just heat em up and get the alloy ready and pour
now do I get 100%good boolits from the git go "NO"but shootable boolits all the same
lucky I bet
they do get better as time goes by though so keep after it
and you will be there

[chboats]

With aluminum molds the temp cycling has an added benefit. With NOE's aluminum molds the instructions that come with the mold indicate that the temp cycling will help to set the guide pins. The steel pin will adhere to the aluminum. It you just clean the mold preheat it and start casting, there is a chance that the guide pins will work lose. I had this happen to a couple of Lee 6 cav molds. I don't know if the brass molds act the same. I just temp cycle all molds just in case.

Carl