how to make the bullets drop more easily out of the mold

[Seth_AZ]

Howdy all! I just received a 147gr boat-tailed flat point mold for my 9mm from Mihec. The bullets it casts are beautiful, and I've shot several hundred of them so far, and I've finally got a system down for casting, sizing, and loading them, which preserves enough of the diameter after being loaded so that they're very accurate and with fairly low leading.

The one and only problem I've run into is that the bullets are pretty sticky in the mold, and I'm having to rap on the pivot bolt on the handle up to 4 or 5 times sometimes to get all 6 bullets to fall out.

I've tried smoking the cavities with a cigarette lighter, but it hasn't solved this.

I'd rather not beat this beautiful, work-of-art-like mold to death by rattling it on the iron mold handles a few times for every cast.

Can anyone offer up any suggestions for how these bullets can be made to just fall out when I open the mold up?

[possom813]

I use a little buffer ball in dremel and clean them up, then smoke them with a candle and call it good.

That's always worked well for me on boolits and fishing weights

[Love Life]

Cast faster and hotter. That has always worked for me.

[cbrick]

Forget the smoking with a candle. Candle smoke is greasy, almost like adding oil to your mold. It also plugs vent lines. Smoking a mold is an old wives tale, if it helps at all, and that's a big if, it is only because you are covering up a problem such as burs etc. It's far better to figure out the problem & fix it as opposed to attempting to covering it up. Forget the Dremmel on a brass mold.

You didn't metion what alloy your using. The reason boolits fall out of a mold is that as they cool they shrink and no longer fit the cavity they came from. Antimony (Sb) shrinks far less than lead when cooling and thus the boolits shrink less and can be sticky.

Again, boolits shrink as they cool, how long are you waiting to release the boolits? What temp are you running your pot? It takes much longer for the alloy inside the mold to cool (& shrink) from 850 degrees than it does from 700 degrees.

Rick

[captaint]

I find that I have to go out of my way and cast faster with the brass molds. You might try looking at your mold with a magnifying glass & see if there are any little burrs around the edge of the cavities. Take a popsicle stick or some other wood and wipe them off. And DO skip the smoke. That'll even give you smaller boolits.

[Moonie]

Please do NOT take a dremel to that mold. The solution is to cast hotter. The Mihec molds do prefer a higher casting temperature. Up your tempo not the temp of your melt.

[Seth_AZ]

Thanks for the replies, all. The alloy I've used so far was a mixture of wheel weight alloy with some (maybe 25%) linotype added in, plus I dropped in a handfull (40-50) old .40 caliber hard cast bullets that my brother had purchased 15-20 years ago that I didn't want. The overall alloy mix is very silvery and shiny with a fairly high tin and antimony content. I can see how if the antimony shrinks less than lead, it would make it harder for the bullets to fall out.

As far as casting temperature, the alloy started out closer to 800 degrees but I kept adjusting the furnace down and I tried to keep it around 725-740 or so. I also waited far longer than I've ever waited with any of my other molds before opening it all the way and attempting to drop the bullets out. That is, I probably waited a good 5-10 seconds to break the sprue, then another 5-10 seconds before pulling the mold halfs apart over the water bucket.

This is an aluminum mold btw, not one of Mihec's brass ones. Like the brass mold I have from him, this one looks fantastic.

I'll have to find my loupe and have a good look at the edges, and maybe try to burnish them a little with a popsicle stick as captaint suggested.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Howdy all! I just received a 147gr boat-tailed flat point mold for my 9mm from Mihec...
...The one and only problem I've run into is that the bullets are pretty sticky in the mold
I've never cast with a Boat-tail style boolit mold. I wonder if that could be part of the sticking problem ?
are the lube grooves square or round ? Square can add issues of stickiness
Jon

[possom813]

Please do NOT take a dremel to that mold. The solution is to cast hotter. The Mihec molds do prefer a higher casting temperature. Up your tempo not the temp of your melt.

I wasn't trying to misinform. I use the dremel with a cotton/linen buffing polishing ball on my lee and do-it aluminum molds

[beagle]

I haven't heard this mentioned lately but Felix developed a method for curing this and I did all my moulds and it works. Heat the mould slightly and spray the cavity/cavities with spray moly and let dry. Repeat process. Then take a soft pine stick and remove the excess dry moly. Use the stick and burnish the entire cavity until it shines.

The moly fills any burrs and cavities and the bullets drop out nicely. I did mine maybe 10 years ago and haven't had to redo them since.

Spray moly on the outside of the mould protects from rust also./beagle

[Moonie]

I haven't heard this mentioned lately but Felix developed a method for curing this and I did all my moulds and it works. Heat the mould slightly and spray the cavity/cavities with spray moly and let dry. Repeat process. Then take a soft pine stick and remove the excess dry moly. Use the stick and burnish the entire cavity until it shines.

The moly fills any burrs and cavities and the bullets drop out nicely. I did mine maybe 10 years ago and haven't had to redo them since.

Spray moly on the outside of the mould protects from rust also./beagle


You did this with a Mihec mold?

[cbrick]

You did this with a Mihec mold?

Doubtful since he said he hasn't done it in 10 years. :mrgreen:

Rick

[saint_iverson]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?654-Sure-Fire-Lee-Menting-Technique-(Aimoo-Post-Revisited)

Can't recommend more than this... Yes the alloy cools and shrinks into the mold and this can be a problem, however, a very common aluminum mold issue is a sort of micro burrs/slight out of round.

Smoking does cause Probs for sure, ran into it myself when my cavs wouldn't fill out-assuming vents clogged. Good luck!

Clint

[cbrick]

Yes the alloy cools and shrinks into the mold and this can be a problem, Clint

Clint, the reason boolits fall from the mold is because they shrink as they cool and no longer fit the cavity that made them, that's a good thing. Sure be tough to get'em out if that weren't the case.

Rick

[beagle]

No, these were Lymans and RCBS./beagle

[popper]

Flash due to an uneven sprue plate? When you tap the handles, where does it stick? I had trouble with a BB that stuck - due to roughness at the base edge. That is a reverse angle that can hold up the base.

[happy7]

Well I cast a lot of bullets. A lot with a lot of different molds. If a mold is going to have bullets stick, it is when the bullets are colder, rather than when they are hotter. I don't know the theory behind it, but I do know it works that way. Hot bullets fall out eaiser than cold. Get the mold hot enough, then cast, and if the mold is hot enough, they probably won't stick. I have had a lot of Mihec molds, and have almost never had bur issues, so I don't think that is your problem, but if it is, usually you can look a the cast bullet and see where the bur has marked the bullet as the bullet fell from the mold. The most common place for this is the very center of the nose of the bullet.

Since your mold is aluminum, this does not apply to the OP, but a problem I have had with high tin alloys and hot Mihec brass molds is that the alloy seems to tin or solder itself to the inside surface of the mold and that is a real problem. Try reducing the tin content of the alloy. Here I am talking about a tin content of 10% or more.

[AABEN]

Try cleaning your mold and re smoking with a wood match and smoke heavy. I have trouble when smoking with candles. GOOD LUCK

[bgoff_ak]

+1 on clean and inspect for hangers, just sent back a mold with replacemnt money becasue i "buffed" it... but i figure even forrest gump got shot in the butt. better to be lucky then good !

[cbrick]

Try cleaning your mold and re smoking with a wood match and smoke heavy. I have trouble when smoking with candles. GOOD LUCK

Why smoke the mold?

Rick

[detox]

Ladle or bottom pour? Are you seeing casting whiskers or vent bumps on boollits? Too much fill pressure will cause sticking (over filling). Reduce pot temp to 650. Sprue should cool fairly quickly (4-5 seconds).

Bottom pour: Hold mould 1/4" away from bottom pour spout then pour.

Ladle: Start with HALF FULL or LESS melt in ladle to reduce fill pressure. Then hold ladle against sprue plate and pour

[quasi]

this is not a "boatail" mould , it is a bevel base. I have the same mould. Cast hotter and faster, it will get better. I have about 5K thru mine and it now rains boolits, as long as the mould is hot enough.

[MtGun44]

Smoking is not necessary. Scrub cavities with a toothbrush and Comet to get squeaky
clean and do a light deburr. This usually does it.

Bill

[Donor8x56r]

Smoking is not necessary. Scrub cavities with a toothbrush and Comet to get squeaky
clean and do a light deburr. This usually does it.

Bill


That's what I do as well +I use Bullplate.No more sticky boolits or lead smears.

BTW-that small bottle that comes with NOE molds lasts forever.