problems with iron mold

[mongoosesnipe]

i just picked up a lyman 9mm 147gr mold and am having a lot of trouble with it compared to my aluminum lee molds it seems to go from not hot enough to too hot in about 3 boolits and the boolits stop dropping out and get pretty frosty and i end up with a 75% reject rate water dropping the boolits

is there a trick to getting good boolits from iron molds or am i doing something dramatically wrong i have the lee dipper casting pot and it is set on 2 trying to get the alloy cool enough i run at about 6 with the aluminum molds without issue but the iron molds are just giving me a fit

[220swiftfn]

It's not the alloy temp, it's the mold temp. Slow down a bit, aluminum bleeds off heat quicker. (Or, touch the closed mold bottom to a folded damp towel every third cast or so to cool it down.....)



Dan

[mongoosesnipe]

i figured it was to high of a mold temp i will try cooling the molds in between casts tomorrow

thanks

[cbrick]

Just the opposite of guys that start with iron molds and then go to aluminum, they have trouble getting the aluminum hot enough because it looses heat much faster. Don't run the pot temp any hotter than needed, the hotter the alloy the longer it will take between casts for the alloy to freeze and the hotter the mold gets.

It's nothing more than a practice/experience thing. before long you'll wonder what the problem was. :mrgreen:

Rick

[hanover67]

I use Lyman iron molds and I found that if i cleaned them with acetone just before use, they would drop boolits well - little sticking. I use a hammer handle to tap lightly on the mold handle if boolits do stick, and they usually drop right out.

[jdgabbard]

Yeah, it's about timing... Pour, wait for the sprue to freeze, wait 3-4 seconds and cut then drop. After your boolits start dropping a little frosty, you're good. Just speed up or slow down to maintain that mold temp.

[mongoosesnipe]

Got it running good today had the pot turned all the way down and keeper the mold cool enough that I could touch it bare handed for about half a send seemed about he perfect temp

[cbrick]

the mold cool enough that I could touch it bare handed for about half a send seemed about he perfect temp

I've heard a lot of methods but not that one. Brave man. :mrgreen:

Rick

[mongoosesnipe]

I put my hand near it and couldn't feel heat like I could with aluminum molds so I touched it real quick it got up to temp after two casts based on feel I would say around 160f on the front of the mold there is a lot of metal on the 9mm mold I am sure on a bigger mold would be too hot to touch it was about a 2 second freeze time on the top of he spure

[runfiverun]

iron molds run closer to 360-f.