What's the first thing to do with

[armoredman]

a new Lee mold? My 358 is a used one, but my 356 for my 9mm is brand new, and SOMEHOW the instructions got misplaced during the move. So, what do I do to get it ready?

[cattleskinner]

We'll see if this works.

Two cavity
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/BM1206.pdf

Six cavity
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/SC1334.pdf

Have a good'un!!

~Amos

[Lloyd Smale]

heat lead pour in mold

[scrapcan]

let sprue harden, open sprue plate, and repeat what Loyd said.

I would cast with it first to make sure you need to do anything. But you can always do a search for leementing or I think it is a sticky here somewhere.

[GLL]

I followed the suggestions of several members when I bought my first LEE 6-cavity GB.

Summary:

1) Wash the cavities with Dawn dish soap , super-hot water, and a toothbrush. Rinse and repeat about 5-6 times !

2) Rinse in acetone a couple times. Dry .

3) Put a VERY small amount of Bull Plate Lube on the hinge, pins, the bottom of the spru plate, and the top of the mould. Be VERY careful not to get ANY lube in the cavities.

4) I smoke the cavities lightly with a butane BBQ lighter.

5) I warm my mould on a hot plate before casting and replace it on the hotplate if I stop for awhile.

6) Dump alloy in cavities ! :) :)

I works for me ! :)

Jerry

[Ghugly]

I just got a new Lee 2 cavity mold. I squirted some lighter fluid on it, put a drop of liquid alox on the hinge pins and sprue plate screw, dipped the end of the mold in the molten lead for maybe 20 seconds and poured my first 2 perfect boolits. Probably all wrong ..............but the boolits sure look great.

[STP]

I tend to treat each mould that I get the same whether they are new or used.
All parts are removed from the mould blocks (except the Lee`s) and scrubbed with Ivory soap and hot water. The blocks are scrubbed and rinsed at least four times. Then everything is dryed off and then I mate the blocks and turn the cavity (cavities) towards a strong light and look for any signs that they do not completely close.
If they don`t, I look for the cause... with a magnifying glass if need be. Used moulds can have all kinds of causes. The most frequent cause I`ve found is a small fleck of lead mashed on one of the block halves, or around one of the aligment pins. But you have to really look for it.
If the corners of the blocks show any signs of impact damage (being dropped), that needs to be viewed closely, as it can prevent the blocks from completly closing. I attach the handles and gently squeeve them while peering towards a light source.
Lastly, the aligment pins. If both do not protrude outward properly, the mould halves will shift during casting creating a flawed boolit. Worse yet is if one or more protrude outward too far....it`ll be hard to close and hard to open. Having to "whack" on the handles pivot pin to open them during casting is a sure sign of the same. It will be another cause of light peeking between the block halves during initial inspection.
Many of the used moulds that I`ve come across have had at least one of these issues, leading me to think that the previous owner had no clue...or didn`t care.

[armoredman]

Thank you all.