budman46
09-29-2007, 02:07 PM
lee equipment casting tricks
from casting forums i picked up pointers using lee equipment that have worked well for me and thought others might benefit…here goes.
lee pro 4-20 pot
any tendency to drip can be almost totally eliminated by wiring the dispenser rod with the wire engaging its goove to the lifting mechanism adjustment screw and adding a weight (typically a pair of needle-nosed vise grips) to the dispenser rod…
lee mold improvements
1. carefully peen over a bit of the mold block material to prevent the attachment pins from backing out.
2. bring the mold to casting temperature, then carefully loosen the sprue plate screw until the plate just opens easily with thumb pressure…it’s a one-way deal…loosened too much and you’ll need to drill a hole in the side of the block, tap it and add a setscrew to re-tighten the sprue plate screw…so careful!
casting with lee molds
1. smoke the molds with a butane lighter.
2. bring the mold to casting temperature, then use a q-tip to apply Bull Shop sprue plate lube (http://bullshop.gunloads.com/prices.html) to the sprue plate chamfers, underside, mold locator pins and v-ribs.
3. reapply when sprues stick to the plate. Bull Shop advertises that, using their product, you can open the sprue plate with the sprue partially molten without any smearing …i find this to be accurate…their product is excellent and works equally well with iron molds.
lubing and sizing
i’ve used lyman and rcbs equipment and lubes to size, lube and set gas checks for years…lee’s concept of coating the bullets with a thin film of liquid alox and using their inexpensive push-thru sizing dies is brilliant; i dribble some liquid alox onto my cast bullets, swirl to coat, set them on a waxpaper clad cookie sheet, fan them to hasten drying, size…applying gaschecks (if applicable), lube a second time and re-dry; if gas checks are not required/desired, bullets need no further treatment and can be loaded as-is.
performance
for me, liquid alox performs well at velocities exceding 1800 fps, accuracy is 1” or better at 100 yard ranges for such cartidges as 7mm-08.
budman46
from casting forums i picked up pointers using lee equipment that have worked well for me and thought others might benefit…here goes.
lee pro 4-20 pot
any tendency to drip can be almost totally eliminated by wiring the dispenser rod with the wire engaging its goove to the lifting mechanism adjustment screw and adding a weight (typically a pair of needle-nosed vise grips) to the dispenser rod…
lee mold improvements
1. carefully peen over a bit of the mold block material to prevent the attachment pins from backing out.
2. bring the mold to casting temperature, then carefully loosen the sprue plate screw until the plate just opens easily with thumb pressure…it’s a one-way deal…loosened too much and you’ll need to drill a hole in the side of the block, tap it and add a setscrew to re-tighten the sprue plate screw…so careful!
casting with lee molds
1. smoke the molds with a butane lighter.
2. bring the mold to casting temperature, then use a q-tip to apply Bull Shop sprue plate lube (http://bullshop.gunloads.com/prices.html) to the sprue plate chamfers, underside, mold locator pins and v-ribs.
3. reapply when sprues stick to the plate. Bull Shop advertises that, using their product, you can open the sprue plate with the sprue partially molten without any smearing …i find this to be accurate…their product is excellent and works equally well with iron molds.
lubing and sizing
i’ve used lyman and rcbs equipment and lubes to size, lube and set gas checks for years…lee’s concept of coating the bullets with a thin film of liquid alox and using their inexpensive push-thru sizing dies is brilliant; i dribble some liquid alox onto my cast bullets, swirl to coat, set them on a waxpaper clad cookie sheet, fan them to hasten drying, size…applying gaschecks (if applicable), lube a second time and re-dry; if gas checks are not required/desired, bullets need no further treatment and can be loaded as-is.
performance
for me, liquid alox performs well at velocities exceding 1800 fps, accuracy is 1” or better at 100 yard ranges for such cartidges as 7mm-08.
budman46