bullets dropping from an iron mold

[Bignutt]

I just got my first iron mold a ballisticast 44 mag keith bullet, model 1106 I think? anyway I'm having a rough time getting them to drop out of the mold is this because its a keith style or is it because it steel? have several lbt aluminum molds and one lee and don't have near the trouble. Am I not doing something right? I'm using them just like the other ones, just maybe there's something different to running these steel molds.

[AlaskanGuy]

Tell me more about the mold... Is it a new mold???? Have you broken it in properly??? Scrubbed the **** outta it with a toothbrush and some dawn??? How about heating it up to temp several times and cooling it down??? If you have tried all of the above, and broken in the mold, and still wont drop properly, pm me, and I can suggest a couple of other things.......

AG

[fryboy]

hmmm.... fotos may help ( may not but ...) usually when i have a problem with a mold dropping it has a bit of burr/flashing somewhere where the casting hangs at or as in the case of one old lyman mold square lube grooves , lube grooves are best with a wee bit of angle on them and i cant ever recall a problem with rounded grooves other than aforementioned burrs

[ShooterAZ]

+1 on break-in and a few/several heat cycles. I have also used a small dab of comet on a toothbrush to lightly scrub a sticky mold and it works. Also use a good sprue plate lube (bullplate), and try cutting the sprue a little faster than you have been and see what happens.

[GP100man]

Leementing works on steel molds !!

But , if the holes are off center there`s not much ya can do.

I bet there`s a burr, look at the cavitys under hi magnification.

GP

[.22-10-45]

Take a Q tip & run it lightly around cavities..any burrs will catch & pull cotton. If you can still find a typewriter pencil erasure..rub cavities with this..won't scratch but will remove burrs & clean cavities.

[GLL]

I have seven of the 4-cavity Ballisti-Cast Keith design molds and each dropped bullets beautifully from day one ... And still do ! These molds are as good as any I own !

http://www.fototime.com/1E185946BE4F652/orig.jpg

Another new mold of different design was full of burrs and gouges and was a real mess to get bullets free of the cavities. Never did get satisfaction from that one. I agree with others that you may have small burrs.

Jerry

[MtGun44]

Many (most?) new molds have a few burrs. Try scrubbing the cavities
with Comet and a toothbrush as a light deburr.

Bill

[Iron Mike Golf]

Some things to pay attention to while casting to help diagnose your issue:

Do all the cavities hang up? Is that consistent?
Do the boolits hang on one one block only?


You might try rapping the hinge bolt on the handles (I use a hammer handle for a mold mallet) as the way to get the mold blocks to separate. If you're not already doing that.

When you inspect your mold (and do that with some magnification) give some extra attention to the forward drive band. The edges have no draft. What's draft? That's having less than a 90 degree angle. Look at the pic above and see how the walls of the lube groove angle in. Now compare that to the forward drive band. A 90 degree surface is a lot less forgiving.

Also look at some of the boolits cast from the mold. Make sure that the walls of the drive band are flat and there's not a "rim" along the outer edge of the drive band.

I have a old Lyman 452460 4 banger that has such a rim in a couple of spots on two cavities that I bought used. Probably caused by rust. If I open the mold by pulling on the handles, the front drive band tears or the boolit is stuck in the block on that side. The boolit hans to cool a lot more than usual before it releases. But if I open the mold by rapping the hinge bolt, it releases fine. It usually takes 2 raps, sometimes 1.

[masscaster]

Sounds like burrs to me also.

An easy fix to burrs is to get an Eraser, and lightly polish the edges of the cavities.
Pull the Eraser out from the cavities along the edges. You can run a Q-tip around the cavity edges to find the burrs more easily.
If the cotton pulls off there's a burr.

Just don't use much pressure, and let the eraser do the work.
It may take a couple times, especially with a stubborn burr, but works well.

Jeff

[Walter Laich]

When I run into one that doesn't drop and can't find the burr I open the sprue plate and put a nut over the holes centered on each cavity.
.
Fill the cavity all the way to the top of the nut with lead and let cool a few seconds.
.
Now I have a bullet that I can put a bit of Comet or other abrasive (I've used 600 grit valve grinding compound with good results) on it and put it back in the mold, close it and turn the bullet using a wrench that fits the size of the nut.
.
Since I'm doing this by hand it doesn't matter if the nut is slightly off center.
.
After doing this a few times per mold I have good luck with the 'real' bullets falling out.
.
If they still don't fall out recast (cause the mold is slightly bigger now) and do it again.

YMMV but I've had good luck with this
.
walt

[bhn22]

One other thing that often works is letting the mold cool for a few more seconds. Some seem to be temp sensitive.

[DLCTEX]

I Leement all my iron moulds. I won't put up with sticking boolits.