petroid
05-13-2014, 02:47 PM
Well, the good news is I think I've finally got my Lee C312-185-1R Mold sorted out. I have struggled with it since I got it. It has seemed to drop way out of round at .314 across the mold and .310 at the mold closure. I tried Leementing with comet cleaner and toothpaste and rubbing compound and beagling with tape but that only succeeded in making the boolits more out of round. I am shooting these powdercoated with HF red out of a MN 91/30 with Al gas checks. Best I can get is 2" groups at 50 yards.
Well today I decided to really tackle the issue. I looked long and hard at and measured some boolits that I had cast. Some were measuring down to .308 at the mold closure, but not directly on the seam, only slightly to one side. On the other side, they were reading .320! I had not visually been able to tell before but the mold didn't seem to be closing evenly, with the halves being offset slightly. So I looked at the mold really closely and sure enough I could see that the two halves weren't lining up exactly. I could wiggle them and make them line up properly but there was a lot of slop in the closing of the mold. I looked at the alignment pins really closely and there seemed to be some alloy that was stuck just inside the alignment pin holes. I tried scraping it out but I couldn't do it without damaging the mold so I used a nail set punch and tapped the alignment pin further toward the inside of the mold and it pushed a chunk of alloy out with it. I did this to the other one too and now the alignment pin bodies are flush with the mold face. Looking at the other half of the mold, some alloy was there too so I tapped the pin receptacles flush with the mold face. A little more tapping here and there resulted in a mold that closes tightly and evenly with no wiggle!
I already had the pot going, so I proceeded to cast some boolits. Of course, the mold was cold so it took quite a few bad casts to warm things up and when it did, boy was I happy. The boolits are still slighly out of round measuring .314 at 90 degrees to the mold faces but dead-on at .312 across the seam with no offset and no flashing. Well, since my Mosin slugs at .313 I will still run these through the .314 sizer and PC them and size again but I can't wait to see how the accuracy is affected. I don't expect sub MOA but If I can get a 1-1.5" 50 yard group I will be thrilled.
I know, I know, what's the bad news? Well, I ended up removing the mold blocks from the handles and I guess whatever was holding the pins in there is no longer doing its job, because after casting about 50 boolits, the pin fell out and the mold block fell off one side. These allen head twisted flute pins don't really thread in they just twist in and jam. So, do I have to drill out the blocks and the mold handle and tap the blocks for a new screw, or is there another, better way to fix this?
Thanks in advance for any advice. Pete
Well today I decided to really tackle the issue. I looked long and hard at and measured some boolits that I had cast. Some were measuring down to .308 at the mold closure, but not directly on the seam, only slightly to one side. On the other side, they were reading .320! I had not visually been able to tell before but the mold didn't seem to be closing evenly, with the halves being offset slightly. So I looked at the mold really closely and sure enough I could see that the two halves weren't lining up exactly. I could wiggle them and make them line up properly but there was a lot of slop in the closing of the mold. I looked at the alignment pins really closely and there seemed to be some alloy that was stuck just inside the alignment pin holes. I tried scraping it out but I couldn't do it without damaging the mold so I used a nail set punch and tapped the alignment pin further toward the inside of the mold and it pushed a chunk of alloy out with it. I did this to the other one too and now the alignment pin bodies are flush with the mold face. Looking at the other half of the mold, some alloy was there too so I tapped the pin receptacles flush with the mold face. A little more tapping here and there resulted in a mold that closes tightly and evenly with no wiggle!
I already had the pot going, so I proceeded to cast some boolits. Of course, the mold was cold so it took quite a few bad casts to warm things up and when it did, boy was I happy. The boolits are still slighly out of round measuring .314 at 90 degrees to the mold faces but dead-on at .312 across the seam with no offset and no flashing. Well, since my Mosin slugs at .313 I will still run these through the .314 sizer and PC them and size again but I can't wait to see how the accuracy is affected. I don't expect sub MOA but If I can get a 1-1.5" 50 yard group I will be thrilled.
I know, I know, what's the bad news? Well, I ended up removing the mold blocks from the handles and I guess whatever was holding the pins in there is no longer doing its job, because after casting about 50 boolits, the pin fell out and the mold block fell off one side. These allen head twisted flute pins don't really thread in they just twist in and jam. So, do I have to drill out the blocks and the mold handle and tap the blocks for a new screw, or is there another, better way to fix this?
Thanks in advance for any advice. Pete