Casing Tip ... A Piece of Lubed leather

[John Boy]

Your casting and the bullets are dropping. You flip your wrist to move the sprue plate back on top of the mold and you don't hear the 'Click' sound of the plate hitting the pin. You have a lead smear on top of the mold or on the bottom of the sprue plate

Take a strip of leather that is lubed (not dripping, just saturated) with bullet lube. Move the sprue plate and there it is ... lead smear on the top of mold or under the plate - or both places. While the mold is hot, just wipe the smear(s) with the piece of leather ... No more smear and sprue plate goes 'Click' again

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I lube the sprue plate with a Q-tip that's treated with a drop of 2 cycle oil. If during the casting session, the mold/sprue needs a quick addition of lube, I keep the Q-tip handy...also works for the occasional lead smear on top of the mold.

[w5pv]

I use the same method as JonB but use a little dab of boolit lube on the Q tip,works quiet well for me

[runfiverun]

I use nickel anti-sieze.

[farmerjim]

+ 1 on the nickel anti-sieze.

[Springfield]

I have found anti-seize builds up after a while. but then I tend to do 1-2000 bullets at a seating with my LEE 6 cavs. Bullplate works better for me. If I get a smear I have found just wiping if off with my glove usually works fine.

[lancem]

personally I just wipe the lead smear off with my thumb in a glove and slow down..

[Hardcast416taylor]

personally I just wipe the lead smear off with my thumb in a glove and slow down..

Same here.Robert

[smokeywolf]

I never have problems with the sprue plate on my old Ideal moulds. Don't have any aluminum moulds. Is the lead smearing more typical of aluminum moulds.

[lancem]

I never have problems with the sprue plate on my old Ideal moulds. Don't have any aluminum moulds. Is the lead smearing more typical of aluminum molds.
I believe only because they are easy to overheat and if you don't wait you can easily get a smear. Any more I try to run two molds and switch before I get to that point, allows me to go 100% on my speed.

[cajun shooter]

I have a very ample supply of Bullplate that works great. I will say that is a good tip for those who have not yet discovered a way to cast using a sprue plate lube of some kind, I'm not referring to John Boy as he is a very accomplished man in the casting arts who has contributed many a good tip.

[John Boy]

Here's how I came upon using the lubed leather ... when I pan lube, I use the strip of leather to nose punch the bullets out of the cake. It has been used for years being 'lubed' and is part of my casting 'stuff'. I use paraffin to lube my mold pins and give a swipe across the top of the sprue plate to aid the frost puddle to drop into the tin can. I used to remove the occasional smears with my gloved finger and the finger used to get hot inside the glove from the leather. So, one day, I said ... Why not use the leather strip! Should have thought about it years ago

David - Thanks Kindly for the Accolades!

[gloob]

This is a problem for my aluminum molds, and I always lube the plate before starting and even lap the scratches off the top of the mold every now and then, but they quickly return. So far the best I've come up with is to rub the lead with a wooden block or stick. I'll give this a try next time. Thanks for the tip! This is the most annoying problem that I have when casting. I hope it works for me.