Storing Bullet molds

[Jared]

I am in the process of finishing my dedicated reloading room. It is climate controlled 11x17' room with a 17' bench on one wall. I will do all of my casting in another area and it will only be cooled while I am casting.

That said, I have about 75 molds and will be storing them in the climate controlled reloading room. What is everyone's favorite method of storing them so you can find individual molds and keep everything organized. In the past I have stored them in a closet on a couple of shelves, but have been considering using a metal rolling tool box to keep everything organized. The shelves tend to collect other stuff and then it can be hard finding the mold you are looking for.

[wv109323]

Harbor freight sells a plastic hinged box that is about 6" wide X 14" long and 3" deep. It has adjustable partitions for width. These will not hold Lee six cavities but you can store about 12 RCBS molds or six four cavities. I would lean toward a tool box with drawers and cut a piece of plywood that each mold would fit into. The " holes" could be labeled so molds could be immediately identified.

[dragon813gt]

These are the Harbor freight boxes.
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa39/dragon813gt/TimeToMakeAmmo/5E16C612-5EE6-46FB-A7F7-7CCEAADEBF39.jpg (http://s198.photobucket.com/user/dragon813gt/media/TimeToMakeAmmo/5E16C612-5EE6-46FB-A7F7-7CCEAADEBF39.jpg.html)

They will hold 7 four cavity Mihec molds. Two of the spaces are to small to hold a four cavity NOE mold. If the sprue plate was shortened about an 1/8" they would fit perfectly. These are the best boxes I've been able to find to store my collection. If you have a lot of two cavity molds there would be a lot of wasted space in them.

[Jared]

Those work well, I have a couple different versions of those for my loose molds that are not in boxes, and I found a fishing tackle box that was big enough for about 8 or 10 Lee 6 cavitys without handles.

I probably have 20 handles in various shapes and sizes plus about 10-15 Lee 1 and 2 cavities with the attached handles. Most of my handles live with a mold attached. Those are what I am really trying to figure Out how I want to store.

[Tom W.]

I keep them in the little green plastic boxes that they come in...With the anti-rust paper.

[quietmike]

Old Tupperware boxes with the reusable dessicant packs.

[bangerjim]

I keep all my Lee molds (2 & 6 bangers) in the boxes they came in....with handles attached. 36 of them. I hate changing handles out on 6 bangers!

I found some cardboard boxes at a local box store my company uses that had boxes almost the same size as the Lee's to keep my growing family of 4/5/6 cavity brass dudes in.

Brass and aluminum......no rust problems here!

banger

[labradigger1]

Mine are all with handles. I use cheap Tupperware tubs and sort them by calibers and use dessiccant packs. My loading room is also climate controlled.
I have been thinking about using a mini fridge and a goldenrod.

[williamwaco]

I am in the process of finishing my dedicated reloading room. It is climate controlled 11x17' room with a 17' bench on one wall. I will do all of my casting in another area and it will only be cooled while I am casting.

That said, I have about 75 molds and will be storing them in the climate controlled reloading room. What is everyone's favorite method of storing them so you can find individual molds and keep everything organized. In the past I have stored them in a closet on a couple of shelves, but have been considering using a metal rolling tool box to keep everything organized. The shelves tend to collect other stuff and then it can be hard finding the mold you are looking for.



This is exactly what I use. The tool drawers are exactly the correct depth to hold a mold.
I live in a climate where I don't have to worry ab out rust.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have always used GI ammo cans for storage The molds themselves are soaked in Clenzoil and cleaned when ready for use with acetone, wiped dry and dried with a heat gun prior to preheating. Nothing has ever rusted so far. LLS

[will52100]

I've tried the original boxes, 20mm ammo cans, this and that. I finally settled on putting a couple of shelves up near my melting pot and putting them there. It can take a minute to find the mould I'm looking for, but it's better than digging through boxes. Only a couple of steel moulds, the rest are aluminum and brass.

[rush1886]

Silica and dessicant packs are spendy. At your local craft store, buy a box of old style blackboard chalk, for a buck or maybe a buck'fifty. Use an exacto or razor knife to create 1/2" or so pieces, and place one of those in whatever compartment you store your molds in.

I've had a box of this chalk, cardboard pkging cut so as to expose 1/2 of the stick bundle, sitting in my gunsafe, for 6-7 yrs now. No moisture, no rust.

[USMC87]

I store my molds with the handles attached in a kitchen cabinet in my shop, The steel molds are stored with PB Blaster dry lube and is cleaned with denatured alcohol before I use them. I have no problems with rust at all.

[lightman]

I don't have as many molds as some of you, but I spray mine with gun oil and have them in 50 cal ammo cans. I like the idea of the roll around tool box. Some of the larger drawers could be used for your smelting tools, ladles, ingot molds, ect. Another option is with a 17ft work bench would be drawers under the bench top.

[AbitNutz]

OK, so I may be going overboard on this...I have a food storage vacuum bag machine. I squirt the mold with oil and then vacuum bag it. I have a lot of molds in a lot of different calibers and my interests run in streaks so molds may lay dormant for a very long time before being used. Handles...have lots of those too...are just stored in a plastic bin.

The food saver I have is called a "Gamesaver". Seems to work fine for as little I use it.

[10mmShooter]

my 20 some molds are stored with handles attached and stored "dry" in 2 Mk19 ammo cans, with a little desicant. Time to cast, just grab the mold and go, no cleaning needed :)

[mozeppa]

i made a rack for all 11 mold w/handles and sprayed each with a good coat of dry graphite lube.

[Petrol & Powder]

Depends on how much you want to spend. As others have pointed out, rust prevention is key. Organization comes second and ease of retrieval sort of depends on how often you use them. Then there is the handles attached vs. handles detached for storage.

A metal tool box with drawers deep enough for the molds would be a good ready-made system for molds, handles and related equipment but I would want to keep the molds in their original boxes within the drawers.
If you have some carpentry skills and some time, a really nice wooden drawer with dividers could be made.

I just keep mine on a shelf with the related gear but they are oiled or greased before going back into their boxes for storage.

[Boolseye]

I'm thinking about banging a simple board shelf to the underside of my basement staircase, above where I've got my dies stored. In other words, a simple shelf if you have the space. Only rust I worry about is in my 2 or 3 steel molds, all the rest are AL. Handles on when possible (own more molds than handles). They're currently in three large labeled cardboard boxes. Thanks for the chalk tip, Rush1886.

[mold maker]

As of yet I haven't found a really good solution to mold storage. The Mihec HP 4C molds are in plastic boxes I bought a closeout of in the "80s. The Noe molds are in the HF parts boxes and there are several ammo boxes of molds with mounted handles.
I'm still looking, since nothing I've found is rust proof or convenient.

[shooter93]

I dabble a bit with wood working so I knocked this together. The box on top holds the sizing dies. All my molds have handles on and this makes them easy to inspect and take care of.

[will52100]

Now that is awesome! I wouldn't mind something like that for my wood chisels.

[Fishman]

I bought a rolling tool chest from Ace hardware on sale for $99. I then filled it up with casting stuff. Then I bought another but I haven't put any in that one. I'm resisting. This was just last year, so keep an eye out in case they go on sale again at 50% off. Hard to beat for durable storage. I lined it with paper towels for the moulds to sit on. I even have a drawer for project moulds that I am slowly rehabilitating as I gain experience.

[NC_JEFF]

I used 2 towers from an old entertainment center, it had slide out CD/DVD racks @ 20" wide. I removed the CD slots, cut the top and bottom shelf sections away and was left with two 33" tall sections that served as an excellent base for a loading bench /desk, with tinted glass concealing the slideouts. My molds are all LEE molds so very little is needed in the way of preservation.

P.S. Those old entertainment centers are about as useful as wagon wheels now days and are available almost free from most people who have gone to flat screen TVs

[AbitNutz]

I really went more toward reducing the possibility of corrosion than anything else. I have mine vacuum bagged in a tool-chest with well padded draws.

[Ken77539]

. . . but have been considering using a metal rolling tool box to keep everything organized. . . .

The tool cabinet route worked for me – albeit I have far less molds to contend with than many of the members here, I also use the roll-a-way set to store all my cleaning and maintenance tools and supplies. I too, just this past spring, converted my gun shop to “climate controlled” and have noticed a marked reduction in rusting issues. I live on a peninsula along the Texas Gulf Coast, and measure the distance to the water in blocks; so rusting is a serious concern around here, and depending on the circumstances, surface rust can become apparent within an hour or two if not kept in check.

[alamogunr]

I dabble a bit with wood working so I knocked this together. The box on top holds the sizing dies. All my molds have handles on and this makes them easy to inspect and take care of.

By my standards, you do more than "dabble". That is excellent work. I wish I was half as skilled.

[james23]

I among my molds I have a couple from a man who recommended that I store the mold with the last lead in the mold until the next casting session. Shouldn't rust with lead in it. Works for me

[bear67]

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I also thought a tool roll cabinet would be good, but I have several in 3 shops and all were full. I had two old telephone switch cabinets with locking doors. These are 32 inches wide, 30 deep and 37 high with very good heavy casters built on. I removed all electronics and mounted full extension ball bearing slides to the cabinets and built hardwood drawers of varying depths. They all have a rubber tool box liner and a locking cylinder. I keep two Kennedy machinists chests on top facing right and left with access from a workbench and a casting bench.
I wish I had finished these, but left raw. This was a rainy day project and I ran out of rain I guess. I built 2 and use one to store milling machine collets, cutters ect and was going to use the other for other machine shop/lathe parts, but I was given a used metal roll cabinet and thought this would be great for casting stuff. Holds molds, handles, sizing dies and top punches and the bottom deep drawer keeps ingredients to make "homemade" lube. Works great and I like to take something someone else has discarded and make something out of it. Score one for being cheep as the wood in this was culled from the cabinets I built for out current house--hickory for those wanting to know.