How do you guys store moulds?

[selmerfan]

I have three molds now, two aluminum and one iron/steel. How do you go about storing them so they don't rust and you don't have to degrease them every time, or is this not possible? I have some desiccant packets, would it work to store the mold in a ziploc with a desiccant? I appreciate your thoughts.
Selmerfan

[powderburnerr]

just use them every other day and you wont have to worry about storing them .. mine just set in a drawer between uses. but then I do live where it is pretty dry........Dean

[Southern Son]

Not really possible to store a steel mold here in the Queensland Tropics without using grease. I like to wait until they have cooled a fair bit, but still warm to touch, then I spray them with Lanoguard. It is a pain in the but to clean off, but in my job, I could go months without getting to do any casting and I want to know that when I do, the mold is in the same shape as when I left it.

[FISH4BUGS]

OK.....I'll pull the pin on the grenade and throw it into the room. FRAG OUT!
I let them cool and spray them inside and out with WD40, then wrap them in a plastic bag, handles and all. Cleans up easily with Carb Cleaner.
Some of my moulds haven't been used in 2 years they still look fine. Every year or so when I get bored I will take all of my moulds out, play with them and respray them and wrap them back up. They are stored in an unheated shed between the house and the barn that is from -10 to 90 degrees. Here in NH we don't have particulalry humid weather so I think this is fine.
There are those that think using WD40 is mould abuse, but it works for me.

[HORNET]

Inside an ammo can with dessicant also works. Just make sure that you regenerate the dessicant once in a while. I also have some stored after coating with LPS #3 (? the thin version). They've been OK so far here in the rust belt.

[quack1]

I store mine in flat food storage containers (tupperware knock-offs) . They are air tight, just tall enough for molds, stackable and easy to find at Walmart. A small bag of dessicant goes in each one with the molds. I used to use ammo cans, but got irritated with having to dig around to find the mold I wanted, it always seemed to be on the bottom layer. With the flat containers, I store them with the mold number up and can easily pick out the ones I want without digging thru a bunch of molds. Been keeping them like this for years with no rust problems.

[Sundogg1911]

I store about 40 moulds in ammo cans with desiccant bags. I also use small rubber bands to hold the moulds together to prevent the cavitys from coming in contact with other moulds. I've never had a problem with moisture.

[Cherokee]

Since about 1968 I have been storing my moulds in ammo cans. Tie the blocks closed so they don't open for potential damage. Many are stored with attached handles. Only had one mould rust (lightly) in 40 years and that's because I left it out. It cleaned up easily. Maybe I've been lucky.

[WildmanJack]

Go to the dollar store, buy some cheap plastic containers, large enough to hold the molds and the handles. Then go to the local Drug store and ask them to save you some desiccant containers. They'll be happy to store them in a plastic bag for you. Take your molds put them in the airtight plastic container with a few desiccant containers and your set. I live is South West Florida where the humidity is sometimes brutal. No rust on my dies for quite a while..
:castmine:

[mold maker]

In central NC, the humidity can be extreme. My molds (some 45 yr old) are in plastic containers, in Ammo cans with vapor chips and desicant bags. So far no rust on anything. My basement temp. varies more day to day than indoor temp does all year.
Even ammo cans can and do breath with temp. change. Each exchange of air includes what ever humidity is present at the time. In order to limit the temp change, store them on the floor and against a wall. Stacked and standing side by side with other cans of boolets and loaded ammo creates bulk which resists temp. change with mass.

[MtGun44]

One more for ammo can with a properly dried out (150F oven overnight)
military dessicant bag.

Bill

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I also, keep my mold blocks in ammo cans. I've got two fifty cal. cans, one for pistol, and the other for rifle molds, and a third German ammo can of some sort, that lays flat like a mini foot locker, where I keep the molds that have handles attached. They're in the basement, and all the boxes have good rubber seals, and bags of desiccant in them. No problem with rust these thirty years.
Morgan

[Newtire]

I get the little dessicant containers about as big around as a dime & 1/2" long in heart pill bottles. Are these the ones to use?

[mtgrs737]

I have some moulds that have been stored in the original boxes after having been sprayed with WD40 for at least 10 years with no ill effects. For the last 6 years they were stored outside in a unheated shed with the high humidity that Kansas has and no problems. Now all are inside the basement which has some humidity but is temperture controlled. Works for me.

[bhp9]

Wait until the mold is dead cold. Then after cleaning the mold (if needed) spray it with WD40. You must put it in a plastic bag as the WD40 will evaporate off and without putting it in the plastic bag the WD will evaporate off resulting in the mold rusting. This pertains to humid climates not dry desert type climates as found out West.

After spraying the mold with WD40 and putting it in the plastic bag, I then put it in a military ammo can. They have a gasket that also keeps out the moisture.

[Bret4207]

I store my 80+ moulds in a dead freezer in my shop with a desiccant box. No problems so far.

[Johnw...ski]

I had to sound off on this one, especially after reading all the storage methods other posters described.

I live in Jamestown, R.I., an island in the mouth of Narragansett Bay, so humidity is a given. My aluminum Lee molds are just stored, period. All my other molds, so far all Lymans, are stored differently. After a casting session I pour a bullet in them, let them cool and put them away. When I am ready to cast I just knock the bullet out heat the mold and go. Some have been stored this way for 20 years and when I started using them this year they were fine, no rust, and perfect bullets almost immeaditely.

I am not saying that it is the right way or perfect way, but has worked for me since 1976.

John

[725]

I live in humid central. The Lee's get put on the shelf. The Lyman's, RCBS's, SAECO's, etc get dripping wet with oil (Corrosion-X <finest rust preventative I've ever found>) and put away on the open shelves with the Lee's. So far, so good. That Corrosion-X is so good that when I put the sickle bar cutter away after hay season (it's left outside) and treat the exposed metal, the worn and exposed metal is absolutely rust free in the spring. It's amazing to me. First read about it in Varminter magazine years ago.

[HABCAN]

When I lived back East in Quebec and Ontario, I stored my moulds in my quarters on a shelf with boolits in the cavities. Here now in Alberta where it is 'dryer', I still store them out on a shelf, but without boolits in the cavities. No other protection. Has worked (apparently luckily!?) for decades. LEE, Lyman and RCBS blocks all look and cast the same as when first used.

[MtGun44]

I have rejected molds at a gun show with a bullet in the cavity
that were rusted. It doesn't look to me like the bullet actually
seals the cavity totally. I'd imagine you can get away with it in
relatively dry climates or in an air conditioned house, but when I
used to live in an un-air conditioned house in Fla, EVERYTHING
rusted very quickly. I would not trust it under those conditions.

FWIW.

Bill

[TexasJeff]

I take old worn out dish towels and spray G96 Gun Cleaner/Protector on them on the heavy side. Then I wrap the treated dish towel around the mould and steel part of the handles and secure with a small rubber band. Then I put them in a Rubbermaid/Sterilite type of airtight container.

Learned this method from an old station chief down in South America--he had to store his weapons quite often, and because of the humidity, rust was a problem. He started spraying rags down with G96 and then wrapping them around his pistols, and not once did he ever encounter any rust. Also much, much faster to clean up since you're not spraying the stuff directly on the gun or mould.

Jeff

[Ben]

May be more effort than you want to go to but this has worked for me in all kinds of humidity. No RUST ! !

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=13322

[largecaliberman]

I live less than 1/4 mile from the beach here in Hawaii and I store mine in ammo cans wrapped in VCI paper with silica gel and gummed labeled on the wraper for easy identification with no problem. I never oiled my Lymans because taking off the oil is a lot of humbug.