Ricochet
05-09-2008, 06:22 PM
This may strike many of you as totally obvious, but I just made a discovery of a cause of unexpectedly large and oval, sometimes finned, boolits with Lee 6-hole moulds. (This is something I've long had problems with, and it's always baffled me when I couldn't find anything holding the blocks apart like a bit of lead, scorched mould lube, etc.)
When you're holding the mould handles squeezed together to keep the blocks closed, if you also squeeze the sprue plate handle (which seems natural to me, to hold a finger over it and include it in the grip of the handles), it springs the front of the blocks apart. Doesn't take much squeezing to do it. The diameters of the boolits coming out of the different cavities will then vary, smallest in the back next to the handles, largest in front where there may be fins.
Proper procedure is to close the blocks, firmly close the sprue plate, then KEEP YOUR FINGERS OFF IT as you hold the mould handles shut while filling the mould.
Hope that keeps somebody from having the aggravation I've had with seemingly inexplicable size variation!
When you're holding the mould handles squeezed together to keep the blocks closed, if you also squeeze the sprue plate handle (which seems natural to me, to hold a finger over it and include it in the grip of the handles), it springs the front of the blocks apart. Doesn't take much squeezing to do it. The diameters of the boolits coming out of the different cavities will then vary, smallest in the back next to the handles, largest in front where there may be fins.
Proper procedure is to close the blocks, firmly close the sprue plate, then KEEP YOUR FINGERS OFF IT as you hold the mould handles shut while filling the mould.
Hope that keeps somebody from having the aggravation I've had with seemingly inexplicable size variation!