Problems with lyman foster mold

[Goose18557]

I'm officially out of ideas. I have a Lyman foster mold that performed beautifully through the first 3-4 casting sessions. The last few have been not so good. I can't get the slug off of the base pin. I Have to take it out of the mold and grab the slug with pliers to get it to "break free" from the pin. I tried cleaning and smoking the pin. I also made sure the vent lines in the pin were clean and varied my casting temp as low and hi as the mag 25 will go. Thoughts?

[Hogtamer]

Q-tip and a little baby oil works for me.

[longbow]

Hahahahaha! I shouldn't laugh... I have the same problem... except I don't anymore as I quit using the Lyman Foster slug mould. It is a miserable mould to use and the slugs are very undersize and inaccurate. I used Lyman manual recipes and was quite hopeful but gave up about 30 years ago. I have found other slugs and round balls that do much better than the Lyman Foster slug.

I very much dislike the Lyman Foster slug and the mould that produces it!

You might try polishing the core pin and possibly a light smear of sprue plate lube occasionally or maybe some powder graphite on the core pin would help. If the slug worked well, I would have reworked the mould so it would cast better, but under the circumstances I do not plan on wasting my time after wasting the money on the mould.

My opinion anyway.

My Lee Drive Key Slug mould worked better than the Lyman on the first outing and gave far better accuracy though I really haven't used it much either. My preference is round balls and a couple of slugs designs from my home made moulds.

I am shooting smoothbore by the way. If your gun is rifled I still wouldn't recommend the Lyman Foster slug. There are far better solid designs for rifled guns. For smoothbore the selections are pretty limited currently unless you buy a custom mould.

Anyway, my opinion on the Lyman slug doesn't help you with the mould issues.

I had/have the same problem but as I said, I did not rework the mould to solve them. My recommendations are:

- lightly lap the mould if the slugs stick in the mould (mine do so I have to use the core pin to remove the slugs from mould then pull the slugs off the core pin!)
- try sprue plate lube or maybe synthetic 2 stroke oil for the core pin (wipe a very light coating on with a Q-tip or similar
- try polishing the core pin
- try powdered graphite on the core pin
- a more extreme approach would be to turn the core pin to a slightly more tapered design which would also increase weight a bit and make for heavier nose and slightly thicker skirt which should all be good things if not taken too far

A better solution in my opinion is to buy a suitable round ball mould which can be:

- 0.662" for use in shotcup
- 0.678" also for use in shotcup
- 0.735" loaded naked over a hard card wad column

The first two should be safe through any choke though I have only shot them through cylinder bore and improved cylinder. Accuracy is not likely going to be good through any tight choke.

he third is obviously for cylinder bore only. All my round ball moulds are Lyman and all cast very well. 0.678" is a perfect fit inmost standard plastic wads.

I have gotten good accuracy of 4" and under out to 50 yards. Much after 50 yards groups tend to start opening up fairly quickly.

I hope there is something there that helps.

Longbow

[bikerbeans]

Longbow,

Since you don't have an opinion on the lyman foster slug mold, why did you respond?:bigsmyl2:

I have a lyman 58 cal hollowbase mold that has the same problem. I never solved the problem, I just stopped using this mold.

BB

[Goose18557]

Thanks guys, i'll try all until somethong works. I heard plenty of bad about the foster in 12ga. Im working with 20ga rifled and the slugs drop pretty close to bore size. Takes some "uumph" to drive them down the barrel by hand. Havent shot any yet but i have some loaded and am going to give full bore a go with this before buying another mold.

[Muskrat Mike]

I would give The Franfort Arsenal Mold Drop out a try. It worked for me on some sticky molds.

[longbow]

BB ~ just trying to help a guy stuck with a sticky mould is all. Been there, done that, didn't like it, want to save someone else the trouble if I can.

[6pt-sika]

In an issue of "Black Powder Cartridge" there was an article about an 12 bore double rifle .

And the guy took a Lyman Foster mold and changed it a bit . I had thoughts of making one of these once upon a time but now it would be far easier to have Accurate Molds cut a mold and send it to the hollow point guy and make whatever kind of base plug you desired .

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f316/6pt-sika/FullSizeRender_zpsovpomgwr.jpg (http://s50.photobucket.com/user/6pt-sika/media/FullSizeRender_zpsovpomgwr.jpg.html)

[Goose18557]

2 stroke did the trick...working like a champ

[bikerbeans]

6pt,

When you see the base plug setup on the accurate mold, headed your way, I don't think you will ever want to use a lyman mold with their plug. The design of the base plug for this mold is very slick.

BB

[longbow]

Buckshot has added driving bands to at least one Lyman Foster mould. Seems to me he added 4 bore diameter driving bands but very similar to the photo above.

Yeah, about opinions, I don't have many of those...:-P

Longbow

[6pt-sika]

6pt,

When you see the base plug setup on the accurate mold, headed your way, I don't think you will ever want to use a lyman mold with their plug. The design of the base plug for this mold is very slick.

BB

I'm in the shop now as I type this making a 50/50 WW/pure lead alloy. And hopefully I'll have time to cast thursday . Made 32 pounds of alloy !

[gwpercle]

Liquid Wrench Dry Lube or Blaster Dry Lube with Teflon work well as a mould release and do not cause wrinkles. Try it just once !
Gary