Lyman #358495?

[TexasGrunt]

So I have ended up with three double cavity #358495 molds. Everyone of them seems to have sticky cavities. I have to coax the boolits out of the molds with some love taps. Is this normal for this design? I love the boolit. I cast a quart of them today. I could have cast more if they come out of the cavities easier.

[Wally]

Make a "plug" of fine steel wool....attach to a drill and place in the closed mold cavities and spin..that should fix it so the bullets will no longer stick. I have used this technique and found that it really works.

[OS OK]

It's those 3 lube grooves and the crimp groove that want to stay engaged.
I polished mine with rubbing compound for car paint...used many wood shank Q-tips in a small electric drill, got into the grooves real well.
It didn't shine when I was done but it must have taken off a layer or two of almost invisible oxidation. Then scrubbed it well in hot water and dishsoap with a toothbrush.
After oven drying @ 180* for a half hour, I then used Q-tips to rub it well with powdered graphite...after that they come out much easier, when the temp. of the mold is just right and the Pb just right, they want to come out...especially when I hold it level and lightly tap the hinge bolt to encourage the mold to open...everything wants to dislodge.
After that I backed off on the Sn, I had the blend around 1.5%-2% to start and that blend wanted to copy the mould too close and stay in there.
That has to be a great little wad cutter.

PS...You might want to hone the sprue cutter bottom on some 400 grit wet sandpaper laid flat on glass or marble to sharpen and level the sprue cutter. Re-lube and assemble and...'waaalaaah!', a brand new friendly mould.

[TexasGrunt]

I'll give the steel wool a try. It's actually one cavity in each mold that's having a problem. Funny thing is it's the right hand half every time.

[beagle]

Spray cavities on a warm mould with spray moly. Then clean and polish groove with wooden toothpicks. Should drop a lot better. This is normally a one time process and fills any minute cavities in the mould which cause hang ups. The spray moly on the outside of the blocks and sprue plate work well to prevent sprue plate galling and the outside protects against rust. Just spray after casting when the mould is still warm./beagle

[gwpercle]

Use a Q-Tip to check cavities for any tiny burrs, remove if you find one.

Use the Q-Tip to give the cavities a coat of Liquid Wrench Dry Lube, it dries in seconds , the boolit will want to jump from the mould. Try it just once.
You can use the spray, the liquid with a Q-Tip application is just less wasteful. I do spray the exterior for storage.
Gary