Lee mold 312-155-r2 SKS sucks

[PDshooter]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/PDshooter/casting/Casting762X39003.jpgWell I got my mold from lee for my SKS...Tryed everything not make crappy looking bullets.Temp, was around 850 with W/W. Own a H&G68 mold, Lyman, NEI, and now a lee:oops: Never have I had this much trouble with casting. I guess you get what you pay for:cry:
Will send it back Tuesday........Crap can't find the invoice:(

[spur0701]

Really? I just ran about 100 out of mine yesterday afternoon in maybe 30 minutes? It was kinda flaky on me at first when it was new but I boiled it and scrubbed it with an old tooth brush, resmoked it and it's worked fine after it gets hot....and I was running the pot at about 850.

[bohokii]

did you give it a good blackening with a lighter

and leave a nice thick sprue and get the mold hot so that the lead doesn't stick when dipped

i wish the sprue plate was a bit thicker or it had some kindof ridge to hold mroe sprue

are you having a severe roundbutt problem got a pic or scan of your duds

[Buckshot]

...............So what did the boolits look like that made them so crappy? Heck that boolit is so great we've done a GB on it just to get it in a 6 cav!

..............Buckshot

[copdills]

I had to clean mine several times and boil it to get it clean before it made nice boolits , remember if you can to preheat your mold before casting on a hotplate or on the top of your melter this helps speed up good boolits, this is what did it for me boolits came out nice and clean
Good Luck

[Bret4207]

First, read the "Leementing "sticky. Then make sure the old is REALLY CLEAN. Then get the mould HOT!!!. With a good hot melt and a hot mold you shold be casting keepers. It's the indian, not the arrow.

One more thought- ladle or no good rotten bottom pour?

[Linstrum]

Like Bret4207 says read the Leementing section, you may find the solution to your troubles there.

Can you describe the trouble you are having in a bit more detail? I'm sure there are a few of us here who can figure out why you did not get satisfactory results. I have that particular mould and it works great for me, both in ease of casting and performance in my Com Bloc rifles it was designed for.



Like has already been mentioned, any new mould will usually need a good cleaning to remove the oil residue left from machining operations. Oil residue will out-gas when the molten alloy hits it and cause poor fill-out. After cleaning, the mould cavities need to be sooted using a butane lighter. If a match or candle is used it can leave a greasy residue that will cause trouble.



If a mould still gives problems after cleaning and sooting then the venting needs to be looked at next. I have heard some casters complain bitterly that they just can't get their mold clean enough to work right when it was the lack of adequate venting that was the source of their difficulties.

From my own experience:

Boolits that have long ogives, sharp points, long thin profiles, or large bodies with small diameter pour holes in the sprue cutter plate may have trouble with fill-out IF the air venting is inadequate. My Saeco 6.5 mm moulds were difficult to use until I re-cut the mould block vent lines a bit deeper and added venting lines on the underside of the sprue cutter plate with a fine knife-edge jeweler's file. Some of my older Lee moulds originally came with shallow cross-hatch venting and I cured them by adding my own vent lines. After venting them, the moulds worked just fine. Most moulds do not need vent lines on the underside of a sprue cutter plate, but when needed are made in an "X" centered on the pour hole. Venting on sprue cutter plates needs to be very shallow so as not to affect the boolit base.

There are also other variables besides the mould that affect boolit casting. Viscosity and surface tension of the molten alloy used will also greatly affect mould fill-out and boolit appearance, that is why temperature can have such a great effect on fill-out. Contaminated alloys often exhibit a high surface tension even when up at 800°F+ and that shows up as a boolit with all the features being rounded over a bit. Not all wheel weights are virgin metal and their composition can vary all over the place when recycled metal is used to make them. Some tire shops get their weights from small mom and pop suppliers who work just like we do in their garages at home and like us they use anything they find that will pour into the wheel weight moulds. One time I just couldn't get my 500-grain .50 cal mould to fill out. I simply melted down some boolits I had cast a few months earlier and when I used that alloy all my casting troubles vanished.



Hang in there!


rl477

[PDshooter]

First, read the "Leementing "sticky. Then make sure the old is REALLY CLEAN. Then get the mould HOT!!!. With a good hot melt and a hot mold you shold be casting keepers. It's the indian, not the arrow.

One more thought- ladle or no good rotten bottom pour?

Will clean the hell out of the bottom flow pot........Used "Brake clean" on the mold when I got it....Will boil it next. Never "Smoked" a mold before ? will try it too!:-?

I was casting at 850 with W/W:coffee:

[James C. Snodgrass]

PDshooter, I use this boolit a bunch in 30 Herrett and 30-30 it's a dandy . I would say for sure your in dire need of a clean mold from the pics . Good luck James[smilie=1:

[Bret4207]

Clean that mould and you need to cast faster. Those light Lees heat up fast, but they cool fast too. I don't care what they say, Brak-leen (brake cleaner) leaves a residue. I've had good luck with starting fluid, ether. VERY FLAMMABLE STUFF so be careful if you use it. Get the mould clean and cast fast until you start getting frosty boolits. You may need to do "The BruceB Speed casting" methos, which is just cooling the sprue on a damo towel. It works. If you can, try a little more of a drop from the nozzle to the sprue, that sometimes works with a ladle on recalcitrant molds.

Truthfully, from the pics I think you need the mold a LOT hotter. That means being especially careful not to smear the sprue which is mhy I mentioned the Bruce B method. There's a sticky onn that here someplace too.

[docone31]

Mine did the same thing.
I used brake cleaner. It does leave a residue. Smoking doesn't help much.
My solution.
I really heated up my mold. Lead dripped off it. I got two 1/4-20 nuts and put them over the casting cavity, one at a time. I poured molten lead through them. The mold was so hot I had to wait a long time for the sprues to cool.
With each one, I opened the mold and pried the casting out. I set the one for the cavity it was cast in so I could pick it up to polish the one it came out of. I dabbed a little fine lapping compound on the casting, closed the mold lightly, and with a 7/16 wrench turned it untill I could close the mold. I snapped off one nut, so I used one to do both.
I sprayed it with more brake cleaner, smoked it while the brake cleaner was still in the mold. I then let it sit in the molten metal long enough to make the first few castings stay liquid for a time.
As the mold cooled, the castings got better. Once I was up to speed, and temp, they literally dropped out, sharp edges, clean castings.
It will take some casting to get those pristine castings that mold is capable of. Hang in there.
That worked for me. My .303 British likes them.

[Linstrum]

From your excellent photo my take on it is that they were cast in a cold oily mould.

Like the others have already said, clean it, soot it, heat it, and you'll be okay.


rl478

[TAWILDCATT]

aluminum molds work different than iron molds.your bullets show your not hot enuf.alum molds have to be hot.I have the 312 tumble lube and it is excelent.
:coffee:[smilie=1:

[jack19512]

I have not been casting for a long time like some here but I do have 12 Lee molds now and I am willing to bet the fault lies with the person doing the casting and not the mold.

I think you have really jumped the gun on this one and are falsely blaming Lee molds. I have had boolits that look like yours but it has always been my fault, not the mold.

When I get a new mold I use an old stiff toothbrush and dish washing liquid and scrup it using boiling water 3 times. I know 3 times might be a little excessive but it just doesn't take long to do this anyway.

I then smoke it and unlike most I don't lube my Lee molds and they have been doing great. I have had the usual minor problems that can come about with some of the Lee molds but never anything that can't be easily corrected.

When casting I have found the biggest problem I have had is not getting the mold hot enough, it doesn't matter how hot your lead is if your mold is not clean, smoked, and hot enough. A lot of times I won't even try to use the first few castings until I am confident my mold is up to temp.

At least for me anyway a dead giveaway that my mold is not hot enough is when the lead just globs to the top of the sprue. I reserve the right to admit I could be wrong though. :mrgreen:

[KYCaster]

Not all brake cleaners are created equal...some of them don't evaporate completely and leave a residue that's almost as bad as the cutting oil/preservative on the new mold.

After your brake cleaner/gun scrubber finish with a good solvent. I use MEK (PVC pipe primer) cause I always have it on hand. Isopropyl alcohol works too and isn't as toxic as some other solvents.

Jerry

[35remington]

A higher quality, more expensive carb cleaner like GUMOUT has always worked for me in thoroughly degreasing a mould with no bothersome residue. Let it dry, start casting. Easy.

If it works for me, it will work for everyone and anyone else. Whether the mould be aluminum, iron, brass or whatever.

[Bret4207]

I mentioned frosty boolits. I like frosty boolits. I tend to get good fill out and less problems casting HOT and cooling the sprue ala Bruce B. Try it, it works.

[Newtire]

I have had to clean the crap out of the Lee Moulds I've been getting lately it seems. I also found that like someone already mentioned, the brake Kleen pulls out that coolant or whatever it is in the pores of the aluminum and that if you use a q-tip to wipe it off and do it several times, eventually it will start casting great boolits.

It's just that initial break-in that tries your patience. I even boiled this last mould (a RanchDog .35) in soapy water and then clear water for about 15 minutes each way and it still was stubborn about getting the bullets without wrinkles. Now it casts perfect like all the other Lee's I have. I really believe those wrinkles are from contamination. Just keep cleaning it and once it starts casting good, it just keeps on doing it.

Don't give up!

[jhrosier]

PDShooter,
I cast a handfull of wrinkly bullets in my new RanchDog 358-190 mould the other day.
I seems that I got a little too much lube (beeswax) on the alignment pins and it migrated into the cavities. I got to get me some of that bullplate lube one of these days.[smilie=b:
I gave the cavities a good blast of brake cleaner and it settled ddown to making good boolits right away.
I bottom pour with a low enough temperature that touching the sprue plate to the spout will freeze the lead in the spout. With just a trickle of lead to fill the mould and a pour every 20 seconds, I get (nearly all) nicely filled out boolits. I use range scrap that is roughly the same as WW, with about a pound of lino thrown in to every ten pounds. The boolits are water dropped and run well over 20bn. Most of my Lee moulds need just a light tap on the hinge pin to dislodge the boolits, but none have been lapped.
I will be, and have been, the first to criticise the sometimes spotty QC of Lee moulds, however I will admit that they usually work well when they are very lightly smoked and lightly lubed in the right places per the factory instuctions.

Jack

[shooting on a shoestring]

PDShooter, the consensous is clear. I'll decent.

I've bought probably 6 or 7 new Lee moulds and have not cleaned nor smoked any. They all cast great. My cure was to turn up the heat on the lead, cast fast and the do the sprue cooling on a damp cloth (I put a terricloth hand towel in a bread pan about half full of water, as the water gets steamed from the top of the towel, it wicks up water from the bottom). My first sessions usually yeild good boolits after 15 minutes or so of fast and hot casting. The second session goes quicker and after three or four they run great from the fourth or fifth pour.

I too like frosted boolits. They seem to shoot the best.

[DLCTEX]

The last two Lee molds I bought new have been a pain to clean. Brake cleaner, scrub with Bon Ami, boil, Finally just dunked it in the melt and heated it really hot. Took it a while to cool enough to solidify, but no more problems. And yes, they looked just like yours until I got it clean and hot. DALE

[mooman76]

I have at least 30 Lee moulds. I tried smoking a long time ago. It didn't seem to do much for me and I would usually jump into a setion and forget anyway so I left it alone. I've never had to scrub or boil the moulds either in fact a few times I got excited about a new mould and forgot to even clean it and had no problems. I have never had problems getting the bullets to turn out. I've had a few sticky moulds but that's about it. Maybe it's because I started out on Lees and kept with them so many years.

[PDshooter]

Boiled the mold for 1/2hr......Will try again !:redneck:

[Just Duke]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/PDshooter/casting/Casting762X39003.jpgWell I got my mold from lee for my SKS...Tryed everything not make crappy looking bullets.Temp, was around 850 with W/W. Own a H&G68 mold, Lyman, NEI, and now a lee:oops: Never have I had this much trouble with casting. I guess you get what you pay for:cry:
Will send it back Tuesday........Crap can't find the invoice:(

I use MEK to cleaning everything. Send it to me and I'll have a look at it for you. I'll send it back on my tab too. Just want to help out.
I have run 4 to 5000 255 grain Lee 45 Long Colts so far and they all look great.
With all the info I have learned from here I have taken it and ran with it.
I am thinking that the metal flow is to slow. Possibly caused by corrosion in which case drain the pot and clean it including the spout and or don't use Marvelux if you have in the past.

[Tom W.]

Same thing happened to me with my new Ranch Dog mold. I got in a hurry to cast, and got crappy boolits. I stopped, cleaned the mold with an old bore brush, smoked it and the problem went away. My fault for being in a hurry.....

[RSOJim]

Shooting on a Shoestring has it right. Thats what I do. I must have cast a 1000 boolits using lee molds yesterday. Clean your mold. Lead and mold have to be hot. If you are using a lee pot, I usually have my on 9. My Lyman thermometer says 950 degrees. The sprue on a wet towel works good for consistant bases. Brother that is the steering end according to Elmer Keith. thanks Jim

[2muchstuf]

PD,
How many boolits did you cast all together? 2or3 in the pic don't look half bad. I don't see any frosting. Makes me wonder if you just didn't go quite far enough.

I got my first Lee 6 banger two weeks ago.(452-228) Had a terible time with it at first. Not running hot enough. I'm more used to 700-725 . I learned here to go hotter with alum. Never thought I'd have to go to 850. That seemed to be the magic #.
After preheating it takes about 24 through backs to get the mould up to temp, another 24 or so to get frost. Open the mould and they fall right out. 1000 great looking boolits in short order since I figured it out.
I did clean with carb cleaner. I did have to leement, for one sticky cavity.
I smoke with wooden match, lube with BP. This is the best working mould that I own. All others are iorn cept two old RB's that also worked great since the early 80's I didn't know much about temp when I used these regularly, just go hotter till they worked.
I know you too will figure it out. Have a ball.
2

[madsenshooter]

It casts em just like the ones pictured. I've scrubbed the cavity with alcohol, added vent lines, turned up the heat to over 900, set the mold on the pot to heat. Still they're wrinkled. Personally I think it's the alloy they're using. Only paid $14 for this one, I'll never buy another Lee mold! Don't bother suggesting any other fixes, it fell into the the trash and the truck ran today! Good riddance to a bad product! I got the mold off their closeout page, and they had 20 more, since I didn't note anything else wrong, that makes me wonder about the alloy it's made from. I'm was using a 2.4, 5.2, 92.4 ,1.1 alloy (Sn, Sb, Pb, As) that casts great in brass or steel molds. Anyway, it's gone....

[PDshooter]

PD,
How many boolits did you cast all together

I have a 2 cavity mold,
1 H&G68........6Cavity:drinks:
1 Lyman
1 NEI
And now a lee

[docone31]

I LeeMented my mold that did that. I don't know if it helped, but after I was done, I got some beautiful castings.
With a bottom pour pot, The mold has to be hot, and the flow flowing.
I set my mold into the melt in the pot, untill the lead falls off it, then cast fast untill I get what I want.
I had a larger .303 mold, that cast crap like that untill I LeeMented it. I cast a casting through a 1/4-20 nut, let it cool down, then smeared fine lapping compound and turned it in the cavities of the mold.
No problems after that.

[Newtire]

I cast a casting through a 1/4-20 nut, let it cool down, then smeared fine lapping compound and turned it in the cavities of the mold.
No problems after that.

That's brilliant docone!

[madsenshooter]

I beat the trash truck and recovered the mold. Turned the heat up all the way on my melter and sat the corner of the mold in the melt. Had a melt then, but came back a couple hours later and had solid. Guess the element burnt out since there's juice to the plug, but no heat if wired direct to the element. There's some darkened areas inside the mold cavity, so whatever that penetrating stuff is must've gotten burned out before the element went. That crap must really penetrate, I used a propane torch on the cavity before I tried any casting. I thinkj I got 3 or 4 acceptable bullets out of perhaps 150 tried! Won't know for awhile if all the crap's burnt out, got to go order an element now, that will make my pot almost totally rebuilt.

[Snapping Twig]

I had the same problem with the same mould, so I set it down and came back to it another day. I cleaned the crap out of it and turned up the heat. Result...

Perfect boolits.

Wrinkly boolits mean dirty mould.

[madsenshooter]

I got the pot going again, and baking "whatever it is" out of the cavity did the trick, got a bunch of them to play with now! Sure is a pain to get the mold to close after dropping a bullet, but I can deal with it Another fellow posted a pic of this bullet, it has a very different ogive than my closeout mold.