Balky Lee mold

[singleshotbuff]

Gentlemen,

I am new to this board, although not entirely new to the art of casting. I thought I might trouble you with a question before I return a balky mold for replacement.

I have used a few Lee molds in the past with success, mostly tumble lube designs. Last week I bought a Lee 356-102 (?) RN mold from Midway to make bullets for my 380 ACP. This is a 2 cavity mold that drops a 106gr (from my alloy) bullet with a lube groove.

After cleaning it with carb cleaner and casting about 50 bullets, I found that the sprue plate is bent (?) up a bit allowing the forward cavity to make bullets with "wings" on the bases. The rear cavity makes nice bullets, and it casts easily.

Is there a way to tune this mold short of sending it back to Lee? I just don't want to wait to make my bullets now that I have my mold. Plus the rear cavity does make good bullets.

Thanks for all input. Having lurked here for awhile and learned a lot, I love this forum.

SSB

[454PB]

I think I'd try bending it back to proper position.

[waksupi]

For flattening metal, a good method is to first, find a good, flat surfaced anvil. Then, get a wooden mallet, and cover the face with leather. Put the item you want flattened on the anvil, and give it a gentle working over. It will be flat when you are done, as opposed to doing it with a steel hammer.

[Bullshop]

Are ya shure its bent? Every Lee mold I have ever had (many) has had the sprue plate pivot screw way too tight. This will cause the farthest end away from the screw to pick up a bit from the top of the blocks. It just might be that all you have to do is loosen the pivot screw a tad and the plate will lay down nice and perty. Give it a try. Thats what I do to every new Lee mold I get.
BIC/BS

[singleshotbuff]

Bullshop,

You were right! The sprue plate pivot screw was so tight that I had to clamp the mold in my bench vise and loosen it with a drill, almost stripped the head out on it.. I cast a few test bullets tonight and it seemed to help. However, there is a fine line between loose enough and too loose. To cast decent bases I have to loosen the screw to the point that the sprue plate will swing free, which causes a problem when casting. If I tighten it just enough to hold the plate closed, it smears bases in the forward cavity. The mold blocks don't like to line up without help too. This is the worst mold I have gotten fom Lee so far. I may return it, but the bullets it does cast are great and drop from the mold very easily. Not sure yet what I'm gonna do, will sit on it for a couple of days and then decide.

SSB

[Bullshop]

Singleshotbuff
I think Bull Plate lube will smooth out those problems for ya. Put it on the bottom of the plate, tops of blocks, and all alignment surfaces and you should be good to go. It will eliminate galling of the alignment surfacess and allow the block faces to align and It will allow you to go very fast cutting sprues while still soft and keeping the mold hot.
I think it will be the cure for your other mold as well. The trick with WW metal is not to increase the heat of the alloy but the temp of the mold by increasing the casting rate and that is what Bull Plate allows you to do. I get best results with straight WW at 625 to 650 , casting fast at 4 to 5 casts per minute with a double cav 30 cal. Hope this gets ya lined out.
BIC/BS

[454PB]

All the Lee moulds I own have the same self locking set screw on the sprue plate. Lee used something akin to a self tapping screw that seems to be designed to lock in place. Once removed or loosened, they can be troublesome. If you want to get fancy, you can replace it with a longer screw by re- tapping.

Another method I've used to handle the misalignment is a rythym of tapping the bottom of the blocks lightly as I close them for the next cast. I've learned that the recommended lubing of the alignment mechanisms only has to be done every 300 to 400 cycles by using this method. The less these blocks are lubed, the less chance of oil inside the cavities. Bullshop's lube may be a very good solution to these problems, I haven't yet tried it.