lee 6 cav 230 grain mould issues

[par0thead151]

I am having trouble with my lee 6 cav aluminum mould sticking. it is as if the alignment nubs on the side farthest from the handles has a hard time closing and it "sticks" when opening.
i can make boolits with it, however this is slowing down production.
I looked to see if it was lead or something in the hole, but nothing seemed out of place when i inspected it.
what else could cause this?
thanks

[d_striker]

Did you lube your alignment pins

[fredj338]

Did you lube your alignment pins
THis is very important or you'll eventually damage the mold.

[par0thead151]

what type of lube do you recommend?
i have yet to lube them, however i have only cast a few hundred maybe a thousand at most, boolits...

[xd shooter]

Antiseze

[arcticbreeze]

I am having trouble with my lee 6 cav aluminum mould sticking. it is as if the alignment nubs on the side farthest from the handles has a hard time closing and it "sticks" when opening.
i can make boolits with it, however this is slowing down production.
I looked to see if it was lead or something in the hole, but nothing seemed out of place when i inspected it.
what else could cause this?
thanks

I had the same problem with my latest Lee six cav mold. I took a magnifying glass and could visibly see machine marks on the female bussing. I took a small round file and very very lightly deburred it. I than too some 320 grit sand paper, rolled it tightly and polished it. No more problem.

[243winxb]

Aluminum molds require occasional lubrication. A technique that works well is to have a glob of hard, stick-type bullet lube (like Lee #90007, but any alox/beeswax lube will work) about the size of a .45 slug rolled into a football; when the mold gets hot, touch one end to the aligning grooves along the sides of the mold block, on the underside of the sprue plate, and on the steel pins along the bottom of the mold block. Use sparingly, as if any gets into the mold cavity it will cause wrinkled bullets.

Lack of lubrication will cause the mold blocks to mis-align, or the sprue plate to gall the top surface of the mold.

[earplug]

My alignment pin was getting pushed inside its hole.
This caused the blocks to bind. I just pushed it back out and restaked it.

Did cause a slight burr on the female side. I used a sharp tool to remove the burr.
My 230 grain mold is one of my favorites.

[Timberland]

My lee does this even with grafite spray lube, (two cavity btw)

[Shiloh]

Did you lube your alignment pins

+1

Shiloh

[Cloudpeak]

Bullshop Sprue plate lube works great for lubing pins and, of course, sprue plates. A little bottle will last a long time.

http://bullshop.gunloads.com/new%20bullshop__3_008.htm

[Crash_Corrigan]

What he said. I had a lee 6 banger in .45 colt that threw a 255 gr boolit. It sucksed. I Leemented it and used Bullshop Sprue Plate Lube and followed the directtions and it is the best mold I have now. I generally dip the end of the mold into the pot for a full 30 seconds or so at the beginning and I get good casts from the get go.

Using a big plate full of cold water, a sponge and a small turkish towel{ Thanks Bruce B} I cool off the mold as needed and cast semimolten boolits into cold water at the rate of 24 to 30 boolits a minute.

Those short and fat boolits do no slump. However with a longer 30 cal rifle boolits I slow down a bunch cuz they will bend like a pretzel.