429303 questions

[Guesser]

I had not cast with this mold this century and had only used it to cast a few hundred last century. It was made in 1995 as a reintroduction; good mold, round boolits, correct size with AC/WW's, good tight GC shank fit. Boolits sized, lubed and checked weigh a uniform 215 grains and shoot very well. Now to my perception of a problem:
They are difficult to get released from the mold, I suspect because of the large, deep lube grooves and shoulders. Has anyone lapped one of these? Will it help? Is it worth the effort or will it degrade the quality of the boolits?
I ask because of the depth of the grooves.

[Ben]

I've lapped many bullet molds , both Aluminum and iron molds. I've never harmed one, I've never regretted lapping a mold.

You can ruin a mold by trying to enlarge it, but a minor lapping to get the bullet(s) to release better should not cause any type of problem.

[Edubya]

Have you ever used Kroil? I had a mould that wouldn't drop easily and after trying several things (not lapping, though) I soaked it down with Kroil, let it sit overnight and cleaned it real good and tried it again. I cast over 300 boolits with that one and it never hesitated, I've since used Kroil on every mould that I have,
EW

[Guesser]

I've lapped several of my Lyman and Ideal molds and it helped dropout tremendously, but this one has me being cautious due to the very deep lube grooves.
Ben- have you lapped this particular #?

[Poygan]

I have also had difficulties with this mold. I do think the problem is the deep lube grooves. I've had somewhat better success using pure lead for the increased shrinkage. The boolits worked quite well with no leading with a gas check - don't recall the load right off hand.

[BarryinIN]

This mould was killing me. I got one in SC last summer and hated using it. I doubt I casted 100 bullets from it because the bullets were so hard to release. It was hard just to open the handles. Preliminary testing with a Ruger 77/44 showed it might shoot OK, but I hated using it so much that I couldn;t cast up a bunch to try more.

Then I tried it again recently, and learned the trick.
At least it was a trick to me; the technique is probably old news to everyone else.

I have a small lead hammer I use to strike the sprue plate, and usually keep it in one hand when casting. I was casting away one day- pour, cool, strike the plate, open, tap the handle pivot if needed, close, repeat, switch moulds now and then, repeat, etc. I was cranking along doing these steps when I picked up the 429303...then got out of sequence or the hammer slipped or something.
I poured, cooled, struck the sprue plate, and tapped the handle joint before opening.
It opened right up, and the bullet fell right out.

I think I got hit by a ray of sunlight and heard the hallelujah choir sing.

I tried it again. After swinging the sprue plate open, I gave the handle joint a tap- a light tap- while holding pressure against the handles with my fingertips as if trying to open it. Again, as soon as I tapped, the mould flicked open from my fingers and the bullet fell out.
I kept doing it, and never did have to fight with another stuck bullet that day. I actually enjoyed using the thing, and got more bullets from it that day than I had total before. I'm looking forward to using it again.

You never know.

[Hardcast416taylor]

BarryinIn, You have seen the Light! I simply say that a light bulb just went on over my head.Robert