New Lee slug mold not dropping

[cheese1566]

Tried out my new Lee 1 ounce slug mold. The outer halves seperate great, but getting it off the center pin is something else! Must use some pliers to wiggle it off. (Only did that a couple times as I am sure the alum pin is going to seperate off the bottom shoe if I keep that up.) Using soft lead and higher temps. Mold not up to temp as the outer surface has some wrinkles. Tried smoking the center pin heavily. No luck.

Must be a burr edge on the cut channel of the center pin. Try a triangle file? or v-shaped wet/dry paper?

<I'll return it to Cabelas of needed (will probably get another doing the same...) and will send it back to Lee as a last resort. I expect to do some tweaking and fine tuning on a new Lee mold in certain cirumstances. If it was a major problem in workmanship, it would be enroute, but then I won't pay $10 shipping for a $18 mold.>

I think this is minor and needs fine tuning. Anyone have the same experience?

Let the fun continue!!

[Dale53]

I have used Rapine or NEI mould release on a stubborn hollow point or hollow base pin. This works extremely well unless there is a mechanical problem (ridge or something that "locks" the bullet on). You might try it and see how it works.

Dale53

[jonblack]

I had a lot of problems with my LEE 1 oz. slug mold. I recall having the first few I cast stick to the centering pin. I think it was because I wasn't running the mold hot enough. I can cast them now and the slugs will release with a slight bump of the mold. I think I run pure lead about 750°.

Try to run hotter melt, and make sure to get your mold good and hot. See if that helps

jonblack

[JIMinPHX]

I had the exact same experience. I did my rough work on the center pin burrs with a jeweler's file. I did the finish work with 400-grit wet dry paper (using it wet). A good heavy smoke job after that seemed to make it better, but still not great. Sometimes polishing the mold up with Simichrome helps too. I'm probably going to try that trick next.

With pure lead, you need to run your pot extra hot. I didn't get rid of the wrinkles until I got up around 800-850F.

The good news is that I was able to use the wrinkled slugs for practice shells & they still worked pretty well. This morning I was able to hit gallon jugs at 40 yards out of a smooth cylinder bore.

This was my first time ever loading shotshells. You can see the results of my fun & games here - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=86712
and here - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=88327

Casting good slugs turned out to be the easiest part of the whole ordeal for me. I'm happy with what I finally ended up with though.

The pink Winchester WAA12SL wads are working well for my dainty 1,000fps loads, but they get crumbled up pretty completely in the process. If you plan to use heavy loads, I would look for a stronger wad. The loading data that comes with the mold is a little on the hot side in my opinion.