Houston, we have a problem!

[bigarm]

And I need help! I was casting today and on my third pot of 45 acp I noticed there was a small crack between the mould sides. I then looked and the bullets had, for lack of better terms, wings on them. Obviously the mould was not closing completely. I then looked and there is lead on the inside of the mould plates which I assume is keeping the mould from closing. I have 2 questions: First, how do I remove this to fix this problem? (It is a Hardline mould so I don't want to trash it). Secondly, what did I do to cause this in the first place? I think it is pretty obvious it is user error. I went to my 40/10 mm mould to work some more and then found the same thing happening to it. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Next problem, similar but slightly different, is that I have lead in the bolt heads. How do I get this out? I asked this before and thought I was told to heat it and melt it out. I tried and that did not work. Thanks again.

[TXGunNut]

If your moulds won't close it's generally because you opened it over the pot and a bit splashed up and lodged on one of the mould faces. I keep a wooden chopstick around for just such an emergency. If that's not the case one of your alignment pins may have backed out, fixes for that vary with pin/mould types.

[sdcitizen]

I usually just very carefully pick the tiny spatters of lead out of the vent faces with a razor knife. It happens from time to time. If the mold is hot a piece of wood works great.

[smoked turkey]

bigarm mold halves not coming fully together even when new is not all that uncommon. Thankfully it is an easy fix. So after you "get the lead out" so to speak you should close the mold blocks fully just as you would do when casting, hold the mold up to a good bright light and with the sprue plate open look to the bottom of the mold through the boolit cavities. If the alignment pins are set too long they will keep the mold blocks from coming fully together and you will see a slight bit of light where the blocks come together. I remove the mold blocks from the handles and place the mold half with the pins up on a very solid support. I use a piece of steel with a small hole drilled in it and I carefully place the pin to be set deeper over the hole so it can pass slightly out of the mold block if need be. I use a brass punch and a ball peen hammer to hit the pin so as to set it a little deeper in the mold block. It doesn't take a very hard hit to move it slightly. So go easy. Do the other pin and then place the blocks together and try the light trick again. after a couple of tries you will find the mold will fully close and as long as you keep a tight grip on the handles when casting you will have eliminated a source of what you described as finning of the lead where the blocks come together. Whew it took me longer to say it than it will you to do it! Good luck with your future casting.

[.22-10-45]

A hard lead drafting pencil also works ..I have made up copper scrapers from flat stock files to sharp egde for this also...Do not ignore these spatters..closing hard on them can leave a depression in mold face on iron moulds..not to mention aluminum or brass.

[runfiverun]

good answers.
quite often the corner of an ingot will remove the lead too.

when the mold is hot I just wipe the excess lead off with a shop rag.
in your case I would follow smoked turkeys advice on the pins.
you may have to remove the sprue plate to get the lead off of those areas.

[Hardline]

Hi,

A razor blade used carefully works well. Just keep it away from the cavities because you can nick them with it. There are also two other ways that we prefer. The first is using the edge of the base on a cast bullet to scrape it off. This get's the lead off the face of the mold almost every time. It doesn't get the lead out of the vent lines though which is important to keep the bullets filling out. For this we recommend stripping a piece of 12 or 14 gauge solid core copper wire. Cut it with a wire cutters such that you get a sharp edge similar to a razor blade for scraping lead out. The copper in our opinion works better then a razor blade because you don't have to worry about slipping and damaging the mold, so you can be quicker and more aggressive. Copper is so much softer then cast iron that it won't scratch the mold. Feel free to try scratching the back side of the mold with the wire to verify it if you're nervous.

Do not touch the alignment pins with out contacting us. We would prefer to have you send the mold back so we can reset them if they ever need to be. We use a very tight press fit and the pins seize in place after the first heat cycle. It takes a 2 ton arbor press, a good deal of force, and the correct tools to break them free and reset them. It is almost certain you will damage the pins if you try with a hammer or incorrect tools. If you have an arbor press and a good feel for pressing parts we are more then happy to walk you through how to do it. If the pins are ever damaged they can be replaced, but they are hardened so as long as you care for them they shouldn't wear out. We have never had a customer with a pin that's moved to this point so dirt on the pins or mold is most likely the problem. Scotch bright and solvent on the face of the molds and pins works well to clean them after you get the lead off. Stay away from inside the cavities with the scotch bright because scotch bright will round the corners over enough time.

Thanks,
Hardline

[bigarm]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am going out of town for a 3 gun shoot in a couple of days and have things that have to get done before them so I may not get to it until after I come back. However, at that time I will need to get it done as I will need bullets for competition.

Hardline- I will try your suggestions. If I can't get it fixed I will probably give you a call. Thanks

[runfiverun]

woo hoo.
that's good customer service right there.

[bhn22]

woo hoo.
that's good customer service right there.

That it is.

[NLS1]

Gonna have to check out Hardline, with customer service like that....cool.

Dan

[bigarm]

Life got in my way for a while. Finally got out to the shop and took the moulds out to try to clean off the lead. I was skeptical that I could do it which is maybe part of the reason to put it off. I could not believe how much lead came off by just rubbing a cast bullet across the lead! Then I took a piece of wire as suggested above and was able to remove the rest, I think or at least most of it. My wife is in town and will bring home a scotch brite pad and I will use acetone and the pad to finish the work. Hopefully that will do it and I can get back to casting as I need both 45 acp and 40 for our shoots. Of course, before I can finish the moulds I have to finish fixing the tractor which is why she went in town in the first place to get the parts I needed for it.

[runfiverun]

go easy , super easy with that scotch brite pad.

[dkf]

It seems easier for me to get stuck lead off a mold with a bullet if I let some hoppes #9 soak on it for a little while. I just soak a q tip with hoppes and wet the lead good.

[leadman]

Scotch Brite pads do have an abrasive on them so very similar to a piece of sandpaper. I smoke some of my molds for 2 reasons: the boolits are oil wrinkled and smoke on the faces also helps prevent the lead from sticking. Just don't get it too thick.
Some molds have pins that need to be relubed after casting for awhile. Don't know about Hardline but Lyman fall in this group along with the Lee molds.

[Patrick56]

bigarm mold halves not coming fully together even when new is not all that uncommon. Thankfully it is an easy fix. So after you "get the lead out" so to speak you should close the mold blocks fully just as you would do when casting, hold the mold up to a good bright light and with the sprue plate open look to the bottom of the mold through the boolit cavities. If the alignment pins are set too long they will keep the mold blocks from coming fully together and you will see a slight bit of light where the blocks come together. I remove the mold blocks from the handles and place the mold half with the pins up on a very solid support. I use a piece of steel with a small hole drilled in it and I carefully place the pin to be set deeper over the hole so it can pass slightly out of the mold block if need be. I use a brass punch and a ball peen hammer to hit the pin so as to set it a little deeper in the mold block. It doesn't take a very hard hit to move it slightly. So go easy. Do the other pin and then place the blocks together and try the light trick again. after a couple of tries you will find the mold will fully close and as long as you keep a tight grip on the handles when casting you will have eliminated a source of what you described as finning of the lead where the blocks come together. Whew it took me longer to say it than it will you to do it! Good luck with your future casting.

I have some problems with a Lee dual cavity mold also. It seems that the aligning pins are not working properly. It slows down the casting as you have check the mold visually each time and knock the halves in right position. Have to try your solution.

[bigarm]

Well I used non abrasive Scotch Brite pads and did not do a lot with them and nothing in the cavities. The moulds look much better, but we will see when I use them again.

[bigarm]

Used the moulds today and they worked good. I am pleased with that. One of them I can't keep the sprue plate as tight as I would like. I tighten the screw but it just loosens up right away. Is that a special washer on the screw? If so, what kind and size and can I get them at the local Ace?

[Hardline]

There's a disc spring on top which lets you adjust tension on the sprue plate. They're special order, but we can send you more if yours wore out. Also make sure the set screw on the side is real tight. The piece of copper wire between the sprue plate screw and set screw protect the threads and should be replaced if it's missing.

[bigarm]

There's a disc spring on top which lets you adjust tension on the sprue plate. They're special order, but we can send you more if yours wore out. Also make sure the set screw on the side is real tight. The piece of copper wire between the sprue plate screw and set screw protect the threads and should be replaced if it's missing.

I will have to check on that. I didn't notice a copper wire between the sprue plate screw and the set screw and check if the set screw on the side is tight. Thanks