Is it possible to wear out a mold?

[15meter]

As the question asks, is it possible through normal hand casting use wear out a mold.

If so, where are the wear points.

Any material less prone?

I've seen references to worn out lee molds with out a definite reason for them to be declared "worn out".

Just curious, I don't have any that have any appearance of wearing out.

The thought occurred to me when I crossed the 2500 cast boolit line in a NOE mold for the 30 Carbine.

[country gent]

Pins and sockets will eventually wear. The hinges on the handles wear. the old lee moulds with the bars for alignment the bars would wear with no real means of adjusting. sprue plates can wear at the pivot and wear the tops of blocks.

Aluminum is the fastest to wear steel pins wear the sockets . while you can adjust them at some point the mould starts sticking.
brass is next fastest at the same points
cast iron is the slowest wearing do to its hardness and carbon content.

But all said If you manage to wear out a mould from actual wear, not abuse then youve accomplished something

[SiliconeSword]

I've worn out a .395 Lee round ball mold by maybe casting too cold or something as over the years the sharp top areas of the sprue area on the blocks got widened and dulled. That's only a round ball issue though as the sprue plate hole was the same size as the mold hole whereas most other molds the mold isn't involved in any cutting or shearing action. I also used it a TON.
Other mold was a Lee .309-230 that the sprue plate screw stripped out on. I'm thinking 2-5k bullets from it and it'd just get loose and I'd tighten it now and again, eventually wearing out the threads. I probably got it too hot and beat it too hard from sticky boolits. I got another and have drilled and tapped the block for a set screw that keeps the sprue plate screw from turning which NOE, MP, and Accurate all do to theirs.
I have a hard time imagining wearing out a 6 cavity if it has the lever style sprue handle as I think the banging is what kills molds

[35 Rem]

I have a Lee 2 cavity 44 cal 255gr SWC that I need to look at again regarding this. I used it in college to sell bullets to a local shooting range to fund my reloading habit. They bought my bullets at $22/1,000 and I cast a lot of thousand batches. No idea how many. The cavities don't line up as easily as they once did but before I declare it worn out, I need to really take a good look at it. It's more like I lost interest in it and started using other bullets in 44 caliber really. A good cleaning would probably have it up and running as good as ever. This mold was discontinued years ago by the way. I bought it around 1978 or 79.

[Larry Gibson]

While theoretically possible you might wear out a mould. However, if proper use and care is taken, they will last for as long as you will use them in a life time. On the other hand, I have seen many moulds destroyed by improper use. Mostly from whacking to much or too hard on the sprue plate and from improper maintenance, i.e. letting them rust among other things.

I still have moulds [Lyman/Ideal iron and Lee aluminum block] moulds I got back in the '60s and '70s that are in as good a shape as when new or when I got them.

[405grain]

I only have one mold that shows any sign of wear. Its an RCBS 44 caliber SWC mold, and there is some wear on the top of the mold block around the sprue plate pivot. I've been using this mold for 43 years, and even with those wear marks on the top of the mold block it's still completely usable and still casts perfect bullets. This is the only mold out of dozens that has any wear on it at all, and it's still in service (and likely will be for longer than I am).

[john.k]

Seen a few wrecked molds ......power wire brushing, scraping out with a knife point or screwdriver point , rust and neglect , and using a hammer to open the sprue when the alloy is hard .....rust being the most common.

[Soundguy]

As the question asks, is it possible through normal hand casting use wear out a mold.

If so, where are the wear points.

Any material less prone?

I've seen references to worn out lee molds with out a definite reason for them to be declared "worn out".

Just curious, I don't have any that have any appearance of wearing out.

The thought occurred to me when I crossed the 2500 cast boolit line in a NOE mold for the 30 Carbine.

You can, but it takes a long time.And many many thousands of bullets. i have an old lee single cavity forty five caliber aluminum mold.. it's had a replacement sprew plate put on.. In repairs done to the handles.. it was quite old when I got it.And i've put it through its paces.. some of its lines are starting to round a little bit.. in the crosshatching, on the mold faces is barely visible. sometimes, if you don't hold it tight, you get a little bit of finning.. Nothing bad something you can scratch off with a fingernail or a blade.What we're just hold it tight enough.And it doesn't do it. i wouldn't say it's worn out yet.But it's definitely worn. i also have two quite old scissor molds for round ball.. they still cast.. But I would guess there fifty to seventy five years old.Based on the person, I got them from who had them, and used them in the seventies as he remembers.. And probably, picked up in the 40-50's

[barnabus]

if its a lee mold count on it

[Soundguy]

probably 80 of my molds are lee.. some of them multi.owners.. lots of use..all still make good bullets.. if you take care of your gear it will last. If you don't take care of your gear as well, then more economy gear will fail. Faster, but if you use just a little bit of care, even economy gear will last. people that constantly break lee gear.Well, that tells me a little bit about their habits and mechanical ability.

[flatnose]

i have an Accurate mold that has 20,000 boolits cast through it. I just opened the 21st box of gas checks and the mold is still making perfect bullets. i suppose i could wear it out but it looks like I might go first.

[walnut1704]

You'll probably wear the gun out first.

[rintinglen]

Abuse kills molds, not regular use. However, commercial use is another matter. When your Master caster is cranking out several hundred pounds a day, weeks at a time, molds can and do wear. But that is not really an issue for most of us.

[john.k]

One of my first molds was an old Winchester 32-40 mold......the blocks were out of alignment by at least 1/16'' ,and bullets had a step in the nose..I never had any proper molds until one of the big inner city gun shops closed down , and I bought probably 20 Lyman and RCBS cast iron molds for a few dollars each

[Rich/WIS]

Did wear out a Lee 6 cavity and after several rebuilds decided to replace it with a new one. Figured about 45K on the first one so got my moneys worth.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I wonder how many bullets were cast by how many casters using a "Geo. A Hensley" 38 WC mold I have? Judging by how it's marked it was made in 1934 or 1935. At least one caster seemingly used a hammer on the sprue plate, judging how it is peened...But still casts great bullets, and NOT worn out.

https://www.artfulbullet.com/index.p...5/#post-136520

[Eddie Southgate]

I would never say you cant but I will say I have any number that are well over 100 years old that are not worn out yet. I have had to adjust a couple over the years but after that they work the same as they always did . Lee molds ? I have no idea but I have a few that have been heavily used and so far still work fine . Some of them are over 50 years old.

[15meter]

I was just curious.

I have an old Lyman mold that appears to have be beaten repeatedly with a steel hammer, the exterior is all dinged up, but casts nice boolits. I've had the mold for probably 15 years, it looks atrocious but does what it's supposed to do. I don't have a clue why it was beaten that much. I haven't cast with it in a number of years, I came up with the mold # but 4 cavity instead of 2 and kind of retired the 2 cavity mold. I don't recall it dropping boolits hard enough to require the hammer technique of boolit removal.