bullet casting, mold question

[DavidAGO]

I am gong to go back into casting. I have read the later threads on casting, but have not seen this point addresssed. I like the Lee molds, and will probably try the tumble lube molds, at least in .38/.357. Who uses the 6 cavity molds and do you have any problem with hot or cold spots with a mold that size? I like the idea of six at at time, but not unless I can be assured that all will turn out. Thanks in advance.

DavidAGO

[putteral]

Just make sure the lead is hot enough and you will not have any problems. 700 degrees is about right. Don't forget to preheat the mold also.

[snuffy]

Just make sure the lead is hot enough and you will not have any problems. 700 degrees is about right. Don't forget to preheat the mold also.

+++1 on the pre-heat. The lee 6 cavity molds have a different sprue plate than other molds. It has a separate handle that cams off the side of the mold. If you cast into a cold mold, you will NOT be able to shear the sprues, remember that's 6 sprues you're trying to shear at one time.

Otherwise, they're the best of the lee line of molds. Made to a higher quality level than the 1- or 2 cavs. I have 4 of them, all work as expected. One is a TL mold for 125 9mm TC boolits. You can cast a pile of them in 1 hour! They're used in my 357 sig loads.

I run mine at 750 for wheel weights, The smaller boolits need more heat to keep those big blocks hot enough.

[Oberg]

not to hijack this thread but it does go with what is talked about. How do you preheat the molds?

[rwilson452]

I just set mine on top of the pot until it's hot enough.

not to hijack this thread but it does go with what is talked about. How do you preheat the molds?

[NuJudge]

Don't overdo pre-heating. Worry more about getting your mold de-oiled. I use Brake cleaner. For pre-heating, you can just cast lots of bullets and it will heat up soon enough, except when you are dealing with little .380 bullets. Setting your mold on top of the furnace for awhile is another way.

Aluminum molds are sometimes difficult. Try them first with no pre-treatment. If you are having trouble with fill-out, try some mold spray or play the flame from a match over the mold cavities. Try getting your Lead hotter. Try a little more Tin.

If your Lead gets up in the 900 F area, you will have Lead vapor forming, which is really bad, so don't get your Lead that hot.

I cast with really hot melted Wheelweights, about 700 F or 750 F, which has a little more Tin added. I've never noticed hot spots on my molds.

Worry about how you are going to handle all those bullets. I just drop all of them into a 5-gallon bucket of water; given the alloy I use this gives me a really hard bullet, and they do not ding each other.

Do not worry about your bullets being frosted.

[snuffy]

Here's a 6 cav lee in 250 SWC 44 mold.



with the sprue plate opened;




That sprue plate is Aluminum, if the mold is NOT preheated to casting temp,(about 500 degrees), you WILL damage the sprue plate or the mold trying to cut those sprues. ASK ME HOW I KNOW!

I use a propane camp stove that sits on top of a short fat propane bottle. I suppose it could be used for backpacking, I wouldn't know!:barf: A couple minutes on there, it's plenty hot! If using the corner-in-the-melted lead method, you'll have to stand there for 5 minutes while those big blocks get hot enough.