New Lee Mold 358-200-RF!

[Maximumbob54]

Found a cheap double boiler pot I don't use anymore. Boiled the mold blocks for half an hour. I didn't see an oil sheen on the water or anything but once the blocks air dried for a few minutes there were discolorations in the aluminum. Small spots that don't wipe off are all over the blocks. I have a water softener so it could be the slight salt content in the water but I'm not sure. Going to try the mold again.

I have to say I didn't mean to make such an epic thread drift. At least it's about the subject mold.

[RBHarter]

My tap water is awful here , it is somewhere between salty and briney any given day with chlorine spikes that make your eyes water .

The suggestion of the dishwasher was for the hot water and drying cycle. I can't imagine that the anti-spotting agents would be good for the moulds .

I've had moulds that just wouldn't cooperate the first few sessions then boom perfect with only operator issues . As a result part of my prep is to heat cycle them 3-4 times now before I ever take them to the bench . The last mould I bought new I scrubbed up with some Dawn on a tooth brush ,about 7-10 passes in each cavity in each half and rinse in 120 degree water ,pat dry let cool, put it on the stove (electric) at a 3 of 10 for about 5 min shut it off for 30 min . If there is any discoloration in the cavities I scrub it again if not I repeat the heat cool cycles a couple of more times and go cast boolits .

[Maximumbob54]

In the middle of casting right now. Adding fresh lead as I type. As long as the mold is up to temp and the lead is as well then it's dropping perfect bullets. I may just be boiling a stack of molds in the future.

[Maximumbob54]

Kept allowing the mold to get too hot so unintended frosty bullets but a bowl of goodies that cast mostly just fine.

[Ranch Dog]

In the middle of casting right now. Adding fresh lead as I type. As long as the mold is up to temp and the lead is as well then it's dropping perfect bullets. I may just be boiling a stack of molds in the future.

Good deal!

[62chevy]

Kept allowing the mold to get too hot so unintended frosty bullets but a bowl of goodies that cast mostly just fine.

Those look like keepers to me.

[Ranch Dog]

Looks good! How are you going to lube them or are you going to paint them?

I'm curious of the alloy (mix) and treatment (air dry or water quench)? These are questions with your post on the Rossi Rifleman in mind for use as a R92 hunting bullet.

[Maximumbob54]

I combined the two posts from Rossi-Rifleman and Lee Loader for anyone that may be missing one or the other:

Looks good! How are you going to lube them or are you going to paint them?

I'm curious of the alloy (mix) and treatment (air dry or water quench)? These are questions with your post on the Rossi Rifleman in mind for use as a R92 hunting bullet.

I'm sorely tempted by that LilGun load. My Lee clone is 200gr while the RD is 188-190gr. Would I be able to back off .5gr from the QL starter of 15gr for a starter?

The first thing is to know something about the bullet:

1. What is the actual weight of the bullet with the gas check?
2. What is the OAL of the bullet?
3. What is the nose length? This is the length from the flat of the nose to the forward edge of crimp groove.
4. Finally, do you have both 357 Mag & 38 Spl brass?

I did a batch of both. Some are tumble lubed in White Label Lube's 45/45/10 mix and some are coated in satin battleship gray Klass Kote. Both wear an aluminum Sage's gas checks. The alloy comes from Roto Metals and is their Lyman #2 mix. These are air cooled but I could reheat them and water quench some of them to see any difference. I assume the tumble lube would need to redone but a nice bonus to PC or KK is that stuff is hard to mess up once it's cured right.

Tumble lube bullet:


Klass Kote bullet:


OAL:


Nose length:


I have both .38 and .357 brass but the R92 won't feed with the .357 brass since the nose is so long. With .38 brass it's almost perfect. I did have a friend show me a while back that carbon residue that remains in the case somehow lowers the velocity on reloads.

I did a back to back of citric acid soaking and then walnut tumble media and it cleans to darn near new again:


Curious but Sage is either down right now or no more. Their website isn't loading for me:

http://www.sagesoutdoors.com/

I tried to add anything I could think of but lease let me know if I missed anything.

[Missionary]

Greetings
Been using Dawn and hot water for years to de-grease molds after my storage treatment. Did not know about Dawn Ultra ! Maybe even my hands will finally get clean.
My son ordered one of the Blems at KYguns . I think this is the mold he should break in that barrel with.
Mike in Peru