Sunbeam
40 Cal
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2019
- Messages
- 121
- Reaction score
- 27
Hi,
Question from the UK.
I have been casting my own soft lead balls for a few months now (I'm new to BP shooting about a year) and have so far had very good results with the two Lee moulds I have. However, my two nice shiny new moulds now look like 30 year old roasting trays with lots of burnt on carbon.
The way I started my moulds from new was to smoke them with a match to carbon the inside and then once up to temp put a 'touch' of beeswax onto the pivot, and I mean a 'touch' just enough to allow the the bolt to be lubed.
However, after casting sessions of about 1500 balls each over three goes per mould, the moulds have baked on carbon and they look well used. The moulds are in great shape and are NOT galled up and produce a beautiful casting. I don't seem to be able to use an oven cleaner on alloy and the carbon does not to shift with any cleaner I've used. Could I use an ultra sonic cleaner with dish soap??
Is this normal or am I abusing my moulds?
I have new 457 mould coming in the next 24 hours for my Ruger Old Army and would like to keep it cleaner than my other two 'new' moulds.
Thanks for any help.
Question from the UK.
I have been casting my own soft lead balls for a few months now (I'm new to BP shooting about a year) and have so far had very good results with the two Lee moulds I have. However, my two nice shiny new moulds now look like 30 year old roasting trays with lots of burnt on carbon.
The way I started my moulds from new was to smoke them with a match to carbon the inside and then once up to temp put a 'touch' of beeswax onto the pivot, and I mean a 'touch' just enough to allow the the bolt to be lubed.
However, after casting sessions of about 1500 balls each over three goes per mould, the moulds have baked on carbon and they look well used. The moulds are in great shape and are NOT galled up and produce a beautiful casting. I don't seem to be able to use an oven cleaner on alloy and the carbon does not to shift with any cleaner I've used. Could I use an ultra sonic cleaner with dish soap??
Is this normal or am I abusing my moulds?
I have new 457 mould coming in the next 24 hours for my Ruger Old Army and would like to keep it cleaner than my other two 'new' moulds.
Thanks for any help.