New to casting

[The Lord Flashheart]

I've happened on a job lot of bullet casting bits from a retiring gun club member.

The bits were all rather old, dirty and rusty not having been used for what appears to be quite some time.

Can't complain as it was free. :)

I got a RCBS lube-a-matic ( great name... ), a Lyman 45 lubrisizer, 10 different moulds mainly in 358 but also a lee 308 rifle, .45 RN and a couple of 9mm moulds with a couple of handles.

[The Lord Flashheart]

The sizing machines and handles were of course pretty straightforward to clean up and I doubt their function is would be much affected by the surface rust.

[The Lord Flashheart]

cleaned up nicely

[The Lord Flashheart]

Of more concern is that some of the molds have become a little rusty and some seem to have slop even when pushed together quite hard by hand.

This .358 SWC mold for example is one I would like to use, for example, but I'm not sure how to go about cleaning the corrosion off and whether the mold would work properly after such a cleaning?

[The Lord Flashheart]

Even worse, there appears to be rust on the mating surfaces...

The fit of this mold is a little sloppy too, i.e. it is possible to make the mating surfaces slide ever so slightly by applying lateral pressure even when they are being held closed by hand.

Is this buggered?

[redcat]

The cavities look clean. If that is just a bit of surface rust I would clamp a well oiled rag between the two halves for a couple of days then try and clean it off with bronze (not steel) wool. You have nothing to lose.

Redcat

[dromia]

As Derek said clean the moulds up first before deciding on them, rubbing the insides of the cavities with an ink rubber will clean them up just fine. Try driving the locating pins forward a tad or two to see it it will tighten up a bit. Strip down the lube sizers and boil them for a 1/4 of an hour or so they will clean them up just fine

[dromia]

Moved to correct forum.

Be aware incorrectly posted threads are usually removed.

[The Lord Flashheart]

Cheers lads. I'll give it a sympathetic clean with a rubber and some oil and just try them.

A few of the lads cast their own lead balls and 38 bullets at the club but nthroigh necessity rather than convenience and so I'm on my own with the lube-size-thingies; off to YouTube methinks!:D

[legs748]

I find one of these invaluable in the workshop,

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/pcb-clean ... s/0514868/

Cleans rust and crap off most things without damaging the surface, even in the cavities.