I did some Mold Maintenance... and....

[WBR10654]

UPDATE: I got a PM from Mike and I wanted to be clear, there is nothing wrong with his work. I have been using his molds for 18 year and love them. He refurbished my Smith-Maynard Mold for me a few years ago after I have made Thousands of bullets with it and he again offered to fix the one I was working on, but it was simple work and I did it myself.

Numerous people on the WBR (#2) use his molds and that is how I ended up buying two from him.

DPB


ORIGINAL POST

I could not figure out why I was sometimes getting some fins on my 44-40 bullets made with my Brass Mold made by Mike "O-Z-ack".

It seemed to have some burrs that stuck out around the bullet cavities.

I tried wire wheeling them off with a Dremel Tool, FAIL.

So I took a razor and carefully either push them back in to place or cut them off.

The mold closes much better and the only problem I have now is some bullets have a little nipple sticking out where the sprue cuts it,,,, I think that is Operator Error. They would not be so bad but they are Off-Center.

Oh, and now that the mold closes, the bullets are 2 to 2.5 grains lighter.

I am not sure that will make much difference since I shoot these out of my Ballard Carbine with 19 grains of 3F but ai guess I am going t find out as I made loads of them.

[Lou Lou Lou]

I have a Smith mold that has a similar problem. The alignment pins migrate out and after about 750 bullets I get a fin. Have had to have them pushed back in twice so far. Don?t know if this info helps

[hawkeye2]

It's possible you sprue plate is a little loose and is being pushed up as it cuts. Check the pivot screw when the mold is up to temperature. I have to adjust mine specially the Rapine as the mold heats up.

[WBR10654]

Ya, Lou,

That was my BIG MISTAKE.

I thought maybe I need to back the pin out so a grabbed it with a pair of locking pliers and tried to turn it.

I tore it up a bit and made it worse so I took it off the handles and smoothing out the pin.

That is when I realized there were tiny burrs that could not even see probably from making bullets.

I cleaned those up and POOF,,,, everything is MORE BETTER.

DPB

I have a Smith mold that has a similar problem. The alignment pins migrate out and after about 750 bullets I get a fin. Have had to have them pushed back in twice so far. Don?t know if this info helps