No mold will cast decent bullets if it's not clean and the very best casting mold is a perfectly clean mold. There are many different ways people have of cleaning their molds and one of them is to use Gun Scrubber and blast off any grease or oils. It works, expensive but it works. Here's a tip, automotive brake cleaner is the same exact chemical as Gun Scrubber but is far less expensive and of course it also comes in a spray can. Want to reduce the cost even further? The nozzles on Gun Scrubber cans and many automotive brake cleaners are designed to release a lot of the product in hurry. Why? Well if you think about it it's because you use up the product much faster and buy more that much sooner. The nozzle on NAPA brand brake cleaner cans are smaller and release the product in smaller quantity's and of course the can lasts longer. And NO you don't need to empty the can all at once. The NAPA can has plenty of pressure to do the job while using less product.
An even cheaper method of getting your molds perfectly clean and the method I use is denatured alcohol and an old tooth brush. Maybe 25-30 years ago an article in Hand Loader magazine studied common mold cleaning methods, the part of the article that really stuck with me was that denatured alcohol is the only commonly available cleaner that will cut the oil and leave no residue in the cavities. I've used it ever since and have squeaky clean molds.
Smoking your mold? There is a secret about smoking molds and that is that it is an old wives tale. Yes, I know it's still in print in some places but that doesn't mean it's not an old wives tale that's dying a hard slow death. IF smoking your molds accomplishes anything it will be nothing more than an attempt to cover up some other problem. It is far wiser to find and fix the problem such as burs or oil or ??? as opposed to trying to cover it up. Mold release sprays are the same if not worse. Both can and will block vent lines. Next consider the logic, you just spent how much time & effort making sure your mold is squeaky clean so the very next thing your going to do is gunk it up. Really? The very best casting mold is a perfectly clean mold.
An even cheaper method of getting your molds perfectly clean and the method I use is denatured alcohol and an old tooth brush. Maybe 25-30 years ago an article in Hand Loader magazine studied common mold cleaning methods, the part of the article that really stuck with me was that denatured alcohol is the only commonly available cleaner that will cut the oil and leave no residue in the cavities. I've used it ever since and have squeaky clean molds.
Smoking your mold? There is a secret about smoking molds and that is that it is an old wives tale. Yes, I know it's still in print in some places but that doesn't mean it's not an old wives tale that's dying a hard slow death. IF smoking your molds accomplishes anything it will be nothing more than an attempt to cover up some other problem. It is far wiser to find and fix the problem such as burs or oil or ??? as opposed to trying to cover it up. Mold release sprays are the same if not worse. Both can and will block vent lines. Next consider the logic, you just spent how much time & effort making sure your mold is squeaky clean so the very next thing your going to do is gunk it up. Really? The very best casting mold is a perfectly clean mold.
