Which mold material? How many cavities?

[JimGnitecki]

I am relatively new to bullet casting and the required molds, having only tried 3 molds, one Lyman iron, and 2 Lee aluminum. I've not yet tried a brass mold.

As a result of using that one iron old, I am prejudiced against iron now, as I found the processes of applying an anti-corrosion coating and then removing it, each time I cast, to be time consuming, requiring more detailed attention each time than I am willing to provide more than ONCE to a mold, and of course these processes destroy any smoking and seasoning that was there. So, I cannot see a compelling reason to go iron ever again unless I am missing aome important point. AM I missing any important point?

I found the 2 Lee aluminum molds very easy to maintain and to use, and see no obvious disadvantages to aluminum. But, am I missing anything here?

I have never yet tried a brass mold, but see that they are available. A few questions:

Do they, like the iron molds, require any anti-corrosion measures?

What are their advantages and disadvantages compared to aluminum?

If my primary interest is in casting 45-70 bullets in the 350g to 500g weight range, for use in a Pedersoli Sharps replica rifle at distances up to 600 meters = 655 yards, and if I value precise control of each bullet's quality much more important than higher production rate, which material, and how many cavities, make the most sense?

My key current equipment and preferences include:

- Lyman Mag 25 furnace with bottom valve
- Bottom valve use versus ladle
- Digital thermometer gun (INSTANT accurate readings without needing to actually touch the item whose temperature is being measured)
- Lyman digital thermometer with probe (way too slow for the probe to reach actual temperature being measured)
- Lyman 2 and 1 cavity mold handle
- 2 Lee mold handles
- Butane lighter for smoking molds
- Bees Wax to lubricate alignment pins and sprue pivot boits
- Lee ladle for fluxing and stirring, etc
- Lee Hardness Measuring Kit plus Chinese adjustable mounting stand for it thta works really well
- Weighted silicone hammer for striking the sprue plate (way nicer than using a piece of wood)
- Pure Lead, Pure Tin, and Rotometals Superhard alloy (30% Antimony, 70% Lead) to enable trying differing BHN levels
- Nice OUTDOOR concrete casting bench
- Baking pans to hold cast bullets and sprues
- Thick cotton dishcloths layered 3 or 4 deep to catch the bullets as they fall out of the molds.

I powder coat my bullets instead of using conventional lubricants, as my current test loads have 464 to 500g bullets leaving the muzzle at 1400 fps, I need no gas checks, and I get NO leading and basically no fouling of the barrel other than unburned Accurate 5744 powder. The powder coating seems to add about 3 grains of weight and .001" to .002" of thickness (so .002" to .004" increase in diameter before sizing. I size using the newest Lee "pass through" sizing setup, and have 3 different size inserts (.458", .459", and .460") to experiment with. The Pedersoli barrel was determined by my gunsmith to be .4563" diameter.

Looking at what other casters of "buffalo rifle" bullets use for their higher velocity loads, and keeping Richard Lee's rule of bullet strength should be ideally 90% of peak pressure, and generating 28,000 psi with my current Accurate 5744 load pushing the 464 to 500g bullets, I figure I need somewhere in the BHN 15 to BHN 21 hardness range, but maybe the powder coating makes softer bullets than that work?

So, which mold material makes the most sense for me?

Jim G

 

[JonB]

Jim, Welcome to the forum.
.
Molds:
Each block material has it's pros and cons. I have them all. When you buy molds used, like I do, you kind of take what's available. You will learn as you go, which you prefer, per your techniques...everyone's technique will vary. For storage, I coat my Iron molds with Kroil. I don't smoke 'em or use any other mold release, so the kroil doesn't effect my mold. Mold's of all types, will develop a patina (oxide)...we casters don't call it seasoning, because it isn't like seasoning on a cast iron skillet. Anyway, Kroil won't negatively effect the patina. Kroil washes off easy with dish soap, hot tap water, and a tooth brush...when you want to do a casting session. That takes 2 minutes, and mostly dries off quickly, but will get completely dry when I pre heat the mold in my mold oven for the casting session.
ALSO, I make sure there is some oil on the steel parts of aluminum molds and brass molds. Since I use synth 2 cycle oil as a sprue plate lube, I use that with the steel parts of aluminum molds and brass molds.
.
"If my primary interest is in casting 45-70 bullets in the 350g to 500g weight range, for use in a Pedersoli Sharps replica rifle at distances up to 600 meters = 655 yards, and if I value precise control of each bullet's quality much more important than higher production rate, which material, and how many cavities, make the most sense?"
While I don't ladle cast, I think most of those fellas casting 500+ gr bullets use a Ladle.
.
"keeping Richard Lee's rule of bullet strength should be ideally 90% of peak pressure"
I'll let some others tell you about Richard Lee's theories.
.
What bullets have you already shot through your Pedersoli Sharps replica rifle, what alloy were they? How did they shoot?

 

[JonB]

Oh, I should add this, Bullet fit (to your rifle's chamber/throat) is far more important that alloy hardness or mold block material, especially if you want to launch them 600 meters. So, when looking for a mold, bullet design is probably the first thing to get right, worry about other things later.

Article #4: Cast bullet fit and design

Disclaimer: The following information is the product of my own meandering experience and includes a few original ideas and concepts of my own and some that others have been kind to share with me, and is always subject to change as I learn more. It is in no way intended to be the last word, or...

www.artfulbullet.com

 

[JimGnitecki]

JonB: After first seeing that the Pedersoli can indeed shoot well at 100 yards (0.62 mOA) with 405g bullets, and wanting to shoot at much longer distance, I have to-date tried 3 bullet molds in the 464g to 500g final as-cast and powder coated weight range. I did that because everyone told me that to shoot long distance with a 45-70 buffalo rifle, I would need bullets in the 500g or higher weight class.

I have used Accurate 5744 with all of these bullets, and I think I have developed good loads, because the SD is single digit (as low as 5), and I have finally been able to get to 0.8 MOA 5-shot groups at my test range of 150 meters = 164 yards. (I live in Canada where it's meters, versus yards).

The first mold was the Lyman 457125 500g. It did not work for my rifle, as the ogive was too "bulbuous". Sized to either .460" or .459" after powder coating, it would not allow me to fully chamber a cartridge, even when I reduced the COAL a LOT below the recommended COAL in the load table for that bullet in the Lyman Bullet book.

The 2nd mold I tried was a Lee 485g mold that was given to me by a forum member on another forum. Thia bullet chambered fine in my Pedersoli, at .460" finally sized diameter after pwoder coating, because it has a slender, pointed ogive. This bullet did fine at 100 meters, but by 150 meters it could not keep the bullets on a 20" wide x 36" high target array!

The 3rd mold I have tried, and had the 0.8 MOA success with, SOMETIMES, is the Lee .459 500 3R. This is another very slender and pointed bullet. I have shot it at both .460" and .459" sized diameter after powder coating, and now have 40 cartridges to test which I assembled with .458" sized diameter after powder coating. (My Pedersoli has a .4563" groove diameter). But the 0.8 MOA is inconsistent. Sometimes I can shoot an entire 5-shot group at 0.8 MOA at the 150 meters. But other times, in the sme shooting session, the 5-shot groups will grow to 1.2 to even 2.3 MOA. The "fliers" seem completely random. NOT always the first or last or any other "nth" shot fired. Just apparently random. This despite the fact that the SD remains single digit as it is happening.

BHN does not seem to make much difference either. I have fired these at BHN 12 batches through BHN 16 batches, with no verifiable difference really, even though the weight of the bullet decreases with more Antimony, from 500g at BHN 12 exactly down to 464g at BHN 15 or 16.

Interestingly, while most "accurate' loads are typically in the bottom half of any given load table entry, this rifle seems to prefer higher velocity loads. All shots fired have been logged by Labradar, and the 0.8 MOA groups were obtained with muzzle velocities of 1350 to 1400 fps (slightly different powder loads in the 26.5g to 27.5g range).

With ALL these 464 to 500g loads, the barrel has remained completely leading-free. The ONLY residue in the barrel has consistently been unburned 5744 powder (verified it was 5744 only by examining under the Lee pocket microscope in the Lee Hardness Tester).

One thing I have noticed about the cartridges that I have asembled using either the .459" or .460" sized final diameter is that a few of them, typically 1 to 3 in a box of 40 to 50 cartridges, will not fully chamber even though I test ALL the cartridges in a 45-70 cartridge gauge and they ALL pas that test. This is even with the COAL being held a bit on the short side for these bullets. This makes me suspect that the throat in my rifle might be on the narrow side of the permissable range.

My bullet weight variance is no worse than commercially bought bullets: about 0.2% SD and about 0.9% to 1.0% ES.

Since I seem to have stalled out at 0.8 MOA with the big bullets, I am considering now trying bullets in the 400g weight range, thinking that maybe the long bullets required to fit 464 to 500g into a .458" to .460" diameter gives transonic effects too much nose leverage on the bullet to knock it off course.

Jim G

 

[Mitty38]

People deal with steel or iron moulds in different ways. I keep mine in a jar full of Kroil. Basically like JonB.
Unless I am planing to use it again soon. Like within a
couple weeks. Then I just kept it cast with bullets and sprew in it. And wire tie it together. Then put in a plastic container with desiccant.

The Aluminums I just store in the box, with the last cast in them.

Brass is really nice for holding heat. I have but one of those for .243. Its heavy as heck. But for casting those smaller bullets, and multiple chambers it is great, you can basically take your time once they get hot. And they cast real well. Very few wrinkles once up to temp. If you want to take your time and not have to worry about timing and being exactly consistent. Brass is as good as it gets. But you will have sore for arms after a session. I since traded off the rifle but won't part with the mould. Just in case.
I store it like the aluminum ones.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

There’s no mystery involved in the choice of mold materials but there are pros and cons to each material.

Iron is durable and once up to temperature, all of that mass holds the heat well. The drawbacks are potential rust and the weight of the mold. From a manufacturer’s viewpoint, iron is a bit harder on cutting tools.

Aluminum avoids the rust issue, and the molds are lighter. The lack of mass can be good in terms of a short heating time, but they also lose heat faster.

Brass eliminates the concerns about rust, but the material is heavy.



I have examples of all three materials.

Iron molds do require some method to protect them from rust. I use RIG for long term storage and Kroil for short term storage. Both are applied while the mold is still warm. YES, that does require some work to remove the grease or oil before using the mold BUT that is the price one pays to prevent rust. It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make and that’s all there is to that. Some Acetone or Alcohol, a few Q-tips, a paper towel, and a couple of minutes is a small price to pay to keep rust at bay. The time it takes to degrease a mold is minimal and the task can be accomplished while you’re waiting for the pot to heat up.

Aluminum molds avoid the rust issue (except the sprue plate, screws, pins, etc. are steel). Aluminum molds can make great bullets and are usually less expensive than iron or brass molds. Heat control can be a problem, although certainly not an insurmountable one.

Brass is sort of the best of all worlds except for the weight. The mass holds heat beautifully, and brass will not rust. The downside is cost and weight.

For me, a mold is a one-time purchase. So, a little more money up front is not a significant issue.

As for a thermometer, I purchased one, used it a few times and put it on the shelf where it remains. I don’t find it to be a necessary tool. The bullets will tell you what you need to know about temperature.

As for lubricating alignment pins and sprue pivots, there are some options here but lubricating the alignment pins is probably a waste of time and asking for the cavities to get contaminated with whatever the lubricant is. A tiny, tiny drop of 2-cycle oil or something similar on a pivot screw may help there.

YMMV

 

[Winelover]

I'm self taught, using iron moulds and they will always be my preference. Although, I have moulds made from all three materials. Iron is the best compromise for heat retention and weight considerations. Aluminum is the least expensive, iron is the most expensive. Brass is the middle ground.

As far as storage, all three materials are stored the same way.............in air tight, silicon gasket sealed, plastic boxes, with dessicant packs. No need to degrease before use. Prior to that, iron molds were sprayed down with lubricant. Back then, brake cleaner, was used to degrease, while furnace was heating. Scrubbing a mold with soap and water is something I've never done in over 50 years of casting. Seems counter productive to me.

 

[Rick]

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I’m certain I could store molds without oil or grease in a sealed container with desiccant packs and have no rust issues. But I’m set in my ways so ferrous molds get oil or grease as a rust preventive.

Rust is an enemy that I have fought with my entire life. When some tools get a little rust, it is no big deal; life goes on. When other tools get a bit of rust, it’s a huge problem. To avoid any chance of that, I take steps to prevent rust.

 

[Bret4207]

If you have to smoke a mould to get it to drop, and I know of no other reason to do so, the mould likely isn't hot enough yet. Mould temp is very important, alloy temp less so. Your fliers are likely due to cavities within the bullet, often related to the mould being too cool. Where the cavity is located can have more or less effect on accuracy. The down side of aluminum moulds is the ease in which they can be damaged and that they don't hold their heat as well as iron or b rass. That's not good or bad, it's just something to work around. If you're going to shoot competitively you should check and see if powder coating is allowed. I'm not a competitive shooter nor do I have any experience in shooting at 600 yards other than back in the USMC. But casting good bullets, or lots and lots of bad ones!, is something I have done. After reading your posts I can't help but wonder if the PC is making bullets that would otherwise work well for too large to chamber. You might want to try seeing if a naked bullet in a test case will chamber even though the same bullet PC'd won't. The sizer doesn't touch the nose if there's any ogive to it after all. As for Bhn and Lee's "rule", toss that trash aside. We have people here shooting relatively soft bullets at 2800 fps or more. It's not Bhn that matters, it FIT, both static and dynamic.

Welcome to our asylum. Where about in Canada are you? I'm just across the river from Brockville On, about 60 miles south of Ottawa.

 

[JimGnitecki]

JonB: After first seeing that the Pedersoli can indeed shoot well at 100 yards (0.62 mOA) with 405g bullets, and wanting to shoot at much longer distance, I have to-date tried 3 bullet molds in the 464g to 500g final as-cast and powder coated weight range. I did that because everyone told me that to shoot long distance with a 45-70 buffalo rifle, I would need bullets in the 500g or higher weight class.

I have sued Accurate 5744 with all of these bullets, and I think I have developed good loads, because the SD is single digit (as low as 5), and I have finally been able to get to 0.8 MOA 5-shot groups at my test range of 150 meters = 164 yards. (I live in Canada where it's meters, versus yards).

The first mold was the Lyman 457125 500g. It did not work for my rifle, as the ogive was too "bulbuous". Sized to either .460" or .459" after powder coating, it would not allow me to fully chamber a cartridge, even when I reduced the COAL a LOT below the recommended COAL in the load table for that bullet in the Lyman Bullet book.

The 2nd mold I tried was a Lee 485g mold that was given to me by a forum member on another forum. Thia bullet chambered fine in my Pedersoli, at .460" sized PC'd diameter, because it has a slender, pointed ogive. This bullet did fine at 100 meters, but by 150 meters it could not keep the bullets on a 20" wide x 36" high target array!

The 3rd mold I have tried, and had the 0.8 MOA success with, SOMETIMES, is the Lee .459 500 3R. I have shot it at both .460" and .459" sized diameter after powder coating, and now have 40 cartridges to test which I assembled with .458" sized diameter after powder coating. But the 0.8 MOA is insonsistent. Sometimes I cna shoot an entire 5-shot group at 0.8 MOA at the 150 meters. But other times, in the sme shooting session, the 5-shot groups will grow to 1.2 to even 2.3 MOA. The "fliers" seem completely random. NOT always the first or last or any other "nth" shot fired. Just apparently random. This despite the fact that the SD remains single digit as it is happening.

BHN does not seem to make much difference either. I have fired these at BHN 12 batches through BHN 16 batches, with no verifiable difference really, even though the weight of the bullet decreases with more Antimony, from 500g at BHN 12 exactly down to 464g at BHN 15 or 16.

Interestingly, while most "accurate' loads are typically in the bottom half of any given load table entry, this rifle seems to prefer higher velocity loads. The 0.8 MOA groups were obtained at 1350 to 1400 fps powder loads (26.5g to 27.5g of 5744). Lower powder laods were notably less accurate.

Jim G

 

[Rick]

Jim G,

BHN shouldn't make a big difference as long as you don't fall into the "hard cast" trap. Here's a tip for you though, mixing various alloy's (BHN's) will open up groups. Try to keep all rounds fired for group from the same lot of alloy.

As to the power and upper level loads, some powders do well with reduced charges, others not so much. Ball powders will rarely give best results when reduced.

 

[JimGnitecki]

If you have to smoke a mould to get it to drop, and I know of no other reason to do so, the mould likely isn't hot enough yet. Mould temp is very important, alloy temp less so. Your fliers are likely due to cavities within the bullet, often related to the mould being too cool. Where the cavity is located can have more or less effect on accuracy. The down side of aluminum moulds is the ease in which they can be damaged and that they don't hold their heat as well as iron or b rass. That's not good or bad, it's just something to work around. If you're going to shoot competitively you should check and see if powder coating is allowed. I'm not a competitive shooter nor do I have any experience in shooting at 600 yards other than back in the USMC. But casting good bullets, or lots and lots of bad ones!, is something I have done. After reading your posts I can't help but wonder if the PC is making bullets that would otherwise work well for too large to chamber. You might want to try seeing if a naked bullet in a test case will chamber even though the same bullet PC'd won't. The sizer doesn't touch the nose if there's any ogive to it after all. As for Bhn and Lee's "rule", toss that trash aside. We have people here shooting relatively soft bullets at 2800 fps or more. It's not Bhn that matters, it FIT, both static and dynamic.

Welcome to our asylum. Where about in Canada are you? I'm just across the river from Brockville On, about 60 miles south of Ottawa.

I hear you about the mold temperature. But, the failure of the bullets to drop out of the mold without a fair bit of tapping occurred even when the mold was allowed to get hot enough to cause frosted bullets. The smoking seemed to help notably.

You could be right about cavities in the bullets, but I have been individually weighing bullets in batches of 40 to 50 at a time sample size, and my weight SD is about 0.2g and my weight ES is at or under 1%, which is as good as any of the commerically cast bullets I have bought for 45-70 and other calibers, so I don't THINK I have a cavities problem.

Your point about the powder coating making the bullets a bit too large to chamber is a very good one. You are correct that the Lee pass-through sizer only sizes the shank, not the ogive. And having done the admitedly necessarily "approximate" math to convert the extra 3 grains of weight added by powder coating the bullet, I figure I am adding roughly between .001" and .002" of THICKNESS, which translates to .002" to .004" of DIAMETER increase on the OGIVE. So, yes, this COULD be the underlying issue. I have some Lee Alox bullet lubricant on hand, so I COULD prepare a batch of bullets that includes half powder coated and half Alox coated. BUT, would the Alox be sufficient to prevent leading of the barrel at 1400 fps? If not, I won't even try Alox, as I have no desire to need to do a de-leading! I did that once, recently, when I tried shooting 405g commercially made bullets with conventional in-the-grooves lubricant, and created a huge barrel leading problem thta took 1-1/2 hours of chemicals and brushing to remove! Never again . . .

I will cast some more bullets in the next couple of days and try chambering with and without the powder coating, and compare any difference in COALs achievable. I'll need to also get a 45-70 case drileld and tapped by my gunsmith to accept the Hornady gage thta allows accurate measurement of COAL when the ogive touches either the rifling or the throat. That should provide some guidance.

Jim G

 

[JimGnitecki]

Bret4207: I forgot to answer your last question: I am in Lethbridge, Alberta. I am blessed with a shooting range that is about 62 km away and has rnages up to 600 meters, and low actual occupancy if I go at the right times of day. I often have an entire 15 or 30 bench range entirely to myself! That minimizes distractions and makes target pasting and changes much easier and faster. I apparently have a Shotmarker electronic target system arriving within the next wekk or 2 (ordered 3 months ago), but that works only with SUPERsonic bullets, so will be of limited use with the 45-70 rifle shooting cast bullets (My Labradar says a 1400 fps 500g load is only supersonic to about 225 yards). But the Shotarker will be a wonderful improvement when firing my 6.5 CM and even my Cowboy Action firearms.

Jim G

 

[JimGnitecki]

Jim G,

BHN shouldn't make a big difference as long as you don't fall into the "hard cast" trap. Here's a tip for you though, mixing various alloy's (BHN's) will open up groups. Try to keep all rounds fired for group from the same lot of alloy.

As to the power and upper level loads, some powders do well with reduced charges, others not so much. Ball powders will rarely give best results when reduced.

Yes, I am careful to shoot bullets from only ONE casting batch at every range session. My biggest BHN challeneges are:

1. It takes several days for the BHN to "mature", so I do have to pay attention to the amount of time that has passed since they were cast AND powder coated (although powder cating does not seem to "restart" the age hardening process, probably because the heavy 464 to 500g bullets never get internally hot enough within the 20 minute powder coating "cooking" phase).

2. The batch of bullets that I cast using a formula (per the online BHN calculator that everyone uses) that SHOULD have delivered BHN = 21.5, matured over a period of just about 1 week to BHN 16 or so, and NEVER got harder than BHN 16! I cannot figure that one out, as I checked and rechecked the math on the formula. both the sample ingot and the sample bullets from that batch that I checked for hardness were stored at room temperature, in my home office, and both the raw and the pwoder coated bullets behaved identically in terms of BHN. A mystery . . .

I am delighted with the single digit SDs I am getting with the Accurate 5744 at the 26.5 to 27.5g loading level, so plan to stay with 5744 and this specific powder loading range, even as I work on trying to improve the bullet consistency.

Jim G

 

[Rick]

The variation in the time curve for age hardening is primarily from a variation in the percentage of SB in the alloy, lower percentages of SB will increase the time curve. A high Sn percentage will also slow the time curve for age hardening and speed up the age softening.

 

[JustJim]

Am I the only one who de-greases iron moulds with brake cleaner and maybe a Q-tip?

With heavy (e.g. 500+ grain) bullets, multi-cavity aluminum moulds can take some tricks to cast with. I had one 4 cavity 520gr spitzer that I had to cool on a cinder block or concrete floor every other pour. Brass and iron are a bit less of a problem this way.

 

[Winelover]

Am I the only one who de-greases iron moulds with brake cleaner and maybe a Q-tip?

With heavy (e.g. 500+ grain) bullets, multi-cavity aluminum moulds can take some tricks to cast with. I had one 4 cavity 520gr spitzer that I had to cool on a cinder block or concrete floor every other pour. Brass and iron are a bit less of a problem this way.

I'm self taught, using iron moulds and they will always be my preference. Although, I have moulds made from all three materials. Iron is the best compromise for heat retention and weight considerations. Aluminum is the least expensive, iron is the most expensive. Brass is the middle ground.

As far as storage, all three materials are stored the same way.............in air tight, silicon gasket sealed, plastic boxes, with dessicant packs. No need to degrease before use. Prior to that, iron molds were sprayed down with lubricant. Back then, brake cleaner, was used to degrease, while furnace was heating. Scrubbing a mold with soap and water is something I've never done in over 50 years of casting. Seems counter productive to me.

 

[RBHarter]

Preface I have/have had moulds in iron , aluminum, and brass in 1-8 cavities HB and HP from 11 makers circa 1935 to 2017 .

A brand new brass HB/PB from MP was a horrible hemorrhoid like experience to get running in desert where patina let alone rust just isn't a thing . I must have had 20-25 sessions with that "little darling" and another 15+ just heat cycles to get any quantity of useable bullets ........6 months in Arkansas fixed all of that now I just warm it up while the pot comes and pour about 85% perfect PB or HB 462-420s at 417 and 380 gr every time 2 at a time .
This thing is heavy and it's definitely time to rest when it's time to put 10# of sprues and ingots back in the pot .

I have 2,3,5,&6 cavity aluminum moulds that cast 230-535 gr .451-.460 dia bullets .

I love the Lee 6s where I want a piles of bullets fast and weight variables aren't a big deal . 12" plates at 50 yd and the like . I get 3 nominal, and either 1 or 2 each light or heavy and 10% visibly bad . The 340 casts a 338 & 343 gr in a2c
NOE just delivers the goods goods I get about 90% with 1% or less variation in 5c 250 and 3c 535 . If it's more than that it's an obvious flaw introduced by me .
I have a Mountain Mold and NEI 2 cavs in 350&230 gr . The Mountain was probably in the last 4-500 made and I can't find enough variation to find 2 piles same with the NEI 230 .

Iron I don't really know all the numbers . The H&G #130 drops a 196gr SWC .453 . It does so with boring monotony and it runs through 15# in a hurry even back feeding sprues but like the AL 535 it's dumping 1600 gr of bullets every pour . It also weighs about 8# empty. The rest are singles the 458193 .458-405 casts 415gr and the 45-500 casts 530gr plus gas check .

The man cave is a mud room off the kitchen once part of a car port . As long as I keep the iron moulds in their OM packages and/or vapor corrosion inhibitor paper (vci ??) I've had no problems with the iron moulds going on 6 yr with a little Kroil on those I know will be stored long term has been enough.
The same more or less applies to the Lee singles and doubles and the Aluminum moulds with steel sprue plates .

Aluminum and brass don't rust or corrode but the steel fittings will. Probably with any sort of regular use not enough to even consider . Iron moulds can rust but they are easily kept up .

 

[RicinYakima]

You been living back East for 6 years now? My, how time flies.