Do you suffer from sprue plate lead smear?

[Walks]

Wally & L Ross,
Right now I'm using sprue plate lube from, I think N.O.E. Been using it about two years now. My bottle of OLD two stroke was pretty much dead. So I thought I'd give it a try.
Works Great.
Fill up aluminum or iron/steel and apply after 1st or 2nd fill. Wipe on/Wipe off.

I also think my method of casting has A LOT to do with it. Since I cast with multiple molds, there is sufficient time for the lead to harden so I just don't get Lead smear. I rest my molds on a skinny old piece of molding, so there is air flow under the mold. Also when I open and dump bullets, I leave the mold and sprues plate open for "two-three Mississippi's". This I think serves to cool the mold just enough to keep from getting lead smears but not enough to cool too much.

I also cast in open air on my patio. Here in So Cal a few miles from the beach I cast in 55-70degree weather for 8 months out of the year.
I also cast from molds having the same profile and composition.
In other words; 3-4 Lyman 2cav, 2-3 Lyman 4cav & RCBS 2cav, 2-3 N.O.E or Accurate 4-5cav molds at a time.
The same height & width so the rhythm stays the same.
And I adjust alloy & temp accordingly.

My Brothers/Cousins used the sponge method when casting from 8-10cav H&G molds with My Dad & Uncle back in the 1950's/60's.

 

[RBHarter]

With all of the pencil talk I wonder has anyone used the dry graphite spray on the plate ?
I did hose down a Lee mould long long ago when I was dumb about all of this .

Currently Im using the NOE provided sprue lube , my bullet lube on Lee's made a lovely golden patina ......but didn't do a lot else .

 

[Wallyl]

This morning I just cast a few hundred 358429's with a DC mold. It was 39° outside where I cast them. I used various lubes ...none prevented smearing after a few casts. What did work---after the sprue hardens I rotated and touched to a damp sponge for 2 seconds....no smearing. The sponge is in a tuna fish can with 1/2" of water in it. Yes, if you cast with multiple molds, you will not have any lead smear issues. I don't have duplicate molds, so I don't like the method as I have to sort the cast bullets later.

 

[Walks]

Wally,
But you have to cull bullets anyway. That's when I sort.

 

[CZ93X62]

To each his/her own. I almost never cast 'single-moulded'.

 

[Walks]

I'm not sure I know how ? Cast from a pair since I started casting "real" bullets, not RB.

 

[Phlier]

With all of the pencil talk I wonder has anyone used the dry graphite spray on the plate ?
I did hose down a Lee mould long long ago when I was dumb about all of this .

Currently Im using the NOE provided sprue lube , my bullet lube on Lee's made a lovely golden patina ......but didn't do a lot else .

FWIW, I do. Just some generic graphite-in-suspension stuff. Seems like I was always having problems with bullplate (and 2 stroke) oil migrating to where it shouldn't migrate to, regardless of how small the amount used was.

Switched to just coating the underside of the sprue plate with graphite, letting it dry, then wiping away the excess. I spray a bit on a toothpick, then let the small droplet fall off the pick on the alignment pins and sprue plate bolt.

Seems to work fine. Don't have any problems with smearing, galling, etc. I've made about 10k projectiles with my current and most often used 9mm mold doing this, and it appears to have survived ok so far.

I do still oil it up when it's going to sit for a few days between uses, then just hose it down with brake clean, dry it off, then graphite it again before using.