would anyone tell me what to lube mold cavity with to protect it while not in use.

There may be better ones, but I haven't has any rust with Outers Tri-Lube. It has a rust inhibitor in it that kept my shotgun rust free in the rain. Best of all, one blast of brake cleaner takes it off, so you don't have to cast 50 rejects to burn it off.

Bye
Jack

I keep the last poured bullet inside, until next time. don`t know if that is a good thing or not. So far no problems.

would anyone tell me what to lube mold cavity with to protect it while not in use.

What part of Texas is home?

Real high humidity/Gulf Coast area may make a spray protectant manditory for steel molds that are going to be put away for a time. Then you'd need to degrease the mold befor use. A humidity controled safe would help.

IF you're in a reasonably dry area, where humidity is not in the 80's and 90's most days, can get away with a lot less fuss and mess.

Bullets do contract a bit n the mold (or else we'd never get them out) and in real high humidity areas, can open them and remove the bullet to find a nasty surprise.

BC, as Ribb mentioned , humidity can do nasty things to molds. Being in Md., I can tell you all about humidity. We're usually running 90-95% in the summer. I would not use the "leave the bullet in the mold trick". I did this once with a RCBS .45 201gr. K mold, and about started crying upon opening it about six months later. The inside cavities were rust laden. Some machine oil, steel wool, and a little elbow grease brought the mold back. Phew we ! Never again. I've used Ed's red to coat my steel molds(It's in the tech. notes section) with good results. I also return my mold to their repective plastic boxes, as supplied by Lyman and RCBS. These boxes are then placed in air tight ammo cans. Good molds can grow on you(bad pun, I know), but you do become attached to them when they start throwing good bullets, that chew out the X-ring in favored guns. Lately, I've been spraying my molds with Ballistol, before tucking them in at night. It works great, is alot less toxic than Ed's red, and is easily removed with brake cleaner, for quick casting.

My brass and aluminum mold are just returned in cardboard boxes, and placed in the ammo can for safe keeping. With the price of molds climbing in price, it's wise to treat them with kid gloves, so they can last for you, and your grandchilden. Jeff

I live in south Louisiana and have to deal with high humidity. I keep my molds in their original boxes in an MTM plastic dry box with a bag of silica gel. No rust and no cleaning yet.

Regards,
Jeff

Mardi Gras...head hurts.

Tend to coat them with preservative (Sheath..couple of drops on an old toothbrush, brush the mold...the spray tends to be wasteful) and store them on TOP of a set of shelves...getting them higher to take advatage of the dry nature of the house near the ceiling.

Degrease them with solvent before use...if out of solvent, will take them into the kitchen, squirt some Dawn on a bottle brush, and scrub the mold under the hottest water the tap can provide.
Will dry quickly...but to make sure, will heat the mold slightly over an oven burner (e use natural gas down here) until dead sure it's dry, and place it on top of the pot to warm up as the lead melts.

MAde a little tin cover for the pot, just a circle of tin with slots cut for the valve/handle to work...makes a good mold holder, keeps bugs from making that fatal dive into the pot (and the explosions their little wet body will make..and they will do it), hold heat in to speed melting. Someday, I'll get arround to hinging the cover to the top...maybe...

But not today...Mardi Gras...head hurts.

Ditto on the silica gel and ammo can/dry box. I use a few chips from midway that have a rust inhibitor on them and put it all in a dry box from MTM. If I know it will be awhile before I use the mold again, it gets coated with Ed's red or gunoil and put in the box. Both are easily cleaned from the mold before use with brake cleaner.

I learned something from this thread; from now on I`m gonna coat my molds with preservitive; I have some eds red. I always do put them back into there original boxes. gonna check them all tomorrow.

checked this morning; all seemed ok; but one. The 45 230 RN I had stored close to the garage door. I had a bunch of 45 stuff in a milk crate near the door for trading purpose; the damage was light and I was able to save it. Now all soaked with "ed`s red" on top of bench watching for evaporation. RCBS instuction say to oil after use. last time I`ll listen to my gun dealer for casting advice. Thanks everybody. Leadlum

leadlum, glad things worked out for you and that you learned something from the forum. That's what it's all about :D .

Jeff

Yeah jeff; I did!.. thanks. Thank god it`s fairly dry up here; And I had all my other molds near the water heater. Got Ed`s red on them now. I`ll put them back into their factory green boxes.

looks like the Ed`s Red is evaporating slowly; may leave a oil film; but I think I`m gonna try some kind of grease? packing maybe. Ludlam

The kerosene, Varsol and acetone in Ed's Red will evapourate, but the ATF isn't going anywhere. Besides, some ingredients of some greases aren't easily cleaned off.

Bye
Jack

Molds too old...cardboard boxes long gone...many bought used with no box. But the system must work, some of these molds are 60 years old or more and still working fine (although only in my care for the last 30).

Yes, Ed's Red will leave an oily film no matter how long you let it sit....lot of synthetics in ATF. Leaving that long lasting film is pretty much the point of dunking them. Unatended a year from now, the mold would still be rust free...but in need of a degreasing before use.

Grease will work...and will still need to be degreased before use....in fact, any protectant applied will need removal before casting.

Why not...got to do somehing between with the time it takes for the lead to melt.

Good; I havn`t removed the Ed`s Red. I`ll keep it on. Thanks ....Ray