If you have to bang on the mould more than 2 times then your just knocking your self out and messing up the mould. I do own a Hoch mould That I no longer use. It came with a set of instructions It said to use mould prep inside the cavity. Paul says to use nothing inside the cavity.Hoch says to flux every 20-40 bullets. Paul fluxes once. What paul also says is to press against the right side of the mould at the lower right corner with the handle of the soft mallet. This has always worked for me 75% of the time the bullet falls out when you open the handles. If not, 1 or 2 taps to inside handle that is holding the mould half with the bullet still in it. When this no longer works and I need to hit it 5-6 times there is something wrong. It has something to do with the pins and nothing more. I would send it to Paul and he Would "adjust" it and it would come back working perfect again. Remember the Hoch that I don't use any more? That's because I tried to adjust those pins and screwed it up.Can any body out there tell me How to adjust a PJ mould?
  I would like to throw something else out to you. If you study what is happening as you slowly open a mould after it sets up you will see that by applying pressure with a stick on the right side at different points as you are spreading the handles apart you can make the bullet come out without hitting the mould. On my mould right now if i press at the center of the right block, the top of the right half lets say the center line of the bullet. It will come out every time! But there seems to be a price to pay. This method  in a way rips the bullet out,and is causing a very slight bit of  damage to the opposite
side of the bullet just on the 45 deg. angle inside the last lube groove it's hard to even see but it's there. Is this little defect something worth living with if every bullet just falls out of my mould each time? Also these bullets are for silhoutte not bench rest target shooting.

Bob H.

Have you tried smoking the mold cavities with a kitchen match?

Schuetzendave,
I have considered using one of the locking mould handles and the one in your pic looks to be well made.  I would appreciate the full company name and contact info for the "RJ" locking mould handle you mentioned.
Hi-wall56

For U.S. buyers R&J Mould Handles can be purchased through Shiloh Sharps:

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or they can be bought from Ron Jordan the manufacturer in Saskatchewan, Canada.

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Boomer Moulds:

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Schuetzendave wrote on Mar 14^th, 2014 at 9:17pm:


How do you deal with oxidation?

I ask because I recently stopped using fluxing agents.  The current process is to stir the pot until the light, fluffy dross rises to the top and skim it off.  It takes about five times as long as when I added beeswax but the results seem to be the same.

JackHughs

Stirring method does make a difference, as does the material with which one stirs.  I use both an ice-tea spoon and then a wooden paint stirrer.

I let the pot and mold heat up for ~an hour is best.
I may flux, then scrape off the stuff.
As I ladle cast I get stuff in the ladle, stick the ladle nozzle in some Darr lube and keep casting.
Some silvery light stuff floats to the top and becomes bothersome. I scrape it up and put it aside. I'll do this ?3-4 times in a 1.5 hour casting session.
At the end of the session I put the light silvery stuff, maybe 3-4 ladles full, in the pot. Melts, then Darr lube in, flames, stir, and the silver goes away leaving black/grey floating powdery stuff. In the can to be thrown away.
The powdery stuff in the can is dense = DENSE, this is some metal or oxide of metal, don't know.
Bullet weight does NOT change as casting goes on, so if it is oxide, all constituents oxidize together. The tin ain't segregating.
I've been doing it this way since Eisenhower.

Thanks  all. But you are missing the point. There will come a time when a PJ mould needs adjusting. Keep banging on the mould over and over and at some point one or two or all of the pins will start to move. They do not have to move much to cause problems. Pauls moulds are made with 3 alinement pins each has a champher at the top and a corresponding champher in the 3 holes.It is the champhers that aline the mould. if the pins move in even only .001" then the two halfs when put together and twisted will move this is a fact. If the pin or pins move out even as little as .001" the mould can not close completely another fact. Paul knew this and he could adjust or "tune it up" if you sent it in to him. He advised strongly against trying it at home. He must have had a special jig for re-setting his mould blocks/pins. I was hoping someone had figured this out and had a plan. I was not looking for advise on casting bullets, fluxing or any of the other responses but thank you just the same. Don't think that you can just hammer these pins in or out or put them under a arbor or hydraulic press and move them. They are very hard to move and it's easy to slip and ruin the mould block. The correct length of the pins from the face of the mould to the champher is critical with only .001" to .002" +/- to get it right. Now can the machinist and engineers out there come up with a idea for a fixture.