i am new tocasting and am having trouble with bullets sticking in my almost new lyman mould 40 cal 400gr rifle any tips bullets cast good but to many stick thanks artr

let the bullet cool enough... then rap the mould handles ON THE HINGE when opened with a hammer handle..... i bought a hammer handle expressly for that reason.......

Assuming that you are tapping the hinges on the handle, I can think of two things. One, open the mold only very slightly and very gently tap the two mold halves together. Sometimes that will make the bullet drop. remember, gentle is the word.
Two, examine the mold cavity with a strong magnifying glass. There may be a slight burr on one of the sharp edges making the bullets stick. Polishing that burr out should cure that problem, but be very very careful if you should elect to try that.
Tapping the hinges is still the best way to get bullets to drop, but as I am not familiar with your particular mold I hesitate to go farther.
One question though. Does your mold have very sharp corners or edges for the lube grooves? If so, that's the problem. Lyman's #429241 has slightly rounds edges to the bottom of the groove, because Elmer Keith's original design had sharp square bottoms, making the bullet hard to drop from the mold. Just something you might want to check out.
Paul B.

Mold sometimes have burrs where the vent lines enter the cavity. These can be removed by using an Xacto knife to carefully cut the burr away. The only thing you want to do is remove the burr, don't modify the vent line. You'll need some type of magnification to see what you are doing. An opti-visor, lighted magnifier or even some VERY strong store-bought reading glasses will work.

If you can actually see a small burr in the mold cavity, then by all means, follow
the advice above. If not, here are some things to try:

-use a match or BIC lighter to smoke the mold
-try some of the "Dropout" mold release sold by Midway
-use a pencil to coat the inside of the cavity with graphite
-use a toothbrush and alcohol, then warm soap and water to clean the cavity
-use a boolit dropped from that cavity to lap the cavity with automotive rubbing compound
(or other fine grit lapping compound).

Here's a bandaid solution for sticky molds.

1) Open the sprue plate like you normally do, but don't
seperate the mold.

2) Grip one handle very tightly while the other is supported loosely.

3) Give the hinge a smart whack with your whacker. Repeat as necessary until the mold cracks open, which it is able to do because you are holding one handle loosely, right?

4) When the mold cracks open it will attempt to pull the bullet with it. That helps to loosen the bullet from the cavity.

5) NOW you can open the mold. One or two more raps on the hinge will likely be required drop the bullet, but that's better than 10 or 20 raps.

Open the spruce plate to get rid of the spruce. Close it and center punch the bullet. Open the spruce plate drill to except a dry wall screw. Roll the bullet in some fine grit. Put in the mould and turn it with a screwdriver or drill. May have to repeat. Works for me. ben.