6 cavity Mould

[Ben]

About 10 - 12 years ago, I bought this Lee 6 cavity Tumble Lube groove , 38/357 , 148 gr. W-C Mould. Seems like I paid about $30 or so for the mould.

I'm going to be conservative and say this one has produced 10 K cast bullets .
It is just as tight , cast the same size cast bullet as it did the 1st day I used it. I realize that Lee gets beat up a lot ( some of it is deserved - but not all of it ) on the internet forums, however I could not ask for a better mould than this one.

Load 2.7 - 2.8 grs. of B'Eye in a 38 Spec. case with this bullet tumbled with Ben's Liquid Lube, sized .358 and it will shoot much better than I can with my 6" scoped Smith 686.

75 degrees here today, blue sky, I couldn't stand it, I had to get outside and cast some. What you see below was about 30 minutes of work at a pretty casual pace.

Obtaining performance like this from anyone's bullet mould, will make you a repeat customer.

I'm at the 10 K mark now with this one, I wonder if someday in the future I'll get my $30 investment out of this mould ?

Ben

 

[freebullet]

Ben I'm with ya. I still love my lee molds. Mp are my favorites, but when I want a bucket of boolits it's lee to the rescue.
I installed set screws on my sprue bolts and with that addition they rain boolits without issues.

 

[Ian]

I have several six-banger Lee moulds myself. Ever few thousand bullets I pull the sprue plate and clean up the burrs around the pivot, that and some proper lubrication is all it takes to keep them going and going. I'm sure Lee has produced plenty of lemons, but I have been lucky enough not to have bought any of them in nearly 25 years. 31 Lee moulds and counting.....

 

[freebullet]

I had 1 lemon out of a dozen or so, but lee took care of it swiftly.

The 6 banger I learned on looks bad but I still enjoy using it.

They really need the set screw for my fast paced le'casting sessions.

 

[Ben]

I think it has become the " In Thing " to bash Lee.
These bullets that I cast today are top shelf.
I'm happy with my Lee molds, I probably have 70 + , some dating back to 1970.

Ben

 

[Ben]

Ben I'm with ya. I still love my lee molds. Mp are my favorites, but when I want a bucket of boolits it's lee to the rescue.
I installed set screws on my sprue bolts and with that addition they rain boolits without issues.

Yes, you can see that I do that same modification also :

 

[Ian]

Standard procedure for Lee owners Five minute mod for a lifetime of usefulness. It helps to add another setscrew, flush with the head filed true, for the third handle to bear against where it cams on the block.

 

[Ben]

Standard procedure for Lee owners Five minute mod for a lifetime of usefulness. It helps to add another setscrew, flush with the head filed true, for the third handle to bear against where it cams on the block.

Unfortunately , you're unable to see that screw, but I have that on mine also. A stainless steel screw with the head filed flush. Works smooth as silk.

Ben

 

[Ian]

There ya go!

I've been meaning to try Liquid Wrench dry lube, or some other flavor of boron nitride spray lube, on my Lee six-bangers, the normal ester or PAO two-stroke oils just don't seem to be able to keep the galling down under the pivot screw and eventually my sprue plates start lifting on the back end, affecting weights and causing some base flashing. It seems that the anodized sprue plate just eats up the blocks.

 

[freebullet]

It's soft aluminum. Mine do that too.

I take everything off the top and run it across sand paper on a flat surface in a garbage bag every 4-5k. Cleans them up nice and quick. I think doing it in a cross hatch pattern helps a cheap beat up old mold vent better. Been using 320 grit paper. Have over 20k through the 356-125rn. I lust put a new sprue plate on it.

The mp aluminum don't do it as fast.

 

[Ben]

No doubt about the Lee molds being so soft.
I think that helps contribute to sprue bolt threads stripping so easy on them also.

Ben

 

[Brad]

I am probably close to having as many Lee 6 cav moulds as I have Lyman moulds.
The 6 cav moulds make lots of good bullets pretty darn fast. The sprue plate system is quick and easy. They are light enough to not tire a guy out quickly.
I use a few stock ones and many group buy. I am fortunate to have the old 358-158 swc with no gas check. That bullet gets lots of use with tumble lube in 38 specials in my GP100.

 

[Ben]

I have an Accurate 4 cav. Brass.

Gee, when I've finished casting with that mould , I'm exhausted.

Ben

 

[Brad]

I have a couple brass 4 cav from MP and it is a workout using them.

 

[freebullet]

Brass 4 cav....better eat your wheaties....and/or install a mold guide.

The faces look funny when you hand a brass 4cav to a person who is unaware of the weight. Surprise!!!

 

[Ian]

If my shoulders and wrists weren't already worn out from too many years of throwing around car and truck parts I'd call y'all a buncha sissies. But I have several THREE cavity brass Accurate moulds and a MP 4-cavity, and they do make a person hurt after a while.

 

[Brad]

I'm not a sissy, I'm a wuss.
Never having been known for the biggest arms I have learned to let the mould rest on something as much as possible.

 

[Ian]

Amen to that, Brad, I usually set up a steel block as an additional rest when using those nice brass moulds. It's amazing how a little 2-lb hunk of brass can really make the shoulder joints and wrists hurt badly in a short time.

 

[Brad]

Even worse is having a ladle that holds 2 pounds of lead in the other hand.
I have learned to cast til I get a bit tired then quit. An hour is usually plenty for me.
This is where I love the Lee 6 cav moulds for high volume handgun shooting. They are light and pour bullets like nothing else.

 

[9.3X62AL]

I have several of the Lee 6-cylinder moulds. They can surely make a pile of bullets in a short time. I'm not one to bash the Lee product line, though I leave large portions of it unused. One thing Lee makes that I thoroughly LOVE is their line of truncated-cone form autopistol bullet molds. Those castings feed in EVERYTHING, just seat them with .020" of front drive band exposed and set a light taper crimp--yer in bizness. Some of their bore-rider rifle bullets shoot VERY well for me, also--early work with the 200 grain .311" in 30-06 shows real promise at the 1800-2000 FPS level with Carnauba Red on board to grease the skids. Likewise, their 8mm-175 castings have done VERY well for me in a G98/40 Mountain Carbine of mine, from 1700-2000 FPS.