To Lee or not to Lee ....that is the question ?

[Ben]

Lee bullet moulds may be the most controversial moulds available to the bullet caster today ?
They are praised by many and cursed by the rest.
My goal in this thread is not to promote or malign Lee bullet moulds.
You may already have a strong opinion on the subject and most likely I won't be able to sway you one way or the other.

However, if you do decide to invest $20 in one of these moulds there are a few things that you should know and do if you hope to get any service at all out of the mould.

For a long time, I've been a fan of the Lyman/IDEAL 358156 . Skeeter Skelton said it was his all time favorite in his Model 19 Smith that he carried for duty use. He shot the bullet with 13.5 grs. of 2400 seated out long in the 38 Spec. case. In my opinion, that load is more than a " bit stiff ". If I were shooting that load today, I'd be certain it was in a 357 Mag. gun and I'd drop back to 11.5 grs. of 2400.

I ordered this mold a few days ago on a " whim ". I already own 3 Lyman / Ideal 358156 molds , one is a solid, the other two are HP molds. GREAT MOLDS ! !

This particular Lee mold has always reminded me of the IDEAL 358156 design.
I thought it might be worth a try ? ?

Once the mold arrived, I began the " Lee Menting process ".

• The sprue place must be removed and the edges " rolled " to remove the saw tooth edges that Lee seems to always have on their sprue plates.
• To remove the sprue plate on the " new style Lee Molds ", be aware that the sprue bolt that holds the sprue plate in place has left hand threads on it.
• The plate is on so tight from the factory, you're guaranteed to damage the mold in the first 10 minutes of use without this work described here.
• I drill and tap a 10-24 hole for a sprue bolt lock screw. ( see photos below )
• The mold is cleaned well with hot soapy water and a soft tooth brush.
• Everything is dried with compressed air and a propane torch.
• I then lubed the tops of the blocks and the underside of the sprue plate with a TINY dab of 2 cycle oil. Then both surfaces are rubbed with a soft cotton cloth to remove any excess 2 cycle lube.

Now we're ready to begin casting !



















The gas check " clicks and snaps " on with a nice tight fit.

Both cavities on my particular mould drop at 160 grs. with 50% range scrap and 50% WW's and are within .0003 " of being perfectly round. There was no sticking of the bullets in the mould cavities. A gentle tap on the hinge bolt and both cast bullets fell freely from the mould.

The lube capacity on the Lee mould is greater than the lube capacity of the IDEAL 358156 mould. If you're shooting this bullet out of a long barrel .357 rifle, this additional lube feature may benefit you ?

 

[KHornet]

Well Ben, guess I am going to have to invest in a 10-24 tap and drill set!

 

[Ben]

Khornet,

I bought a Craftsman, D / T set with 8 different sizes at Sears about 3 yrs. ago.
Think I paid about $29 for the set. The 10-24 was in the box with the other 7 sizes.
I have since done about a dozen Lee molds with this procedure.
I figure the D / T set has now paid for itself, and if I need a smaller or larger D / T
that is a bonus on the deal, as they are in the box also.

10-24 screws are common in H'ware stores.
I cut the heads off with a hack saw, then take a Dremel with a cut off wheel
and cut a screw driver slot in the top.

I could have cleaned up the top of the screw and polished off the rough burrs that you see in the photo below, ........but it works. Once this 10 - 24 is torqued tight against the sprue bolt, you've got that aspect of a Lee mould conquered. The sprue bolt won't ever loosen itself again.



Works great.

Ben

 

[Ian]

I use socket-head setbolts in 8-32 with a flattened wafer of copper cut from 12-gauge house wire for thread protection, but otherwise same deal. I find the new Lee two-cavity designs to be outstanding, but I never had a minute's trouble with the old style, either as long as I did the proper finish work and maintenance. Some people report that the alignment pins fall out but that has not been my experience. My only real complaint is that the vent cuts are put in the least effective position, in other words the cavities are cut on the "wrong" side of the extrusions, says me.

 

[Ben]

Ian,

My only real complaint is that the vent cuts are put in the least effective position, in other words the cavities are cut on the "wrong" side of the extrusions, says me.

Ha.....I thought that was just me.

As soon as I opened the mold halves to examine them, it struck me that the vent lines looked like they had been drawn by a 2nd grader, not someone with a lot of casting experience. Your right ! !

Your 8-32 will work just fine.
I lean towards the 10-24 for the larger dia. and coarser thread pitch.
For me, it seems the Lee aluminum is pretty soft and will strip pretty easy if you really put the torque on the screw.

Ben

 

[35 shooter]

Nice work as usual Ben! Good tips. I just wish Lee would introduce some heavy 35 cal. rifle molds into their line....they would probably sell a ton of them?

 

[Ian]

I was excited that the Clue Bird had visited Lee's R&D dept. and the result was real vent lines on the top and faces of the blocks...but the little birdie assumed that the proper execution of the concept would be obvious enough not to require detailed clue droppings...and evidently it wasn't. Umm, Lee, how's about you make the friggin' vent lines actually intersect the cavities which need the venting, eh? Maybe do an internet image search of some BRP or LBT moulds, those guys got it right. At least they're trying.

In my not-so-humble opinion, the Ideal and RCBS moulds with the horizontal vent lines just in the driving band/lube groove area worked the best on the block faces, and a nice vee-groove carefully cut with a file across the top of the blocks perpendicular to the parting line, together with a bevel on the top of the block faces makes the most void-free bullets possible without a vibrating mould rest. A vibrating mould rest, by the way, is THE way to cast a bullet form a bottom-pour pot.

 

[Ben]

Ian,

TRUE WORDS HERE :

The Ideal and RCBS moulds with the horizontal vent lines just in the driving band/lube groove area worked the best on the block faces, and a nice vee-groove carefully cut with a file across the top of the blocks perpendicular to the parting line, together with a bevel on the top of the block faces makes the most void-free bullets possible without a vibrating mould rest.