C'mon, Lee!!!

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Yes, Brad, 4227 at 10.5 is subsonic and runs the AR 100% with 220 SMKs.
Need a round tuit for testing cast in it.
 

JWFilips

Well-Known Member
My last Lee was a 2 cavity 7 MM mould 130 gr that cast at .294" Heck my 7x57 Spanish mauser needs .291"!
Thankfully i got an old Ideal mould that cast .289" ( for a single shot ML rifle) with powder coating it easily makes the required size!
But it runs about 180 gr
 

oscarflytyer

Well-Known Member
I have had some great, and some very acceptable results with Lee molds. Yet to send one back (almost did one, then decided it liked it's anomaly!). Have to admit, regardless, they have all shot well for me.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I can make most of my Lee moulds do the right thing, but a few of the more recent ones I have bought were disappointing. Finish quality on cavities was deficient, and cavities were undersized. You get what you pay for, so I am not squawking (loudly). But with NOE and Accurate able to produce REALLY NICE TOOLS, I will just spend the money and get tools that please me.

No doubt about it, some of Lee's bullet designs are first-rate. Their TC autopistol designs are among best-of-breed. Combine said designs into a nice NOE mould block, and life is good.
 

358156 hp

At large, whereabouts unknown.
Some LEE buyers take the amount of time & effort they spend working on their moulds to some sort of a badge of honor. While it reflects well on their abilities and determination, procedures like "LEE-Menting" have left me cold to the brand when I can spend a bit more and only have to worry about things like getting the last of the residual cutting oil from new moulds. And yes, this is coming from the Ideal single cavity guy who will go as far as to actually machine some old Ideals to save them. Their issues come from use, abuse, and neglect. Not from trying to offer the cheapest product available (current Lyman production not withstanding).
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
We all look at Lee molds and their quality issues and deal with them in our own way. I look at them from the point of view that if I were making a six cavity mold from scratch (and I have, several times) it would cost me a lot more in time and effort to get it to the condition of a new Lee mold. I would still take the same finishing steps on my own mold that I would on a Lee, but I would be ahead in time and money. But I have all the tools to easily do that sort of thing, and I do that type of work on a lot of things. So my point of view is unique to my own circumstances.

I do have some molds from several of the high end commercial makers and they are wonderful, especially when the better makers will make cavities the right size. No argument there at all. But $40 or less for a six cavity mold aint bad in my book.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
all I want is the mold to pour at or near the right diameter.
if you market something as a 308 blah blah then I expect 308.
it's not that difficult.
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
I guess.
you'd think a company built by, run by, brags about it, and is full of,,, engineers could figure out the cc weight of lead.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
I got both the 40sw moulds from Lee when I first started casting. They were fine. Got the RD 6x (Lee) for the 30/30, another good one but just didn't really fit the Marlin. All the Accurate ones I have now work great and I probably don't need any more.
 

NAGANT

Active Member
I bought a new style lee value press last week and an 4 hole extra turret. Is it that really that hard to thread aluminum? I had to run a die thru each hole several times to get it right, but they work smooth now. May get the primer system but it looks like it's made out of daffodil petals.
 

Gary

SE Kansas
Awhile back, Lee had lots of trouble with their Turrets on the Loadmaster not being drilled accurate. The holes were drilled at a slight angle, not perpendicular to the top of the Turret.
 

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
You only need to have three conditions right to tap aluminum - the right size tap drill hole, a sharp tap, and adequate cutting fluid. A dull tap with inadequate cutting fluid will tear the threads up every time. Like a lot of things Lee, I like their innovative products but I think they push their tooling too far sometimes.
 

NAGANT

Active Member
I was worried when i saw the threads but they didn't chase them out, cleaned up fine. The breach block hand press has been good too. I make ammo when stuck in hotels while working and it's handy on the bench.
 

Elkins45

Active Member
I think part of the problem with getting people to agree on an good AAC bullet is that none of the manufacturers can agree on a throat shape.
I got 20 molds that will fit and shoot well in the wifes Ruger.
I have like 2 that will even chamber in my AAC made rifle. [the LEE and the RCBS silhouette]
it really likes the 110gr Varmageddon bullet by nosler and the other brands like it though.
I'm surprised about the rcbs, because it will not chamber in any of the AR rifles I have tried it in.
it feeds,, it just won't chamber the nose all the way into the rifling.
This sounds familiar. I’ve spent plenty of money on molds and a couple of different AR barrels trying to find a heavy supressed load that would feed and function. The bullets that feed OK tend to have fairly terrible accuracy because they have undersized noses that wobble down the bore. On the flip side, my NOE molds have noses that seem to be too fat.

I bought a 30 caliber throating reamer from Brownell’s but haven’t worked up the nerve to use it yet. After the two disappointing hours I spent at the range yesterday I think I may be at that point.
 
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fiver

Well-Known Member
it's either that or modify a mold.
I have taken and cut the nose off a couple of cast bullets and made a lap out of them before.
once you do that your kind of locked into one mold for one gun.
 

popper

Well-Known Member
The problem with deer hunting subs is the rainbow trajectory and probability of bad hits. Guys on the blk forum don't recommend it AND have tried it. IIRC most have changed over to long for weight copper solids (Maker or devestator?) much higher BC and guaranteed expansion. Many are still using cast subs for hogs but deer is a game animal - lost or injured you don't want.
My original BO was Diamondback 1:7 carbine - SIL now has that upper as it shot Ok but was oversized. McGown made me a good barrel for a carbine and I have a low end KAK pistol barrel that evidently has the same chamber dimensions. Both shoot very well with cast supers, 145, 165 (31-165C - 308 style nose),170 & 185 (RD style nose). Extensions are wide M4 style and feed fine from Lancer BO mags.
 
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Elkins45

Active Member
it's either that or modify a mold.
I have taken and cut the nose off a couple of cast bullets and made a lap out of them before.
once you do that your kind of locked into one mold for one gun.
I wouldn’t mind having one specialized AR upper just for a specific mold if I get a combo that works. I have a NOE 247 hollow point mold that I thought I might like to hunt with from a 10” suppressed AR. I just can’t get the little fat nosed SOB to work. With a little throating there might be enough room to take full advantage of it.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
you can also do what Ben does and size just the nose down.
NOE makes a neat little die for the rcbs/lyman bullet lube machines that will press the nose in and out and size it down a couple thousands.

there is another option, and that is to paint the mold with some drop out.
a couple of coats of that will build up and take out about .002 in diameter.