Lee WC mold

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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I like handguns with fixed sights - There I said it ! ;)

OK, I have guns with adjustable sights as well but I don't mind fixed sights and even prefer them at times. However, sometimes that means tweaking a load to get the P.O.A. to match P.O.I. One such gun is a S&W Model 10 that shoots great but didn't like my bullets that were running 155-163 grains with my alloy and hitting high. Those loads shoot fine in just about every other gun in my stable so I was reluctant to change anything.
My choices were to make the front sight taller (not a simple task) or find a lighter bullet. I didn't want to dump a lot of money into a mold that would basically be paired with a single gun and I wasn't sure where the weight needed to be.
So I found a Lee 6 cavity WC mold and took a chance. I figured if I didn't like it I wouldn't have a lot tied up in it and I could probably sell it and recover some of my small expenditure. Well it drops bullets right at 150 grains, so that's closer to where I need to be. It does make a lot of bullets in a hurry, which is a plus.
Most of my molds are iron but I do have a few aluminum ones.

I've haven't had a lot of opportunity to test this bullet but it looks promising. I may need a 145ish grain bullet but I just haven't had the time to confirm this.
I need to play with this more but life keeps getting in the way. Ultimately I'd like to find a wadcutter that this particular gun likes and get a 4 cavity iron mold that produces that bullet.

Any suggestions?
 
StrawHat

StrawHat

Well-Known Member
I used two, 2 cavity Lee molds to feed my PPC habit. The molds cast 150 grain dewc bullets and were apparently consistent between molds. This was prior to Lee making any 6 cavity molds. If the 6 cavity casts a bullet your Model 10 likes, consider buying a second one. As a spare not to cast with two molds.

Some of my fixed sighted revolvers.

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Kevin
 
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Maven

Maven

Well-Known Member
Petrol & Powder said:
I like handguns with fixed sights - There I said it ! ;)

OK, I have guns with adjustable sights as well but I don't mind fixed sights and even prefer them at times. However, sometimes that means tweaking a load to get the P.O.A. to match P.O.I. One such gun is a S&W Model 10 that shoots great but didn't like my bullets that were running 155-163 grains with my alloy and hitting high. Those loads shoot fine in just about every other gun in my stable so I was reluctant to change anything.
My choices were to make the front sight taller (not a simple task) or find a lighter bullet. I didn't want to dump a lot of money into a mold that would basically be paired with a single gun and I wasn't sure where the weight needed to be.
So I found a Lee 6 cavity WC mold and took a chance. I figured if I didn't like it I wouldn't have a lot tied up in it and I could probably sell it and recover some of my small expenditure. Well it drops bullets right at 150 grains, so that's closer to where I need to be. It does make a lot of bullets in a hurry, which is a plus.
Most of my molds are iron but I do have a few aluminum ones.

I've haven't had a lot of opportunity to test this bullet but it looks promising. I may need a 145ish grain bullet but I just haven't had the time to confirm this.
I need to play with this more but life keeps getting in the way. Ultimately I'd like to find a wadcutter that this particular gun likes and get a 4 cavity iron mold that produces that bullet.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Well, I have a Cramer double cavity button nose WC (~160gr.) mould that drops a .360" - .361" CB that generally does well in my S & W Mod. 10-6 when sized to .358" that I'd like to sell. Handles are included as is an original Cramer box, but not for that mould. Here's a pic:
 

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Dusty Bannister

Well-Known Member
Determining the best bullet weight for a WC mold is perhaps one of the better features of the Lee 2 cav molds. There is no stop pin to remove before milling off the top of the blocks to reduce the length and weight of the casting.
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You might want to mill off half or more of the base band and then ream the remaining lower lube groove to make that portion of the casting full diameter. Loaded inverted The perfectly filled out nose of the bullet becomes the base band and the former extra wide base becomes the nose band. The heavy nose band will insure positive alignment in the cylinder and any slight variation of fill becomes minimal. The variation on the nose supposedly has less affect on bullet performance than any base defect. Test loads both button first as well as full flat first to see which is best.

Once you have pretty much mangled the 2 cav mold, make the final mods on the 6 cav mold. When you modify the 6 cav mold, you will probably decide to drill and tap the hinge and hold down bolts. After several thousands of castings, you can reverse the sprue plate mounting and continue using the mold.
 
Maven

Maven

Well-Known Member
P & P, RCBS once produced a ~130gr. [flat-] button nosed WC, which was identical, except for its weight, to their 148gr. WC. A search of your favorite auction sites may help you find one.
 
P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Not sure I need to go all the way down to 130 grains and I know I don't want to. If I end up needing a bullet that light I'll make the front sight taller.
The other problem is most of my guns get along with my existing molds. So I'm not certain I want to have one problem child gun.
A plus for the Lee mold is that it is a six cavity, it makes a lot of bullets in a hurry. If I can get the 150 grain WC from the Lee to work, that will solve the problem.
 
J

John

Active Member
No longer having young enough eyes to shoot PPC competitively I am surprised at what a Lee 6 cavity TL mold and BLL will do.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
20200321_150823.jpg

Accurate Molds 135-grain DEWC and the Lee 358-125RF (casts 130 grains with wheelweights) solved the POI problems suffered by both my Victory Model 10 and Model 36. Bullseye, Titegroup, and WW 473AA all work well.
 
Ben

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
Ian,

I really like that mould.
I use a Lyman 45 to fill the lower ring on WC's.
Regarding the bevel base on that one.....How does that work with a Lyman 45.
Will I spend all my time trying to clean excess lube out of the die ?

Ben
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Ben, do you want the 4 letter solution or the 2 letter solution

Star

PC

Bevel bases not an issue either way
 
P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
That's a nice mold.

My lack of a Star lubersizer scares me away from bevel base bullets. However that could be an excuse to get a Star......;)

I really like SAECO molds and have several but all of their WC's designs are bevel base WC's.

And I'm also one of those old dogs. I've settled on the lubersizer method. PC and tumble lube are clearly good techniques as well, I just hate change.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
Update
The Lee WC mold is working well but with my alloy the bullets are running around 153 grains, so no large reduction in bullet weight. However the 6 cavity mold with the camming sprue plate does produce a lot of bullets in a hurry. In terms of production rate and quality of bullets - it's a keeper.
 
Ian

Ian

Notorious member
Do you want to try a handfull of the Accurate wadcutters? I need to cast some more from soft lead but have a bunch cast of wheelweights already.
 
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Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
I'm reluctant to get too far away from my 155ish bullet weights because they shoot so well in my other revolvers. I like simple logistics.

I think I may just be heading to a taller front sight for that gun.

Thank You for the offer.
 
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