New Molds, Lee,
- Thread starter Monochrome
- Start date
WHICH way, Fiver? Pressing the halves around a steel form or cutting them?
I've been under the impression they have been cutting all of them by CNC, except that they were once smushing the halves against a steel ball for RB moulds - some time ago.
I don't actually know. I'm working from observations I've made on moulds, so I am asking, not challenging.
Must be something wrong with me. If Lee offered the 6 cavity mold for every design bullet I want Thats all I would own. I am not cheap, I will spend for quality. (Crap, I just spent a little over $450.00 for a barrel I thought was best I could buy) I have about a dozen Lee six cavities & they work as well as my NOE, Arsenal & Accurate molds & are about half the price. I have bought 2 Lees That were duds. On 1 cavities were off center & would not drop bullets , the other dropped a .002 under sized bullet. Returned to Midway & got another quickly. Thats why I buy mostly from them. ( I only have 2 Accurate molds 1 drops good bullets Every time if I pay attention to what I'm doing, the other I have to fight with. I have 14 arsenal & 5 NOE. They all do there job)
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I hope It didn't sound like I was bragging about spending that much on a barrel. It made me feel dumb as soon as I did it, and It still does. Thats what happens when I just sold something & I feel like I have to spend it on something else firearm related. You see if I don't do that the money will just get wasted on non essential stuff like groceries or utility bills & other junk like that.
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I don't think $450 for "the best barrel a fella thinks he can buy" is expensive, nor is mentioning it "bragging." I too will pay what I have to pay to get the quality I want, but it does not prevent me from buying a LEE 6C for $26 new either. @Tomme boy put me onto a steal a while back and it's been puking piles of perfect bullets since. I'm not too proud to recognize and seize upon a bargain.
I got a few A&B barrels for $70 on sale. One, a 21" 6.5x55 would put three 160 grain Hornady RNs or Sierra semi-spitzers into the proverbial "one ragged hole" at a hundred yards whenever I called upon it to do so and has accounted for several deer in my brother's hands. "Better" (read more expensive) barrels have done as well, but looked nicer inside and cleaned up easier.
I've cast many thousands of very fine cast bullets from cheap LEE moulds as well. That does not detract from how well my other more expensive moulds have performed.
Honestly, when I can get a 4C mould from Arsenal or NOE for about $100 shipped, THAT's "cheap" when I consider the number of trouble-free bullets I get out of them.
Yes you & fiver are correct. The reason I felt dumb is I could have bought a Shilen match for about $80.00 less. The only reason I went with A Douglas was they could get it to me faster. I know Douglas & Shilen are both very good barrels, I have used both. My Arsenal molds cast just fine but I can't say they cast any better than the Lee's. I did not say Arsenal OR NOE are too expensive. I just don't see spending twice the money for something that for me does not cast any better bullets. Thats why I said if Lee made every mold design I wanted that is all I would have bought after I discovered how well they work.
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Right. I did not take what you said to mean they were expensive. My comment was just a thought that occurred to me while I was thinking about how much things cost all the sudden. My LEE 6Cs used to cost about a third of what a NOE or Arsenal 4C cost. LEE 6Cs seem to be up to about half of a NOE 0r Arsenal 4C now.
The only barrels I've bought in the past ten years is MGM Contender Carbine barrels. About five years ago, I got two for $375 each. I priced another one recently and it was closing in on $600. Granted, these are not blanks, but the increase over a short time was a bit sobering.
OK thanks I must have took it wrong. AS for MGM barrels you are correct. I have 4 I bought from Eds contenders several years ago. couple weeks ago I thought I wanted a 300 BLK out pistol barrel, called to get a price and got sticker shock. Decided I really didn't want one after all.
I came VERY close to buying a 21", tapered MGM 300 BLK barrel on another forum (GBO), being sold by a guy I know personally and have dealt with at local shows - for $350! Looked new to me. It's not something I need, but it's a cool cartridges, especially with cast and in a light carbine, but almost HALF what I'd pay if I ordered one.
I stalled just long enough and someone else snagged it. PHEW!
JBinMN
Member
At the risk of alienating some folks, I am going to submit an "opinion", that I was going to offer as per the reply/comment that I "changed/edited", a little while(few days) ago. Quoted above ^^
What difference does it make what the mold maker is, if you are happy with the results of the casting the bullets, & you know enough as to how to make the alloy to work with to be what you are shooting, shooting a, and the distance? , and so on?
Plus, & they work just fine, and meet or exceed your expectations?
I am not like some folks,
I don't try to push anyone into whatever tool they want to use to "Gett'er Done".
I am actually happy to see & read about folks doing things , regardless of what they use, how they do it & so on. Sometimes I "want one" & sometimes I say to myself to wait a bit...
( Of course, " Do I have the funds available? Don't spend what ya can't afford.) does apply to a "frugal" retired feller like me.
YMMV, of course. )I have somewhere between 30, or maybe 40 molds.
( I cast & reload about/at least 12 calibers, from the so- called, measly .380 to the .45 in handguns,.223/5.56, 7mm-08, .308 to .30-06 for rifles and 45- 54, cal ML, plus a few gauges of shotgun .410, 20 & 12. Just for firearms...
That is not even counting the fishing sinker & jig molds, or duck/goose decoy weight molds. ...
)Mostly Lee molds, but some are Ideal molds & about 4-6 are Lyman.
Does it really matter who made them if the results are what ya want them to be?
How much fun have ya had trying them out?
( I KNOW I have had a LOT of fun.
Hey, isn't that what we like to do? Shoot more & have fun? Cast & reload our "Own"? Isn't that fun? You KNOW what I mean.)I don't want to be a "stick in the mud", stifle discussion, or come off as someone who riles up anyone. I just like casting, reloading & shooting.
With all sorts of calibers & gauges, as well, with a lot of like minded folks who keep a bit of safety in their heads when they do it.
( Note -I don't give much of a rats ass if ya shoot what some folks call a "piece of crap", or not. ...?? Who cares...??
If Ya don't like it, then let them do what THEY like.
No skin off your butt, if ya don't like it.... is it??;
, or even ya cast with a pricey mold, or use a pricey reloading progressive rig or what, and someone else is happy with "their results" not using what you use & it was less expensive...
Who gives a crap??? )
Personally... I Don't Care. Do & Use what ya like.
I do.
And I care not one whit what anyone else thinks.
I do what I do , when I want to do it, using what I want to do & do it safe.
Just .... Do it~!
OK, enough said by me. If ya get mad cuz I said what I did... Whaal. See the "rats ass" partabove
(Old saying... "If ya don't like my gate, ya don't have to swing on the hinges." ( respects to Lester . Ackerman, Lived to be about 98 years old. Never left Goodhue county, MN. Good Ol man. Heart of gold, but could be mean if ya crossed him.
R,I.P. You are missed old feller. )
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I would think you care some because you read what others are saying. But I do get what you are saying.
I know what you mean. A couple years ago a friend of mine had a rifle I wanted very much. It was very expensive. I thought about it about a week & decided to deal him out of it. I called him & he said he had sold it. I said to him thank you very much & I really meant it.
I've gotten out of spending money I shouldn't spend a number of times by dragging my feet a little.
JBinMN
Member
Haha. I can assure ya, you are not alone.I've gotten out of spending money I shouldn't spend a number of times by dragging my feet a little.
CZ93X62
Official forum enigma
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
Oddest thing happened about 2-3yeats ago I purchased a Lee two cavity .358 wadcutter mold just used it 2 days ago cleaned it preheated it started casting everything went perfectly molds close and fit excellent bullets are perfect and drop like rain and are .359 , Who would have thought
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