Newest Lee 6 cav mold

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I cast the first time with a new Lee 6 cav that I just bought. 40 cal 175 TC conventional lube design.

Boy, that is one fine mold. Really drops the bullets, they pop out easily, usually with just smartly opening the mold, occasionally
a light smack on the handle hinge with a stick. Lee has really upped theri game in the last decade with molds, no doubt
about it. The mold came up to temp reasonably well, and once warmed up just rained bullets.

Now I have to make a sizer for the Star.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I like my Lee 6 cav. moulds.
I have about 10 or so.
No complaints with any of them.

I wish I could say the same for their 2 cav. moulds..............

Ben
 

Wasalmonslayer

Well-Known Member
I also have at least 10 of them and they all cast very very nice!
Best bang for the buck out there if they have a design you need.
Only thing I do is set screws on the sprue plate bolts and stake the alignment pins so they don’t move.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I've been fortunate enough to never have to do a single thing to the newer six-cavity moulds except mount handles, preheat, put a little sprue plate lube on, and cast with them. No cleaning, no deburring, no sprue plate work, no adjustments, nothing.
 

Ben

Moderator
Staff member
I'll admit that in the past, I've been critical of Lee's quality control. At the time, I had no reservations about my critical comments. A decent quality control program could have kept that kind of junk from ever leaving their plant. They can , at times, turn out some very sub par products.

However, we have to remember that we actually owe them a debt of gratitude. Many reloaders / lead bullet casters got their start with Lee products. Lee got thousands of people starting in reloading. I also think that if Lee didn't exist today that the other companies would be selling their products for much higher prices.

Sorry for the thread drift...........
 
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Ian

Notorious member
It's your thread, Ben ;) , you drift it all you want, eh? The bargain-price companies keep the rest of them honest.
 

Wasalmonslayer

Well-Known Member
You hit the nail on the head Ben!

I have some stuff that is no good from them but way more that is very good and well used.
 

Spindrift

Well-Known Member
If not for Lee equipment, I would never have started casting my own bullets. I have several Lee moulds, all are relatively new (5 years, or so). No moulds cast under-size. A few cast to nominal dimensions, while almost all (luckily) cast 1-2 thou over nominal caliber. They work very well for me!
Hope they will make some 6,5 moulds in the future (besides the cruise missile) :)
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
I have several fairly new Lee 6 cavs and they are good. I just wanted to make sure that they get credit
where credit is due. I do criticize some of their stuff, but some (actually a lot) is pretty good stuff, and
my first mold ever was a Lee.

Amazing prices for what you get, really.

Bill
 

Dale53

Active Member
A good friend of mine, Frank Siefer (who passed this year - RIP Frank) was a Lee Distributor for many years. As a result I ended up with a LOT of Lee Equipment. I have a LOT of their die sets and have used them with MUCH satisfaction. I also have a lot of Lee Six Cavity moulds and have used them with much satisfaction (including a number of Group Buy molds). Their turret presses are the BEST!. Nowadays, and for many years, most of my loading has been done on my Dillon 550's. However, my Lee Cast Turret is still set up and used when loading a small batch. You can change calibers in seconds and also turn out a respectable number per hour.

Lee's Factory Crimp die design is both innovative and VERY useful for those of us that have pistols and revolvers that use cast bullets of conventional sizes. I use them on nearly all pistol and revolver cartridges that I load.

P.S. Lee's six cavity mold handles are used for both their molds and many custom molds. However, several years ago, I was having problems with the wood coming loose, then breaking. I came up with a fix that ended the problem. Before I even put them in service, I drilled them for a roll pin right through the ferule clear through to to other side. Install the roll pin, then grind off flush. PROBLEM SOLVED! Never had one break after the "fix".

FWIW
Dale53
 
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Ian

Notorious member
I'm lazy, Dale, and knock off the wood first thing, fill the hole and coat the tang with Permatex Ultra Copper RTV silicone, poke it back together and wipe off excess. Haven't had one come apart yet even with heavy brass six-cavity moulds and many long, long sessions.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I am even lazier Ian. I use them until I grow weary of tapping them back on. When I remember the problem when handle isn’t in use, a huge problem, I use some epoxy to glue them in place.
I usually have them fixed within the first 5 years of use.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Hmm. So far, I have never had a single Lee six cav (or any other Lee mold handle, for that matter, now that I think of it) handle come loose.
I must have at least 2 or 3 dozen Lee molds, my first was bought in 1976, handles still fine.

Bill
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Wow, Bill is so lazy he doesn’t even put forth the effort to make the wood slide off the metal hinge portion.

Come on Bill, get with the program already. :embarrassed:
 

Ian

Notorious member
Four sets of six-cavity handles, all fell off the first time they got hot except the last two which fell off right after I took them out of the box and tugged gently on them.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
My stuff lasts a long time.....I hardly ever break stuff.

Bill
Must be using it wrong?

I haven’t broken a mould handle but the wood does like to slide off. Epoxy is handy stuff. Might be why I own very few sets of handles?
 

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
I have four sets of six-cavity handles and one set came loose during its first casting session. Silly me thinking they'd at least make it through their first usage before needing to be epoxied.

Two decades-old sets of Lyman two-cavity and one just as old four-cavity nut cracker set never experienced loose/falling off handles.