A coworker (who is too lazy to cast his own) "gave" me a double cavity Lee 500 grain .458 mold he got for $20 off ebay or some such place. (hereafter know at "Pot Drainer") Now I'm a big fan of Lee stuff, EXCEPT their bullet molds. This is the third one I've been around and after a good hour and over 200 bullets I'm convinced again that I don't have the "touch" or technique needed to operate Lee molds.

It didn't take long to get the mold "up to temp", but every bullet (even say after #50) came out with a double wrinkle that ran the entire length of the bullet. Much too deep to size out and one that would let gases cut the bullet. I tried raising and lowering the temperature of the lead, but all that did was change the appearance (shiny to frosted) of the bullet and make the wait time to cut the sprue longer. I even tried using only one cavity at a time. I was going to post a picture but I threw all of them back in the pot. :frown

"Vern" wants to use this bullet in his Uberti copy of a Browning highwall in 45-70. He's shot up several hundred of my 405 grain 458124's and the rifle shoots them better than he can hold the rifle. He's even gone as far as to copy my recipe (25 grains 0f 2400)

I know that "millions" of folks can cast with Lee molds but I still think Lyman molds are the way to go. If I keep trying to cast the Pot  Drainer I'll end up with less hair than Dr. Phil.



RJ

If it was someone who has had success with Lee molds, I would expect it is a bad mold, I got 2 in over 40Lee molds, one was replaced and I made another size of the other one.
There is the chance it was on Ebay because it is bad.
I have had very good luck with Lee molds, just got one a few weeks ago and the second bullet out of it was good and the only bad ones were those I stopped the lead flow too soon.
Is this the RFGC or the postelle?
I have both ,as well as the 405 rfgc , the 405 hb and the 320 rfgc and a 195 rfgc reamed out from a 180gr .452" pistol bullet mold.
Most people learn the cleaning, lubing and breakin methods to use Lee molds, some do not.
I tried a person's mold he could not make work, after cleaning, lubing and smoking it, it cast ok, he took the mold back and still could not get it to cast so some of it must be operator error.
I wish I were close enough to look at and try the mold, could be very interesting to work on it.
I have a Turner, 3 or 4 Lyman and an RCBS, the RCBS is the only one I cannot make cast a decent bullet, even after all the fixes on the RCBS user's site have been tried, it still drops bullets that look like the profile of a cartoon christmas tree.

It's this one actually.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/588362/lee-2-cavity-bullet-mold-457-405-f-45-70-government-457-diameter-405-grain-flat-nose

"Vern" as per usual is full of poo



That bullet is also the best one I cast yesterday. I thought they all got dumped, but there were two still on the bench this morning. It looks to me like the lead/mold is still to cold, but at this point it was taking a 30 count for the sprue to cool enough so's it would cut and not smear.

I've heard of "greasing the pins" and smoking your Lee molds which I did to this one. It "looks" to be all square and everything lines up

I have a couple other Lee molds, one is the .50 cal modern minnie. An excellent bullet and an easy mold to use. The other is a 240 grain

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/516757/lee-2-cavity-bullet-mold-c429-240-swc-44-special-44-remington-magnum-44-40-wcf-429-diameter-240-grain-semi-wadcutter-gas-check

that I got for my Redhawk. After casting up about 500 of these I shot a few and they leaded my barrel so badly in the first 25 rounds I remelted the rest and never used the mold again. Velocity was only 1100 fps and I did use Hornady gas checks on them and ran them through the Lyman #45 sizer to .430 (the same as I size my 429421's) I think the lube grooves are to shallow and it won't carry enough of the lube I've been using for 40+ years (Lyman 50-50 Alox)

So I guess my success rate with the Lee molds  is better than I first stated in my frustration yesterday.

RJ

For what it's worth, I have not cast any bullets yet.
But I have cast a short ton of sinkers.
Whenever they look like that I haven't heated the mold hot enough.
So I use a single burner propane stove to heat the mold.

RJ, it looks like the vents are not all open, try scrubbing the mating surfaces with a tooth brush and some baking soda or Bon Ami, something NOT abrasive.
Also take the back of a knife blade and lightly drag the edges of the cavity so as to
 remove any tiny burrs.

Quote from: drinksgin;117538RJ, it looks like the vents are not all open, try scrubbing the mating surfaces with a tooth brush and some baking soda or Bon Ami, something NOT abrasive.
Also take the back of a knife blade and lightly drag the edges of the cavity so as to
 remove any tiny burrs.

I'll do that.

RJ

Any mold I get, the first thing I do is soak it in acetone, scrub the mating faces with a soft brush, then soak it again.
Lathe bored molds always have cutting oil in them, cherry cut mold usually do, too.
Oil is not good for the mold. I use nickle neverseize on the guides and the handle pivots, supposed to be good for 2500', alloy is usually below 800',.
These things help on molds of any brand and material, aluminum, brass, cast iron or mehanite.

I didn't clean this one. Now that you mention it, I'm sure the oil was causing all the wrinkles. I'll give it a shot with carb cleaner as I don't have any acetone, then cast a few. I'll bet they turn out better. The aluminum being more porous than iron probably still has some cutting oil in it.

RJ

I've got an 'armload' of Lee bullet molds - probably 30 or more - and I can get all of them to throw "smooth" bullets. I have a few others made of steel and brass, and I actually prefer the aluminum ones.

The only operation I perform on new molds is clean with acetone (fingernail polish). I do not 'smoke' them. I did that on a few, and found it didn't "do" anything for me, so I quit taking the extra step.

I seem to have a more difficult time getting 'wrinkle-less' round-ball than anything else. Part of that is of course because the RB that I am casting are pretty big - .585" and larger. Nonetheless, sooner or later - usually about 20-25 casts - they start coming out 'smooth'.

I've read about 'frosting'. From that reading, I have decided not to worry about it. There are plenty of people 'doing fine' at the target butts with 'frosted' bullets that I am not going to make a BIG deal about it. I do try to keep the temp down so that I don't throw frosty bullets, but I don't put the frosted ones back in the pot, I just let the mold cool off.

Paul

Just for the sake of clarity, I am pretty sure Gitano intended to say, "nail polish REMOVER'.

Quote from: drinksgin;117562Just for the sake of clarity, I am pretty sure Gitano intended to say, "nail polish REMOVER'.

 
Picky picky picky, sides it wuld be fun to try maybe. Nail polish remover is also good on removing permanent marker.

You are correct, as usual, Don. However, you should see the latest colors I have of nail polish...

Paul

Oh, my! Are you going to start swishing?

:angel:

Start?

Rj