New Mold ! Take a Look :)

[Hardcast]

Well fellow casters, this was a big surprise, but today UPS left 2 boxes at my house. I assumed it was my new Jeep seat that was supposed to have been shipped last week, but when I went outside I saw the boxes had LEE on the sides in big letters. Sure enough, they are the 452423 copy molds. I called my good friend and mold expert Jim L and he imediately came over and picked up his mold. Took it home and cast a few with it and gave it his stamp of approval. He says they drop out of the mold very nice and they mic about .454 with straight wheelweights, and .4548 with 2-6-92 alloy. I don't have a macro lens so I can't take closeups but I did attach a photo of a few with a blue bedspread as a background. The samples with the WW alloy were cast a little too cool so some of them are not completely filled out, but he was in a rush to get some back to me so I could post this. Shipping will begin tomorrow. I am not sure if they will be shipped in the Lee box or in a USPS Priority Mail box. It depends on how they fit and the weight. This is 2 and a half months earlier than expected. :)

[Willbird]

Please do not feel the need to send me the orig. Lee packaging, feel free to put the blocks in whatever sized USPS box they fit in.


I wondered about this with the group buy I am running, if many guys want the orig. LEE box or would be just as happy getting the mold(s) packed in a box provided free by usps.

Bill

[Farmer]

This is great news.

Ed

[Rrusse11]

COOL!

I know what Leftoverdj did on one of our group buys was to tape the letter with the recipients address directly to the Lee box. Whatever is easiest and quickest for you HC. I reckin 're-packaging' could be a real PITA.
Thanks again for the "honcho" role.
Cheers,
R*2

[J Miller]

This is good and bad news. Now I have to order in a set of handles, go to the storage locker and drag my work bench home. Find some lead. Buy some camp stove fuel, set everything up and hope all my equipment still works.

Oh and I'll have to pester the crap outa you guys, because I've never used a 6 gang mold before.

OH, I'd really like to have the original Lee box if it's possible. I've never bought a special order mould before.

Joe

[Hardcast]

This is good and bad news. Now I have to order in a set of handles, go to the storage locker and drag my work bench home. Find some lead. Buy some camp stove fuel, set everything up and hope all my equipment still works.

Oh and I'll have to pester the crap outa you guys, because I've never used a 6 gang mold before.

OH, I'd really like to have the original Lee box if it's possible. I've never bought a special order mould before.

Joe

Joe,
I just came from the post office and the mold will be shipped in the Lee box. The postmaster and I agreed that looked like the best option. I have part of a roll of Priority Mail tape and will be taping and labeling boxes tonight and tomorrow night. If there are no other problems they should be going out on Thursday.

[BorderBrewer]

Hardcast,
Those cast boolits look real nice to me.
Thanks for all the work of running this group buy. My LEE six cavity handles arrived just yesterday, what a pleasant coincidence.

Regards,
Borderbrewer

[jeff223]

when my molds come in i will be sending them out in the Lee boxes.a address label will be stuck on the Lee box.i think that will work out just fine for my group buy

[gregg]

I got to say thank you so much for taking this on.Its a mute point now but I wanted the orioriginal Lee box . Have a shelf at my bench with my custom lee gang molds. 6 and more coming. Makes them easy to store and find to use.

[gregg]

OBTW=======Long live the Jeep
Owner Operator of a 84 CJ-8

[old goat]

...HARDCAST
...Recieved my mould in todays (Saturday) mail.
...Thanks for giving your time for this.

...old goat

[mroliver77]

I just had a session with the new mold. It was a disaster! I started by Leementing it and then cleaned with brake cleaner followed by alchohol.I could not get it to cast a full load of keepers to save my hide. I prolly threw 100 fills and not one with 6 keepers. And stick, Lord did it stick them. I magnified and picked at it and rubbed and brushed to no avail. This is the worst time I have ever had with a mold. Sometimes it helps to walk away and tomorrow the stars might be in my favor.I have half a dozen Lee 6 cavs and do well with them. The keepers I got are pretty nice. I am trying to attach picture but my last attempt failed so I have little faith I will pull this one off.
Jay

[mroliver77]

the pic.
[img]http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=163&stc=1[img]

[Hardcast]

Jay,
Just looking at the photo, my first guess would be the alloy. Do you have any good clean WW alloy? I would try that with just a pinch of tin, without the range scrap, and see if it makes any difference. Also, everyone I know smokes 'em.

[mroliver77]

I took another look at the mold up close and found nothing. My lyman 452423 filled good as usual with this alloy. I took mold apart and scrubbed in hot detergent then lightly smoked it and PRESTO it fills nicely.The brake clean mebbe don't pull all the oil out? They all fall out the same but still kind of sticky.I do run a mold pretty hot and backing off the temp some did help them to fall out more easily. Nice bullets! Bigger crimp groove than the Lyman too. The Lee weighs 240gr and my Lyman 245. The Lee measures .454+ with my alloy while my Lyman goes .456. If any of this sounds like a gripe it is not intended that way, just a statment of my experiance with this new mold. Jay

[Hardcast]

Jay,
Very good to see you have it working well. I have not tried mine yet, but thanks for the tip about the scrubbing with detergent. I would have thought brake cleaner would have degreased as good as anything could. Another thought: looking at the these bullets, I'll bet they are real close to Elmer's original design. This is a copy of one of 45_2_1's old mold(Ideal?). As I understand it, Lyman modified Elmer's design over the years to suit themselves. Not saying that is right or wrong, but there is something nostalgic about having a real Keith design mold. Or, maybe I am just crazy. :)

[Jared]

I have to order a set of handles before I can cast. I wasn't expecting it in so quick. Thank you hardcast for putting the work in.

Jared

[Beau Cassidy]

I just got mine. That was quick. Looks like I have to get something to shoot it in. Well, a fella has to have an excuse to buy a new gun. What came first the mold or the gun???

Thanks again. Well done.

Beau

[J Miller]

Hardcast,

My new 6 gang 452423 copy got here today (Tuesday). It's a great looking mould. Now I have to order a set of handles and then I still have to dig out all my casting stuff.

Have some questions though.
First; There are no numbers anywhere on this mould or the box. Is there a Lee production number for it?

Second; Ooooo boy, I forgot the second one......duh.

I'll post again if I remember it.

Joe

[Hardcast]

Hardcast,

My new 6 gang 452423 copy got here today (Tuesday). It's a great looking mould. Now I have to order a set of handles and then I still have to dig out all my casting stuff.

Have some questions though.
First; There are no numbers anywhere on this mould or the box. Is there a Lee production number for it?

Second; Ooooo boy, I forgot the second one......duh.

I'll post again if I remember it.

Joe

Joe,
Not that I know of. My invoice is as follows:

Quanity description
33 90040 Custom bullet mold

452423 bullet drawing attached

[J Miller]

Hardcast,

Thanks for the info.

Joe

[C1PNR]

Package arrived safe and sound today! Thanks very much for taking on this project!:)

[Willbird]

I took mine last night and cleaned it with dish soap and a toothbrush, and put it to work, I generally warm my molds by casting bullets, I cast 5-6 throws of the mold and things still looked funny, I then smoked it with butane flame and they immediataly started coming out sharp and perfect, I ran 10 lbs of them without a problem, a couple taps on the hinge pin and they all fell out nicely. Mine measure .4535 in wheelweights.


Thanks for all the hard work hardcast, I just wish I could find my .454 lube sizer die for my lyman lubesizer, I know I had one.........

Bill

[Rrusse11]

HC,
Mould received! Looks good, thanks very much for your efforts, and the turnaround time was extraordinary.
Cheers,
R*2

[snowtigger]

Hardcast, Are there any extra molds? I didn't have anything to shoot them in before now, but a trade involving a boat and this and that has left me a Super Redhjawk in 454Casull. Oldf elmer seemed to get a lot of things right when it came to bullets.
I habe a couple six gang Lee molds, and they work really well.
I can't afford to keep feeding this thing condom bullets, and I need a mold.
Thanks, Roger

[Hardcast]

Hardcast, Are there any extra molds? I didn't have anything to shoot them in before now, but a trade involving a boat and this and that has left me a Super Redhjawk in 454Casull. Oldf elmer seemed to get a lot of things right when it came to bullets.
I habe a couple six gang Lee molds, and they work really well.
I can't afford to keep feeding this thing condom bullets, and I need a mold.
Thanks, Roger

Roger,
Sorry, but there are no extra molds. I did not have any extra cash at the time I sent the order.:( For the 454 Casull I think the Lyman 454424(or 452424?) would be a better choice. It's not available from Lee, but Lyman 4 cavity molds for this bullet are readily available. Lee also has a few bullets suitable for the Casull, although they are not Keith designs.

Good Shooting,
Neal

[snowtigger]

Thanks anyway, I'll have a look at that Lyman. Roger

[Hardcast]

Roger,
That Lyman mold (454424 or 452424, whichever it is) is the Keith design for the .45 Colt. It is touted to be an excellent boolit by many experienced pistoleros.

[Cayoot]

Hey Hardcast,
I just got home and found the mold here waiting for me. Thank you for putting this together. I haven't had a chance cast yet, but it sure looks great! This is my first custom mold and I'm now a true believer. I can see that this will be a regular thing for me.

Thank you again.