Six-cavity group buys

[Abert Rim]

Fellas, after reading replies to my post on .30-30 bullets, I took Buckshot's advice and looked at the group buys going on right now. My question is why so many of you like six-cavity molds. I've never cast in anything but a single or double cavity, and would tend to believe that a six cavity would simply multiply the opportunity for me to make crappy bullets or have a "clinker" cavity. Do Lee six-cavity blocks really cast uniform bullets, assuming the caster knows his you-know-what from a hole in the ground (which I may not)?

[sundog]

Yes, they are pretty good. I've tended to stick with the pistol boolits though, mainly for production purposes. And, they work good for that.

I Lee-ment every one of them though. sundog

[felix]

I agree with Sundog 100 percent. Production is the criteria over minute uniformity. The boolits would be fine for revolters for sure, and cowboy lever guns as well. The cavity volume accuracy is not the problem per se when using CNC machinery, but the capability of filling all six exactly the same. ... felix

[9.3X62AL]

I like the Lee six-bangers for pistol boolits very well. I only own two currently, and have used a couple others. Overall, their quality exceeds that of the 1 or 2 cavity Lee molds I've used, and they need a lot less Lee-menting to work well. They are not quite as fatiguing as the Lyman 4-holers, either. The biggest "problem" I have with the 6-bangers is how fast the boolit pile builds up--I run out of landing space on the towel that cushions their fall very quickly.

[Junior1942]

WW alloy bullets from all six cavities of my latest Lee six cavity mold measured exactly .3600". It was the group buy C358-180-RF. $500 wouldn't buy it if I couldn't get another one just like it.

[David R]

I have one so far, it shoots well in my rifle. I weighed all 6 from one pour and they were within .3 grains of each other and measure all the same. They shoot well. They pile up fast. What more could I ask for? I have 2 more on order right now and a 3rd pending when we get up to 25 commitments. By the way, a 31141 would be nice for a 30-30. 170 grain flat point.

I shoot a lot.

[Willbird]

The Lee single and double cavity moulds IMHO are a ***......I would be interested in a single or double IF they made a 2 cavity version of the 6 cavity design.

I would use a Lee 2 cavity if no other mold was avail in that style of bullet,

If you desired 1 cavity performance you could just mark one cavity of the 6 and use it's bullets for "match" uses, and the other 5 for other less demanding uses.

Most of my uses are not extremely demanding, so 6 cavity bullets don't scare me a bit, I intend to try some real accuracy testing when the 314-120 is done, I will need a ransom for that, but I want to try a single cavity vs. all 6 for machine rest accuracy.

Weighing bullets at random from 6 cavity they are very consistant, and weight is the most demanding way to measure the dia's and lengths and likeness of the cavities I think.

Bill

[Patrick L]

I have used 4 cavity .30 cal molds for highpower rifle shooting for years. In fact, I had a Lyman 311644 made as a four cavity because I liked the bullet so much, and would cast with both the 2 and 4 cavity, for a total of 6 from two different molds. While I'm sure these bullets would never win any benchrest matches, they allowed me to shoot well into the 500s on our 600 point agg reduced course.

I weight segregate my bullets, and found that the majority of my bullets fell in a 1 1/2 gr spread. I thought that the six different cavities were responsible for that, so just for fun I bought a Lee single cavity mold. I got the same spread, so I thought my cheap Lee bottom pour pot was to blame. I ladle cast some, and STILL the spread was the same. That and my Highpower scores convinced me that multiple cavity molds were as accurate as I needed to be. Plus, in all of my games practice is the key. A 2 inch load that I can load a BUNCH of and practice offhand, kneeling rapid fire,etc will beat a 1 inch load that takes a week to load 20 of every time.

[Abert Rim]

Thanks guys. Thinking about getting in either on the 311407 or the 311041. Also have a couple of .303s.

[David R]

:) :) I think you should get both. :) :)

[JohnH]

I cast with a Lee six banger first time this past Thursday night. Wouldn't take love nor money for it. Like many I read of, I was only getting about 50% good bullets, was having trouble with the bases filling out in a coupleof cavities, so an extra good cleaning is in order, but even with the rejects, the rate of production is so much higher than that of a 2 cavity, the rejection rate don't matter, I still get more good bullets in an hour than I could ever hope to get from a 2 cavity even using speed casting techniques.

As to the quality of Lee molds, within the last two weeks I got an RCBS 35-200 that has a closing/warp problem right out of the box. No amount of tuning gets em to close completely, but they cast ok long as you don't run to hot. I have 15 Lee 2 cavity molds on my shelves, all purchased in the last 2 1/2 years. All I've done to any of 'em is clean with laquer thinner or xylene, smoke the cavities and cast away. The Lee 359-158-RF mold I have has cast well over 4000 bullets, with no sign of being worse for the useage. Not bad for $17.00. Thats 4.25 a thousand, I certainly couldn't buy the bullets for that, and I'd certainly give $17.00 for another if this one crapped out. I guess we all hove our likes, dislikes and prejudices, I lean toward Lee, but I'll use whatever I can get to shoot. Fella sent me a sample of the RCBS 357-180-Silhouette bullet, it shot real good. I should have trusted my eyes more as I'd have one of those molds rather than the 35-200.

[David R]

Using BruceB's method, I can knock out over 500 boolits with a 6 cavity in 30 minutes. Good quality nice looking boolits less than 5% rejects. Nuff said for me.

David

[Buckshot]

.............I'm broke on account a these custom 6 cavity deals. What's that say? I wish they'd kinda slow down a tad.

.............Buckshot

[Dutch4122]

.............I'm broke on account a these custom 6 cavity deals. What's that say? I wish they'd kinda slow down a tad.

.............Buckshot

Same here, even though I'm currently taking the orders for an 8mm custom right now I just realized that I've also got checks out for 3 other customs. There have been a couple of custom runs that I've had to skip just because they seem to be popping up too quickly and my "toy fund" hasn't built back up yet.

We should try to keep them spaced out a little better time wise. Maybe that way we'd have more members able to sign up for each one?

[imashooter2]

My experience with the Lee 6 banger is that until you figure them out, you can cast up big piles of bad bullets very quickly. Once you find the process that works, you change that to big piles of good bullets and that is a beautiful thing. I had dismal results trying to cast the C358-180F out of a 10 pound Lee bottom pour. Not enough flow from the valve, not enough lead mass to remelt the sprues quickly enough to keep the mold running. I went back to the old Coleman, a 2 quart pot and a dipper. I diddled around making about 50% rejects for an hour or so till I found "the process" and then made more bullets per hour than I ever have before.

Now if I can just size those big sumbirches without breaking my old Lyman...

[Char-Gar]

Nothing will produce clone better than a single cavity mold. HOWEVER a properly made multi-cavity mold be it two or six cavities will produce bullets close enough to each other to shoot MOA groups. That is well within the accuracy needs of most of us.

The operative phrase here is "properly made". A good mold is a good mold and a bad mold is a bad mold. Also in the world of todays CNC machining, we need to rethink some of our thinking left over from the days of cherry cut molds. Fine craftsmen like Walt Melander and Rob Applegate could produce cherry cut molds second to none, but even a "so-so" craftsman can produce good molds on CNC machines.

[Buckshot]

"Walt Melander and Rob Applegate could produce cherry cut molds second to none, but even a "so-so" craftsman can produce good molds on CNC machines."

HA! That's because if the guy wrote his code right, after mashing the green button, all he does is make sure the coolant flows and takes the job out when the machine says, "Ding!".

............Buckshot

[David R]

An Artist makes cherries. A programer makes CNC molds. Two totally different things making the same product.