LBT molds

[weasel 21]

Are they good and worth the money?

[felix]

Yes. ... felix

[MT Gianni]

+2. Gianni

[mastercast.com]

You Betcha!

[weasel 21]

Thats good to know cause I bought one on ebay tonite in 45 260 lfn. Hope it works in my 45 colt.

[PatMarlin]

LBT is my favorite. Good price on that mold. I kinda followed the auction.

The only thing that kept me from bidding was the diameter. .452 is pretty slim for most all of my 45's, well my 45 bores start at .452, so that mold was out for me.

[weasel 21]

Pat, I have five 45 colts, 4 rugers(bisley, bisley vaquero, 7.5 blackhawk, 5.5 blackhawk) plus a marlin lever action. I am assuming there all 452 dia. I have been using a Lee 255 fn 452 and it seems to work. Did I jump the gun ? Roger

[PatMarlin]

You should slug your bores to get your goove diameter. My blackhawk bore is just under .454. My raging bull is .454. Win 94 is .452, and a few others are no smaller than .452.

Generally you try to size your boolits .002 over, but that's not written in stone. Go ahead and shoot as cast and see how they work out. You could try soft lead loads also so the boolits obtrurate and fill the bore, and the oposit with harder alloy.

You just never know until you try... :drinks:

I'm sure others will chime in with some ideas.

[Lloyd Smale]

I go both ways on this one. I have quite a few lbts. do i like them? yes. Do i think there the greatest thing out there? no. They are an aluminum mold and because of it demand alot more care to keep in good shape then a steal mold does. They do cast very well and are a giant step up from a lee mold though. I have the 260 lfngc and have mixed feelings about that bullet. Ive never had that great of luck with it out of handguns. dont get me wrong its not a dud bullet but ive allways found something that shot a tad better. What it is a great bullet for is 45 colt lever guns. It runs like butter in them and shoots well too. To be totaly fair i havent gave that bullet the real fair try ive given some. Im sure it could be made to shoot well with enough experimenting. As a matter of fact another guy on this fourm was at the house and i gave him some to play with and he fell in love with them Said they shot better then anything in his gun.

[dubber123]

Veral, like many, guarantees his moulds to not cast under the size stamped on them, but that mould you bought may very well cast bigger than that, you'll have to wait and see. I have 4-5 of his moulds, and at least one casts fatter than advertized, not alot, but .453" or a little bigger from yours is likely. They do require a little more care closing, as they have steel alignment pins that go into bare aluminum. It isn't cheap aluminum though, and pretty durable. One thing you will find unless it is well used, is it will be VERY tight, and hard to close fully. I have to squeeze mine shut, and tap on the side of the mould handles to seat the pins. It gets better with use, alot of use. Good luck.

[Bass Ackward]

My experience with LBT is that I love his molds design.

I love his molds craftsmanship.

I am not real ecstatic about his designs for handguns in the lower weights. They are front heavy and hard to stabilize. I get much better success with them in rifles than with handguns where I can get the velocity up to stabilize them.

Even in his own book, he states that you may have to drive them hard or go to the heaviest weights (which move the center of balance back) to get them to perform. Because of this, if you read his list of how to figure out whether or not you need a GC or not, he walks you through about ten steps where he virtually eliminates any reason to select a PB design. The only exception is unless you are one cheap bas%&#d and won't buy his mold any other way. :grin: He learned that his reputation depended on customer success. And if you have to push them, that it's best done with a check.

Every 44 mold I ever ordered from him poured .4335 bullets regardless of what I ordered or was stamped on the blocks with WW. I believe that he cuts his molds and has them in stock. Then unless you order something special like a PB, single cavity, or over the standard size, he pulls down a block and stamps your desired diameter on it.

But who cares. A good mold, at a fair price, with designs that work well enough to keep his business going and probably going well. For rifles especially, buy with confidence.

[PatMarlin]

I couldn't really tell by the pictures and they didn't specifty in the auction, but I figured it was a plain base mold. Was it?

I call my LBT's "cuss free" molds cause they cast so well, you don't need to cuss at them, like some of my steel molds I have a love hate relationship with.

Either way, you won't loose money on it, if you wind up re-selling it... :drinks:

[curator]

I have at least one of most common mould manufacturers, NEI, RCBS, Redding, Lee, Lyman, H&G, CBE. All have their good and bad points. When I am really serious about cast performance in a particular gun I have LBT make a mould for it. LBT moulds are far and away the best for ease of casting, uniformity, fill-out, dropping the slugs, and as-cast diameter.

To get your money's worth with a LBT mould, follow Veral Smith's suggestions and provide him careful measurements (revolver or handgun) or a throat slug if a rifle. Don't buy a used mould made for someone else's gun!

I have 18 LBT moulds at present, one for every rifle and handgun I want accuracy and performance from. Most of the handgun moulds are cut for two cavities, one gas-check and the other plain base. Smith's designs will give your hunting handgun a real leg up on power and accuracy.

His rifle moulds are cut to match the throat slug you provide, with the alloy you specify. I had given up on cast boolits in rifles until I got an LBT mould cut for my '03 Springfield. That rifle went from 4" groups at 100 yards to 1" or less with LBT's 311-180 LFN bullet. LBT's rifle designs are better able to withstand higher velocities with good accuracy, unlike anything you can buy across the counter. Try LBT's "Blue" bullet lube as well. Nothing I have used is as good for reduced to no leading, higher velocity at lower pressures, and uniform barrel condition even when shot through a very hot barrel.

Sorry if this sounds like an advertisement for LBT. I am a long-time (more than 40 years) cast boolit shooter and amateur scientist. Performance counts, not "reputation" or advertising hype!

[cbrick]

I've got a few LBT's, as mentioned already they are some of the easiest casting moulds I have. Veral is a master with aluminum and machine tools, they are beautifully made. I have a 320 gr 45 cal that is a tack driver in a FA 454 when pushed hard and mediocre in a mild load. It's marked .452" and it pours WW smash on .452" and I lube it in a Star with a .453" die. LBT is a great place to start a search for cast hunting bullets.

Rick

[klw]

Veral, like many, guarantees his moulds to not cast under the size stamped on them, but that mould you bought may very well cast bigger than that, you'll have to wait and see. I have 4-5 of his moulds, and at least one casts fatter than advertized, not alot, but .453" or a little bigger from yours is likely. They do require a little more care closing, as they have steel alignment pins that go into bare aluminum. It isn't cheap aluminum though, and pretty durable. One thing you will find unless it is well used, is it will be VERY tight, and hard to close fully. I have to squeeze mine shut, and tap on the side of the mould handles to seat the pins. It gets better with use, alot of use. Good luck.


Is Veral back in business? If so, does he have a web site? I thought that he violated his parol and was sent back to prison.

[Lloyd Smale]

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/lbt/index.htm

[TxGunfighter]

I have nu first hand knowledge but in all my research from asking friends to all I can read LBT is top notch all the way.
TxGunfighter




Are they good and worth the money?