Lessons learned...

[TexasGrunt]

1. Lee 2 cavity molds are total hit or miss. Some work quite well, others aren't worth a bucket of cold snot.

2. Lee 6 cavity molds are decent. They cast shootable bullets quickly.

3. Used molds, purchased sight unseen are a total carp shoot. Buyer beware!

4. Iron molds beat aluminum molds hands down.

5. Mold prices on eBay are NUTS. Occasionally you might find a deal, see #3.

6. I haven't yet used a NOE or other top tier aluminum mold makers mold. I'm headed over to GoFundMe to start a campaign to get the money for one. :-)

[rockrat]

You will change your mind on #4 when you use a NOE,Arsenal, Accurate or other top tier molds.
You will also change your mind on #3 when you buy from someone here, because folks here are usually truthful about condition, ebay on the other hand-----

[bedbugbilly]

Pretty much agree with you. I have purchased some molds off flea bay that were decent (Lee/Ideal) and then a couple that weren't so decent. I've been casting 50+ years and have used a lot of different brands. I have quite a few in my collection but I have also learned that once you find a good boolit design/weight that works well - I stick to it. For some reason I still hang on to the others though but since I will be moving soon, I'll probably be "thinning" things out.

I have also learned that $$ spent on a good custom mold are worth it. I always bought production molds up until a few years ago. I purchased a special buy NOE for 8mm Mauser and it is a fantastic mold. Since then, I've added around another half dozen NOE molds to the "herd". Some were new and some were used, but the used ones were from members here that I knew would not steer me wrong on the mold and what they cast. All of them work perfect and I couldn't be happier to have them. Al does excellent work and there are other custom makers out there that also have excellent reputations for their products.

[Shiloh]

Two holes can be salvaged by careful venting cuts. I have done it.

#3 and #5 are sage advice.

Shiloh

[OS OK]

When you acquire a quality aluminum mold...get ready for a steep learning curve. Our Lee's run cold compared to a big chunk of quality aluminum.

Ask me how I know? . . . A 'Red-Headed Stepchild' Mold...Arsenal 311-176-LFN (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?327875-A-Red-Headed-Stepchild-Mold-Arsenal-311-176-LFN)

[Harter66]

I own about twice as many Lee moulds as NOE . I have RCBS ,Lyman ,LBT, Mountain , Thomson ,UNK and a couple classic collectables that I will probably just drive to death .

I'm glad I started with Lee moulds . I discovered that there was a world of difference between a 452-255 Lee and an 45-200 RCBS . NOE is vastly superior to Lee but it takes a minute or two or 3 runs to get the feel of them .

One must be careful with comparing makers also in that a Lee 22 Bator must be compared to a Lee 6C 22-55 to an RCBS 22-55 to a NOE 225-55 ..........because a 5 hole 225-55 is a fickle pita compared to a 5C 454-255/454424 . Long Lee rifle bullets are a PITA to keep hot .......Of course I'm yet to get 5 perfect NOE 285-150 hunters in 5 consecutive pours so that's a wash . Why do LBT moulds even work ? I mean that 401-175 RF is awesome but side by side with all of the others we're talking Buck Rogers/Steam punk for looks .

I got out a couple dormant iron moulds the other day and it took about 10 of my planned 50-75 pours to remember why I have so many aluminum moulds . It's because the Lee 6C 452-255 and the NOE 454424 5C weigh about same full as the Lyman 429421 2C and make 2.5x more bullets per pour.

Some are simply necessary evils like the 429421 that was FIXED to pour at .448 it fits and feeds papered in a particular rifle where "more practical" 454s don't.

I've knowingly bought 2 moulds that were exactly as advertised when I got them from here . 1 was a Lee 356-150 SWC , wouldn't shoot in any of his ....wouldn't shoot in mine either . The next guy , worked fine for him . The other I knew was undersized and is perfect as cast for a PP in a fat 30 that is actually an undersized 31. What are you going to do with a 311299 that casts at .308 ? Slap some paper on it and feed a .306/.312 Arisaka .

Prices are nuts all over and then you go to a gun show and score a Cramer that looks like it sat in its box on a shelf for 55 yrs and 2 sets of Lyman handles for $45 .

Buyer beware is always true . From time to time that pig in a poke turns out to be 500# of Hampshire perfection for something other than what you wanted it for , the .308 311299 sized to 301 and wrapped is the answer to the 03A3 that hasn't played well with anything........so much for the 7.7 Jap......

Want to get your feet wet ? Buy a Lee pistol mould . Want to make a pile of 75% keepers for a 222 buy a NOE . Have a favorite FP but an odd/special throat/leade Mountain or Accurate . Don't care about the weight but don't feel like watching the clock or counting and just want to coast along and cast some leisure bullets ? Then Lyman/Ideal and RCBS is the ticket . I wouldn't be in the casting world if every mould maker got $60-140 for a 2 cavity mould and I wouldn't have 9 NOEs if Natchez hadn't had the shipping cost so high on a 27-150 @ $68 + 24 for shipping and a NOE 285-150 5C weren't on sale at $109 shipped ..... See how $17 more for 3 more holes made a sale ?

Value lies with the end user , if it costs $300 to load the first cast bullet a lot of folks will walk away but at $100 for a pot and 2 different bullets 50 people will stand in line .

[dverna]

My casting mentor was adamant about buying quality equipment. My first mold was an H&G 10 cavity. Then again, the cheap Lee 6 cavity molds were not made back then. Lyman and Saeco had fours..but he told me to save up and wait. I think that mold cost about $100 and it was a lot of money for a college kid. But it made great bullets at a phenomenal rate.

The problem newbies face is the slew of "experts" who give advice.
The other factor is the dumbing down of pistol shooting. Go to a pistol range and see how many are shooting at ranges over 10 yards....not many. Any junk will work at the 7 yard line, in the hands of most pistoleros who gravitate to short yardage. These same "experts" willingly share their views on guns, reloading and casting....all the while shooting 6" patterns at 7 yards.

Newbies want to believe an inexpensive mold is just as good as a premium offering. In some cases, it may be....luck of the draw. On average, they lose. Think about it...Not many would buy high priced molds if there was not a good reason. Molds are not the kind of thing taken to the range and displayed as the latest and greatest ninja trinket.

[TexasGrunt]

I own about twice as many Lee moulds as NOE . I have RCBS ,Lyman ,LBT, Mountain , Thomson ,UNK and a couple classic collectables that I will probably just drive to death .

I'm glad I started with Lee moulds . I discovered that there was a world of difference between a 452-255 Lee and an 45-200 RCBS . NOE is vastly superior to Lee but it takes a minute or two or 3 runs to get the feel of them .

One must be careful with comparing makers also in that a Lee 22 Bator must be compared to a Lee 6C 22-55 to an RCBS 22-55 to a NOE 225-55 ..........because a 5 hole 225-55 is a fickle pita compared to a 5C 454-255/454424 . Long Lee rifle bullets are a PITA to keep hot .......Of course I'm yet to get 5 perfect NOE 285-150 hunters in 5 consecutive pours so that's a wash . Why do LBT moulds even work ? I mean that 401-175 RF is awesome but side by side with all of the others we're talking Buck Rogers/Steam punk for looks .

I got out a couple dormant iron moulds the other day and it took about 10 of my planned 50-75 pours to remember why I have so many aluminum moulds . It's because the Lee 6C 452-255 and the NOE 454424 5C weigh about same full as the Lyman 429421 2C and make 2.5x more bullets per pour.

Some are simply necessary evils like the 429421 that was FIXED to pour at .448 it fits and feeds papered in a particular rifle where "more practical" 454s don't.

I've knowingly bought 2 moulds that were exactly as advertised when I got them from here . 1 was a Lee 356-150 SWC , wouldn't shoot in any of his ....wouldn't shoot in mine either . The next guy , worked fine for him . The other I knew was undersized and is perfect as cast for a PP in a fat 30 that is actually an undersized 31. What are you going to do with a 311299 that casts at .308 ? Slap some paper on it and feed a .306/.312 Arisaka .

Prices are nuts all over and then you go to a gun show and score a Cramer that looks like it sat in its box on a shelf for 55 yrs and 2 sets of Lyman handles for $45 .

Buyer beware is always true . From time to time that pig in a poke turns out to be 500# of Hampshire perfection for something other than what you wanted it for , the .308 311299 sized to 301 and wrapped is the answer to the 03A3 that hasn't played well with anything........so much for the 7.7 Jap......

Want to get your feet wet ? Buy a Lee pistol mould . Want to make a pile of 75% keepers for a 222 buy a NOE . Have a favorite FP but an odd/special throat/leade Mountain or Accurate . Don't care about the weight but don't feel like watching the clock or counting and just want to coast along and cast some leisure bullets ? Then Lyman/Ideal and RCBS is the ticket . I wouldn't be in the casting world if every mould maker got $60-140 for a 2 cavity mould and I wouldn't have 9 NOEs if Natchez hadn't had the shipping cost so high on a 27-150 @ $68 + 24 for shipping and a NOE 285-150 5C weren't on sale at $109 shipped ..... See how $17 more for 3 more holes made a sale ?

Value lies with the end user , if it costs $300 to load the first cast bullet a lot of folks will walk away but at $100 for a pot and 2 different bullets 50 people will stand in line .

I'd like to see a picture of that LBT 401-175 RF.

[Harter66]

188474
188475

[TexasGrunt]

That's one sexy boolit.

[GhostHawk]

I consider Lee double cavity molds to be a "Kit" Like those CVA Muzzleloaders in the 70's.

With some effort, some education, some tweaking most can be made to do what you want, make good bullets. The gentler you treat them the longer they will last.

Lee 6 cavity's are in a class of there own, but like any mold you do kinda have to know what your doing.

Well how are you going to learn?

Start with some cheap 2 cavity's and when you have them about figured out move up to a 6.

But it helps to be educated and this place is awesome for that.

Little details no one mentions like a hot plate to preheat molds, I have yet to see that on any Lee mold, 1,2 or 6 cavity.

Molds are worth what you pay for them. You pay 90 dollars for a mold that thing better turn out silver plated objects of art. Which is why I run the Lee's, they suit me. Your mileage may vary.

[JohnH]

I was always able to get decent service out of the old style Lee 2 cavity. Once upon a time this was the mold to buy to begin casting or to get a gun up and slinging lead if you were strapped for cash. No longer. The new style is not worth the time it took to make it and I will never buy another. Lee 6 cavities are decent and make a pile of boolits fast. I have 3 NOE, two 30 cals., one a three banger one a four and a two cavity copy of the Keith 44-250. Love all three. My Lyman and RCBS molds are what anyone would expect of them, good quality, good casting, good service. I do not know if my experience with RCBS is typical, but those have been the easiest running molds of all for me. There is no replacement for being conscious of how one treats a mold during casting, it is a precision instrument and should be treated as such. Even high quality tools can be reduced to junk with abuse.

[Fishman]

JohnH I agree with most of your post but have not had any problems with the new style Lee 2 cavity molds. I'm curious what problem you had with them that you did not have with the old style?

[1johnlb]

:popcorn:

[Hickory]

I have had two Lee molds in my life. My only comment is:
Fool me once, shame on me.
Fool me twice, shame on Lee.

[runfiverun]

I only have 2 lee molds.
one new one and one old one. [45-70 and the 240gr 300 BO]
I run them both like rented mules and keep them lubed.
so far so good.

the NOE took me some time to get going, but once it did it is a favorite.
I just don't need 6,000 of those boolits per session.

I'm wishing I wouldn't have lapped out my last lyman now that I powder coat.
but I might be able to make it work anyway, I stopped right at the diameter I need.

they all seem to have some quirks, some it's a very narrow temperature window, others it's how you fill them.
I'm working with a MP brass mold right now that wants to be filled slowly and squeezed tightly to do it's best.
I think I can fix the fill rate thing, but it isn't my mold it's on loan so I have to work slowly and carefully.

others I have taken out of the box heated them up sprayed them down with degreaser and wiped them off with a rag then made 500 real nice boolits.
[shrug]

[OS OK]

188474
188475

One of the problems I have is allowing some Pb to enter a cavity before I'm ready to fill it. I lean the mold away from me so that the overflow runs away from the next cavity I intend to fill. If I let it get into the cavity before I'm ready I end up getting nose wrinkles in rifle casts.

This mold kinda mystifies me as to how to fill it...?-run a hot sprue plate and pour in the middle filling both cavities simultaneously?
Never dealt with this type of sprue plate. It looks like any splash or miss allignment of the Pb stream would get down into the adjoining cavity before you are ready...how do you handle this one?

[HABCAN]

JohnH, not for a minute to disagree with your preferences, but like Fishman I think the new LEE design is an improvement, to the point that I'm replacing the old 'grooved' ones with the new models and selling off the old ones that did yeoman service for decades.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

1. Lee 2 cavity molds are total hit or miss. Some work quite well, others aren't worth a bucket of cold snot.

...SNIP
I have many brands of molds and have sold many of them.

I really like the Lee 2 cavity molds for casual casting.
Right now I think I have about 30 Lee 2 cav molds on the shelf, and have probably sold near that many in the past (and gave a few away). I had only one that was outright defective, Lee swapped that one out for free.
About 1/3 of the ones I owned would cast a slightly offset boolit (more than .001), which is where I reject them, it's probably OK for pistol boolits, but not for rifle...not in my rifles anyway.
For whatever reason, most of the Lee 2 cav Rifle boolit molds need to be Lee-mented (cavities polished).

With two rare exceptions, I always buy them new (usually Midsouth for $16 or $17), and usually buy several at a time, to spread out the ship fees. I look at it like this, if you get a good one, keep it. If you get one you don't like, that doesn't meet your standards, just sell it or give it away.

[robg]

The new Lee molds I've bought recently have been great just washed and smoked with a butane lighter boolits fall out easily 223 309rn 309 FP double cavity

[Harter66]

Ummmm. I just do it ......
It's a loner mold , just the one, I've only run it a couple times . It seems like I held it just up hill and poured the close cavity first then the far cavity .
The last time I poured it I was still spoon ladling . I have a brand new RCBS ladle now and I believe I would pour it the same way .

[runfiverun]

Charlie:
you put it under the pot, then you push on the handle.

my pots spout fills 2 cavity's at once, doing a 3 or 5 cavity mold can be a little bit of a challenge.
that LBT would be a breeze.

[Tackleberry41]

I have wondered if the Lee 2 bullet molds are designed around linotype. Molds that cast undersize with hotter WW mix, cast fine running cooler lino. But once 'leemented' for WW mix, now cast oversize w lino, and a real chore to try and size. And for some molds is fine, but how many buy a 230gr .451 round nose tumble lube mold to use lino in an ACP? Maybe its just the cheaper aluminum alloy they use as my NOE aluminum molds don't seem to care what you use in it.

Lee is hit or miss. I have 2 .458 molds. The 500gr was undersized, had to be leemented. One hole, it was the front end to small, other the bottom end. While a 405gr hollow base, was .460 dropping out of the mold. It was a bit funny to read in the lee book how difficult it is to make a round ball mold, that only Lee has perfected it. Everybody else was just stumbling in the dark.

Not to say I dont like iron or brass molds, good exercise due to the weight. But if your used to fighting with Lee aluminum molds you might get a bad taste for aluminum. Once I used NOE molds it was a world of difference, nearly effortless to make good bullets. .

Lees big issue I have seen is they really do not seem to care what a customer wants, and assume anybody who calls or emails is a moron. That you could not possibly know about various aluminum alloys or how a machine shop works. Anything issues with a mold, has to be something your doing. Odd I cast great bullets with NOE or Lyman molds. So hard to say its me. But someplace like NOE has to do things right, not big enough to ignore you.

Lee seems like they have gotten to big for their own good, who cares what the customer wants, what they gonna do buy somewhere else? So what if you do, theres always another chump. You can almost hear them laughing, like the manager at Golds gym today when I said I was just gonna cancel my membership. I said there are other gyms, he pretty much laughed 'were all the same'. Then threatened to take me to collections just because he could. Only reason I paid Golds was the child care when my son is out of school. Go in today, they had changed their policy and were 'full'. I could be put on a waiting list, no idea how long. Girl in there said the same thing, what you gonna do about it?

[JohnH]

JohnH I agree with most of your post but have not had any problems with the new style Lee 2 cavity molds. I'm curious what problem you had with them that you did not have with the old style? The alignment pins will not stay in place and the molds inevitably begin to cast booilts out of round by about .010. The old style didn't have line up pins as such but rather vertical ridges and grooves on opposing sides of the blocks and at the bottom of the block a steel pin which aligned with a groove of about half the length of the block. It is a simple system that worked well and was actually quite hardy. Maybe i got lemons, I don't know. I sent one of three back to Lee and they returned it, told me to apply Alox to the pins for lubrication. Didn't bother to tell them I use 2 cycle oil for this on all my molds and it works better than bullet lube ever thought of. I'll entertain their 6 cavity, I have three that work very well. But not one more new style Lee 2 cavity will I buy.

[Doggonekid]

I have LBT molds and you can fill both cavities at once or you can go one at a time. With 400 grain boolits the cavity stays hot so if you over spill in the next hole you still have time to just keep filling it.

[Fishman]

JohnH, I could see how that would be frustrating. I have not experienced that with my new Lee molds but I heat cycle them on a hotplate three times before use. I learned this the hard way with my first NOE mold had an alignment pin pull out a ways. Al was quick to fix it and I was grateful, resolving to never have that problem again. So I have followed his instructions to heat cycle with every new mold I get. I'm not saying this would have prevented your issue but if you find yourself with a new Lee mold again you might try it.

Sometimes however, manufacturers do mess up. Like the Lee sizer that was supposed to reduce the neck to hold a .243 bullet but reduced the inside diameter to .229.