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View Full Version : Bullet mold issues cost vs craftsmanship



reloaders4you
05-09-2009, 02:46 PM
My issue is this......for the better part of 15 years i have shooting 45 autos with the h&g style 200 gr. Swc boolit. Now that i have got into casting i want to cast that style of boolit. The way i see it i have 2 options. 1: Buy a $250 plus used h&g mold off of ebay or 2: Buy two or three lee 6 cavity molds of the same design. So my question is this. Is it better to pay more money for a mold of better quility or pay less money for more molds of lesser quility. Please note i am not bagging on lee molds. Any input would be great.

leadman
05-09-2009, 02:54 PM
I would buy one 6 cavity Lee mold. The 6 cavities tend to work good. You may have to "Lement" it but that should only take about an hour tops. The last 2 Lee 6 holes I bought cast good boolits with no problems.
I have the Lee 2 cavity of this boolit design and it is very accurate. Just ordered a 6 cavity.

The Lee is much lighter than an iron or brass mold if that makes any difference to you.

reloaders4you
05-09-2009, 02:59 PM
Thanks, i have been using rcbs 2 cavity molds for the time being but need to step up production

HeavyMetal
05-09-2009, 03:13 PM
The H&G molds are tops in quality construction no doubt about it. If they were the only game in town and you had to have the production I'd say go for it.

However Lee does make a "version" of this boolit. It is not an exact clone but very very close.

I bought two Lee 6 bangers back in the early 90's and have been very happy with them. Yes I made some changes and I am also going to pin the wood handles on to keep them from slipping off.

My total outlay, back in the day, was about $60.00 Currently it's a bit more but with some shopping I think you can get both molds and a pair of handles under a C note.

Considering the price of powder, primers and brass these days I couldn't justifiy buying anything else!

44 WCF
05-09-2009, 03:34 PM
Well, if bullets cost now days $40-60 per 500, it just takes longer to get pay out on the more expensive moulds. Buy what you like, I've tried them all have favorites and not so favorites of every brand. But I started with the least expensive 4 and 6 cavity moulds. I've bought sold and traded many many moulds, that's been fun too.

So don't worry about the cost, just what you feel comfortable spending,


It worked for me and has been a ton of fun. Above all, don't loan moulds to anyone.

44 WCF

jcw1970
05-09-2009, 10:46 PM
I'd go with the H&G. If you pay 250 for a mold now, use it for 20 years, think of how much it will be worth then. remember they aren't making any more of them. what's your 6 cavity lee going to be worth in 20 years and will it still cast like it was new?

just my 2 cents

runfiverun
05-09-2009, 10:52 PM
lee has a very good copy of the 68 they did a custom run for here,based on a few 68 boolits sent to them.
they screwed it up initially, but finally got it right.
you could have ballisticast make you up one also as they do the h&g designs.
or go with the lyman 4 cavity sorta copy i have this one and a magma engineering 68 copy
the gun don't see no difference.
and the 4 hole one is fast enough if you put in a little time.

boommer
05-10-2009, 12:33 AM
buy what you want. But spend 250.00 for pistol BULLET mould NOT ME! I stick to 6 banger lee's or Lyman's

Johnw...ski
05-10-2009, 07:32 AM
Buy the good one and you will never regret it.
Buy the cheaper mass produced one and you may or may not be happy.
I bought three production moulds last year and none cast what I neeeded.
I sold one and finally ruined the other two trying to make them work.
The three custom moulds I replaced them with are a joy to use and produce the exact boolits I want, expensive yes, but really expensive when you consider the moulds I bought and couldn't use.
The custom moulds would have been a bargain if I had just gone to them first.

John

243winxb
05-10-2009, 09:06 AM
The mould should give the correct diameter bullets for the alloy you choose to use. I guess i should start a new tread. " Does your mould drop bullets of the correct diameter for sizing" When using WW with Lyman moulds, the bullets just are not fat enought to size to .452" They drop out at .451" to .4515" I have to add Linotype to correct this. My barrels slug at .452" Please don't tell me they will "bump up".

Cloudpeak
05-10-2009, 09:14 AM
I had both of the Lee 200gr SWC 6 cavity bullet molds, TL and non-TL. They dropped good bullets (although one dropped undersized bullets until I "shimmed" it) and they were accurate. But, I had some FTF problems with both bullet designs in my Springfield 1911's (what I owned at the time). I think a great deal of the problem was that extractor tension was too high in both pistols. However, after lessening extractor tension, I still had occasional FTF problems.

Neither of the Lee 200gr SWC bullets are a good copy of the H&G, IMO. So, I bought the Lyman 452630 4 cavity 200gr SWC mold. Both pistols functioned 100% after that over several thousand rounds and I've also put 1,000 rounds through my D.W. CBOB with no problem. The Lyman drops .452" bullets and they're round as opposed to various diameter's and shapes with the Lee's. But, as I said, both Lee designs were accurate. The Lyman just drops better, more uniform bullets.

Both of my Springfield's shot 100% with Penns factory 200gr SWC's which is an accurate copy of the H&G as is the Lyman. Here's a picture comparing the Penns (on the left) to the non-TL Lee 200 gr bullet.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/WyoBob/Guns/DSCN1441.jpg

timkelley
05-10-2009, 09:32 AM
Buy what "YOU" like, I like LEEs.

Sounds to me as if you like "Craftsmanship" and won't be pleased with "good enough". I, on the other hand, am a fan of "good enough".

wdr2
05-10-2009, 09:34 AM
After over 30 years of casting, I recently used my first 4-cav H&G mold. I was simply amazed at the ease of use and quality of my pile of cast bullets.

Pat I.
05-10-2009, 09:37 AM
After spending I don't know how much money replacing bargain equipment over the years I've adopted a "buy once cry once" mentality and in the long run it's cheaper and you get what you really wanted in the first place.

fredj338
05-10-2009, 01:39 PM
Therare other options. Lyman & Saeco make good copies in 3 & 4cav designs for a lot less than $250 new. That is how I would go if you ar not thrilled w/ the Lee 6cav. They can be hit or miss. I've had good Lee molds & bad ones.

snuffy
05-11-2009, 12:17 AM
I'm not about to pay $250.00 for any mold. I don't care who made it. Same goes for custom molds, I got a group buy 6 cav lee about a month ago, after waiting 8 months. It was 70 bucks, my limit for a mold.

I bought a lee 6 cav 40 cal 175 TC mold about 2 months ago. Casting with it is a dream, it just plain works!

http://photos.imageevent.com/jptowns/arrow/websize/P5100027_edited.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/jptowns/arrow/websize/P5100028_edited.JPG

There's around 700 boolits in that pile. I just finished tumble lubing them with LLA. Casting took about 3 hours, using a lee pro 20 pot,(which also worked flawlessly). If you're talking about the 1 or 2 cav lee's, I'd agree they're cheaply made. But ALL the lee 6 cav's I have work well, and are holding up just fine. Will they still be "working fine" in 20 years? If I live that long I'd bet on it!:mrgreen:

Go ahead and get that legendary H&G mold. Then you can holler at the target or steel popper, I'm shooting legend boolits at you, fall over out of respect![smilie=1:

Bret4207
05-11-2009, 07:17 AM
You can pay as much as you want for a mould or any other tool. It doesn't mean it will make better boolits or anything else. Personally I can't justify spending more than 60-75 dollars for ANY mould. I paid $75-80 for my 10 cav H+G 38WC mould several years ago. It's a wonderful mould, but it's not a $250.00 mould.

Given proper care and respect there's no reason a Lee 6 cav shouldn't be around in 20 years. You just have to think and observe a bit more.

cajun shooter
05-11-2009, 08:22 AM
Some people are happy with almost good products. Tools that cost money and that are used for shooting are worth it. If you ever have bad Lee molds that drop 449 bullets for a gun that's 454 and you send them back 3 times with no help from Lee,maybe you will sing a different song. I enjoy shooting and have done so since 1971 with the casting and reloading also. Good tools are worth the cost. I have some custom Hoch molds made by Dave Farmer that are true pieces of art. These molds will be casting perfect bullets when the Lee molds are in the junk pile. If you have a choice of buying a Snap On wrench or one made from China and that wrench will save your life. Which one is worth the price Bret?

TAWILDCATT
05-11-2009, 08:50 AM
I have about 12 lee molds,I started with 2 cavity and now they are 6 cavity.
never had a bad one .I do a little work on the new ones .I stone the faces and break the edges of the out side.never had to touch the cavitys.It could be that right now they are going as fast as they can to turn out products.
I have used saeco the originals.and H&G they are good ,but I can turn out good accurate product from any thing.I have MB molds I bought new in 1944/5.
I have a win mold that was my first in 1937.some people can break a solid steel bar. just looking at it.
Midsouthshooters has 6 cavity at $36.if you can get them.evey one is back ordered.
I have been casting and reloading since 1937 and still have every tool I got.
:coffee: [smilie=1:

captaint
05-11-2009, 12:21 PM
R4YU - You need to get yourself in touch with Mihec on this forum. He's currently (I hope) taking orders for a 6 cav H&G 68 copy mold. I don't yet have any of his molds, but I understand is workmanship is outstanding and delivery very good. I'm waiting patiently for 2 of them now. Don't delay. Mike

Bret4207
05-11-2009, 05:20 PM
Some people are happy with almost good products. Tools that cost money and that are used for shooting are worth it. If you ever have bad Lee molds that drop 449 bullets for a gun that's 454 and you send them back 3 times with no help from Lee,maybe you will sing a different song. I enjoy shooting and have done so since 1971 with the casting and reloading also. Good tools are worth the cost. I have some custom Hoch molds made by Dave Farmer that are true pieces of art. These molds will be casting perfect bullets when the Lee molds are in the junk pile. If you have a choice of buying a Snap On wrench or one made from China and that wrench will save your life. Which one is worth the price Bret?

First off, when is a mould or wrench going to save my life? Lets not exaggerate here. I have H+G, NEI, Hoch, RCBS, Lyman, SAECO, Ideal, Crammer, Modern Bond and Lee moulds. I can show you Lee 6 cavs that cast absolutely wonderful boolits od the desired diameter and I can show you Lyman and Ideal moulds that cast -.002+ under nominal size. It's not just Lee. If you take good care of then they all last nicely. If you just don;t like the Lee's fine, but lets not go off the deep end on this.