A Tale Of Two Companies.

[462]

I bought a Lee 452-230-TC, from Midway. Cleaned it and cast up 50 test boolits. (Didn’t want to do the usual Leementing until after the test session.) Fifty boolits dropped about .4505” and fifty at .454”. E-mailed Midway and received a very prompt reply stating that a replacement was on its way. Cool.

Replacement arrived, yesterday. Did the clean and test-cast, again. This time they all dropped at .4505”. (Ah, ha, consistency!) Another e-mail and another very prompt reply. Midway is going to check ALL their stock. The two defective moulds are on their way back to Midway. Credit will be issued for the original mould and return shipping.

Midway's customer service continues to keep me as a repeat customer.

Lee, is seems, still wants me to be their mould quality control foreman. I fixed three of their moulds, but refused to do it a fourth time.

By the way, the blocks on both moulds fit together perfectly. The sprue plate on the replacement mould didn't lay flat on the top of the blocks. Both moulds displayed extremely poor finish, with what appeared to be course wire wheel marks on all sides and bottoms of the blocks and the bottom of the sprue plates. Even if the boolits dropped at the correct size, visually, the moulds were pathetic. I'm not disparaging Lee, just stating the facts.

Reckon I’m in the market for a good used Lyman 452374. That way, there won’t be any feed and function concerns.

[Bret4207]

Well, when you can get a 6 cavity 452374 for $40-50.00 let me know. I do wish Lee was a bit more responsive though.

[Casting Timmy]

Lee molds do require some work, but for the money saved I think it's worth the trouble. I do think that for the price on a 6 cavity, you can't beat it!

I just think that a coulpe hours of time is well worth the money I saved getting a Lee 6 cavity. If you think about it that way, you might not care about having to fix it up a little.

[mike in co]

try a 6 cav in the same design....i would say typically better qyality in the six.

mike in co

[Dan Cash]

Lee molds do require some work, but for the money saved I think it's worth the trouble. I do think that for the price on a 6 cavity, you can't beat it!

I just think that a coulpe hours of time is well worth the money I saved getting a Lee 6 cavity. If you think about it that way, you might not care about having to fix it up a little.

I am retired but my time is too valualble to spend overhauling a new product to make it work.

[Shiloh]

try a 6 cav in the same design....i would say typically better qyality in the six.

mike in co

No doubt about it Mike!!

SHiloh

[462]

Like Dan Cash, I'm retired. I like projects and don't mind fixing Lee moulds, and as I said, have done so to three others.

It's just that Lee needs to be made aware of their quality control lapses, and maybe this instance will give them a nudge in the right direction. If Midway has a large number of defective moulds sitting on their shelves and they have to be returned, it could be that the light will go on.

I've read, here, that the 6-cavity moulds appear to be of better quality. Something to mull over.

[fecmech]

"Reckon I’m in the market for a good used Lyman 452374. That way, there won’t be any feed and function concerns. "

The critical word in that statement is "good". There was a recent thread about under size Lyman 452374 molds with mine being one of them. With WW +2% tin it casts .450. Lyman said to send it in but I just went ahead and Beagled it.

[OldBob]

I bought one of the Lee 458-340 moulds from Midway shortly after Christmas, it came in with the nose of both cavities in pathetically rough condition, looked like the cutter caught a chip or something, called Midway and they apologized ( not their fault) and sent another right out... after checking to see if the rest of their stock was ok. The second mould was fine, drops nice boolits at the right size. I don't mind fixing small problems with a Lee because of the large difference in price, but some things should never get past the scrap bin...... Anyhow, Midway's service and response was excellent, couldn't ask for more.

[9.3X62AL]

I had similar recent adventures with a new Lee 2-banger of the 45-230-TC stripe. The block area between the cavities didn't meet when the blocks were closed, but if strong handle pressure is exerted the castings won't "fin". They fall out at .453" or a little fatter, so I'll just keep the PITA tool and make do, taking comfort in the knowledge that Lee not only makes affordable tools--but also wants to condition the grip strength in my left hand. Lee didn't have to do that, and I think it is laudable that as a company they so altruistically undertake a mission to upgrade the dexterity and hand strength of their customer base. Quite noble, and at no surcharge.

[crowbuster]

Bought 500 win. 204 ruger brass from midway last june.While doing case prep I noticed approximately 3-4 cases per bag had the necks split on them. Called Midway and told the nice lady my problem and she sounded very upset and told me she would rectify the problem. A couple days later I get A package from them containing 3 bags of 100ea. new win. brass. I have always had great luck with midway customer service this time was no exception, sorry for the rambling.

C.B.

[rickt]

Don't make the same mistake I did! I sent my mold blocks back to Lee. Here is the unanswered email after I got it back.


I have a question for you about mold blocks. I have 4 Lee six cavity mold blocks. The first three were just fine, is there a problem with all 429-240-2R blocks? The set I sent back, you could see every step it took to cut the cavity's. They were full of chatter marks too(looked like dull tooling to me). There were allot, not a few, deep drag marks from the sprue plate. I know there are drag marks but these were excessive and some were deep.
The set that were returned to me look the same but no chatter marks in the cavity's and the top of the blocks look like they were stoned to remove some marks and a note. (here it is)

Hi Rick, Couldn't find chainsaw marks. (I said in my note looked like cavity's were cut with a chainsaw) Drag marks are a fact of life and won't affect the bullets. But the mold didn't open as easily as it should and so we are replacing it. The three bullets I cast measured .4305-.4313, .4306-.4309, and .4303-.4311
Regards
SVC. DEPT.

Is this a normal problem with 429-240-2R or just dull tooling and poor QC?
I have 358-150-1R and 356-125-2R same basic shape bullet with none of the above problems? I am hesitant on ordering 452-228-R and wondering if I should stay with Lyman steel blocks.
Thanks for your time Pat
Rick

[MtGun44]

9.3x62Al,

And I bet when you wind up with a bunch of lemons you make some lemonade! ;-)

Well said! You had me chuckling.

Bill

[Frozone]

I said this before, I don't buy Lee molds from Midway. If I want a Lee mold, I get it from Lee.
I have never had a truly bad mold direct from Lee, and I've never had a good one from Midway!
This is not just a one time thing. I bought 6 or 7 molds from Midway and All have been under sized or bent sprues or misaligned or combos.
Now don't get me wrong - The Lee stuff has needed to be "Leemented" before it work well but it was serviceable out of the box.

I'll be honest I've had better luck buying direct from Lee then I've had buying group buys on this group!!!!!

[dromia]

I had similar recent adventures with a new Lee 2-banger of the 45-230-TC stripe. The block area between the cavities didn't meet when the blocks were closed, but if strong handle pressure is exerted the castings won't "fin". They fall out at .453" or a little fatter, so I'll just keep the PITA tool and make do, taking comfort in the knowledge that Lee not only makes affordable tools--but also wants to condition the grip strength in my left hand. Lee didn't have to do that, and I think it is laudable that as a company they so altruistically undertake a mission to upgrade the dexterity and hand strength of their customer base. Quite noble, and at no surcharge.


Feeling a tad ironic there Al? :D

[9.3X62AL]

Hey, you know me--I'm a "glass half-full" kind of guy!

Frozone, the offending Lee mould listed above came from MidwayUSA. This explains everything.

Dromia, this is an aluminum mould--not in the least ironic, not at all. :)

[dromia]

Dromia, this is an aluminum mould--not in the least ironic, not at all. :)

[smilie=l:

"He who would pun would pick a pocket"

[Frozone]

Frozone, the offending Lee mould listed above came from MidwayUSA. This explains everything.

I don't say it explains everything, but I do get a kick out of how people complain that Lee produces cheap stuff then buy it at a discount house.
I Have no explanation as to why the molds you get from Lee are better. They just, in my fairly limited experience ( ~ 12 molds total, I think, 5 from Midway) are.

I also don't think it's a wise business decision to send the 'B' stuff to midway and keep the 'A', but then again.........

<edit>I guess that to make this discovery you'd need to live outside the lower 48 states.
It's often cheaper to pay the extra Lee asks for a mold (or anything) over what Midway wants, and pay Lee's flat rate $4 shipping over midway's shipping options.
The result is that I have bought more molds from Lee. </edit>



Dromia, this is an aluminum mould--not in the least ironic, not at all. :)

That explains why you couldn't iron out the problems.

[462]

I don't know that Lee sends the "B" quality merchandise to Midway and other resellers, but it wouldn't be good business practice for the reseller to continue to carry Lee products, if that were the case. In other words, more of a bad decision on the part of the reseller than that of the manufacturer. After all, it's the reseller who has to bear the cost of exchanging the item, and then having to pay for its return. However, if Lee is purposely sending "B" merchandise to the resellers, then I would accuse them of immoral business practices and not buy another of their products. Stranger things have happened, though.

I've not bought a Lee mould directly from Lee, but the 5 that have come from Midway had some sort of problem. If I ever buy another, I'll do so through Lee, just to see if there's a difference.

Anyway, Midway made it all right, and I have a Lyman 4-banger 452374 on the way from Joneser. Don't know how to cast with other than single or 2-cavity moulds, so this will be another learning process. Reckon the boolits will pile up right quickly.

[9.3X62AL]

That explains why you couldn't iron out the problems.

Hijo la, Senor! :)

No denying the outcome of your purchasing pattern, and those kinds of numbers pretty much cancel out randomness from the question. They called that a 'clue' at my previous jobsite.

[yondering]

I had similar recent adventures with a new Lee 2-banger of the 45-230-TC stripe. The block area between the cavities didn't meet when the blocks were closed, but if strong handle pressure is exerted the castings won't "fin".

FYI, you should be able to close up the gap in the center of the blocks. Essentially, one or both of your blocks are warped, so you need to bend it straight again. With the mold hot, close the mold and lay it on it's side on a surface that the bottom block can rest on. I use a bench vise, with the jaws open enough for the handle to fit into. (The block rests on the top of the vise jaws.) Place a large flat nosed punch in the center of the top block over the area where the blocks have a gap, and smack it with a large hammer. It sounds abusive, but this actually works pretty well. The aluminum is soft enough when hot, that the blocks will mate together almost perfectly, if you do it right.

[9.3X62AL]

Yondering--

I like it. A lot. I'll give this a try in the next day or so. Many thanks, sir.

[HORNET]

Wasn't that the Jumptrap approach to fixing Lee molds?

[jlchucker]

I am retired but my time is too valualble to spend overhauling a new product to make it work.

Right On!! A customer that buys a new product deserves to get a product that he doesn't have to remanufacture because the manufacturer didn't care enough to produce a good quality item in the first place!