How many boolits do you get

[Fly]

How many boolits do you get out of a Lee mold before she dead?I know
this is a loaded question of sort.But if you take care & don't abuse it, how
many boolit can you expect to get out in it's life time?:coffeecom

[mpmarty]

How many boolits do you get out of a Lee mold before she dead?I know
this is a loaded question of sort.But if you take care & don't abuse it, how
many boolit can you expect to get out in it's life time?:coffeecom

My oldest LEE mold has cast about two hundred boolits a week for fifteen years and it's still going strong. You do the math.

[AZ-Stew]

I don't use mine every week, but I have some well over 30 years old that still cast fine.

Regards,

Stew

[HammerMTB]

How many boolits do you get out of a Lee mold before she dead?I know
this is a loaded question of sort.But if you take care & don't abuse it, how
many boolit can you expect to get out in it's life time?:coffeecom

If you take care of the mold, you only get to use it until you're dead.
After that the family has a decision to make- actually in most cases, a lot of decisions, but what to do with all those aluminum molds is one of them.
How many boolits is that? I dunno- I have cast a lot of boolits from a 6 cav mold in a day....
and Lord willin' and the crick don't rise, I hope to have a lot of castin' days left.... :grin:

[chris in va]

Not sure, but my sprue plate is already somewhat bowed up a smidge on my 9mm mold. I can see daylight when it's closed. And yes...the screw is tightened down.

[Mk42gunner]

Somewhere between zero and infinity.

Seriously, as long as you take care of it and break it in right, you can make enough boolits to more than pay for it and its replacement.

The only Lee mold that I have consistant problems with, (a.58 caliber R.E.A.L.), I bought used. It still works, you just have to be careful in aligning the mold halves when closing it.

One of the group buy Lee six cavity molds that I bought wouldn't close properly; it took me quite a while to find the aluminum around one of the alinment bushings had been deformed. What made it really hard to find was that it wasn't obvious; I only found it, (by smoking the entire mold face) after making the decision to fix it or toss the mold.

Robert

[Adam10mm]

I used Lee 6 bangers when I casted commercially. They lasted about 50-60 thousand bullets before the poor quality of Lee shined bright as day.

[JesseCJC]

My LEE mould outlasted the handles, that's for sure. hah
So ~1100 before I snapped the sprue handle

[armyrat1970]

Not sure, but my sprue plate is already somewhat bowed up a smidge on my 9mm mold. I can see daylight when it's closed. And yes...the screw is tightened down.

Chris, are you careful on how you smack the sprue plate when cutting the sprue? Be careful of how you have the mold turned when cutting the sprue.

[Lloyd Smale]

depends. Ive had some that died fast and some that seem to go on forever. Biggest variable seems to be in how they drop bullets. If it takes much beating to get them to drop they dont hold up. If the bullets fall out they can last a good long time. One of the biggest tricks i learned was to religiously use bull plate lube on them. I know it has doubled the useful life of my lee molds. Im notoriously hard on molds. when i cast its usually at least 3 molds and i go to town and if a mold is sticky or crappy it gets abused fast. Everything i have said relates to lees 6 cavity molds. I wont buy there two cavity molds anymore. I cant afford to waste my money on junk. Bottom line is for the money the lee 6 cavity molds are a pretty good deal. Unless you get a bad one, which you will occasionaly get. Run them hot and run the with bull shop lube and you will get a mountain of bullets out of them.

[Fly]

"Seriously, as long as you take care of it and break it in right" So how do you break yours in?

[captain-03]

..... Run them hot and run the with bull shop lube and you will get a mountain of bullets out of them.


Agreed ... ruined a couple to start with, but now using bull plate and running hot, they perform great and I expect a long life out of them ...

[Bwana]

I am on my third 40 cal 175 TC 6 banger. The first two did about 20,000 and will still work in a pinch. I now use straight beeswax to lube the pins and sprue pivot point and contact point. Works great. I agree about the amount of banging to get them to release being a factor. I wish they still made the 150 gr 38 Super mold. I like it for the 9mm in USPSA.

[armyrat1970]

Everything i have said relates to lees 6 cavity molds. I wont buy there two cavity molds anymore. I cant afford to waste my money on junk.

Might just be your experience with them? I wouldn't call them junk.
I have four 2 cavity Lee molds.
358-158-RF
452-228-1R
TL452-230-2R
C309-120-R
and two single cavity:
C324-175-R
They all drop good boolits.
I have a problem with the 452-228-1R but, only because I dropped it one night during a casting session. Still have to get it to work right again but it is still dropping boolits I can load and shoot. (Have other related problems with that boolit, but not the mold)
My newest one is the TL452-230-2R, that I bought a little over a month ago. It drops some really purty boolits.
One of the C324-175-R molds makes me pull my hair out at times, but the other is consistant. Still working on cleaning up the other. A lot may be operator error???
I can send you a few boolits, if you like. Might change your opinion of Lee 2 cavity molds.

[Bret4207]

There's a learning curve to the Lee's. I'd say they are less forgiving than other materials, but any aluminum alloy mould will be. I have some that have cast thousands and thousands of boolits and some that are kinds cruddy after a few hundred. Proper lube is essential and so is learning to run them HOT.

[Fly]

You know it's funny I have made injection molding dies for many years before my retirement.
Those die's go under very high pressures.Most long term dies are made from heat treated tool steels.

Short run dies can be made of aluminum.Short run can be say 40000 parts.Mr lee is a very
smart guy by using aluminum to keep the cost down.Just casting is not near as hard on a
die as injecting it.

That's why I ask for I,m very new to Boolit making.But I knew a Lee mold by all rights must
be able to last for some time if a person took reasonable care of one.

You know even if they did not, you could buy two for the price of some of the others.

I got into this hobby thanks to the Lee Corp.I bought the 50th starter kit for $85 & here
I'm have alot of fun trying to learn for you great people.

If that kit would have been say $250 or so I most likely would have never jumped into
reloading at all.I hope the next generation that runs that company keeps making good
products with lower cost in mine.

JMOHOP Fly

[Mk42gunner]

...You know even if they did not, you could buy two for the price of some of the others.

I got into this hobby thanks to the Lee Corp.I bought the 50th starter kit for $85 & here
I'm have alot of fun trying to learn for you great people.

If that kit would have been say $250 or so I most likely would have never jumped into
reloading at all.I hope the next generation that runs that company keeps making good
products with lower cost in mine.

JMOHOP Fly

And that just may be Lee's biggest selling point: the fact that you can buy their equipment brand new for a comparitivly small amount of money. It allows a person to get started and find out if this hobby is compatible for them.

While Lee's stuff may not be the highest quality, or the easiest to use, it will work. You can always upgrade your equipment at a later date.

Craftsmanship is dependant on the amount of attention to detail, not the quality of the tool.

Robert

[fatelk]

I haven't done anywhere near the volume of casting that some here have, but I have used Lee moulds for a couple decades now.

I've never completely worn a mould out, but I have learned lots of good info on this site in the last few months that will help me take care of them better so they last a lot longer.

The two big things for me are: 1. Bullplate lube (awesome stuff) and 2. lapping the cavities so the boolits just fall out. I think these two things will extend the life of a set of moulds.

On the other hand I think it's funny how we tend to think about things. We worry that a $35 tool might wear out when it's only made $2000 worth of boolits (buy a spare if you shoot that much).

I read where some guys wonder if their AK47 will wear out after firing only 50,000 rounds. If so, just buy a spare $400 gun to shoot the next $10,000 worth of ammo. Not trying to make fun of anyone; most of us tend to think that way sometimes.

[JSAND]

I completely agree with fly, Mr. Lee has encouraged a lot of people to get into not only reloading but casting as well, his prices are reasonable enough that if you don't like it you haven't got a whole lot invested in it. All of my equipment started out as Lee equipment and I have slowly started changing stuff out for better quality equipment. While his moulds definitely feel lacking when holding say a Lyman in the other hand, you can not argue with results, as I posted on another thread, maybe I just got lucky, but the Lee 309 150F double cav I use cast the prettiest boolits of all my moulds. As far as his reloading equipment, I upgraded the anniversary kit press to a Classic Cast and got an RCBS 5-0-5 scale, and a Uniflow powder measure, I have found no problem with the Lee dies except I did order a Lyman M die for expanding the case mouth on my .243 loads at the suggestion of one of the members on here and have been very happy with the results.

[fatnhappy]

depends. Ive had some that died fast and some that seem to go on forever. Biggest variable seems to be in how they drop bullets. If it takes much beating to get them to drop they dont hold up. If the bullets fall out they can last a good long time. One of the biggest tricks i learned was to religiously use bull plate lube on them. I know it has doubled the useful life of my lee molds. Im notoriously hard on molds. when i cast its usually at least 3 molds and i go to town and if a mold is sticky or crappy it gets abused fast. Everything i have said relates to lees 6 cavity molds. I wont buy there two cavity molds anymore. I cant afford to waste my money on junk. Bottom line is for the money the lee 6 cavity molds are a pretty good deal. Unless you get a bad one, which you will occasionaly get. Run them hot and run the with bull shop lube and you will get a mountain of bullets out of them.

yep. I have a number of 6 cavities courtesy of group buys here. My experience more or less validates Lloyds. A mould you need to beat on to release boolits is more of a PITA than it's worth.

[Bret4207]

On the other hand I think it's funny how we tend to think about things. We worry that a $35 tool might wear out when it's only made $2000 worth of boolits (buy a spare if you shoot that much).



Heck of a lot of truth right there boys!

[Crash_Corrigan]

I have been at this so called money saving addiction for 16 years now and I know I have probably over $10,000 invested in all kinds of shooting stuff including guns.

My newest addition was a decent gun safe to protect my investments. Now I have been forced to live in a small mobile home in a senior trailer park and my living room and half of my kitchen is festooned with all kinds of casting and reloading stuff.

My Lee molds from day one are still going strong. With proper leementing and liberal use of Dan Conglosi's Bull Shop lubes they are still producing excellent quality boolits. My 230 Gr LRN .45 ACP mold has produced probably over 25K boolits over the years. The sprue plate handle has been repaired with JB weld and is presently wrapped with metal duct tape but is original.

It is stained and ugly as my mother in law but still puts out a lot better than her daughter. For the money the Lee molds are the best thing since bottled beer.

However a newcomer has really brightened up the casting world. Those new MP molds out of Slovenia are outstanding. I have four so far and they are all winners. Those brass babies with the Cramer HP pins are just about all you could ask for in a mold. They are producing top quality boolits pretty fast and they are right on as far as I am concerned. I cannot see how I could wear any of them out in my lifetime and I am looking around to see who is deserving the when I pass on. It is a heavy responsibility that should be taken seriously as we need this occult passior of ours to be continued on to the next generations.

The NOE molds out of Utah are also pretty good. I have a couple of them and they are winners also. They are not cheap but they are really good.

I am always promoting the casting to all shooters who will listen but I have been hoisted by my own petard as the accumulation of WW's is getting ever more difficult every day by the proliferation of casters all competing for a rapidly diminishing supply of WW's.

I recently had to sink to buying some 40-1 alloy from Rotometals for my recent dip into the black arts of BCPR.

This a a true addiction. I am retired but always busy. Feeding a M-1, SMLE, .223, 1911 and a pair of 9 MM's is keeping me out of bars and from chasing women. Then I still have a .380 ACP and a couple of 357/.38's to feed as well. Then of course there is a the prima donna of all the 6.5 x 55 MM Sweede to feed at well.

Combine the above with an additction to British Motorcycles and the care and training of SGT. RAMBO (my attack Chichuahua) and maintaining a relationship with my ex wife....I am a busy fella. However I am happy and contented.

[another gsxr 1k]

My Lee 6 cavity has lasted about three weeks so far and made over 2,000 bullets. So if it becomes scrap Aluminum next week, it's only paid for itself 4 times over.

IMO if you take care of it and don't try to use it as a hammer or chisel. Lube and store it properly and such, it should last for years.

[Fly]

"It is stained and ugly as my mother in law but still puts out a lot better than her daughter."

NOW THAT"S A CLASSIC

[geargnasher]

I quit destroying my two-cavity Lee moulds when I discovered how to lube them. Three things that wear out are the top of the blocks and the area around the pivot, as well as the alignment troughs for the steel roller bearing pins in the bottom. When the troughs wear, vertical alignmnent is impossible. The top and sprue plate pivot are gouged out by galling aluminum and heat. Bull plate is good stuff for steel moulds, but I've never had anything but bad luck with it on Aluminum. PM me if you want to know what REALLY works on aluminum.

Gear

[Rock]

Bull plate is good stuff for steel moulds, but I've never had anything but bad luck with it on Aluminum. PM me if you want to know what REALLY works on aluminum.

Gear

Is there a reason that your information is not able to be posted publicly?

[Suo Gan]

I haven't done anywhere near the volume of casting that some here have, but I have used Lee moulds for a couple decades now.

I've never completely worn a mould out, but I have learned lots of good info on this site in the last few months that will help me take care of them better so they last a lot longer.

The two big things for me are: 1. Bullplate lube (awesome stuff) and 2. lapping the cavities so the boolits just fall out. I think these two things will extend the life of a set of moulds.

On the other hand I think it's funny how we tend to think about things. We worry that a $35 tool might wear out when it's only made $2000 worth of boolits (buy a spare if you shoot that much).

I read where some guys wonder if their AK47 will wear out after firing only 50,000 rounds. If so, just buy a spare $400 gun to shoot the next $10,000 worth of ammo. Not trying to make fun of anyone; most of us tend to think that way sometimes.

Fatelk, I can tell you are a philosopher and decoder of mans ways. +1 on the lapping of Lee molds. All of the two bangers and most of the 6 bangers come so you have to wail the dickens out of them. Lee = Lap Enough Everyone!

[armyrat1970]

Is there a reason that your information is not able to be posted publicly?

Hummmm. Funny. I had the same thought.
Some type of really big secret here that may jepordize our national security or something?

[jimb16]

I don't know how long they last. I've never worn out any of mine.