A question on the Lee 6 cavity 38-55 mould

[JD2]

I have one of the group buy Lee 6 cavity 38-55 moulds, which was to have cast .380 diameter bullets. Well I finally got around to casting some bullets from this new mould today. I was casting with some other higher velocity rifle moulds and was using an alloy of 75% Lino and 25% wheel weights. The bullets came out at .386 - .387 diameter. Needless to say they don't size to .379 very well!!!

Is this simply a matter of having used the hard alloy? Would straight wheel weights with a little tin produce something closer to the desired .380? What have the rest of you been using for alloy in your moulds and what kind of diameter bullets are you getting? I believe that I probably just need to go to a softer alloy to get smaller bullets

I'm not complaining, and I'm very grateful to those who came up with the group buy on this.

Thanks for the help!!!!!

[Boz330]

I don't think going to a softer alloy is going to drop it that much. You might get .003 smaller, but not .007.

Bob

[Nrut]

JD2.. the drawing for this GB bullet shows a dia. of .384"...mine come out .384" with striaght WW........Linotype will make your bullets fatter....If you want "Hard" bullets use heat treated WW (size them before you heat treat them).....I have a few 38-55's and their groove dia. run from .380" to .382".....so this is the bullet I want....working now on fitting these bullets in chambers that only accomadate .379" bullets.....:roll:

[Dale53]

JD2;
I would suggest that you take an eye loupe and apply a bit of magnification while looking carefully at your mould for burrs around the alighnment pins or ANYTHING that could "beagle" your mould. It just may be a slight burr that is keeping the mould blocks from completely closing. A very small splash of lead of the block faces can cause the same thing. Sometimes it is very difficult to see these with the naked eye (at least it is for me[smilie=1:)

Good luck.
Dale53

[Buckshot]

............JD2, the drawing was for a .384" OD on the drive bands as Nrut mentioned. The GB was aimed at those folks who had a 38-55 running on the wide side as there are lots of 375" moulds out there already. Also the drawing sent to Lee was the desired cavity dimentions and not for a boolit of some particular alloy.

My mould from the buy drops it's boolits at .386" and that was with some 20 BHN alloy. I think we would have ALL been a bit happier if the slugs were all dropping at .384" as I doubt there are many 375 Win's or 38-55's of any make with grooves exceeding that :-). However Lee says their specs are -.000 to +.003" so we guessed at a size and went with it.

................Buckshot