Finally got Lee 230TL 6-banger to run

[HangFireW8]

So, I have a Lee 44/310gr 6 gang mold that starts throwing perfect bullets on the fourth go-round. It loves any kind of alloy. I love it.

Then I have this Lee 45 230 2R TL (2-radius nose, tumble lube groove) 6-banger that also drops bullets easily, but with incomplete bands, shrunken sides and sometimes entire missing sides. Whatever works well with the 44 mold the 45 just laughs at. I've Lee-mented six ways to Sunday, and it drops well, it just never produced a fully formed bullet except by accident.

Well yesterday I finally figured it out. Set the Lee pot on "10", stop throwing bad boolits back in, heat up the mold and then run it so hot the bullets are frosty and the sprue cuts like butter. Just the act of throwing bad boolits back (still hot right out of the mold) is enough to bring temps down and bring back the shrunken side syndrome.

The threshold is small. Running melt temps (don't let thermometer touch the pot sides) of 750 to 760F worked well on a 72 degree day, 720-740F doesn't work at all.

I would try the pot at 800 degrees but 10 is 10, it's not a Spinal Tap pot. It is kind of old so I wonder if this is a limit or its just not running as hot as when it was young (know the feeling!).

Previous runs I would make about 300 and keep about 40. This time I made about 350 and kept 304. WOohoO! Next time, 500!

-HF
(Pic description- rejects in red cap, 44/310's on upper left, 304 45/230's in foreground)

[evan price]

My TL-452-230-2R six-banger is also my most frustrating mold. Like you, I found that running as hot as I can while casting worked. I run around 800 and it makes nice but slightly frosted boolits. It does make good boolits for the Judge 45 colt, though, and for my various 45's.

[HangFireW8]

My TL-452-230-2R six-banger is also my most frustrating mold. Like you, I found that running as hot as I can while casting worked. I run around 800 and it makes nice but slightly frosted boolits. It does make good boolits for the Judge 45 colt, though, and for my various 45's.

I'm glad I'm not alone... and I wish my old pot could get to 800 so I could try it!

I'm loading for a 1911 and I've just tumbled lubed them all so we'll find out soon... though hunting loads have priority right now.

-HF

[HangFireW8]

Well I miked a few... then a lot... every single one runs .005" different on either side of the seam. The mold halves are not aligned. The alignment pins are staked in place, so it's not like I can do a lot with them.

I just printed out postage, a letter, receipt, previous correspondence... yes, this is Mold #2, the first had bad warping problems when hot. They replaced it quickly with a tested mold, 2 cavities were smoked when I got it, but I guess they weren't looking for this problem, just the last.

I'd lambast Lee, but I've had equal problems with Lyman (undersized 30 mold, out of alignment 4500). I think the time has come to try the one RCBS mold I have, and start buying custom molds.

-HF

[geargnasher]

If you knurled the blocks by overscribing the lines you will get elliptical boolits, but it sounds like your handles may be the problem, pulling one block against the other. Another issue is squeezing the sprue cutter handle along with the mould handles when filling the mould, this will overcam the sprue plate and wedge the blocks open a bit. How you cast at all without baking that mould into submission on an 1100 watt hotplate baffles me. You don't need a hot pot, you need a clean, hot mould.

Better luck next time.

Gear

[Bret4207]

I would listen tot the advice about checking the handles. They provide a lot of torque. On the casting itself- are you casting fast? I mean is it pour, wait, dump, pour or is it pour wait too long, dump, look at the castings, look at the mould, take a sip of joe, scratch 2 or 3 times and then pour again? I've seen guys that simply couldn't wrap their head around the concept of keeping the mould HOT through their casting rhythm. Just a thought.

[sourceofuncertainty]

I've been trying Geargnasher's advice about pre-heating the mould with a hot plate, and it's definitely improved my experience with Lee moulds. I find that if I heat the mould on the plate as the lead pot warms up, after 3-4 cycles of dropping marginal boolits I can then run the melt at around 650 degrees and still get good results.

Preheating the **** out of the mould seems to make a very big difference even with the more trouble-prone Lee moulds. On some of the Lee moulds I still have to get right into the "frosty bullet zone" to get good fillout, but the melt can stay at a reasonable temp.

[wallenba]

Yep, I have learned to live with frosty boolits from my Lee 44 240 gr TL six cav. Can't find a way around it unless I leave the mold open for 45 seconds or so after dropping them out. That slows things down though. A hot plate is a must have for these.

[Dale53]

I recently got a Lee Six Cavity mould for the 230 gr TC with conventional lube groove. It is one of the most "friendly" moulds I have ever used. The bullets just fall out of the mould and they are ALL completely filled out. Out of 21 lbs of bullets I ended up pitching 6 or 7 - that's all.

My alloy was not exotic - just my standard handgun stuff (WW's + 2% tin, air cooled). They sized nicely at .452".

Using full moon clips they just FALL into my 625's and they feed perfectly in my 1911's too.

FWIW
Dale53

[HangFireW8]

If you knurled the blocks by overscribing the lines you will get elliptical boolits

The boolits aren't oval. They are two mismatched perfect half-circles. Across the middle 90 degrees from the seams it measures .452" as well as just on one side or other of the seams. It is only when you measure opposite sides just off of the seam do I get .005".



but it sounds like your handles may be the problem, pulling one block against the other.

I will have to check the handles with my other Lee 6-gang mold. I've already returned the mold. It appears under a magnifying glass to lock up with the .005" offset without the handles attached, so I'm pretty confident that the mold is the problem.



Another issue is squeezing the sprue cutter handle along with the mould handles when filling the mould, this will overcam the sprue plate and wedge the blocks open a bit.

Yeah, I've done that. I get some finned boolits and some fat ones. Those get rejected immediately. I've learned not to do that.



How you cast at all without baking that mould into submission on an 1100 watt hotplate baffles me. You don't need a hot pot, you need a clean, hot mould.

I guess I didn't mention that I preheat with a single burner 1960's, Coleman Sportsman stove that I fixed up. Nonetheless if I let the melt temp get down even a bit, I get shrunken sides or at least insufficient fillout of the microbands.

I was very happy to have overcome that problem when I noticed this one.

Thanks for your help, geargnasher.

-HF

[HangFireW8]

I would listen tot the advice about checking the handles. They provide a lot of torque. On the casting itself- are you casting fast? I mean is it pour, wait, dump, pour or is it pour wait too long, dump, look at the castings, look at the mould, take a sip of joe, scratch 2 or 3 times and then pour again? I've seen guys that simply couldn't wrap their head around the concept of keeping the mould HOT through their casting rhythm. Just a thought.

Bret,

I've tried all sorts of things, I generally cast fast but with this mold I was taking time to inspect boolits out of the mold and toss the bad ones back into the melt immediately. This works fine with other molds, but not this one! It was what was killing me.

Last week when I pegged the knob on "10" and stopped tossing the rejecst back immediately, is when I found the magic.

-HF

[HangFireW8]

Preheating the **** out of the mould seems to make a very big difference even with the more trouble-prone Lee moulds. On some of the Lee moulds I still have to get right into the "frosty bullet zone" to get good fillout, but the melt can stay at a reasonable temp.

I've been using the Coleman to both preheat molds and preheat ingots (unless they are high tin it rarely melts the ingots, runs around 500F). I think I will stop the double duty, at least for this mold, and get an electric hotplate.

I really like preheated ingots on the Coleman. I drop them in the melt and by the time I shuffle the towel around they are melted and ready to stir. I can get back in the game before the mold cools down much.

What throws me about all this is I have a .44/310gr FP Lee 6-gang mold that almost can't throw bad boolits.

-HF

[HangFireW8]

I recently got a Lee Six Cavity mould for the 230 gr TC with conventional lube groove. It is one of the most "friendly" moulds I have ever used. The bullets just fall out of the mould and they are ALL completely filled out. Out of 21 lbs of bullets I ended up pitching 6 or 7 - that's all.

Dale,

My favorite so far has been the 452460 200LSWC which is essentially a truncated cone. They feed great in my 1911 as well.

The only problem is the mold is a 2 banger not a 6. I am torn between the speed of the Lee 6 cavity mold and the economy of the lighter bullet. I think there was a Group Buy on a 200LSWC Lee 6 gang mold a while back? I wonder if any are still available.

-HF