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Originally Posted by
MakeMineA10mm
Well, I've had both good and bad experiences with Lee moulds, but overall, I'd say considering the money, they are fantastic. The designs aren't bad at all, they have a lot of cavities, and they're finished quite well. I think they're one mistake is that to hit their price point they ran some bad tooling too long on worn-out machines by low-experience-level workers. That seems to have been addressed now. The last several moulds I've gotten from them were perfect. Would I like heavier-quality wood and no pot-metal in the handles? Absolutely. But, for $35 (on sale at Midway) to $55 (for our group buy custom moulds), they're a heck of a deal! Just look at the output.
I had enough of that junk that you describe right in your post to color my experiences with them. I have cast tens of thousands of bullets in steel moulds and have always been happy with the results.
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Anyway, as far as a "core mould" goes, the way I look at it, is I have a mould I can use in my 10mms, a 38-40, or 40S&W PLUS I can use it for cores in my JHPs. If I drill it out, it's only worth doing the one job...
If lee moulds are so cheap, why not buy a new mould for cores? 35 bucks right?
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As far as using a 44-cal mould for cores, I think it's very possible. I didn't play with it real hard, but those jackets are SOOOO soft after annealing, I bet you could spread them out in a couple steps to accept a .430" bullet into their mouths. Then, keep in mind what BT said -- his die is designed to seat and form the core and bullet in one pass, without the core fully seated into the jacket. My bet is that with a super-soft anneal, you could bell mouth (pretty deep) the 40 case with a 41S&W Mag die, and then gently bell mouth again with a 44 die (just enough to let the .43" core start into the mouth. Then, let the one-step die do the rest. It also might help if you use a RN or RNFP 44-cal boolit for the core, as started nose-down, it would also encourage the brass to accept it. After all, if the anneal allows the .422" case to swell to .452" without splitting or cracking in the die, it should allow it during a bell-mouth operation or core-seating operation...
For .429's on a 40S&W case, it is easiest to just use the 400 / .410 moulds, or modify a smaller one for a drop in core. Find an unwanted 38 mould and make cores just the weight you want.