Lee 1oz to full bore

[tomme boy]

Has anyone done this yet? I want to make the mold i have a full bore slug. Get rid of that cross bar in the base and make it a true foster style slug.

I think it was Longbow that said he got different base plugs from Lee to modify. Or would it be just as easy to make them myself?

Right now I can't alter the mold itself as I only have a 3 jaw chuck for the lathe. I need a 4 jaw. But I have to take the 3 jaw off to measure the register to get the rich one ordered.

Been thinking about how the leeslug is tapered. I was thinking about making it like a tumble lube bullet with the lube groves. Or just put two bands on it. Another thing I noticed is that all factory fosters are larger at the base. Would this be beneficial to do or not?

I am in the planning stage right now. I have to grind a boring bar/cutter yet. Any tips would be great. Until I get the 4 jaw ordered and put on I am at a standstill.

[longbow]

I've debated that myself but I decided it was easier to just make a push out mould like the old Ideal cylindrical moulds (pic attached).



Not sure why Ideal made these from such wimpy stock size. I use 1 1/2" round bar... described below.

To accurately bore out the Lee slug mould you'll need to indicate the center of the cavity then very carefully bore driving bands or bore full diameter from base to nose radius. Buckshot did a Lyman Foster slug like that by cutting 4 driving bands in the mould. A search should bring it up.

Not sure how boring the Lee mould will affect the center of gravity because you'll be thickening the skirt by quite a bit. You may have to thicken up the nose some too by shortening the core pin to put more weight up front to offset the extra skirt weight.

It would likely be easier to make a push out mould from round bar. I use 1 1/2" diameter round bar but for 12 ga. 1 3/4" would be a better choice. I made one mould for bore diameter slugs that cast right at 0.729"/0.730" and I made a nose form that drops in from the sprue side so hollow base TC or round nose depending on the nose form. I recently made a wad slug size copied from the Mooose .69 Minie the same way. These moulds are easy to make and work well. I handle the nose forms with a magnet.

When I cast I cut the sprue, invert the mould then push the slug and nose form out so they land on a soft damp rag. I use a magnet to pick up the steel nose form and put it back into the cavity then close the sprue plate... repeat.

It sounds awkward but is just as fast as the Lyman style HB moulds with separate pins. The handling with the magnet is very easy and works well.

Another benefit of these style of moulds is that they allow for variable length skirt simply by lowering the core pin and different nose shape by making another nose form. You can also make solids from them if you have a rifled gun by using a flat top bottm pin... or make a Brenneke style slug by using a base pin with a spike in it to leave a screw hole in the base of the slug. Very versatile.

Take a look at post #1 here:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...highlight=slug

Both the TC slug and the Nessler clone are hollow base and made in the same mould body but with different core pins and nose forms. I may have some pics of a mould handy. I'll post some if you want to try this. Overall, I bet easier than boring a Lee mould.

I've made a number of these style moulds for slugs, .44 cal. boolits and .30 cal. boolits with pics posted over the years. Of course for solid boolits you go with base pour and a shaped nose form like the Ideal but hollow base isn't much harder and they work.

Fits have to be very close and barely a slide fit to maintain tolerances and concentricity but if they are tight they cast well and boolits and slugs shoot very well.

I better shut up or I'll ramble on about this all day!

Longbow