Why are molds so hard to find?

[TNFrank]

Ok, so the anti-gun bunch put a scare into the general public and everyone went ape and bought up a lot of guns. That explains why ammo is hard to come by right now, you need ammo to shoot your new guns and it might even explain why primers, powder and bullets are hard to find, folks couldn't get ammo so they've learned to reload their own ammo but why in heck are boolit molds so hard to come by right now? Midway USA was suppose to have the .365", 95gr Makarov mold in stock yesterday but it was over due and now they're saying 6/24 before they get it in stock. What gives here? Why isn't Lee keeping up with boolit mold demand right now? Where in heck am I going to find a boolit mold to make some boolits for my 9x18mm? Does anyone have a source of either the Lee or other molds that are in stock and ready to ship for this ctg.?

[MBTcustom]

It's the same problem everywhere.
If you really need a mold, contact Tom at Accurate Molds. His work is top shelf, and he is very timely on delivery.

[Ben]

I concur, If it is .....I got to have it NOW ! ..........I'd give Tom a call.

Ben

[TNFrank]

Even Tom's turn around time is 4 weeks right now. I'll just be glad when things settle down and we can all get back to normal. Also, prices are more then I can spend. I was really hopping that I could get one of the Lee molds for $20 bucks.

[Cane_man]

or go the NOE website and see what they have in stock... they will get it to you in 2 days

[Love Life]

The reloading world is crazy right now. Just bat poop crazy. BOLO for lightly used paperweights in the shape of guns and reloading equipment in the future...

[Giggidy]

TNFrank, I can't help with the mold, but I do have some boolits I've cast from mine that I can send you if you'd like. They're cast from range scrap and are not sized or lubed. I cast them back in January or February but wasn't able to order a lubrasizer and die until recently so I never sized or lubed them. I've got maybe 100 of them and they run around .368 give or take a bit.

[TNFrank]

I appreciate the offer but if push comes to shove I can always order more Hornady XTP's from Midway USA. Just hate to spend $22/100 shipped for something I'd just plink with. I have 200 of the XTP's that I'm going to load up for "serious" use and just wanted a cheap .365" Lee mold to load some "play" ammo with. Guess I'll just have to be patient(a word that's not in my vocabulary,LOL) and wait and see if someone gets a Lee 95gr 1R for the Mak in stock.
Dang Graf & Sons still hasn't gotten my order shipped and I placed it on April, 1st of last week. They said 3-4 weeks for shipping, that's just crazy because Midway USA got the bullets I ordered to me in 3 days from the day of shipping until they hit the P.O. Box.
If anyone has an extra Lee 95gr, .365" Mak mold that's in nice shape that they'd be willing to part with shoot me a PM. Thanks.

[MBTcustom]

You have obviously never done business with Tom.

[MtGun44]

Poop runs downhill.

Buy lots of guns until you can't find them any more.
So buy ammo for lots of guns until you can't find it anymore.
Then buy reloading gear to load ammo until you can't by jbullets any more.
So now you buy boolit molds until you can't buy them any more.

Still going to be hard to find powder, primers and brass. . . . . . . . .

Bill

[melloairman]

Poop runs downhill.

Buy lots of guns until you can't find them any more.
So buy ammo for lots of guns until you can't find it anymore.
Then buy reloading gear to load ammo until you can't by jbullets any more.
So now you buy boolit molds until you can't buy them any more.

Still going to be hard to find powder, primers and brass. . . . . . . . .

Bill

I sure do like my air rifles . No brass, powder, or primers . Just air, lead and molds . I do have about 2 tons of clean range lead for them to use right now . Marvin

[MBTcustom]

Sorry for my short message earlier. I cannot post at work, so all I have is my phone to write a message.
What I mean is that I placed an order with Tom on Christmas day 2011 and it was on my doorstep 7 days later. That's pretty good delivery time if you ask me!
He states 4 weeks, but I think that is to allow him some margin for catastrophe and unforeseen trouble. I think that he beats that figure by quite a margin most of the time!

[oldfart1956]

TNfrank I can't help with the .365 mold sorry. But I think it's a conspiracy by Lee! See, they're coming out with the new version molds with the pins instead of the old style v-notch to align the mold halves and this helped them clear out all the old stock molds. Just my opinion of course. If there's another size Lee mold you're looking for give me a hollar. I think I have more molds on hand than Midway right now! Audie...the OLdfart..

[TNFrank]

LOL, I'm sure he's just allowing for a "fudge factor" in case something goes wrong or stuff may be hard to get at the time. Still, being unemployed for over 3 years doesn't give me the disposable income that I'd like in order to get something that'd cost that much even though I'm sure it's well worth it. I really love the Truncated Cone style bullet I saw on his site for the Mak, I think that'd be an awesome bullet.
The only reason I'd even have the $20 for the Lee mold is because I'm selling some mags to a guy so that'll give me a few bucks to spend.
I've got a buddy in Phoenix, AZ. who's going to look around for one, maybe one of the gun shops out there may have it in stock, cross my fingers and hope.

P.S.
Just saw your post OF1956, if that's the case then I might be better off waiting a couple months to get a new style mold as I've never been a fan of the V notches for lining up the blocks. The pins would be a huge improvement.

[RickinTN]

In my opinion the new molds are a definite Improvement. I'm thinking Lee is making molds to their full potential, just when they get to Midway or Midsouth most are already spoken for through backorder. I've been able to get 3 Lee new style molds from Midsouth lately, but I watch the website daily, and sometimes more than once a day. You do have to order when they show them in stock "pronto".
Good luck with finding one,
Rick

[Huntducks]

Why does anyone think it's going back to so called normal, many of you are living in a dream world these people are after our guns anyway they can get them.

They can't let people have them in a commie state.

[TNFrank]

So the answer to "them" wanting to take our guns is to buy up everything in sight and horde stuff to the point where shelves are empty and when something does get in stock the price is 2-3 times what it should be? Sorry, but they'll NEVER take our guns unless they want to risk Civil War. Congress won't pass anything because they've seen that it'll kill their reelection hopes, the president is just blowing smoke trying to make folks on the "left" feel like he's trying to do something when what we really need is an end to "Gun Free(killing)Zones" and Nation Wide Constitutional Carry.
All we've done is to scare ourselves into bare store shelves and higher prices by all the panic buying. As soon as folks settle down and let supply catch up with demand then the prices will come back down and I'll be able to find a dang bullet mold and not have to pay $46/1K for primers. Until then they'll be shortages and prices will remain sky high.

[HARRYMPOPE]

[QUOTE=melloroadman;2165480]I sure do like my air rifles . No brass, powder, or primers . Just air, lead and molds . I do have about 2 tons of clean range lead for them to use right now . Marvin[/QUOTE


I have a good stash of powder,primers and .22 ammo but luckily started messing with airguns last fall.Now I shoot every day after work and my offhand is back to not embarrassing. But with the .22 RF shortages 22 pellets are often out of stock locally.

[turbo1889]

What I wouldn't mind having is having an air gun like Lewis & Clark took on their expedition specifically for demonstrating to the Indians to make them think very long and hard about trying anything (peaceful polite demonstration of superior fire-power). Was considered top of the line technology for a combat weapon at the time (we are talking muzzle loader time period with a reload time that couldn't be cut down to much less then 10 seconds even by the most well trained soldier in the best of circumstances). An air repeater capable of firing several dozen shots one right after the other within a mere second of each other with enough power to take down a man or light skinned game such as deer within about a hundred yards or so. Fired either 58 or 54 caliber soft lead round balls (can't remember which off hand) Balls held in a tube along side the main barrel with a slide mechanism that pushed a fresh ball into the breach with a push of the thumb after each shot. The entire stock was a hollow compressed air tank. I want a gun like that, heck I'd take a copy without any modern improvements. For its time period it was like having an AK-47. I think that at least until you ran out of air it wouldn't do too bad in a fight today and if you had spare tanks - would be a little more time to swap in a fresh tank and fill the tube with fresh balls but you would also have the advantage of no muzzle flash after dark and not needing powder or primers and just lead, a RB mold, a source of heat, and a good air pump to keep it going.

[WILCO]

I'll just be glad when things settle down and we can all get back to normal.

Those days are gone. This is the new "Normal". There are no shortages, just new market demand from an influx of new customers who've woken up to see the writing on the wall, punctuated with barren shelves of ammunition displays. Reloading and casting boolits are the next logical steps in feeding firearms. Completely homemade firearms and ammunition components is the last and final step. At that point, we'll have reached the level of a third world nation or guerilla gunsmithing for life and liberty.