Come on Lee...

[Ihsarah]

Bought myself a 140gn. 358 mold from Lee, never had a problem with their molds, great for the price but this one came real loose. Of course I didn't notice until I was pouring and one half of the mold was slightly ajar from the sprue plate and the halves weren't aligned properly. Both of these seem easy to fix by tightening the hinge and those little nubs that align the molds. So if you order a Lee, or any mold really, don't be a dummy like me and check that it's good to go before wasting your time!

[bangerjim]

One should ALWAYS check EVERYTHING one buys these day! Quality control is a thing of the past on most everything now.

We inspect all industrial products we get in for our projects and resale for flaws and problems. Did not have to do that in the past! And this is for products made in EVERY country, so QC is pretty much carp world-wide.

Just keep a sharp eye out!!!!!!

banger

[VHoward]

What Jim said. Can't assume that QC is doing their job.

[roberts1]

ok well while we are on the subject... I have been using a lee 430-240 tl for some 44 special and 44 mag revolvers and have had the worse time with it. Its a win some lose some game with cheap molds. For me anyway tinkering is kinda part of the fun but it is frustrating at times.

[bedbugbilly]

About a year ago,I ordered a Lee 358-125 RF (double cavity) from a good vendor who helps sponsor this site that sells Lee equipment. And I own and use quite a few Lee items - 4 hole classic turret, dies, molds, etc.

I have cast for over 50 years and own a wide variety of makes - including a number of Lee molds that have given excellent service and still keep on running after many years.

BUT - the 358-125-RF mold that I got was terrible. I now refer to it as my "Lee Lemon". The pivot bolt on the handles was extremely sloppy and the nut was not even threaded on all the way. The alignment pins weren't seated in place properly - one did not even extend through the block at all - kinda hard to mate with the opposing alignment hole when the locks are closed if nothing sticks out I was ticked enough that I contacted the vendor who contacted Lee. The vendor asked me to send them photos - I did - they were then sent on to Lee. The response from Lee was that basically it was my fault as i did not "prep the mold" as outlined in the instructions. Huh? I didn't just fall off he turnip truck. Their reply was that I could send it back on my dime and they would determine what I had done to it and if it could be fixed. Or, I could drive the alignment pins thru and stake them in place

First off, when I buy something, I expect it to be in working order. I have fixed a number of molds over the years and that's not a problem - but it's the principle of it all that the mold should never have left the factory the way it was. So . .. i seated the alignment pins - then took more photos and sent them to the vendor first and asked what I was supposed to do about the "misaligned cavities". Yep . . blocks lined up, pins aligned, all surfaces of the mold blocks aligned .. . but he cavities were off by a good .003 to .004.

Long story short - whoever was handling the CS at Lee was telling me (and the vendor) that it was something "I" had done - not them. The vendor was kind enough to offer to replace it at their expense - I refused. I was in business for many hears and I know who many times that a mfg. would not stand behind their product but I ended up "eating" the cost to make the customer happy.

So . . the mold sits on a shelf above my bench to remind me that when and if I ever order another Lee mold, I ask the vendor to take it out of the box and check it first before shipping. A lot of folks talk about Lee's "excellent customer service" - and I have no doubt that they do take care of their customers.

This is not a "Lee bashing" post and I don't intend to be that. Lee products are decent, affordable and all of my dies, etc. work just fine. But . . . this one experience that I had with them over the mold was not a "positive" experience for me. As a result, whenI need reloading items . . I find myself looking at other alternatives. If Lee offers the best value . . then I will buy it from the vendor who has always provided me excellent service . . but I do ask that it be inspected before shipping.

Some may ask or say . . . "hey . . what do you expect for a $20.00 mold?". Well . . I expect something that is going to produce something that is usable. A boolit with two halves offset from misaligned cavities is certainly not going to be an accurate mold or if run through a sizer to "true up" . . is going to have irregular lube/crimp grooves.

Nothing is perfect in this life and like any product, there will be "lemons". But someone in QC is not doing their job when stuff like this gets through the line.

[Tackleberry41]

Lee really should offer their molds the way everybody else does, minus the handles. Then more effort could be put into the molds. Yes its nice to not have to buy handles all the time, but I think about how much space on the shelf is wasted with each mold having a set of non removable handles.

[bangerjim]

Lee really should offer their molds the way everybody else does, minus the handles. Then more effort could be put into the molds. Yes its nice to not have to buy handles all the time, but I think about how much space on the shelf is wasted with each mold having a set of non removable handles.

Just leave them in the box they come in! I have stacks and stacks of Lee molds IN THE BOXES that stack very nicely on a rack. Both 2 and 6 bangers. Without the boxes, they are difficult to store and can get damaged easily.

Just keep the boxes. I actually despise getting other brands of molds in tiny "fit the mold block" boxes that are totally useless once you put handles on. And I have handles on EVERY mold I own.....no swapping out all the time for me.

banger

[MT Chambers]

If I did that I would have over 200 sets of handles, though not for Lee molds.

[bangerjim]

If I did that I would have over 200 sets of handles, though not for Lee molds.

Well you obviously have too many molds!!!!!!!

[roberts1]

ha im going to call mine a leemon! Thanks bedbugbilly! Now to try to make some leemonade...

[Scott1911]

I just bought a lee 401-175-TC one of their new 6 banger designed mold. Used it Sunday with WW for almost 800 pours, not one wrinkle, no one bad round. This is not typical with my lee molds, but this one was amazing right out of the box. I hated to stop. However no telling how she will perform next time

[duckey]

Lee molds require some time to prep right out of the box. I don't see why they couldn't take the extra time to clean them up a bit...it just looks sloppy to me and shows no pride. I have been happy with my Lee molds and happy with their customer service when I need parts. I own a lot of Lee stuff.

[MikeS]

With Lee moulds, particularly their 2 cavity ones, it's really a trade off. While yes, I like getting a quality product when I buy something, but when you're buying a double cavity mould with handles for under $20.00 you can't really expect a whole lot of time taken on QC. As for as having a customer service guy say something like what was said to bedbugbilly, what I would normally do (if I was still calm enough to remember to do it) is to say something like "thank you very much" hang up, wait an hour or so, and call back, and hope to get a different person with hopefully a different outcome. Of course this assumes that the company has a CS dept. large enough that they have more than 2 or 3 CS reps so the person you're talking to wouldn't have heard about the problem from the previous call. The point I'm trying to make, when I buy a Lee 2 cavity mould (not often anymore) I go over it real well before I even think of casting with it!

[Ihsarah]

It's good to see I'm not the only one having issues, I enjoy Lee molds, they're a cheap way to experiment with different weights and bullet designs but they've been pretty hit or miss in quality. Once I've settled on a design I like I may have to invest in one of the nicer mold brands.

[Fishman]

I just bought a lee 401-175-TC one of their new 6 banger designed mold. Used it Sunday with WW for almost 800 pours, not one wrinkle, no one bad round. This is not typical with my lee molds, but this one was amazing right out of the box. I hated to stop. However no telling how she will perform next time

First of all, welcome to the forum! Secondly, I traded for that mold design in a six cavity and it works as well as yours. Quite amazing really. Very easy to cast with and you can make a pile of bullets in a hurry.