Has there ever been a Lee 6 cavity Group Buy?

[John Ross]

I've searched the Discussion and Archive forums for "Lee" and found nothing.

[Beagle333]

Yes, but I haven't seen one in a long time.

Evidence that it really did used to happen:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/arch....php/f-54.html

[RogerDat]

Well the Forum search in Group Buy Archive yielded nothing for LEE but the Google search found several references. Lee charges ~ $100 set up fee unless minimum order of molds (25) are ordered. Makes it a natural for group buys.

Might check through this search results http://castboolits.gunloads.com/goog...&sa.x=0&sa.y=0

NOE molds has a group buy section of their forum, sometimes does molds similar to Lee style bullets. With tumble lube grooves for example. Looks to me like MiHek gets a lot of group buy action here. Might want to check at Track of the Wolf site also. They sometimes have Lee molds in 6 cavity that are not generally offered. I know I saw 6 cavity round ball molds there that are not generally offered at other stores where I buy Lee molds. Most only carry double cavity Lee round ball molds.

[Iowa Fox]

Yes in the old days the Lee group buys are all we had. I jumped in on no less than a half dozen. Delivery times were long and I remember at least once maybe more a member or two passed away before taking delivery of the molds they paid for. Some members had tons of issues with the molds they received. I feel lucky as the ones I received are nice molds, cast well, and drop nice bullets. My only regret is I didn't jump in on more of them. For all that were sold you don't see them pop up for sale that often.

[Murphy]

I got in on a few of the LEE group buys. My first, was a 30 caliber (#3110041). It it still in my arsenal of molds, and the ones I cast from it were so consistent from cavity to cavity it shocked me. I still have it and it's been close to 10 years ago. I haven't used it since the one session, but still it turned out exactly what we wanted.

Then, there were some other group buys that took so long it got to be a running joke. Towards the end of the group buys the quality was kaput. I was in on a Keith series of molds and purchased 2 each in #358429 and #429421. They came in so oversized the #358429 was dropping my wheel weight alloy at .365. Sizing them down was a nightmare and the #429421 was no better. I returned the #429421 molds and LEE eventually sent me replacements that were much closer to spec.

Do not take this as a LEE BASHING post, I'm just explaining what happened with my experience back in those days. And now that LEE has upped their game and producing a better quality mold, they may be worth a try again. I would not let my previous experience stop me from trying another mold if it were one I'm looking for. But, at this point I have pretty much every mold I need once NOE started producing molds. LEE is a great company and it was a sad time for them to say the least.

Murphy

[Iowa Fox]

The group buy did two 311041. One was in plain base one was GC. Another one I got was the 358627 as I think about it 358156 plain base, Lar did a real nice 360180 flat nose GC Then someone did the same in plain base. I got in on all of them and they all drop nice bullets. Lar's 360 shoots very well in my Marlin 357c my TC 357 max and S&W 686.

[MT Chambers]

The Lee group buys were problematic, from poor quality to long waits, many little things not quite right and folks complained and it stopped but spawned group buys from excellent makers that continue to this day.

[azrednek]

I remember one of the Lee group buys the guy that collected the money turned flakey. Claimed his money order to Lee was lost in the mail. He started paying members back piecemeal but I wasn't on the board much at the time and don't know how it ended.

[shdwlkr]

Lee mold group buys had many issues from late delivery, poor mold design, to dealing with Lee themselves. Lee makes good molds and I have many some were from group buys. Lee had old equipment at that time and just really didn't care about group buys from this group. Many mold makers are hear now and two good ones are NOE and Mehi I think is how you spell it. Never both from Mehi, but have bought many molds from NOE never had an issue with his molds.

[AnthonyB]

We did many Lee group buys, and I served as honcho for two. I bought "most" of the designs we ordered back then, and many have yet to be used. I am not bashing Lee, but there were problems that the company eventually resolved. Our rejected molds were sold by MidSouth (think it was them; someone will correct me if I am wrong) in a few cases. Many of our GB designs later became standard offerings from what are now well established providers. I would not buy another Lee GB design now that we have MP, NOE, Accurate, and others taking up the slack, and I mean no disrespect for those I haven't used and failed to mention. This truly is the golden age for cast bullet shooters as far as design availability.
Tony

[NuJudge]

I ran one Lee Group buy, a heavy, fat, pointed .30. One of the members who had mold design software helped with the drawings, designing a bullet that would fit in the Lee blocks. I just paid for 25 and sold them here for what I had in them. As everyone else here says, they were slow, but the mold was to spec.

Here's the thread where I gathered ideas and Tom Myers did a drawing for me:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...r-Lee-6-cavity

[mtnman31]

I participated in a few of the Lee mold buys. The wait times varied from so-so to bad but that was because they were the only game in town. With a few custom mold makers to chose from (who have great track records), I see no reason to use Lee for future buys. I've got a number of NOE molds and highly recommend them. I have a design or two that Accurate has listed that I am tempted to try - need a wadcutter for my .32 bullseye pistol.

That said, the Lee molds I got through group buys worked and still work great for me. The only caveat to that was I did get a 9mm Makarov mold that was cut off center. The bullets wouldn't drop and had to be pried out of the mold. It was returned and a properly cut mold was sent back to me is a fairly short amount of time. I still use those bullets in my Mak and they are great.

[mto7464]

I bought one of the 30 cal carbine molds years ago. Plane base. Cast several times but ended up selling it. It was a great mold, worked well. Wish I still had it to try PCing. My other 30 cal mold with GC was just more accurate.

[bangerjim]

I have a bunch of Lee molds from the olden golden daze and some are group-buys. But these days, I only buy BRASS molds due to precision and accurcy. Lee's just do not hold a candle to the accuracy of the new brass molds sold by vendors on here. Those are common for group buys. Check for those.

[curioushooter]

I would love to see a six cavity group buy for a 180-200 grain version of their 358-158 tumble lube flat point design. I just bought a two cavity 314-90 mold that was of outstanding quality for 18 bucks.

[quasi]

I was probably in on ten or twelve. Then N.O.E., Miha, Mountain moulds, Accurate ... came along and the Lee G.B.'s died a deserving death.

[Tonto]

I bought an over run on the Lee closeout page, a 30-160-Ranch Dog looking style, a great mould for $30 or so and am thinking about one of their factory Harris style SKS bullets in a 6-cav