Help with new Lee two cavity

[P Flados]

I have good loads that work well for my Lee 356-102-1R in both 9mm and in 38 Sp. For the 9mm, I had to use PC, but for the 38s, tumble lube with BLL works fine.

My big batch that I just cast was actually for the "low recoil" 38s that make our light weight LCRx tolerable for my wife to shoot.

The PID is great. Being able to see your lead temp as you cast really helps. Do not worry about overheating this Lee mold by casting. You will start getting bullets that have defects (not filled out regions that have a very frosty surface) when your mold is too hot.

And keeping the sprue plate screw just tight enough to not back out is important.

[VOLKSRVA]

@ P FLADOS

Happy to see this mold has some promise. I love a good dual purpose mold. Current favorites have been the 358-125-RF as well as the 358-105-SWC. I highly recommend the later to you for powder puff 38 special! I shoot a lot of them in my 80’s S&W 64-4 for cheap fun!

Would you care to share your working COAL for 9mm and 38 when you have the time? Just to give me a reference for a starting point? I can’t even get in the reloading room as we are renovating the house and it has been packed full for a few weeks now.

[P Flados]

I also have the 358-125-RF in 2 cavity and the 356-120-TC in 6 cavity.

The 120 gets lots of use in our 9mm, 357 mag and 357 max guns (on the order of 2K per year). I tumble lube for 38 power level rounds in 357 mag cases, everything else gets PC. The 120s are loaded "full power" in the 9mm and in everything else they are mid range or less.

A big reason I use the 120 vs anything heavier is that I like going low on weight just to stretch my lead supply as far as possible while still getting adequate paper punching with 35 cal guns. I made the switch at a time when my lead supply was low enough that I was melting good "not needed now" bullets to make "I need them now" bullets. Shortly afterward I also bought a SP-101 in 327 Federal that will punch paper just fine with bullets as light as 55 gr.

The 125 has been relegated to no regular use. The deep square lube grooves on the 125 make casting slower (more tapping to get them to drop out) and it seemed like I had to be perfect on mold / lead temps to get nice fill out. I never seemed to be able to produce a big batch without a lot of rejects. I know it would be have better with more tin, but using a special alloy for a high volume plinker seemed out of place with my overall goals.

My "102" mold drops at 108 gr. For low recoil 38s, less weight is better (I also tried the 120 and 125) and I am happy with how I can crank out big batches from the 102 even though it is a 2 cavity. This is actually my oldest handgun mold and was originally bought for loading 380s for a friend (who I no longer shoot with). Again, at 108 gr per bullet this mold helps me get lots of bangs per pound of lead.

For my seating depth on the 102, I like to go just past (say 0.015" to 0.025") the point where the lube groove is in the case. I do about the same on my 120s in everything except 357 magnums. In 357 magnums, I have to seat the 120s a little deeper to keep the OAL from being too long for some of our revolvers.

[VOLKSRVA]

Thanks for the great info! I have wanted to try the 356-120-TC in a 6 cavity for awhile now, but you can’t find any molds in stock anywhere. Excited to hear good things about it. I tend to stay away from the TL designs as I would like the option to be able to lube them either way, which marks most of the 9mm designs off my wish list. Right now I am using only 2 cavity Lee molds. Would love to have another 358-125-RF if you want to get rid of it someday, if not, maybe a dose of “lee menting” would be in order to get her to drop freely. Mine doesn’t seem to have the issue that yours does, but has been well used as that was my first mold and it has had plenty casting sessions under its belt.

What alloy are you using, and what is the average weight the 120 is dropping for you? Currently I have only been using salvaged clip on wheel weights. But plan to cut it with some pure tape ons down the line in order to conserve my clip ons. They are getting harder and harder to come by now. Exide batteries has contracts with most the shops in my neck of the woods. Probably all going to Red China to be sold back to us at 2x the cost. Ha.

[P Flados]

At around 10.5 Bhn, my range lead (RL) is now my hardest "source material" that I can acquire in something resembling quantity. I got a couple of hundred lbs of boat keel from a local guy but was disappointed that it was only 6.5 Bhn or so. The boat keel was around $1.15 per lb. I also get occasional gifts of roofing lead.

Currently I am mixing for a hardness of around 8 Bhn for lower power stuff or using straight RL for higher power stuff. Lately I have even been trying some batches lower than 8 Bhn.

I agree with you on conserving any COWW that you have. My COWW source dried up around 6 years ago.

For my 120s, I really had no clue to their weight. I went & checked and found they run around 128 gr with my under 8 Bhn alloy.

[pastera]

Thanks for the great info! I have wanted to try the 356-120-TC in a 6 cavity for awhile now, but you can’t find any molds in stock anywhere. Excited to hear good things about it. I tend to stay away from the TL designs as I would like the option to be able to lube them either way, which marks most of the 9mm designs off my wish list. Right now I am using only 2 cavity Lee molds. Would love to have another 358-125-RF if you want to get rid of it someday, if not, maybe a dose of “lee menting” would be in order to get her to drop freely. Mine doesn’t seem to have the issue that yours does, but has been well used as that was my first mold and it has had plenty casting sessions under its belt.

What alloy are you using, and what is the average weight the 120 is dropping for you? Currently I have only been using salvaged clip on wheel weights. But plan to cut it with some pure tape ons down the line in order to conserve my clip ons. They are getting harder and harder to come by now. Exide batteries has contracts with most the shops in my neck of the woods. Probably all going to Red China to be sold back to us at 2x the cost. Ha.

Mine drop at 126g with 50/50 COWW and pure lead, but I removed the lube groove from the mold so mine are a few grains heavy

[VOLKSRVA]

Mine drop at 126g with 50/50 COWW and pure lead, but I removed the lube groove from the mold so mine are a few grains heavy

Forgive my ignorance. But why would you want to remove the lube grove? What does that do and how did you go about it?