Why premium molds?

[Willie T]

I’m a self taught caster. Nobody I knew casted. I learned by reading the Lyman book and the directions that come in the box with Lee molds, and working out things to make boolits that I am satisfied with. I’m still figuring things out that work for me. I started because I wanted to shoot more and it grew into a great hobby to support my love of shooting. All I have casted with are Aluminum Lee molds. Some of the molds have admittedly required a little tweaking. The shop I buy my reloading supplies from stocks the Lee molds is why I started with them. The boolits I cast in them are pretty darn good. I just got a new mold to start casting for 9mm and started a thread about it that several of you graciously responded to. The same day I purchased the new Lee mold I cast these in it. These are representative of bullets I cast in the 13 Lee aluminum molds I have accumulated.

I have cast with nothing else to compare them to. I found this forum this year. I have been astounded by not only the knowledge that can be found here but also the number of fellow casters like me. One of the things this forum has opened my eyes to is all the different styles of premium molds available.

So what is the advantage of premium molds? Particularly molds other than the aluminum Lee molds I know how to tweak and cast with?

Willie

[Mk42gunner]

I'll try to answer your question. There are many different reasons for going with a custom or premium production mold.

1. Ease of use. Many are simply easier to use than the cheap Lee molds. Not that the Lee's don't make decent boolits, they can and do.

2. More options in bullet design.

3. More options in mold material. Aluminum, Brass, Iron.

4. Pride of ownership.

5. Better quality workmanship in the molds themselves.

There are many more reasons, I have just scratched the surface.

Good luck with your casting,

Robert

[Winger Ed.]

Of course Lee molds work, and work well.
If you don't bang 'em around, they'll last longer than most of us will.

They compare to other molds sort of like using Snap On tools instead of the no-name ones from China.
If all you ever used was the Chinese ones- you won't know the difference.
However; once you do a big project with Snap Ons---- it's hard to go back to the no-name stuff.

[Harter66]

I had 8-10 Lee moulds when I bought the first RCBS iron mould . I still have a dozen or more .

I have a 401-170 Lee and I've owned the RNFP cousins in RCBS , LBT and Lyman those didn't do anything including castablity that the Lee mould didn't do just as well and it made 6 vs 2 at a time .

Lee doesn't make a 150 or 170 gr 27 or 28 cal mould and the NOE 5 cavity 279-124 is the answer for nominal shooting in the 6.8SPC .
The RN Lee in 7mm isn't on my list of game bullets .

The 452-255 is a great bullet but the 454424 just does what I need of the cartridge better , the NOE has a 10% accuracy edge and the Lyman single gets edged by the NOE . Both of which edged out the 452-252 past 25 yd by a lot .

Lee definitely has the advantage of cost when I can buy the 358-200 6c for the same price as the "same" bullet in a single RCBS or Lyman .

I have I think 8 Lee 6c moulds and 4 of them drop 3 nominal bullets and either 2 light an 1 heavy or the other way around. The other 4 just haven't scaled other than 25ish to confirm weights .

I have a 2 c Mountain Mold several NOE 3,4&5 c moulds and a 4 c Lyman among others . The mountain is a one off .453-350 I can't find enough difference in a pile of bullets to prove it's a 2 cavity mould. The NOEs do cast enough difference that I can make piles of different weights but when the 3 c 460-534 casts 534.9-535.8 there's not much sense in lotting them vs the 401-170 that drops 3@ 171 ,1@168 and 2@174 gr . The 452-255 does better @263-266 but only because it's a smaller percentage of the gross .
The H&G 130 is probably my apex mould . It cast 8 196 gr 45 cal SWC @196.3-196.6gr , it weighs 7# , and consumes 2/3 of the bullets weight in sprues as well .

I've never had to tinker with an NOE , RCBS , Lyman , or MP new to make them run . I did come very close to chucking a brass MP but because I lived in an environment that didn't lend itself to patina not because of a mould issue .

Try a 2c "better" mould side by side you'll see the difference. Then it's up to you to decide if there's enough betterness to justify double for an NOE 5 c over a 6c Lee .

[Bad Ass Wallace]

My favourite mould is a 420gn "Hensley & Gibbs" which was the rolls royce in the heyday. Very accurate and uniform cavity. Others that I have are two from Paul Jones ans one from Victory. These lathe bored moulds are just so much better than the factory produced ones.

100yd ten shot with 45/70 and 545gn Paul Jones boolit.

[imashooter2]

I’ve had and have SAECO, RCBS, Lyman and NOE molds. I still look at what’s in the Lee catalog first.

[Randy Bohannon]

I have never owned a Lee mould of any kind they simply don’t make what I shoot. They do make hit and miss moulds that do what their designed to do more or less.

[dverna]

If I was going to hand cast (I have a Master Caster now) this would be my view.

For pistol bullets that are not critical wrt to accuracy or not HP, I would buy Lee 6 cavity molds.

For pistol bullets for something like Bullseye, or for HP molds I would use a custom mold with at least 4 cavities.

For rifle bullets I would get a custom mold.

Most people are not very good pistol shots so slight variations in bullets is not going to be noticed. Good enough is good enough. I expect over 90% of cast pistol bullets are shot at ranges under 25 yards. Another reason why bullet quality is not critical.

As to custom molds, I do not want to tweak molds. I will pay the premium for a better mold and look at it as a lifetime investment.

How you are wired factors into this as well. I am a shooter. Casting and reloading is not my thing. I have one pistol bullet for 9mm, two for .38/357, one for .40 and one for .45 ACP. I have two .30 cal rifle bullets and one .22 cal rifle bullet. Spending $125-150 on a mold is not too painful with a limited number of molds. If someone likes having dozens of different bullet weights and profiles, it makes the investment much more costly. There are folks with over 50 molds on this site.

BTW factor that into interpreting the answers to this and other questions. The fellow who has 50 molds and shoots 5000 rounds a year will have a different perspective than someone who shoots 20k rounds a year and has a dozen molds.

[winelover]

And the most critical advantage with custom moulds is the ability to drop bullets at the diameter you request, with the alloy you request. If your particular firearm needs oversized diameter bullets, you not getting them from off the shelf moulds.

Winelover

[georgerkahn]

I’m a self taught caster. Nobody I knew casted. I learned by reading the Lyman book and the directions that come in the box with Lee molds, and working out things to make boolits that I am satisfied with. I’m still figuring things out that work for me. I started because I wanted to shoot more and it grew into a great hobby to support my love of shooting. All I have casted with are Aluminum Lee molds. Some of the molds have admittedly required a little tweaking. The shop I buy my reloading supplies from stocks the Lee molds is why I started with them. The boolits I cast in them are pretty darn good. I just got a new mold to start casting for 9mm and started a thread about it that several of you graciously responded to. The same day I purchased the new Lee mold I cast these in it. These are representative of bullets I cast in the 13 Lee aluminum molds I have accumulated.

I have cast with nothing else to compare them to. I found this forum this year. I have been astounded by not only the knowledge that can be found here but also the number of fellow casters like me. One of the things this forum has opened my eyes to is all the different styles of premium molds available.

So what is the advantage of premium molds? Particularly molds other than the aluminum Lee molds I know how to tweak and cast with?

Willie

Your Lee-cast bullets look great! Kudos and congrats!!! Re comments, I cannot agree more with Post #2 by Mk42gunner! For me, personally, the #1 is a design only available as a "premium" mould. Many -- e.g., Lee -- are manufactured/sold for the most popular cailbres and designs. On the other hand, if one wishes a bullet for, say, a mostly-obsolete calibre -- then a premium mould either custom made by a current producer, or (e.g., the Hensley & Gibbs, Modern, etc.) one from days past is required.
geo

[justindad]

Bullet design is my #1 consideration for which mold supplier to buy from. After, I prefer iron molds because I don’t have to be gentle with them and I have never had to work out any burrs. I have had aluminum and brass molds from a premium supplier with unacceptable burrs. Iron molds can’t have burrs, because the user can’t work them out. Maintenance of iron molds takes the least amount of work, for me. Aluminum molds give me problems when I start casting fast.

[Misery-Whip]

I too thought the lee molds were good enough. Then I tried a 4 cavity mp mold, and it will out run a 6 cavity lee. There is no tapping to get them to fall from the mp. Just open it.

Then I bought a 5 cavity arsenal mold and it needs 1 tap for the bullets to fall.

I still have my lee molds, but they dont see alot of use any more. They are a wounderful place to start and learn. But there are faster ways. And different designs.

[Willie T]

Thank all of you for your responses. I cast for pistols and revolvers to shoot more. I have needed to polish several of the Lee molds to get the boolits to fall out. I have also lapped some of the cavities to get more consistent diameter from the mold. Finding and holding a casting tempo that works with a mold to keep it at temperature breaks down when you have to beat on the mold to get boolits to release. Up till reading some of the stickies here recently, I assumed cleaning up my molds to get them running like I was satisfied with is just part of the process…
Willie

[super6]

I do not own any lee molds and most likely never will. I do have HG, Lyman, And RCBS molds ( all iron) that will run longer than me! As far as high dollar molds go, My MP brass mold is less than useful. Just drops boolets that look like.. Well I can not post the word I have to describe. The pins that come with the mold make the release near impossible.

[gwpercle]

I started casting in 1967 , self taught and no one else I knew did it . Started with Lyman moulds - expensive moulds and expensive handles ... and then the affordable $9.99 single cavity Lee Moulds with attached handles ... I could afford these and that's what I used and I learned to cast decent boolits with them .
Now I'm a Cajun and we by nature are FRUGAL ... I do not like spending money ... my mom would sew our clothes my dad made toys and brewed his own beer ... I hate to part with a penny . I'm a card carrying Tightwad ... but I kept hearing all this talk about better custom moulds
Joined this site in 2011 and kept hearing the talk about the better moulds and in 2015 I decided that these moulds couldn't be all that much better than standard production Lyman and Lee and I was going to buy a special mould that Lee didn't carry and just see what all the hooplah was . I ordered a NOE 358-124- TC - GC design ( a 9mm luger boolit) aluminum in 4 cavities !!!
All my other Lyman & Lee moulds were 1 & 2 cavity.
Set me back $92 but I wanted to know ... Well I can tell you it was worth every penny and I've ordered about 6 more since that time ... they are just so nice to use and so nicely finished ... I have one a Elmer Keith Signature Series Model that sits on my desk ... I may not ever cast with it but it's a work of art ... I just enjoy looking at it !
You can get 3 cavity and 4 cavity moulds from NOE which I like ...
... just try one , lifes too short not to !
Al Nelson's moulds and customer service was so wonderful I have only bought moulds from him . I don't know about the others .
I wish I had discovered NOE 40 years ago ... I would have a collection of super nice moulds by now !
Gary

[elmacgyver0]

I like my Lee molds; I don't like things that are too easy.

[Bazoo]

Lee moulds work. And that’s all I’ll give them. They are frustrating to use most of the time. I’ve had about 50% success with them. Sometimes they work great and drop easy and cast the right size. And when you get a good one it casts just fine. But it’s a long affair to go through all the culls. That said, I generally look there first because I’m poor. If I can get a used mould for $20 bucks and by chance it works to satisfaction, I’m a happy camper. If not I look to RCBS or a custom.

[rbuck351]

I have good luck with all the Lee molds I use, Sometimes I need to polish them a bit to get boolits to drop out easily. I have nothing but bad luck with Lee bore rider rifle molds. I have four or five and they all drop with noses that are under size from .002 to.005. I have five or six NOE molds and they all drop what it says on the side of the mold and I have never had to mess with any of them.

I also have quite a few Lyman and rcbs molds that drop what they are supposed to. Under size molds are very difficult to size up their boolits, especially just the nose.

If Lee has a pistol mold that is of the size and type I want, I will buy it but I'm done buying Lee rifle molds

[BJung]

Comparing Lee Molds to Premium Molds is like comparing Lee reloading equipment to RCBS or Redding. The first works fine for most situations. The second is a tad better. My first molds and most of my molds are Lees. I limit my spending on reloading and shooting and Lee tools meet my needs for casting. I own some MP premium brass molds and they are a work of art. The bullets cast and shoot consistently. With skill, my Lee molds can do the same but are a bit more finicky at times. For the money, they are still well worth it.

[rintinglen]

For me, the reject rate from Lee molds tends to be much higher than those from my better quality molds. And I have had too many problems with Lee molds, under sized, not releasing boolits easily, off center, etc. Had I started with Lee, I might never have become the caster that I did. When they work, they are ok. But I'll spend the extra money for a quality mold.

I have a 6 cavity Lee 356-124 TC and a 5 cavity NOE of the same boolit, the NOE will cast 10-20% more useable boolits per hour for me than the LEE. I have no qualms with being frugal: I scrounge brass, mine backstops in 90 degree heat for "free" lead, make my own gun leather, and change my own oil and do my own brakes. But sometimes, cheap is just that: cheap.