Lee 90343?

[deaddog]

What do I have here? From the Midway Lee chart it show it as a .429 255 SWC FB.
I got two of them in a lot with some other moulds but never got around to trying them out. I thought I'd trade one off so I figured I better check them out first. I smoked them, warmed them up and cast about 30 out of each. Checked them out and to my surprise both cast .404-.405 and about 225-230gr with WW. A couple thou I can understand but these are way off. Do I just have the wrong info and therefore the wrong expectations? I may try and size them down and try them in my .40 S&W but I sure thought I had .44's.

DD

[Buckshot]

...........That ".429 255 SWC FB" indicates a 44 cal OD, or .428 to the more common .430". If it is in fact droppng @ .404/.405 somthing 'just aint rat'. However I do not see such a boolit design on their webpage for current or surplus moulds?

...............Buckshot

[lifeon2]

He means this chart

http://www.midwayusa.com/midwayusa/s...llet_Molds.htm

man it seems like maybe they could be lapped to make a mold for a 40-65 or a 40-70 they both take .408 (409 or higher cast) but it would be a light weight boolit for either of them.

The 405 Win takes a .413 if I'm thinking right and that seems a little to intense for a home project at least for me as you would have to lapp out .009 or so.

of course on the pistol side it could be lapped out for a 41 mag .411

I would offer them up as a trade for someone who shoots any of these cartridges and wouldnt mind doing the finishing work on them. If I shot any of those I would give it a whirl, cept for the 405

[deaddog]

I thought my mic was out of whack at first. Two separate moulds with the same size make me think the chart may be in error? As was said above it is not on Lee's current list.

DD

[theperfessor]

Post photos please.

Could this be an obsolete mold for a .38-40? Seems a little heavy for 10mm/.40.

[deaddog]

I don't have the best resolution camera but I'll try and get some pics.

DD

[Buckshot]

...............Regardless it's being listed on that page at Midway, it's NLA from Lee unless Midway has run it as their own personal Group Buy They're also showing the Lee 452-190-SWC which was dropped almost a year ago. Most rifle moulds are now 2 cav and that list only shows them as 1 cav's? Maybe this is just some kind of 'Historical List' ?

As per my original post, that moulds has serious issues if it's being measured correctly. Sending it to Lee would probably be a waste of time so far as replacement goes, but they should give you a merchandise credit.

............Buckshot

[deaddog]

[deaddog]

The pics aren't of much use other than to show that their is two identical Lee moulds 90343. The 4 bullets on the left are shown on the right all look and measure the same. It's not how I normally measure but the pic shows the widest measurement of this bullet to be .4045. The meplat is .280.

Since I posted the other day I cleaned them, cast a few then sprayed on some mould release and cast a few. I didn't see much if any change in the average sizes.

DD

[BCall]

You know, I have that exact same mould. I bought it used, and until now I didn't realize it was marked 90343. I bought mine used, and it came to me in a box that had no printing on it, just 401-230-swc written on the end of it. I just guessed that it was an old group buy that somebody had done. Mine cast close to 401 though. My guess was it was meant for 10mm, like maybe being seated long in a S&W 610.I was thinking of having mine cut down to about 200 gr to use in my 40 S&W, but haven't got around to it. Billy

[deaddog]

BCall,
That helps. I hoped I wasn't seeing things.....

DD

[deaddog]

A new piece to the puzzle. I traded one of them off. I told the guy beforehand that what it was listed as and what it was throwing were two different things and he still wanted it. He called Lee. They said "It's a .429 SWC". He told them it was throwing a .405 230gr. His quote of what Lee told them was "They didn't say much".

So now we have 3 moulds that are supposed to be .429 255 SWC's (my 2 and BCall's !) and and all 3 are .40 230gr. Somethin kinda funny goin on here.........

DD

[BCall]

I wonder if they had a special order mold, and the blocks were already stamped 90343, but they used them anyway. This is the only mold I've seen personally that had a catalog number stamped on it, but I couldn't find in any catalog. Billy

[rmcc]

This mould works for the 401 Power Mag by Herters. It would also work for 10mm I would think.

Rich

[MikeS]

I could be WAY off base here, but from looking at those boolits, they really look a lot more like rifle boolits, and not pistol boolits. Certainly if it IS a pistol boolit, it's going to have to be for one of the magnum calibers that have long cases, otherwise there won't be enough space left in the case to put any powder! But, that's just from looking at the pictures in this thread, so I could be wrong.

[Guesser]

I bought that mold number from Midway back in the late 80's. Mine drops at .430 and 262 gr. from WW. I used it extensively in a RSBH over healthy charges of 2400. I sold the gun about 9 years ago and haven't used the mold since, sure hope it hasn't shrunk!!!!!!!!!