EMC45
01-18-2011, 01:57 PM
I have a mold that is no longer offered by Lee. It is a PB SWC 150gr. with 2 thin lube grooves. I got it second hand from a guy who sold his entire reloading room to me. Press, luber, dies, molds, bullets, primers, powders, etc. etc. He said the Lee mold was junk and I should throw it away when I got home. It did have lead in the pin grooves and would not close properly. It also had hammer marks where he beat it up pretty good. Well, I cleaned it up pretty decently and started casting with it. It cast a nice bullet that shot well out of my revolvers. I tried to tighten the sprue plate because it was not as tight as I thought should be. I stripped the screw out and the sprue plate fell off! Well this mold had sat for quite a while and I finally put it in my mind I was gonna fix it. 1/4 in. tap and #7 bit was all I needed.....Went to the hardware store and priced them, also called my Dad to see if he had one.....Well I was rooting around in my bin drawers and found what I was looking for! The stuck case remover from RCBS comes with a #7 bit and 1/4 in. tap! I scrounged about my gun room and found a 1/4 in. carriage bolt and a split washer..Using the wave washer from the original Lee hardware and my split washer and carriage bolt I was gonna fix this thing! I set up my small Chinese drill press and clamped the mold to my table and drilled the hole (with oil), then I took out the bit and replaced it with the tap and tapped the hole (with oil). Turned out real well and figured the lock washer would hold everything in place.....Well the screw turns as I cast, leading me to keep an eye on it. Other than that, I cast a sizeable pile of bullets over the weekend with it. I may D&T the side of the mold and put a keeper screw in there. That should hold the sprue screw so it won't turn.