Lee Commercial Quality Moulds

[BEN BODEY]

I am thinking about getting a 6 cavity Tumble Lube 148 Gr. Wad Cutter mould. Is the quality of the mould better than the 2 cavity mould? And does it cast a better bullet, or is it that the mould is built for "heavy duty production"?

[mooman76]

I have a couple and they work great for kicking out mass quantities. The mould is considerably heavier but I don't think any better as far as bullet quality. With 6 cavities you have an increased chance of a couple bullets being off what the other bullets are coming out like but that is just a hair and in most cases I can't see it making a noticable difference with pistol bullets but maybe a rifle bench shooter! I've heard of some rifle bench shooters using only one cavity of a double cavity or seperating them by cavity. But those are your pickiest of shooters, I just like to have fun!

[Dale53]

The Lee six acivy moulds are considerably better than Lee's two cavities. The alighnment pins are steel bushed and the aluminum is a higher grade. IN addition, the sprue plate is much "heftier". All in all, a much better mould.

I use both but must admit the sixes are world's better for long time use. However, if you lubricate both of them correctly (I now use ONLY Bullshop's sprue plate lube - it is worlds' better than whatever is in second place[smilie=1:) they both will do the job.

The Lee six cavity moulds are my favorites of ALL moulds. I have moulds from all of the major manufacturers and know whereof I speak (not to denigrate someones else's personal opinion, of course:mrgreen:). The only "quarrel" that I have with Lee's six cavities are they are not made in every bullet style that I might like (the group buys have helped me here considerably!)

Dale53

[Rod B]

I have been using this mould for almost ten years. It does a great job.

I can't offer any advice in a bullet quality comparison to the two cavity Lee mould as I have only used these in 9mm & .44. They are OK but do not compare to the six cavity Lee product in speed of casting.

I currently have Lee six cavity moulds in the .38 tumble lube wadcutter & the 200gr .45 tumble lube semi wadcutter. If I require more pistol calber moulds the six cavity Lee is going to be the only mould I will consider.

The Lee mould is great for pistol use however for rifle bullets I prefer the Lyman & RCBS products.


Rod.

[Springfield]

I cast thousands of bullets every month using the Lee six cavities, and they work fine. I think they hold up better than the smaller moulds, but only if you use them right. Most important is to get them up to temperature before you start casting, otherwise they will gall the surfaces and become worthless. I like to just dip the end of the mould into the moltern lead for a couple minutes. Some guys use a hotplate. Either way will work, but you absolutely cannot start with a cold mould and expect to get the mould up to temp just by casting. Well, actually you can, by only using the first hole or two until the temp comes up. But even then you risk smearing lead on the surfaces and galling the aluminum. And for goodness sake, get some Bullshop lube to coat the surfaces with. It's not the only thing that will work, but it works the best with the least amount of mess, and it doesn't build up and cause you to have to clean the mould so often. Some of my moulds have cast 100,000 bullets and still work fine, and I have bought used moulds that only have 100 bullets through them that were almost unsalvageable. Get them up to temp, or expect to be buying a new mould.

[Buckshot]

................Well honestly, I don't know about commercial :-), but as you've most likely gathered they're several steps about the one and 2 cavity jobs, and that is a fact.

http://www.fototime.com/FC7FB74B506D8FB/standard.jpg

The Lee 6 cavity block's forte'. A bunch of boolits darn quick.

http://www.fototime.com/34DC7833A633206/standard.jpg

I took this photo as I had recharged the pot and was waiting for it to come back up to temp (20lb Lee). I cast 36 lbs of 145gr 38 cal WC's in 2-1/2 hours. That included bathroom breaks, streatching breaks, nose picking breaks, smoke breaks, "Honey can you come open this" breaks, & etc. I wasn't killing myself.

I figure I cast about 1650 good target WC's in that session.

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

[35remington]

Absolutely no complaints about the Lee six cavity, handled with care and lubed well they will be OK.

Of the wadcutters they offer, I prefer the accuracy of their conventional wadcutter in .38 over the tumble lube version. The thicker front bands hold the rifling better after making the jump from cylinder to barrel in a revolver, as an examination of the recovered bullets will show. I figure this may be why they're more accurate. The tumble lube will be OK, but the conventional wadcutter shades it by about a quarter to 3/8ths inch at 25 yards in a variety of loads using fast powders. And some slow ones, too.

[yam476]

Where do you get them Bullshop lube?

[357maximum]

Where do you get them Bullshop lube?

http://bullshop.gunloads.com/

[rebliss]

Of the wadcutters they offer, I prefer the accuracy of their conventional wadcutter in .38 over the tumble lube version.

How do you lube these? Lubrisizer? What type of lube?

[35remington]

Lubrisizer varies. Either a RCBS or none at all when I tumble lube them. You can tumble lube any bullet, not just the ones with tumble lube grooves. Since as cast diameter is adequate, I most often tumble lube them with LLA or sometimes Johnson's Paste Wax.

When using the lubrisizer, I go with a 75-80% beeswax/20-25% lithium grease mixture. Use a heater as needed, or vary the lithium/beeswax ratio. Can also pan lube with it if you don't have the lubrisizer. At the lower wadcutter velocities many lubes will work well. And not much lube is needed, especially helpful for indoor range shooting to cut down on smoke.

[Bret4207]

The weird thing is I bet every guy here looked at Buckshots pictures and went, "Aahhhhhh!".