2 or 6 Cavity Mold?

[metweezer]

I plan on getting a Lee .356 dia. 124 gr TL mold for 9mm. My question is should I get a 2 cavity or 6 cavity mold? I don't plan on casting a whole lot of boolits, (maybe a hundred or so at a time), just want to know if it is as easy to cast 6 at once as it is 2.
Thanks,
Steve :cbpour:

[thehouseproduct]

I'll never buy anything other than 6 if it's available. For the cost, they are without peers.

[Moonie]

The quality of the 6 cav molds is better than the 2 cav, however they are more difficult to use.

[mooman76]

If you aren't doing that many you can do a hundred in 30 minutes easy with a 2 cavity. Some people have a little trouble getting the 6x going and and you could be almost done in that amount of time. I have allot of 2x and some 6 x also. The 2x are fine as long as you take care of them and don't beat them to death.

[fredj338]

The quality of the 6 cav molds is better than the 2 cav, however they are more difficult to use.

THis ^^^ If they made their 2cav like their 6cav, then maybe. A 4cav made like their 6cav w/ better spru plate would be great.

[462]

There is no comparison between the two, either in value or production, with the six-cavity being the clear winner.

A two-cavity is arguably easier for the beginner to develope and master a proficient casting technique.

Whichever you choose, be sure to take the time to Leement the mould.

[beex215]

get the 6 cavity. i have the 2 cavity mold and it takes too long for my liking.

[GP100man]

What size pot do ya have ???

A 6 banger will drain a 20# pot before ya know it !!especially when your in da zone !!!

I tried a 6 with the 10# pot it just ain`t big enuff , bout the time ya start ya gotta stop & feed it !

I fill my 20 then lay a couple of ingots over the top to warm & by the time the 6 needs coolin I stop & let it cool & drop an ingot in & keep on gettin it !!

Usually can get 22-23# of boolits before I`m ready for a break !!!

[birdadly]

I was thinking of mentioned something similar to GP100man, 100 9mm boolits will only be 2 pounds of lead. Crazy huh! Just something to think about. You may only think of doing 100, but the lead sure can go a long way.

I've only cast once so far, some 200 grainers, put about 10 pounds of lead (all I had at the time) in the pot, ended up with 300 boolits and some lead in the pot for next time! I was using a 4 cavity mould.

I wanted to suggest the 2-cavity for you since it sounds like you have the extra time and patience, but if others are saying the quality isn't good, then I don't want to suggest it. I think you'd pick up on the learning curve of the 6-cavity shortly, and all the bad ones you make while learning, obviously can simply be remelted, no waste! -Brad

[cajun shooter]

To be quite honest, all of Lee's moulds are meant to be for the starting out of casting. This is not to say that some of them can't make good bullets but you can have several problems with all the moulds they make. To just do a hundred or so bullets then the two cavity will work but may require some tune up. I have sent several Lee 6 cavity moulds back also. I will never purchase another. If your funds are such that you are able to purchase a RCBS mould, then that is what I would do. They will produce better bullets from the start and if you decide to sell,they will hold their value. Later David

[metweezer]

What size pot do ya have ???

20 #. :lovebooli

[Inkman]

I plan on getting a Lee .356 dia. 124 gr TL mold for 9mm. My question is should I get a 2 cavity or 6 cavity mold? I don't plan on casting a whole lot of boolits, (maybe a hundred or so at a time), just want to know if it is as easy to cast 6 at once as it is 2.
Thanks,
Steve :cbpour:

I'm new to casting so here's my 2 cents.

How much do you shoot and what type of shooting?

I can easily go thru 500 to 700 rds in a week shooting matches and practice so i went with a Lee 6 cavity 200gr mold. Some say it's too hard for a noob to learn on, but i'm doing fine with some minor hiccups here and there. All part of learning to cast.

I've heard the same thing about reloading though too. I skipped the single stage press and went right to a progressive because i knew a single stage would be frustratingly slow before too long.

Al

[white eagle]

man I have been all over the mold board
custom's,big name mold makers you name it I have tried it
but for the money can't beat a Lee 6 c and they will make a PILE O BOOLITS fast as you can dish em out
but if you want to take it easy a good two cav is hard to beat

[fishnbob]

man I have been all over the mold board
custom's,big name mold makers you name it I have tried it
but for the money can't beat a Lee 6 c and they will make a PILE O BOOLITS fast as you can dish em out
but if you want to take it easy a good two cav is hard to beat

I just moved up to a Swede Nelson 4 cavity. I have a hard time filling 2 cavities with perfect boolits, I hope I can get 4 to fill out. Darned it it ain't a pretty mould and I am anxious to use it.:redneck:

[dragonrider]

I would dissagree with those who say that a six cavity is more difficult to learn than a two cavity. It's just a different learning curve, not more difficult. Get the 6 cavity.

[zuke]

Get 2 6 cavity mold's.
Fill one sit it down,fill the second one set it down,pick up the COOLED first one and empty it out then refill it and set it down,pick up the second COOLED mold and empty it then refill it, pick up the first COOLED mold..........etc,etc.
Get where I'm coming from?
Try here for a good price

https://factorysales.com/html/xcart/catalog/bullmol3.html

[jhalcott]

I'd say the 6 holer is the one to get. You can drop 100 bullets in no time with it. Most will be keepers too! It MY take a few tries to get the rhythm down, but that happens with ALL new gear. It takes the same time for the lead to melt no matter how many cavities the mold has. I've used molds with from one to eight cavities with little or no trouble.

[garym1a2]

You need two 20lb pots also to keep them going.
With the 6 bangers you also make a lot of spues that need reheated.
P.S., I do not like the TL type 9mm, I prefer to pan or lubesize them.

Get 2 6 cavity mold's.
Fill one sit it down,fill the second one set it down,pick up the COOLED first one and empty it out then refill it and set it down,pick up the second COOLED mold and empty it then refill it, pick up the first COOLED mold..........etc,etc.
Get where I'm coming from?
Try here for a good price

https://factorysales.com/html/xcart/catalog/bullmol3.html

[zuke]

I have a 10 and a 20 lb pot.
What I do is get the 20 up and running and start casting. When the mold's up to temp get the 10 lb up and running.
When the 20 is about 1/3 full take the 10 lb and pour the molten lead into the 20 and keep on going.
Set the 10 lb back up and plug it in.
Justify's my keeping the 10 lb pot.

[HammerMTB]

I have 2 and 6 cav molds from Lee, and in the past have even had them of the same profile at the same time.
If you only want 100 or so at a time, I'd get the 2-cav first. See if the boolit is the one you want. The mold is only $20. If you like it, keep it, or if you decide to get the 6-cav, go ahead on'er, and sell the 2-cav for $10. Minimal investment to be sure you get the mold profile you want.
Some of my very old 2-cav molds were of dubious quality to start, and needed lots of loving care (Lee-menting) to make good boos. Lately, the 2-cav molds I have bought have been of notably greater quality, and tho they are not up to the standards of 6-cav, they are 1/2 the price.
It also appears you are new to casting, so the 2-cav will give you satisfactory results sooner than the 6-cav will.

[barefooter175]

FWIW, I had one two-cavity mould, a .58 cal. Minie Ball, and cast pure lead from it. It did not hold up. I did not use excessive force, but opening the sprue was difficult and soon the mould did not allign properly.

James

[MT Gianni]

Get whichever one will resale for the highest amount. Search here for loads and experience. It was the first mold I cast for pistol with and the happiest day I had with it was the day it sold on e-bay. It cast beautiful bullets that grouped wider than my cylinder bore shotgun no matter how hard I experimented. Try the 120-125 gr rn or tc standard lube groove but the tumble groove 9mm IME, is not a shooter.

[MikeS]

The Lee 2 cavity moulds are much cheaper than the 6 cavity ones, but their quality is also lower than the 6 cavity moulds. To get a 6 cavity mould, with handles will run you right around $50.00 from Midway, and the 2 cavity would be under $20.00, but I would go for the 6 cavity mould as it's made much more like a 'standard' boolit mould (alignment pins, not ribs, removable handles, etc.) so the experience you get will transfer to other brands of moulds more so than learning with a 2 cavity mould. Unless money is REALLY tight, I would go for the 6 cavity, as the 2 cavity moulds can be very frustrating to use if you get one that's not perfect, and if you're just getting started in casting, with a 2 cavity mould it's easy to get frustrated, and just give up casting thinking that it's too hard to do, when in reality it's just a bad mould!

It could just be me being strange, but I find casting with a Lee 6 cavity mould is easier than using a Lyman 2 or 4 cavity mould! Another important thing to do is get a hot plate to set your mould on to pre-heat it, as that works much better than setting it on top of your casting pot to warm it. I generally place my mould on the hotplate (I have a flat griddle like pan on the hotplate) with the hotplate set on high, at the same time I turn on the lead pot, and by the time the casting pot is up to temp to start casting, the mould is also hot enough to start casting, and doing this will really cut down on the rejects at the beginning of the casting session!

[Bret4207]

Get 2 6 cavity mold's.
Fill one sit it down,fill the second one set it down,pick up the COOLED first one and empty it out then refill it and set it down,pick up the second COOLED mold and empty it then refill it, pick up the first COOLED mold..........etc,etc.
Get where I'm coming from?
Try here for a good price

https://factorysales.com/html/xcart/catalog/bullmol3.html

No offense intended, but i have to disagree entirely. Almost every problem the new caster has is related to mould temp and proper mould prep. A noobie using two 6 cav's is simply going to compound every issue from the get go. A 6 banger has to be HOT to work right, trying to use 2 without understanding what just one needs would drive the poor guy up the wall.

Start with a 2 cav and concentrate on making perfect boolits. You may hate casting, some folks do. If you like it and can turn out great boolits, then move up to the 6 cav or a custom 4 or whatever you want.

[armoredman]

I started casting for 9mm with that exact 2 cavity TL mold. If you want to make 100 boolits at a time it will work fine. Also, if you break it while learning, (as long as you don't hurt you and anything else when/if it happens), no big deal,you're out $20. I got the single lube groove version, also in 2 cavity, and it casts excellent boolits right from the get-go. Perhaps when I have more funds I will get 6 cavity versions of both boolits, but right now the 2 cavity ones are just fine for me - I usually cast 100-150 a session in the garage.

[MtGun44]

If you only need 100 at a sitting, your 20 lb pot and a double cavity mold will do wonderful
service for a good price. Six cavs are nice but would be a cost and learning curve penalty
for you with no gain for your quantity requirements. Two 20 lb pots would be ridiculous
for 100 boolits at 125 gr. You would be using less than two pounds of lead, so what in the
world would the second pot be for??

Buying a 6 cav would be like buying a dump truck to haul an occasional piece of plywood.
You would be better off with a small pickup. If you need to haul tons of gravel, the dump
truck would be a great thing and beat the small pickup all to death, no doubt. But you
are not needing that quantity, so don't be talked into something that you don't need -
UNLESS you think you may start shooting a whole lot more. If not, 2 cav and keep your
nice 20 lb pot.

By the way - size to .357 at first and use NRA 50-50 lube to start. Check out the sticky
on setting up for a 9mm - you may save some time.

Bill

[zuke]

No offense intended, but i have to disagree entirely. Almost every problem the new caster has is related to mould temp and proper mould prep. A noobie using two 6 cav's is simply going to compound every issue from the get go. A 6 banger has to be HOT to work right, trying to use 2 without understanding what just one needs would drive the poor guy up the wall.

Start with a 2 cav and concentrate on making perfect boolits. You may hate casting, some folks do. If you like it and can turn out great boolits, then move up to the 6 cav or a custom 4 or whatever you want.

I have to agree with you on this one, I didn't realize he was just begginning the journey.

[cajun shooter]

I will have to disagree with Mt Gianni on giving you a bullet size with out knowing your gun. The 50/50 is the lube that I started with in the 60's and while an old standard they have better choices of lube now. I would say that starting with White Label BAC and Clays powder will give you a comfort zone. You may use the .357 and it will be perfect but unless you slug that barrel you will not know.
I can't remember if you posted the brand of your 9mm as many have problems with lead bullets. Make sure it is not one of those. A few new posters said that they have no problems with the Lee 6 cavity moulds. I am very happy for you and hope the rest of your casting life works so well. I have spent many dollars in shipping Lee moulds back and forth. I tried for about 4 months to have a Lee custom 6 cavity corrected to the size that was ordered. The moulds had cavities that dropped anywhere from .449 to .452 but not the .455 that was ordered. I explained to Patrick that I paid for such a mould when he advised that I was being impossible. My guns slugged at .453, what size bullet would you use?

[metweezer]

The pistol I want to cast for is my Ruger SR9C. I am having a little trouble slugging my barrel because I can't bury the lead ball without it falling out of the barrel a time or two. Once the lead ball has popped out, I don't trust it as I want to send the lead ball from end to end without it bouncing out of the barrel and me having to start over with a new ball. I am new to reloading/casting as if you didn't know. BTW the diameter of the lead ball is .395. Should I get a narrower lead ball? Thanks, Steve

[cajun shooter]

metweezer, The best lead slug to use IMHO is a egg shaped lead fishing sinker. They are carried by all large and some small sporting goods. I think I have seen them at our local Wally World. I guess that depends on your location.
Take a mike or caliper with you and check the weights size. If you have a 38-357 gun then you would want a weight that measures at least .359-.360 Don't buy any that are .006 over as they will be hard to use. If you have to use a slug that is hard to use then add grease to help. If your slug falls from the gun then it is too small to give you a reading.

[NoZombies]

Start slugging from the chamber end, the ball wont have any place to fall away.