New ~ LEE #4 + 000 Buckshot

[lead Foot]

Just read the latest Guns mag. The LEE add has added #4 and 000 to there buckshot moulds. I think #4 is the best for me. It come's a bit late for me as I'm off on my hunting trip on Monday.
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[lead Foot]

here's the link ~ http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Buckshot-Molds/

[161]

I'll likely have a #4 mold myself

[Junior1942]

The biggest complaint I read about the new Lee buckshot molds is trouble keeping the mold hot enough to fill the cavities nearest the handles. I'm planning on getting a 000 mold and just using the front 4 cavities. I can live with an easy 12 balls per cast.

[Lonegun1894]

This is a website I have gotten a few items from that often has Lee stuff cheaper than the Lee site. You will have to scroll down, but they have the OO buck mould at just over half the price that Lee Precision sells it for. Unfortunately, they dont list the OOO or #4, may have to call them and ask. Hope this helps.

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

[Junior1942]

This is a website I have gotten a few items from that often has Lee stuff cheaper than the Lee site. You will have to scroll down, but they have the OO buck mould at just over half the price that Lee Precision sells it for. Unfortunately, they dont list the OOO or #4, may have to call them and ask. Hope this helps.

https://factorysales.com/html/xcart/catalog/blackpow.htmlThey're way cheaper than MidwayUSA. I just ordered a 000 buckshot mold and a 1 oz slug mold. Thanks for the heads up!!!!

[ocelott]

actually the do have them listed - I just checked the site

[flounderman]

I don't know what you are hunting with no 4 buck but I have been disappointed with it in hunting situations every time I used it. as a defense load it won't penetrate as many walls as the bigger stuff. for hunting deer sized animals, 000 is the best.

[161]

I don't know what you are hunting with no 4 buck but I have been disappointed with it in hunting situations every time I used it. as a defense load it won't penetrate as many walls as the bigger stuff. for hunting deer sized animals, 000 is the best.
It's good coyote medicine
161

[blaster]

I'd like to see an 0 buck mold. This is my favorite size due to it's fit for inside the shot cup loads.

[lead Foot]

I don't know what you are hunting with no 4 buck but I have been disappointed with it in hunting situations every time I used it. as a defense load it won't penetrate as many walls as the bigger stuff. for hunting deer sized animals, 000 is the best.

I use it on pigs. I have used bought loaded rounds with very good results, but too expensive. So I bought the lee 00 mould. Iv'e dropped a few pigs with them but #4 is far better. 9 pallets v 18.
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[Baja_Traveler]

+1 on the coyotes - I use it in my SxS muzzleloader shotgun.

[hicard]

Thanks Junior, I just ordered one.

[Junior1942]

Thanks Junior, I just ordered one.You're welcome! I just finished using mine. In exactly 26 minutes I emptied a 10 lb pot and made a big pile of 000 buckshot. I cleaned the mold with alcohol and a stiff brush. I lubed the underside of the sprue cutter with spray graphite. I heated the mold on top of the pot for a few minutes, then started casting. I kept a steady pace not paying attention to the quality of the balls until the pot was empty. Looking now at the cooled pile of 000 balls, I'd guess a 90/10% good/bad ratio. They average 69.2 grs in mostly scrap #2 shot alloy. I probably have a lifetime supply of 000 buckshot in 22 minutes casting.

Same with my new 1 oz Lee slug mold. I ended up with 49 slugs, which is also probably a lifetime supply for me.

[GrayFox]

Has anyone tried stacking 2x4 of the 000 in a shotcup, or will only 00 work?

[Junior1942]

Has anyone tried stacking 2x4 of the 000 in a shotcup, or will only 00 work?

You can stack 5 Lee 000 in a RP12 wad inside a WAAHS hull but (1) they're stacked off level with each other; and (2) the top one sticks up a tad and uglies the crimp. The crimp is ok, but I'm not sure it would hang together in field use. It wouldn't be fun to need round #2 on ol Mossy Horns and find the wad empty and the shot rolling around in your pocket.

I'm thinking maybe epoxy the crimp, but if the plastic is HDPE, which it most likely is, epoxy won't stick. In that case, you'd have to melt/weld the crimp together like in factory rounds. I've tried running a hot screwdriver blade over the crimp, and that works but not well. The hole in the center of the crimp is too big to effectively smear melted plastic across it. Maybe tomorrow or this afternoon I might try smearing a daub of melted HDPE from a bucket, etc., across the crimp and see if it holds. Then I'd have to tote the shell around in my pocket for a few days to make sure it holds together under simulated field conditions.

My Cylinder bore "found shotgun" (topic somewhere here) shoots the WAAHS hull with RP12 wad with 5 Lee 000 & 3.1cc Unique powder well, I believe. At 20 yds, I get 3 of the 5 buckshot in a coffee mug sized group with always 2 fliers 2" to 3" away, i.e., 5 shots you could cover with a baseball cap. With factory Super X 00 and 000 buckshot, non-wad but with buffer, it won't put 6 of 9 buckshot in a 24" x 24" target backing paper, i.e., 9 shots, maybe, in a car door. So if ol' mossy horns was standing sideways @ 20 to 30 yards, my handloaded 000 round would put at least 4 buckshot in him, whereas a factory 00 or 000 round might put 2 in him, with only 1 in him for certain but maybe in his nose or in his tail.

Forcing 6 Lee 000 in a RP12 hull results in a blown-out wad base and a very deformed RP12 wad and car door groups. Putting a 1/8" nitro wad as an OP wad eliminates the blown-out wad base and gives baseball cap groups, but the crimp is loose and cone shaped. That needs testing with smeared HDPE.

[OnHoPr]

Junior

To tighten up loose crimps put a 5/8" egg carton OS card on top of the load. One or two usually does the trick. You can make a wad cutter out of a 4" 5/8" nipple, just grind it tapered and sharp on one end. Just a suggestion.

[Junior1942]

.....I'm thinking maybe epoxy the crimp, .... I might try smearing a daub of melted HDPE from a bucket, etc., across the crimp and see if it holds......Smearing melted HDPE across the crimp resulted only in a burned finger. DON'T TRY IT!!!! The melted HDPE gets on your finger and won't come off easily....... And doesn't close the crimp.

The epoxy worked like a charm. It held so tightly I couldn't crush the crimp between my fingers no matter how hard I squeezed. And the fired hull looks normal. And the group was fine. For a downpour shotgun buckshot load, all I'd need to do is seal the primer with fingernail polish.

[StrawHat]

Has anyone mic'ed the cast buckshot for consistency? I shoot a couple of small bore C&B revolvers and a 32 caliber flint lock and am always looking for ways to increase the supply of cast RB. I prefer .320 but what do they cast?

Thanks.

[izzyjoe]

i'd like to find a #1 buck mold, but 0 would bee fine.

[mtgrs737]

The biggest complaint I read about the new Lee buckshot molds is trouble keeping the mold hot enough to fill the cavities nearest the handles. I'm planning on getting a 000 mold and just using the front 4 cavities. I can live with an easy 12 balls per cast.

Try pouring it in reverse, front to back then back to front.

[lead Foot]

My new #4 buck mould arrived. [smilie=w:It left the US quick but from here in Australia it slowed some, would have been quicker on a horse and cart. :violin: It did'nt take long before I moulded some. They weigh 20.5 gr (ave) 18 = 368.5gr mic @ .240 -.241 All's good. Next step is the testing.
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[Nazgul]

Midsouth Shooters lists the #4 buckshot mold for $2 less than Factory sales.

Don

[Arisaka99]

Junior, why not use hot glue instead of epoxy? Can you get 0 into a 20ga shell? I really should get a 12ga because there are so many more options for shells than in a 20ga.

[Junior1942]

Junior, why not use hot glue instead of epoxy? Can you get 0 into a 20ga shell? I really should get a 12ga because there are so many more options for shells than in a 20ga.I doubt hot glue would stick to an HDPE shotshell hull since nothing else will. HDPE is chemically a hard wax. I know zero about 20 ga shells. What I know about 12 ga I learned in the past six weeks or so mainly from this forum.

[JIMinPHX]

You can stack 5 Lee 000 in a RP12 wad inside a WAAHS hull but (1) they're stacked off level with each other; and (2) the top one sticks up a tad and uglies the crimp. The crimp is ok, but I'm not sure it would hang together in field use. It wouldn't be fun to need round #2 on ol Mossy Horns and find the wad empty and the shot rolling around in your pocket.

Roll Crimp maybe?

[JIMinPHX]

I doubt hot glue would stick to an HDPE shotshell hull since nothing else will.

The higher molecular weight version of PE is known colloquially as "poor man's Teflon" because of it's non-stick properties. It's hard to find something that will stick well to any of the PE family plastics. They're all pretty slippery. Some more so than others though.

[OnHoPr]

izzyjoe

Lee has .311 and .319 RB molds for that application. I use the .311 with water quenched WW for a hard .314 ball. If your'e going to find a hunting load then the single or double cavity should be sufficient. If your'e going to use the buckshot extensively for a purpose, then the output of these molds may be a quite tedious. The .314 fits nicely in a shot cup with 3 balls to a layer stacks.