WOW! What a difference...

[TomBulls]

Last week and a half or so, ago, I broke down and purchased the RCBS 250gr .430 dia. Keith mould for my .44's, and it just arrived in the mail today. I've been using the Lee 240gr SWC (with the micro-gooves for lube) with substantially unsatisfactory results. I consider myself pretty new to bullet casting, and I couldn't understand WHY OR HOW RCBS charges nearly 70.00 for a double cavity mould. Needless to say, when I opened the package and inspected the mould blocks, I was amazed at the quality of construction.:holysheep Thats one NICE mould, and that Keith design is pretty doggone good too... If I had known what the difference in quality was between the Lee moulds and the RCBS moulds, I would have saved my money and bought only the RCBS moulds. I've been working on my Lee mould to see if I can open it up one or two thousandths of an inch, and just have not had the time to commit to casting. Now that the RCBS mould is here, it looks like I'm gonna HAVE TO make the time!

-thomas

[Wayne Smith]

Ayup. We all have to learn the cost and utility of quality in our lives. No less true here.

[Blammer]

Wait till you get an NOE mould!

RCBS will look like dirt. :D

[BruceB]

Lee makes equipment which usually works reasonably well, including moulds. However, as you've discovered, there are better-quality options.

My mould inventory includes products from many different makers, including Lee. I manage to get decent results from all of them, but there is a clear difference in ease of use and precision of manufacture.

Considering that the life-span of a mould is unlimited, a higher initial cost quickly becomes meaningless. My RCBS .416 mould probably cost about $50, and it has cast over 3000 bullets. So, my "tooling cost" is about 1.5 CENTS per bullet, and it gets lower each time the mould is used for another session. That is LOT of .416 shooting for very little money. My .416 Rigby cost-per-round is about seven or eight CENTS for cartridges which can easily duplicate factory-level performance. Compare that figure to $5 to $10 PER ROUND, and the mould cost is amortized in very short order indeed. There are at least a dozen RCBS moulds living in my shop right now.

Many of us here think very highly of RCBS moulds, and I'm one of that group.... The NOE products are also very nice...I have several of them now, as well as NEI, LBT, Saeco, Hoch ....you name it.

[rbertalotto]

I'm relatively new to casting, but I understand the "You get what you pay for" principal.

My steel (Lyman, RCBS) molds surely cast easier than the aluminum Lee molds. But once I built a PID and set my Lee molds up for the BBQ thermometer, everything changed for the better.

The Lee aluminum molds are capable of some beautiful boolits. But the temperature control of lead and mold becomes extremely important. The aluminum heats up and cools down very fast . Unless you are very aware of temperatures, things can go bad fast.

The steel molds are much less suseptible to this wide swing in temperature variation. And I would thing a brass or bronze mold might be even better.

Now all this said, once I land on a bullet type that pleases my guns, I'll have Accurate Molds cut me a few pieces of coffee table art out of brass............

[captaint]

I have molds by Lee, RCBS, Lyman, NOE, LBT and MP. I think they're all worth what I paid for them. No complaints. Gotta get one from Accurate though, just because... enjoy Mike

[plainsman456]

captain they will make you want to get more if/when you get just 1.

[onesonek]

Wait till you get an NOE mould!

RCBS will look like dirt. :D

And I was going to say the same for AccurateMolds. [smilie=l:

[seagiant]

Hi TB,
I have the same mold but it's from the 70's and came in a cardboard box instead of the plastic they use today! An excellent boolit! I am afraid I have to take exception to peoples comments about the newer made CNC molds being made today that could make my RCBS molds look bad! Not true!!! I have a Mihec mold and though it is a great mold, it makes no better boolits than my RCBS. I really wanted it to and after hearing all the hype on here about the newer molds,WANTED IT TO but ain't so! I was prepared to sale everything and get them remade, but not now,I'm happy right where I'm at! Enjoy!!!

[fredj338]

I like all my RCBS molds, they just flat work. Lee, well, they are either good or bad, not much inbetween IME. I use a couple designs, but prefer working w/ any other mold & prefer iron molds to alumn.

[MtGun44]

RCBS uses THE best alloy for their molds. Lyman is OK but very soft and easily damaged,
RCBS is much harder to accidentally damage. I really love MP molds, and understand that
there are others making top quality molds, but as much as I like aluminum molds, they
are definitely far, far easier to mess up accidentally than an RCBS.

You have chosen wisely, too, assuming you got the 44-250-K. That is a great design,
one of the best of the Keith designs.

Bill

[geargnasher]

I like RCBS moulds. I'm not sure Sundog has any other brand at his house!

That being said, the very best moulds I own are made by Tom at Accurate Molds. His have an edge even on Mihec moulds because Tom's sprue plate pivot and stop bolts are more precise, better quality, and better designs. I don't own any Hoch moulds or Mountain Mold moulds, so I can't speak to them. Saeco's aren't bad either. Lyman, except for a few of their old ones, are pretty much useless these days due to poor QC. LBT makes some good ones, and so does NOE, but I just can't get past the NOE alignment pins on the one mould I have of theirs, they bind something terrible even after many sessions and careful application of Bullplate. Hopefully my mould is the exception rather than the rule, but I won't be buying another one to find out when I can get a better product from Tom for nearly the same money, and get any specific diameter or design I want to boot, and get it in a week or two.

Sorry for the sidetrack, but I thought I'd add my small perspective to the RCBS context.

Gear

[Dennis Eugene]

Me? I'm to cheap to buy Lee molds. Dennis

[MikeS]

When it comes to Lee moulds, I think their 6 cavity moulds are in a totally different class than their 2 cavity moulds. Anyone that's cast with a Lee 2 cavity mould, and decided that they are junk, and so won't buy another Lee mould should really give their 6 cavity moulds a shot. I started with Lee 2 cavity moulds, but have since sold most my 2 cavity moulds, and now try and cast only with moulds of 4 cavity or more. The Lee 6 cavity moulds that I have are some of the best casting moulds I own, and I wouldn't think twice about getting more of them! I also own Mihec moulds, and they're absolutely top notch! I had an RCBS mould, and while it worked fine, it wasn't SO much better than the other 2 cavity moulds I had (from Lyman, Saeco, Lee) that I didn't sell it. With Lyman 2 cavity moulds, one thing I find helps them greatly is to replace the sprue plate with their newer thicker one. I replaced all my sprue plates with the newer thicker one, and found that the moulds worked much better, I think because the thicker sprue plate could hold heat better than the thinner one did. I think (and I could be wrong here) that's also the reason the Lee six cavity moulds cast much better than their 2 cavity ones, they have a much thicker sprue plate, and while it's aluminum, it does hold heat better than the very thin stamped steel sprue plates on their 2 cavity moulds.

[onesonek]

I like RCBS moulds. I'm not sure Sundog has any other brand at his house!

That being said, the very best moulds I own are made by Tom at Accurate Molds. His have an edge even on Mihec moulds because Tom's sprue plate pivot and stop bolts are more precise, better quality, and better designs. I don't own any Hoch moulds or Mountain Mold moulds, so I can't speak to them. Saeco's aren't bad either. Lyman, except for a few of their old ones, are pretty much useless these days due to poor QC. LBT makes some good ones, and so does NOE, but I just can't get past the NOE alignment pins on the one mould I have of theirs, they bind something terrible even after many sessions and careful application of Bullplate. Hopefully my mould is the exception rather than the rule, but I won't be buying another one to find out when I can get a better product from Tom for nearly the same money, and get any specific diameter or design I want to boot, and get it in a week or two.

Sorry for the sidetrack, but I thought I'd add my small perspective to the RCBS context.

Gear

I can't argue any of that! I haven't had a RCBS, but for the money difference, I go solely to AM for my molds.

[mroliver77]

I have a couple RCBS moulds. One .22 mould has a vent line exactly on the boolits nose so that it leaves a line across the nose and a whisker to each side. I bought it used from a fellow here on buying and selling. BUT it still is a nice boolit and if sized in an RCBS lubesizer the defect is almost unnoticable.
I have Lee mould too. I have only ever had to send one back. After much grief from them I got the mindset that their mould need Leemented from the git go. Fo $17. I can afford o tnker with them. I epoxy the handles, flatten and deburr sprue plate. Fix spue plate screw and lap scrub cavties well. Less than an hour of fun to put them right. Most of Lees designs are strong cast designs and shoot well. I dont know why they are going to mostly beval base....yuck!!! For the $$ I am well satisfied with Lee moulds.
I have some LBT, fine moulds. I love the sprue plate setup!

My Mihec moulds I treasure! I was against the brass moulds but have found them to be excellent. Wish I could AFFORD MORE!

Older Lymans need a little Lymenting but work well.

Looks like I am easy to please!
J