6 cavity Lee molds

[Searcher1911]

I have cast a lot with 1 and 2 cavity molds but I have never used a 6 cavity. I would like to up my output of 45 and 40 bullets. Can you guys give me your experiences with the 6 cavity Lees.......how they are to use and whether they significantly up the number of good bullets you can cast in a given time? Thanks for the imput.

[dubber123]

I only have one for the .45 acp. and I really like it. you can pretty easily cast 4-500 bullets in an hour, and the sprue plate lever design is genius, just don't let the sprue cool too much. I have 5 more on the way courtesy of the group buy system. Keep the pins and pivots lubed well, and they will last a long time as well.

[lead_her_fly]

38, 44 and 45 and really like them all!
You can make a bunch in a hurry.
Have fun!

[Orygun]

I have cast a lot with 1 and 2 cavity molds but I have never used a 6 cavity. I would like to up my output of 45 and 40 bullets. Can you guys give me your experiences with the 6 cavity Lees.......how they are to use and whether they significantly up the number of good bullets you can cast in a given time? Thanks for the imput.

Well, yes, your output is much greater for the time spent using a 6 banger. Recently my shootin' bud and I both bought the same Lee 6 cav. .45 200 gr. SWC molds thinking that with TWO molds, our production would be even faster by alternating molds during a session.

Wrong! When I discovered Goatlips' web site on "speed casting" http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/smelting.html
I discovered that ONE mold was enough and my production is greater than using two 4 cav. steel molds.

Heed the advice to lube the pins and pivot points and I will also testify to the fact that "Bull Plate" lube is a great product for this!

I have to cast a little hotter with the Lee molds, and I don't mind some frosty boolits, but I am going to try a little tin mixed in with my straight WW alloy to see if I can get a good fillout with less temp.

I have used a bottom pour RCBS for 25+ years and wouldn't use anything else. Well, maybe a MasterCaster if I was a little more flush. ;)

[Charlie Horse]

I recently tried my first Lee 6 cavity and I really like it. Before you use it, take a pencil and rub the top of the mold and bottom of the sprue plate with graphite. I didn't and mine gauled a little. I have some Bull Plate on order.

[versifier]

The biggest problem using a 6cav is keeping enough alloy melted to keep up with it. I just got a 20lb pot to speed things up a little, the 10lb isn't enough. I have two now and four more coming via GB's. Bullplate Lube is the best, but keep it away from the cavities as it is a bitch to clean out if you get carried away with it. :wink: Don't ask. [smilie=1:

[Crash_Corrigan]

Using 6 banger Lee molds and preparing them by using the LEEMENTING techniques (see sticky) I get complete fill outs and very little problems with Lee molds. The other brands cost so much more and are usually only easily used when two cavities as the bigger ones are much heavier and I do not enjoy using them because of the weight. They do however produce beautiful boolits with little trouble and they are a joy to use and do not require the babying that Lee molds require. However if I am requiring a large amount of boolits I use the Lee. If I have the time I go with RCBS or Lyman as they are a joy to use but the production rate is low.
Dan

[tom barthel]

I have five. One more on the way. Make sure your sprue is ALL THE WAY closed. Read and follow the instructions and it will probably last as long as you. You may have to scrounge containers to put all your bullets in. I'm always looking for a box or can with a good lid for my bullet supply. I really need to shoot more. Get the six cavity mold. You will like it.

[Sundogg1911]

I bought my first two Lee 6 cavity moulds last December. I dragged my feet buying them since my Lee 2 cavitys pretty much came apart in my hands. the 6 Cavity quality is much better. I bought 3 more since then and have no regrets. IMHO they do require a little more care than a good iron mold, but they're inexpensive, work well, and drop some nice boolits! they're also lighter than the multi-cavity iron molds. I don't think you'll regret buying them. I'd get at least 2 to use together to keep them at a good operating temp. you'll be knee deep in boolits in no time! :-)

[MakeMineA10mm]

Searcher,
Good Questions!

I started casting on my mentor's equipment, which was a 20-lb bottom pour Lyman pot and Lyman 1- and 2-cavity moulds. Then, I discovered my dad had some old casting stuff that he hadn't really ever used, a 12-lb Saeco pot and three 4-cavity moulds (45ACP, 30Carbine, and 38RN), all Lyman. Of course, Lyman makes iron moulds, so it's all I knew for a long time, and yes, casting 9mm bullets with a 2-cavity mould is almost an exercise in futility, especially at a young age, because no amount of effort and slowness in making the bullets can slow down a teen-ager's trigger finger...

After 15 years, a buddy and I bought a casting machine (Ballisti-cast), and it came with about 100 2-cav. moulds (that's what fits on the machine), and they were mostly Hensley and Gibbs, Magma, and a couple Saeco moulds. ALL iron. My experience with iron moulds grew, and I learned that the key to iron moulds was warm-enough moulds combined with absolutely clean cavities. With the casting machine, we went through a can of dry moly-lube which we sprayed onto the open faces and cavities of the moulds as the machine ran in order to try to eliminate bullets sticking in the cavity, but we discovered this only helped marginally, and helped most when done very sparingly.

Then, about three years ago, MAVdutchman ran a group buy of custom moulds from Lee over at the SASS Wire. It was for a big-lube-groove 44-cal. 210gr RNFP, which worked perfect for me in 44-40, 44 Russian, 44 Colt, and 44 Special, so I joined up with the group buy. This was my first experience with an aluminum mould, and it was a learning experience. I heard all kinds of suggestions from various internet boards (it was before I discovered this place), but I decided to try it like it was an iron mould and see what happened.

First thing I did was read the instructions from Lee. Second thing I did was clean and degrease the mould and all of it's parts, like I did with my iron moulds. Then, I started up the lead pot and tried casting. Nothing but wrinkled bullets. Tried going faster (heating up the mould), going slower (keeping the mould cooler), even turning up the thermostat on the pot. Nothing worked.

Finally, I went back and re-read the instructions. Smoke the cavities with a wooden match. Hmmmm. Never did that with the iron moulds, but I'm not having any luck with the Lee so far, so it's worth a try. Smoked the cavities real well (used three matches the first time, because I didn't have a system or experience). Casted good bullets almost immediately! (If I remember correctly the first pour had two good bullets, second pour had five good ones, and from then on it was usually 6 good bullets every cast...)

About the time I ran out of alloy in my 20-lb pot was about the time I needed to re-smoke the cavities, so I dumped the sprue and culls in the pot along with a few ingots, and let the mould cool a bit. As the pot started to look close to ready, I re-smoked the cavities, and went on to pour another 15-lbs or so of bullets.

Then, I realized it was getting sticky, and I know now that I needed to lube the hinge, and alignment pins, but in my first run with that mould I made about 700 bullets in about two hours and a half, and that even counts the learning curve time and re-melting/filling the pot.

It's different, but not hard, compared to what you've already done with your iron moulds. I also learned that there was no need to rotate moulds, as I had done with my iron Lymans, so that they didn't over-heat. The aluminum dissapates heat so quickly, I found it actually difficult to over-heat it (but still very possible).

Overall, I really like the lighter weight, making it easier to handle, as well as the third handle for opening the sprue (the only thing that bothers me with my iron moulds is banging on the sprue plate - it just feels abusive, even though I use a gentle object). I have no reservations recommending the aluminum moulds from Lee. As a matter of fact, I'm in a group buy right now, and am getting ready to post one myself for a 9mm bullet.

[abunaitoo]

I use a BBQ lighter to smoke my molds. Seems to work the same as with a match.
I find that if you smoke it really black, it's easier to see when you need to smoke it again.

[Bullshop]

I dont get the smoking thing. Whats it supposed to do? I dont smoke any molds, and I have nearly 300 that I use. I get new and used molds often and all get the same treatment, cleaned with dawn soap and debured. I want mine as clean as possible, especialy the vent lines. Seems to me smoke can only plug them. I know all the books say to do it but I also know its not needed. I got lots of stuff from the books when I started and it wernt all true. If the boolit is hanging up in the mold then fix it right, debur the thing and be done with it. I think its another hold over from old times.
Like many of the myths that were passed on for so long I think this one needs killed too. Clean the mold, debur it and make the boolit the cavity was cut for. Bet I'll get dumped on for this one. But I got an idea the ones with the most years experiance are goint to agree with me, smoke not needed.
BIC/BS

[MakeMineA10mm]

Bullshop,
In general I agree with you. I had never smoked a mould in the prior 25 years of casting, but it worked for that Lee mould, and I assumed it had something to do with the fact that it was aluminum. Going back and re-reading some of the old-timers stuff, I see that they smoked iron moulds way back when as well...

My only guess is that the carbon soot is slippery, kind of like a dry lube, and this helps bullets fall out. Now that I've found this site and see the suggestions on how to prep a Lee aluminum, I think that de-burring would work as well as smoking, but there is certainly no harm in smoking the cavities and the technique DOES work.

When running the Ballisti-Cast machine, we did resort to using aresol moly lube that we could spray on while the machine still ran, but the moly didn't do very much good in my opinion. Bullets still stuck ocassionally.

[felix]

Moly depends on molecular attraction to stick. Burnish it in and it will be there forever. Smoking molds with carbon is ever continous. Also, moly will not permit moisture to penetrate, so no rust. Burnish in with clean cuticle sticks (osage orange). ... felix

[Springfield]

I cast about 900 an hour with one mould, and 1200 with 2 going at the same time. I'm with Bullshop, don't see a need to smoke the moulds. Just keep the mould hot enough and the bullets will fall out. The trick is to get it hot before you start casting and they work better, and no galling the top of the mould. I dip mine in the molten lead for about a minute. I did have to resort to a Magma 40 pounder to make the 2 mould thing work with out runinig out of lead. I lube the pivots with bullet lube, but have found that a little Bullplate lube works better on the pins without messing up the cavities. The pins need very little lube. I have over 100,000 bullets out of my MAV 44 and PRS 45 moulds and they are still going strong.

[Bullshop]

MM10MM
Only my opinion but I think the problem you were having with the lee mold was two fold. I think perhaps it was not completely clean, and it was not yet hot enough. You said your boolits were wrinkled until you used smoke then they were not. I think the smoke acted as a barier to the contaminants in the mold. I think the mold would have begun to cast well as it got hotter and the contaminants burned off. A bunch of I thinks to be sure but thats my opinion.
As I said earlier one reason I dont put anything in the cavity be it smoke or any other prep is they will plug air vents and inhibit the escape of air evenly around the cavity. If a cavity is filled very quickly and air is traped if that air can not vent freely in all directions the point in the cavity with poor venting can have a sink or void in the boolit. Another thing is they do not wear evenly. You end up with bare spots in the cavity while other spots are still coverd. Still another reason is they reduce the diameter of the cavity and because they ware unevenly the diameter is uneven or out of round. There are so many group buys to get larger than standerd diameters. Many production molds are barley adiquit in diameter. Putting layers of prep in them surley does not help the situation. I stand by what I said that preps are not needed. When a mold is properly debured, and properly vented it will eliminate the need for any smoke or other cavity prep. An exception would be if the cavity is bored off center with the parting line. In that case the boolit will hang up and smoke or anything else wont help. A little time spent deburing any flash from the cavity being cut, and opening vents to let air flow freely, and venting the tops of the blocks will prevent the problems for the life of the mold that the smoke is a poor and temperary fix for. At least thats what it says in my book.
BIC/BS