Did some casting today

[jdgabbard]

Did some casting with a new Lee 452-228-1R today. Cast up a couple hundred. And the bookies look good. But man I now remember why I trade off all of my lee molds except for the RD-358-190-RF that I have. I was fighting that dang mold the whole time. I would have probably been able to cast 50-60% more then I did if not for fighting that mold. But any hoot, here is the proof.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/28/ude7yza2.jpg

[ultramag]

Looks good to me!!!

Wish I had the rest of my stuff so I could've casted some today too. I wasn't sure I wanted to start, but now that I've decided I'm going to I'm excited and ready to get going. :mrgreen:

[500MAG]

I use the same mold with no issues. What was the fight?

[jdgabbard]

Well the there were several issues. The predominate issue was getting the mold to close properly. Nothing blocking the blocks from closing, but seems to be to much play in the way the handles were attached. When it closes it doesn't want to close square on the alignment pins. And takes four or five tries to get it closed properly. This is the first one that I've had that was this bad. But I've had similar problems with some of the Lees I've had before.

[DLCTEX]

Alignment problems with Lee mould? 6 cav. or 2 cav.? With either, start with a good lube, such as Bullplate. If it's a 2 cav., I either set the mould on a smooth piece of wood plank, or just tilt the mould to vertical or a little more when closing. For other issues, check out the sticky on Leementing a mould.

[jdgabbard]

I'm already gave the mold a good once over before casting with it, and I did use bullplate. And it is a two cavity. I've not had any problems the few times I've casted with one of their 6 cavities. I bought the mold on a whim, hoping for more. I'll just go back to what I know.... Lyman and H&G molds.

[captaint]

I have had to tighten up the Lee handles on occasion. Sometimes they're just too loose, so I snug down on the hinge bolt to remove some play. As long as the mold closes right, I'm good to go. Mike

[500MAG]

I had the same problem with my 40 cal mold. I had the hardest time getting it to close properly. I finally got so tired of it I packed it up and sent it back to Lee. I was so embarrassed when they sent it back. It turned out that there was a fine lead deposit in the alignment hole that I could not see that kept it from closing right.

[jdgabbard]

Well, I went over it pretty well with a magnifying glass. If there is anything in there it's so insignificant it doesn't even matter...

On a side note, I sized/lubed them tonight. Measuring before sizing revealed that they are dropping out of one cavity at .4535ish, and dropping from the other at .4550-.4554ish. So I can't complain about the mold being undersized. But the size die is another story. After sizing they are dropping to about .4500-.4505.... Not real happy about that.

[jdgabbard]

The die I bought was a .451, or supposedly that is...

[_4_]

I have that same mold coming in this week. It'll be my first venture into casting and can't wait.

[jdgabbard]

Hopefully it was a six cavity and not the two cavity. Such a small difference in price, and yet such a HUGE difference in quality.