Need a new mold after my new Lee Mold Crapped out!

[deerslayer303]

Alright folks, I need a new mold. My new Lee 2 Cavity .454 RB mold crapped out after only 300 round ball cast. I followed Lee's instructions like I did with the others, but this is the only new style Lee mold that I have. One of the locating pins fell out, and the top of the mold is galled, even after putting graphite on the top of the mold blocks, and smoking the underside of the sprue plate. Not only that the sprue plate continuously loosened up. I will be calling Lee tomorrow. Anyway, What do you guys think, A new 6 Cavity Mold, or a new 2 cavity Lyman mold?? That is about the price range I want to stay at.

[41 mag fan]

Unless lyman upped their QC I'd stay away from their molds, they've been notorious here in the last few years of dropping undersized.
If going with a Lee, I'd go 6 banger. I'm not a Lee mold fan, but their 6 bangers are of better quality than their 2 cavs.

[leadman]

The locating pins are an item that does slide out. Just slide it back in and peen the end of the hole so it stays in place. The sprue plate do gouge the top of the mold but all it takes to correct this is to polish the edge that slides on and off the top of the mold. The use of Bullplate lube will help the Lee molds live longer. The sprue screw can be secured either by loctite or another screw installed in the side of the mold like most other manufacturers use. There are stickies documenting these procedures.


But if you want to replace it I would look at RCBS or Saeco if they make one. As others said Lyman has been making undersized molds lately. I lapped out 3 of them to make them usable.

[jmort]

"I'm not a Lee mold fan, but their 6 bangers are of better quality than their 2 cavs."

Not any more.

[montana_charlie]

My new Lee 2 Cavity .454 RB mold crapped out after only 300 round ball cast.
That is an astounding statement ...

[Chicken Thief]

Damn you're doing something wery wrong!

I have Lee moulds that is 20yrs+ and one has cast way over 10000 boolits for a single mould.
Never had a loose pin and only repaired one or two loose screws.

But thats just my $.02

[1Shirt]

Some times it's luck of the draw!
1Shirt!

[deerslayer303]

Well, I've put the locating pin back in, and polished the top of the mold block. I am going to lap the cavities tomorrow and try to remove that rough machined cavity. Then it will be back in business. And I'm not doing anything wrong. Following the manufacturers instructions is not what I would call wrong. I have 4 other old style Lee molds and never had a problem with them. And I don't even know how many castings those molds have on them, but its alot. But at 20 bucks a piece I can't really complain to much about getting a bad one of the batch, ya know?

[Norbrat]

Following the manufacturers instructions is not what I would call wrong.

Well, Lee's mold instructions aren't that great; there are better ways of getting them ready for use.

First thing I always do with Lee 2 bangers is file off the dag underneath the trailing edge of the sprue plate before I ever drag the plate across the top of the mold. That dag is almost always there from the punching operation of making the sprue plate and will scratch the mold on the first ever pass.

Then it gets de-greased and scrubbed with a toothbrush and toothpaste, and the lube points lubed with Bullplate Lube, not bullet lube.

I do not smoke the cavities.

After the first fill, the sprue is cut and with the boolits still in the mold, the top of the mold and the underside of the sprue plate is lubed with Bullplate.

If the boolits drop out of the mold easily, off we go!

If not, I cast a few more and use those to Leement the mold.

And after all this, they usually work fine.

The only step which is in the Lee instructions is the de-greasing.

BTW, I have fitted grub screws to other makers' mold as well to stop pins falling out and screws from loosening, so it's not just Lee molds which need a bit of maintenance now and then.

[runfiverun]

this alignment pin falling out thing is their new m.o.
i was almost tempted to buy another lee mold,i'll wait untill they can keep thier pins in the mold.
you kinda need those.

[deerslayer303]

Well I got the Lee mold whipped in shape. I just wasn't bothering sending a 20 dollar mold back and going through the hassle. So, I got some coarse and fine lapping compound. Starting with course and following with fine, I took some 000 steel wool and tore me off a little piece. Then dabbed a little lapping compound in the cavities, then with a #2 pencil (new one) I used the eraser end to grip the steel wool and i went to spinning it between my palms, like you would if you were lapping a valve into a cylinder head. Did it to both halves of the mold and VIOLA polished and machine mark free cavities. I'm sure the other methods are faster but hey it took me NO set up time with this method. I then removed the sprue plate and added a little fine compound to the shoulder of the sprue plate set screw and with a properly fitting screw driver I went to town working the screw back and forth then doing complete turns. This polished the shoulder of the screw and the hole in the sprue plate. Now the sprue plate glides on the screw like BUTTAH!! Then with a little fine compound on a piece of steel wool, I polished the under side of the sprue plate and the top of the mold blocks. With everything back together and a lite coat of 2 cycle synthetic motor oil it works smooth as silk. Can't wait to see how it does in a future casting session.

[deerslayer303]

Well, Lee's mold instructions aren't that great; there are better ways of getting them ready for use.

First thing I always do with Lee 2 bangers is file off the dag underneath the trailing edge of the sprue plate before I ever drag the plate across the top of the mold. That dag is almost always there from the punching operation of making the sprue plate and will scratch the mold on the first ever pass.

Then it gets de-greased and scrubbed with a toothbrush and toothpaste, and the lube points lubed with Bullplate Lube, not bullet lube.

I do not smoke the cavities.

After the first fill, the sprue is cut and with the boolits still in the mold, the top of the mold and the underside of the sprue plate is lubed with Bullplate.

If the boolits drop out of the mold easily, off we go!

If not, I cast a few more and use those to Leement the mold.

And after all this, they usually work fine.

The only step which is in the Lee instructions is the de-greasing.

BTW, I have fitted grub screws to other makers' mold as well to stop pins falling out and screws from loosening, so it's not just Lee molds which need a bit of maintenance now and then.

I will file the trailing edge of the sprue plate as you suggest, now that I've read this post.

[longbow]

If you are tempted to try a Lyman. I have to say that all of the round ball moulds I have bought over the last couple of years cast at least 0.001" OVERSIZE!

I have bought:

- 0.662"
- 0.678"
- 0.715"
- 0.735"

over about the last 3 years and every one casts very well and oversize at what we normally want boolits to cast at. Now why can't they achieve that with boolit moulds?

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Lyman round ball mould but I would be hard pressed to buy another boolit mould ~ the last one I bought cast about 0.002"+ undersize. I will give my alloy credit for about 0.001" but the fact is the mould 314299 should be casting to at least 0.314" and preferably o.315" for sizing to 0.314", not at 0.312"/0.313".

Longbow

[pipehand]

If you are tempted to try a Lyman. I have to say that all of the round ball moulds I have bought over the last couple of years cast at least 0.001" OVERSIZE!

I have bought:

- 0.662"
- 0.678"
- 0.715"
- 0.735"

over about the last 3 years and every one casts very well and oversize at what we normally want boolits to cast at. Now why can't they achieve that with boolit moulds?

I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Lyman round ball mould but I would be hard pressed to buy another boolit mould ~ the last one I bought cast about 0.002"+ undersize. I will give my alloy credit for about 0.001" but the fact is the mould 314299 should be casting to at least 0.314" and preferably o.315" for sizing to 0.314", not at 0.312"/0.313".

Longbow

The Lyman round ball molds are spec'd with pure lead, for muzzleloaders. You are probably using wheelweights for Shotgun projectiles, which is why they cast bigger. Their smokeless boolit molds are supposed to cast at the proper diameter with Lyman No. 2 Alloy, which is pretty rich in Tin and Antimony, and will make a bigger boolit than one cast in wheelweights. The mold manufacturers need to make them a little bigger- It's not like linotype is readily available anymore. It's gettin to be hard enough to find wheelweights.

[victor3ranger]

When you talk about filing the trailing edge of the sprue plate, where are you exactly talking about running the file??
I just got my 6 Cav Lee mold and I don't want to mess this thing up before I ever get to use it.
I degreased the mold like it said in the instructions and smoked the cavities as the instructions said.

[RayinNH]

Victor there should be no problem with the 6 cavity sprue plate as it is a machined and anodized aluminum plate. The one and two cavity plates are punched steel and sometimes have a bit of a burr on the underside. That's what Norbrat was talking about. You should be good to go...Ray

[MT Chambers]

I'd still take a Lyman 2-cav. over any Lee mold, ever see how many Lyman molds/designs win in Cast Bullet Benchrest competition? Ever see any Lee designs win? Answer: Nope! Some on here may be surprised to know that all the classic mold numbers are Lyman designs, all the classics; 311299, 311041, 459122, etc.

[finishman2000]

ANYthing but lee! pretty much a rule I live by in this hobby. every time (twice) I went against this rule I was sorry. NEVER again.

[rbuck351]

One of my favorite Lyman classics is the RCBS 35-200. Probably a lot of other folks as well.

[psychicrhino]

Good read. My lee molds are on their way.

[tom357mag]

Thanks for the tips I will do this to my new never used yet Lee 2 cavity mold

[Suo Gan]

Call em back, what do they say?