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View Full Version : 434-250 is HERE :-) :-) :-)



Willbird
08-04-2005, 04:39 PM
Dougie's new lathe is FAST I guess, it has been less than 4 weeks since they recieved the order and $$

I will cast a few tomorrow to verify there is not some error, and get to shipping them out to the lucky owners...............there are extras...........



Bill

fatnhappy
08-05-2005, 09:45 PM
WOW! that is fast!

I'm still at the same address Will. You got ahold of my wife, and obviously I'm still here. Thanks.

Dean

Willbird
08-05-2005, 10:09 PM
OK Dean, just checking, hope she already knew about the mold :-), they go out tomorrow usps

Bill

fatnhappy
08-05-2005, 10:58 PM
No, actually she didn't. that's what I use "discretionary" funds for. Not that I care, I've long since learned it's easier to get forgiveness than permission. :razz:

Willbird
08-06-2005, 04:29 PM
Click and ship is great, at usps.com, they are all on their merry way today

Bill

13Echo
08-07-2005, 10:13 PM
I'm looking for the bullet drawing and can't seem to find it. Tried the old site and it won't let me log in. If possible I would like to download the drawing to keep with the mould.

Thanks
Jerry Liles

Dutch4122
08-08-2005, 01:45 PM
Mine just arrived by USPS. They look great!

Thanks Bill :)

waksupi
08-08-2005, 05:00 PM
Mine's here. I am currently fondling and stroking it.

Ohhhh.....ahhhhhh.....

fatnhappy
08-08-2005, 05:58 PM
Mine got here today! This is my first lee so I might need some lee menting advice down the road.

kenjuudo
08-08-2005, 06:34 PM
Mine got here today! This is my first lee so I might need some lee menting advice down the road.

Dean, PM comming your way.

jim

13Echo
08-08-2005, 08:12 PM
Got mine! Looks good. If possible could you repost the bullet drawing? I'd like to keep a copy with the mould.

Jerry Liles

Willbird
08-08-2005, 08:41 PM
I do not have it in digital format, 452.1 can post it I'm sure.

I detailed what I do to them to start them out, it is not quite as involved as some, but ensures that any burrs on the sprue plate do not rip up the top of your nice new mold.

your gonna need a wheelbarrow to move the bullets to the lubesizer :-)

Bill

Bodydoc447
08-09-2005, 06:53 AM
Got mine yesterday afternoon. Thanks for being the Honcho on this one, Bill. Guess I am going to have to raid the lead supply (again!).

Doc

Springfield
08-09-2005, 01:01 PM
I received my 2 moulds yesterday and cast up about 65 bullets. I kept about 50 of them as good. With my straight wheelweight lead they came out at .433 and 249 grains. I sized some up at .429 and loaded them with BP in my 44-40 cases. They will work fine in my pistols but some of them are just a touch too long for my '66 rifle. But I was using much fired brass that has never been trimmed. I think I will trim some down and see if they feed better. I only need a couple of thousandths, they are just dragging on the front, using the most forward crimping groove. I usually use 200 grain bullets in my 44-40.

45 2.1
08-09-2005, 01:10 PM
I received my 2 moulds yesterday and cast up about 65 bullets. I kept about 50 of them as good. With my straight wheelweight lead they came out at .433 and 249 grains. I sized some up at .429 and loaded them with BP in my 44-40 cases. They will work fine in my pistols but some of them are just a touch too long for my '66 rifle. But I was using much fired brass that has never been trimmed. I think I will trim some down and see if they feed better. I only need a couple of thousandths, they are just dragging on the front, using the most forward crimping groove. I usually use 200 grain bullets in my 44-40.

That point on the nose was not spec'd that way. Our supplier added it without permission.

grumble
08-09-2005, 03:48 PM
If there are a lot of un-asked for "improvements" to the custom molds, maybe one full set should be sent back to them demanding the molds be cut to spec. Loss of just one big order like that would go a long way to convince Lee that maybe the specs should be followed.

AnthonyB
08-09-2005, 04:12 PM
Grumble, I hope Lee will produce the BD45CM as requested, but I'll send them back if they don't. I particularly want the nose to be just as designed. Tony

drinks
08-09-2005, 05:09 PM
Mine came this morning, thanks Bill.
I cleaned and lubed the mold, then started pouring, kept the 3 rd, 4th and 5th sets in order of cavity.
Started weighing and measuring them, 3rd set, 243 t0 246 gr, .431 to .436.
4th set 242 to 249gr, .431 to .436.
5th set 247 to 252gr, .436 to .438.
Quite a bit of change while getting hot, my 1 and 2 hole Lees do not change nearly that much, must be the much larger amount of Aluminum.
The size does not bother me, as I am going to be turning the shanks and sizing and installing gas checks.
Got a 250gr bullet, turned it, sized with check at .433, lubed it and the weight is now 253gr.

Bass Ackward
08-09-2005, 05:13 PM
Guys,

For the Record: Just finished my first attempts with this mold. My bullets don't look exactly like Willbird's.

My nose is flat. The first drive band is .4305 to .4315 and it tapers up to the base band which is .4334 to .4352. This is cavity dependent. And can be anywhere in between those points. Those are the extremes of what I measured. This is with WW+tin. And nothing was added to the cavities at all. Weight lubed and ready to load is 249 to 250 grains.

I wish they would have made it straight at .434. That is what I wanted for rifles. Oh well, in two weeks, I can run my first tests.

Willbird
08-09-2005, 08:27 PM
I have the six here at the comp I took the picture of, they measure straight, IE nose band is same dia as rear band.

I usually run Lee 6 cavity with 3/4" to 1" of drop from the spout to the top of the sprue plate, I started that with one that didnt want to fill out right with it up tight...the 45 caliber 230rn I think. anyway I left it setup like that, I wonder if that makes a differance ??

I also run as strong a fill stream as I can and still make a decent sprue puddle, again that seemed to help with the balky one and I have adopted it for the others.

Bill

drinks
08-09-2005, 08:34 PM
Bill;
# 3 and #5 cavities will not fill the base band if held level, but a 10-15 ' tilt to the right and they fill fine.
The nose is not quite flat on mine, but I do not see that as a problem, I did have to do 5 pours to get more or less the same weights and diameters, but this is my first 6 holer, just never felt a need to make them that fast.
I intend to find the most consistent cavities and only pour them anyway.
Don

Willbird
08-09-2005, 08:54 PM
Well to me I think I would maybe mark one cavity discretely and seperate them later, all the other 6 cav. I have I can't tell them apart, and the fact that the weights were very close supports that they are nearly identical. I will run it a bit more when I have more time, I blame the dia variances on just making a pile of bullets once the mold LOOKED like it was working well.

Bill

porkchop bob
08-10-2005, 04:15 AM
Do we have the ability to measure the heat of the mold at each of the six cavities?
_ I am guessing the handles act as a heat sink and the cavities close by would be colder and their bullets smaller than the rest.
_ Also when you look at the caliber of the bullet being cast, as the caliber increases, the weight of the mold and its ability to maintain a constant heat level decreases. At some point, going from a 6-C to a 5-C mold may be required to maintain a constant and more even distribution of heat.

To make the math easier, let say a group purchase of 25 molds cost $50 per mold. If the purchase price was increased to $52, there will be 26 molds delivered and one would be made available for 'destructive' testing. You could mark each cavity to allow sorting of the cast bullets. Because of the 'mark' the bullets from cavity #1 may weigh more then those from cavity #2 and so forth, but the height and diameter and other critical points of measurement should be the same for all cavities.

With each cavity marked, then you will be able to separate both by cavity and by casting batch such as pour #1, pour #2 and ...

Then you will be able to focus not only on the mold but the other factors that are in play.

I am not suggesting each group buy should have a 'test' mold, but perhaps one for the smaller calibers, one for the larger calibers and one in the middle.

Thanks for your consideration. Bob

Willbird
08-10-2005, 06:39 AM
I purchased (2) for myself, I will have to fire the other one up and see how it does, and run them both for 1000 bullets or so each. It should not be impossible to sort the bullets by cavity for a single throw maybe they could be marked with a sharpie while still in the mold ?? I have never tried that with HOT bullets, it will be a learning experience.

Bill

Ol'Scudder
08-10-2005, 11:19 AM
Received my mold yesterday morning and would like to thank you, and please thank Karen for her help as well.

For the record, mine is one of the " pointey-nose " ones.

kenjuudo
08-10-2005, 07:57 PM
Both molds arrived today, thanks....I always just number the base of each boolit in the mold with a scribe before dumping them, quick to do and no permanent changes to the mold.

Willbird
08-10-2005, 08:10 PM
I have eight molds here, and they are all pointy ones..........


Bill

Springfield
08-12-2005, 01:23 AM
Mine is definitely a pointy mould, at least one of them is. I haven't checked the second one. I was surprised as all my other Lee 40something caliber moulds have flat points. Flat would probably work better for me, but it isn't that big a deal. I am not worried about slight variances from cavity to cavity, I just shoot Cowboy and it doesn't make that much difference. But the bullets I pulled seemed to be relatively consistant.

sundog
08-12-2005, 09:48 AM
Bill and Karen, good job. And thanks! Fired up the pot long enough yesterday to get a couple handsful. Good lookin' boolit. #3 cavity had trouble filling the base ladle pouring, so I swithed over to the dipper and got a small pile of perfect boolits - all cavities working very well. Had to quit, because I was sweating on the inside of my glasses, drip, drip, drip.

Anyone shot any of these yet? I think I may load some up this evening for this weekend's testing. sundog

Willbird
08-12-2005, 10:04 AM
I shot a few from my Redhawk, accuracy looked great but I need to shoot more. They were the first air cooled bullets I have run thru may Star and I was amazed how much easie they size than water dropped, the rest of them have aged for a week now so they should be a bit harder.

Bill

fatnhappy
08-16-2005, 01:04 AM
I fired mine up this week and am quite pleased with the results. After deburring my mould just refused to drop bad boolits. I'm a happy camper

Starrbow
08-22-2005, 02:55 AM
Again, thanks for going through the trouble, when I get time I will pour some boolits........................................... .....................................Marko