Lee, worth another look?

[tommag]

I've recently purchased a few Lee molds, a .575 rb, and two real .50 molds, 250 and 320 grain. They are the newer design, with the round pin and socket alignment pins. I de-greased them and started casting tonight. While not as nice as a noe mold I recently purchased, they dropped fairly well with no de-burring required.
I've been away from the casting bench for quite a while, but it seems like the quality of the Lee molds has improved a bit.
Maybe they've been reading the posts here?

[Echd]

I've only ever had one or two Lee molds that weren't consistently very good. I like trying their designs- they're cheap, so if you don't like them, resell them here and you're only out a couple bucks.

[Bzcraig]

I have no complaints with the ones I have and just ordered 3 more.

[fcvan]

I have 20 Lee molds, 2 Lyman, and 2 SAECO. The only reason I buy molds other than Lee is because Lee didn't offer a style I wanted. One of my Lee molds has cast over 500k boolits since 1985. Cared for, they will last and will cast good boolits. I don't own any Lee 6 cavity molds as I like the pace of running two molds at once as I can keep the molds, alloy, and preheating of ingots at a consistent temp. I like them, and I love the price tag.

[leadman]

Andy Lee has been making steady improvements in their mold lines. I still can't convince him to make some of the rifle boolits in the 6 cavity. The 30cal 120gr RN would be my first choice in a 6 cavity.

[hylander]

So far I have bought 4 LEE molds, waiting on the 5th.
First was C312-185R, dropped bullets undersized by .002, bought another and it also drops bullets .002 undersized.
Next was .454 RB and factory damaged so sent it right back. Second .454 RB was dropping balls not round, mold halves not mating proper, sent it back, waiting on replacement.
So far pretty disappointed.
4 NOE molds, all perfect, wish they made RB molds.

[dromia]

Pigs in a poke, if you get a good one then they are fine but my experience with Lee moulds is that only one in five are ready to go after cleaning and seasoning the others need fettling or returning.

Lee have the IKEA model of quality control, get the customer to do it for you.

I have few Lee moulds that work well and I cherish them the rest are dogs including a few of the GBs we had Lee do few years ago. I find their single cavity HB moulds to be fine, I have four of their 45 405gn HB moulds and each one has been worth the money.

If you feel lucky buy lee in the full knowledge that the odds are against you, if you want a mould that will work as advertised from the get go then go for one of our bespoke makers here or Accurate.

Yes Lee is cheap but should still work as advertised without fettling or fixes.

[ShooterAZ]

I recently purchased two of the "new style" Lee molds. One was the C309-150F, which casts at .3115 +/-. This is perfect for me as I want to size to .311. I'm very pleased with this mold. The other mold is the 452-228 1R, which casts out of round and gives me fits while casting if I don't hold my mouth just right. I'm not at all pleased with this one, but the boolits shoot OK so I'll keep it. Bottom line, Lee molds are still a **** shoot in my opinion.

[gwpercle]

I also approve of the "new" Lee 2-cavity moulds. Got a C312-185-1R for 303 British and a 410-194-SWC for 41 Magnum. Lyman stopped making 41 magnum moulds and trying to find one is next to impossible. I looked on E-bay but people were paying rediculously obscene
amounts of money for used, very used, Lyman moulds for both 303 and 41 mag. So I went for the Lee moulds. Twenty dollars , with handles, even if I didn't like them it wouldn't break the bank. But both cast just fine...very impressed . Smoothed them up , degreased, lubed and after reaching proper temperature started dropping boolits like good moulds should! No complaints I like them a lot. The cavities seem smoother and they cast a pretty bullet, which is imporant to me.
The 303 measures .312 and the 41 mag. measures .410, right on the money.

Life's too short for ugly. Some folks is poor and can't afford custom.
Gary

[paul h]

Other than the .309 115, I haven't tried any lee rifle molds. Their handgun molds have always cast good accurate bullets in .35, .44, .45, .475 and .50. I'm paticularly fond of the 6 cavity molds. Doesn't take long to drain a 10# furnace and end up with a mound of good bullets.

[Geppetto]

I just got on of the 458-405-RF molds from my wife for my birthday (to cast for her 1895 45-70). It dropped nice boolits the first go around, however, they were a bit out of round at about 0.4565 at the parting line and 0.4595 90* from the parting line. Both cavities were dropping about the same (Alloy was 3% Sb, 1.6% Sn). I lapped it out and brought it closer to round. I ultimately want to drop about 0.460, so will probably lap some more. All in all, however, the new molds seem to be much better made than the old style ones. I have a 309-200-R that was ratty as heck right out of the package and has required substantial futzing to get it to drop OK boolits at best.

Can't beat the price tho.

[Boyscout]

I would like to see Lee offer a .314 170-180 gn bullet for the Mosin and a .358 200 gn for 35 cal rifles.

[HeavyMetal]

Lee has really made some improvements in the mold line, of that there is no doubt.

However Dromia is correct Lee should work more on a good QC program and then offer improved product design. The new molds are great, planning on a 2 cav 125 358 FP here pretty quick, but really think Lee's money would be better spent on making 10 of every 10 molds worth keeping.

[wvmedic]

Just got my new Lee C358-158 SWC five minutes ago, I had not heard they changed there alignment pins. I was pleasantly surprised, now to clean it up and cast some this evening. Will see how it goes, I got this one because I can't afford the NOE 360-180 WFN GC. Got to load some up for hunting in a week in a half.

Jeff

[tward]

Just getting into 44 Special/Mag and got an older style .429 240 gr SWC . The mold looked like **** , it was part of a larger trade so I didn't want to send it back. Started casting with it and after 3-5 pours it was dropping beautiful Boolits! Wanting something a little lighter I ordered a Lee 200 gr RNFP. It came and was the new style mold, cleaned and lubed and smoked mold and again in 3-5 pours it was dropping nice Boolits. Yes I have MiHec and NOE molds and they are beautiful and cast as good as they look but a good mold for under $20 is also nice. There is a place in the market for low and high end products and I'm glad to live in a time when we have a good range of choices! Tim

[paul h]

The two lee designs I've been able to test extensively and compare to molds from LBT, Balisticast, NEI, RCBS and Moutain Molds have been the 430 310 rf, and the 475 400 rf. In both cases the Lee bullets shot just as accurately as bullets cast from the other manufacturers molds. In the 44 that was 1 1/2" at 25 yds (irons and a rest) the 480 shoots it's preferred loads into 1" at 50 yds, scoped from a rest.

While I appreciate the build quality of other manufacturers products, when you can get a mold at 1/3 to 1/6 the price of other molds, and the bullets shoot just as accurately, it's kinda silly to dismiss the molds as inferior.

[pdawg_shooter]

At last count I have 18 Lee molds, none of the newer style. Out of 18 only 1 gave me any trouble at all.

[Garyshome]

I just used a 1oz. slug mold which is an absolute piece of C@@p! In fact is is broken. Never worked right out of the box. This is one of many lee molds that I own. Some are better [or worse] then others.

[waco]

I have a Lee 6 cav. Coming in the mail tomorrow. Can't wait! 228 grain RN .45 ACP

[Foto Joe]

When I got started in casting last June I couldn't afford to spend too much money given that I wasn't completely convinced that I'd actually be able to cast successfully. I've used Lee reloading equipment for years and I think they make a quality product in that regard to it wasn't a stretch for me to buy a couple of their molds.

Since I was ignorant of what a "good" mold should be, the Lee molds worked just fine for me although...my first one will soon be sacrificed simply because in my ignorance when I started using it it wasn't shall we say too well cared for.

[Maven]

"While I appreciate the build quality of other manufacturers products, when you can get a mold at 1/3 to 1/6 the price of other molds, and the bullets shoot just as accurately, it's kinda silly to dismiss the molds as inferior." ....paul h.

Fianlly, the voice of reason!

[Mod42]

Just got another Lee mold a couple of days ago.
Lee 2-Cavity Bullet Mold 356-125-2R 9mm Luger, 38 Super, 380 ACP (356 Diameter) 125 Grain 2 Ogive Radius

I like the new design very well, no more standing on one leg while leaning to the right with one hand in the air to get the halves to align. This one drops a 126-127 grain boolit that is .3563 - .3578, and both holes are the same. I am casting straight wheel weights. This mold is the most consistent of the five lee molds that I have.

What I did not like was that this mold was cut with very dull tooling, lots of circular tool marks in both cavities. Both holes had raised metal on the top corners of the hole (about .003 - .005). The hole for the sprue plate screw has a steel bushing which stands a couple of thousandths above the aluminum blocks. When the bushing was put in it left a burr that scratched the top of the blocks. Plus all of the burrs that come standard with Lee molds.

I cleaned up all of the above problems, and now boolits drop out great, and are very consistent. It seems that I have to run this mold pretty hot to get good fill out and sharp corners on the bases. The hole closest to the handles will not completely fill every time, about one out of twenty, it seems to be related to how I fill that hole.

My opinion about Lee molds is that they are a very good value for what you pay. I expect that a mold that I paid less than $20.00 for will need some "clean up", and I can live with that. If this had been an $80.00 mold it would have been returned. All of my Lee molds are kind of like my dogs, they each have a personality, with some habits I don't care for. But I wouldn't trade them for the world. :smile: [smilie=b:

[Bigslug]

Fired up my first Lee mold for the first time yesterday (.452-300gr WFNGC). It ran easy with no obvious issues thus far, but still have yet to lube, check, and shoot them. The second one should be here soon (.458-405HB) - hopefully up to the same level of snuff.

I don't see me getting much more into their product line, however, as there is little else there that interests me - too many bevel bases, tumble-lube grooves, little meplats, etc. . .Might pick up a DC 170 grainer to feed the seldom-shot .30-30. Don't see much else there.

[hylander]

This is the third .454 RB mold from LEE
As stated before the first one was to bad to even try to cast with, sent back.
Second one cast way out of round, sent back.
This is number three:
As you can see from the pic, the rear cavity had a large piece of aluminum still attached and the front cavity
has left overs from machining.
I cleaned up the mold and did some casting.
Balls are round and look good, however the mold is very temp sensitive to get the proper size of .454
Depending on temp and pour speed the balls ranged from .451 to .456
This is not the case with Lyman or RCBS, they drop the proper size ball every time.
So after three molds and tinkering I finally have a LEE mold that will cast a usable ball that measures .453 to .454.

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b193/hylander7/Bows/Goodies/36dd62bc-a932-4e8c-8d4c-2bc516a1aa58_zps470dcde1.jpg