Lee .440 round ball mould

[fa38]

Does anybody have any experience with the Lee 2 cavity and or the Lee 6 cavity .440 round ball moulds?

That is, what size do the balls cast at with whatever lead or lead tin mix you use?

[TCLouis]

I have cast a bunch out of all of lees .440, .445, 4490, .495 molds.

All cast beautiful balls with little to no sprue nib

Sorry I have never measured any of them. All that and my 45 barrel takes a .451 ball.

[fa38]

I see I should have looked at the mac266 post “Lee Mold for round balls?”.

[GabbyM]

Always had good luck with the Lee black powder molds. Never had a bad one.
I've done the round balls in a couple sizes. REAL bullets too. Never tried any of the hollow base with the base plug.
Just don't go deer hunting with a 440 round ball. I've tried it. Lee makes a 200 grain REAL that will stabilize in RB slow twist barrels.

You want to cast RB from as soft a lead a you can find. Sometimes if you have true pure lead. 1% of tin can increase accuracy. I've just heard that said but never tested it. Since until recently I used scrap lead. So never knew what I was shooting.

[Maven]

fa38, I answered your question on the CBA forum.

[Hanshi]

I have a Lee .440" double cavity mold and the balls measure uniformly and identical from both cavities. Lee molds tend to be among the most precise molds I've ever used.

[fa38]

Thanks all. I ordered a double cavity Lee .440 from Track of the Wolf.

[aspangler]

I just measured 3 from a Lee mold and all three measured .440 with pure lead.

[dondiego]

For your round balls try some harder wheel weight lead too. Don't use WW for the REAL's though.

[reivertom]

Roundball guns shoot pure lead balls better. The lead actually forms to the patch and seals better and loads easier. When it is shot the pressure compresses the rear of the lead ball causing it to swell, helping to seal in the gasses better. Lee moulds have always produced good quality roundballs for me and I don't know why anyone would want to pay more for the expensive Lyman and other brand steel moulds that don't even come with their own handles.