New Lee .459 405 HB mold

[rexherring]

I had an old used 405 HB mold that was getting pretty cruddy so I ordered a new one from Track of the Wolf. Here's the comparison of the old style and new style. I guess I'll be doing some casting this week end.

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb128/rexherring/DSCF3277_zpsaff7d55a.jpg (http://s208.photobucket.com/user/rexherring/media/DSCF3277_zpsaff7d55a.jpg.html)

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb128/rexherring/DSCF3278_zps5541452d.jpg (http://s208.photobucket.com/user/rexherring/media/DSCF3278_zps5541452d.jpg.html)

http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb128/rexherring/DSCF3279_zps9da5cea9.jpg (http://s208.photobucket.com/user/rexherring/media/DSCF3279_zps9da5cea9.jpg.html)

[338RemUltraMag]

At least they put the bullet numbers on the mold instead of some random number

[Dale53]

The new moulds from Lee look like a serious upgrade.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Dale53

[357maximum]

The new moulds from Lee look like a serious upgrade.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Dale53


A half dozen or so "small time" outfits stepping up to the plate and making a good product that is in tune with demand...... and that starts hurting your bottom line because all you sell is disposable junk will cause such "upgrades" methinks. :mrgreen:

[dromia]

Trouble is they won't get the benefit of their improved moulds if they don't improve their manufacturing processes and QC.

Its not the design that is necessarily wrong with Lee it is bad production and poor QC.

I have few old design Lee moulds that are up to spec and they continue to work fine. design changes will not help improve poor manufacturing and non existent QC.

[rollmyown]

True with their moulds. The dies and presses I'm very happy with.

None the less it's an improvement which makes for a better more durable mould, and a way better mould if the QC improves.

[357maximum]

I have a few Lee standard/group buy molds that are great, but that only happened on a full moon with an outgoing tide I think, some of the out of spec and wobbly tolerances are just hard too believe with the others I have posessed for a moment. If I never have to talk to a guy named Pat it will be too soon, if he was my employee and talked to a customer the way he talked to me I would have fired him in 1/2 a heartbeat.

I am glad Lee exists however....it does help to keep the guys that make the good tools a bit in check pricewise. Their dies work fine as long as you are not using them to wildcat...why they put the weephole where they do is one of the great mysteries of the universe that rate right up there with Federals primer packaging and liberal thinkings.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Interested to see how yours casts. Mine was a bit tricky to figure out.
I wish they would have left the mass in the lower half. it cools down way to fast.
Its casts on size and fairly round, but I can see every machine mark in the mold on my boolits

[rexherring]

After casting a bunch and tossing the first few, up to heat and casts very well. Very tight mold with no leakage in the base. The shape is slightly different than the old one, about 1/32 longer and not as blunt. Very good mold so far. As Jim said, the larger mass would have been better on the bottom or keep the mass even but so far no problems, drops at .4595 so it lubes well in my RCBS Lube-Sizer. Although the boolit is to tall to use a nose punch and fit so I just take out the nose punch and double stick tape a flat piece of metal to the ram and push them in.

I did load up a few but have not tried any yet, the -25 to -40 wind chill here is not conducive to target shooting.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

Rex, have you had any flashing problems on the base?
It's like it flows ever so slightly around the HB pin on 1 side.
Mine leaves a bit of a flash on one half of the mold only, repeatable.
PIA to scrape it off

[rexherring]

Rex, have you had any flashing problems on the base?
It's like it flows ever so slightly around the HB pin on 1 side.
Mine leaves a bit of a flash on one half of the mold only, repeatable.
PIA to scrape it off

I did with my old mold but so far the new one has been good. I just took the flash of on the workbench with a flat piece of 400 grit before running them through the sizer.

[Echd]

I will buy one of the new ones soon, I was wondering if they changed the design or not.

I have several Lee .45 rifle molds and have been very happy with the 340 and 500 gr boolits, but the 405 will not chamber in my Buffalo Classic. This one appears to have a different nose profile so I think I'll try it. I have a Lee hollowpoint 405 flatbase RN I might try and trade or fleabay and finance one of the fancy new ones.