Lee Custom Cruise Missle mold from MidSouth

[Sliver Shooter]

Has anyone used the Lee Custom Cruise Missle Mold (6.5 Swed) and what are you getting for diameters? Mine thro .270+ boolits. None of my other Lee molds thro boolits that far off. :(

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Hey Midsouth has them in stock again.
I was hoping with their new mold block design and CNC process, that they would get them closer to spec, like they did with the Bator.

Post some pics, and dimensions of the nose as well as the GC shank, if you would please.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

well, I ordered one of these 6.5mm CM.

They also have the 8mm karabiner and the 8mm Max in stock
Yeah, I had to order one each of those as well.

[leadman]

The Bator I just got is close to spec but drops under 50grs. Shoots well though.

Silver Shooter, I have been trying get Midsouth and Lee to take a look at this mold and get it cut to specs. The spec on the nose is .262".
If you call Midsouth and tell them about it being out of spec. it would help get this problem corrected. Midsouth told me nobody has bothered to turn one in for this problem.

[leadman]

What are the dimensions that your mold is dropping at? Nose, front driving band, rear driving bands ?

[leadhead]

Mine drops at .270 and that's right where I wanted it to be.
I shoot it in a carcano that slugs .268. Perfect.
Denny

[leadman]

leadhead, I'm trying to get the dimensions of a mold from the last run that Lee just did. How old is yours?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Leadman,
If you were talking to me ? I will post that info shortly after the molds arrive. I just got email notification that they shipped today...Midsouth must have been backlogged a couple days ? or something, cause I ordered them on the 28th.

[leadman]

JonB, the post was actually for leadhead but since your is one of the current batch this is what I am looking for. I would like to know what size the nose, front driving band and the other driving bands are. The front driving band is supposed to be smaller than the rest.
Andy Lee checked one mold and the carbide cutter for this mold and he thinks everything is in spec.

[Sliver Shooter]

I miced my boolits, took 3 and went for an average. They all miced the same. Nose is .263, first band is .267, next 4 bands are .270. What is Lee saying the specs should be? I bought my mold about a year ago.

[leadman]

95171I gave Andy Lee the specs from the drawing in the ad for this mold on Midsouth's website. Midsouth had given Andy different specs than what are in the drawing. This is the drawing from Midsouth's website.

[leadhead]

Mine must be four or five years old. Bought two of them and machined
a couple of the bands off it to make it lighter and shorter. Haven't
really had time to fool with it.
Denny

[Sliver Shooter]

Man that sucks that these CM molds are out of wack. My dropped boolits are way bigger than what that drawing shows. A worthless mold. If I would have just bought this thing, I would send it back but I bought it about a year ago and just now cast with it. I was so excited cause my M96 is on its way and I was preparing by getting some boolits done up. Now I'd pay the extra and get the 150gr Lyman if I knew what I do now.

[ukrifleman]

95242
Mine drops at .270 and that's right where I wanted it to be.
I shoot it in a carcano that slugs .268. Perfect.
Denny

Same for me, I bought 2 moulds for my M91 Carcano and had one machined down to produce 150gn bullets, which seem to work better.
Both my moulds cast at .2695, which is just right.
ukrifleman.

[Sliver Shooter]

I cast about 100 or so boolits with mine and like I said before, this is the first time out of the box. I measured them after reading some of the posts about Lee's Cruise Missle, and they are are dropping at .270+ on the bottom 4 bands. NOT ACCEPTABLE!!! I cleaned up the mold and put it back into the box. It's not workable for my guns. I have a notion to send it back to MidSouth and request my money back. (probably never happen)

[leadhead]

Silver Shooter, What do you want them to come out at?
Can't you just size them down to what you want?
Denny

[Sliver Shooter]

Denny, These buggers are dropping at .270+ and from what I gather in Dutchmans writings, as a rule, he like the Swed boolits at about .266. That what they drop out of his mold. Now maybe they could go even to .268 but from what I'm thinking I'm hearing is that sizing these long Missles down that much makes the boolit unstable cause the center of mass can differ so much. I'm not for sure if that's the way it's being told for sure. I have thoughts of cutting that mold down to drop in the 150gr area which would put the boolit length at a better length???? Still I question sizing down. My M96 will be here in a couple days and I will caste the throat and bore to see what this gun has for measurements and maybe I will be ok at a larger diameter boolit.. I am so corn-fused

[leadman]

Silver Shooter, if it casts too large for your gun it can't hurt to call Midsouth. These will never get cut right if Midsouth doesn't know they are not right.
Tthere is a group buy going on for a mold cut to the original dimensions by 45 2.1.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Silver Shooter, What do you want them to come out at?
Can't you just size them down to what you want?
Denny

My 2¢
The size of the nose is the issue for a bore riding style boolit. While a few here may practice sizing the nose of the boolit to match a specific rifle, it's just better to not have to. I bought one of these from midsouth about 3 years ago...the nose was huge and wouldn't chamber in my 96 and a couple Japs I have. I sent that mold down the road.

Again, I'm hoping that Lee's new block design and new CNC machining practices fix the issue. But what you say below worries me...unless Andy is just blowing smoke ?


snip...
I gave Andy Lee the specs from the drawing in the ad for this mold on Midsouth's website. Midsouth had given Andy different specs than what are in the drawing. This is the drawing from Midsouth's website."

[DrtRacr09]

Did your molds arrive JonB? Mine came today, all in the new style blocks. Cruise Missile measured with dial calipers, not real scientific, Length is 1.254", Nose .262", First Band .267" Second and Third Bands .270", Fourth and Fifth Band, .271". Cast at 750* with straight WW. Nose is close to original drawing but the rest is a little large.

[Sliver Shooter]

DrtRacr09, That the mold that has out of wack specs being used. I was hopen you would say it measured what the original design specs are. Dutchman has an original that drops them at .266. That is what they should be.

[DrtRacr09]

These are still running large. Drawing on MidSouth shows this is Revision #7 from 2002 which should cast .268" +/- .001" with WW. Not sure if playing with different alloys and temps can get it to cast close to original specs or not.

[45 2.1]

Dutchman has an original that drops them at .266. That is what they should be.

Dutchman stated he bought his CM from someone casting them from an original in spec run. The 0.266" is incorrect.


These are still running large. Drawing on MidSouth shows this is Revision #7 from 2002 which should cast .268" +/- .001" with WW.

That is the correct size................... and that drawing is a preproduction one with some Lee fudging on it.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Did your molds arrive JonB? Mine came today, all in the new style blocks. Cruise Missile measured with dial calipers, not real scientific, Length is 1.254", Nose .262", First Band .267" Second and Third Bands .270", Fourth and Fifth Band, .271". Cast at 750* with straight WW. Nose is close to original drawing but the rest is a little large.

Yes my order came in today. I would have commented sooner, but I wanted to try them out, as I had the time this morning. Using my rifle alloy of 94-3-3 and the alloy at about 680º, but casting at a fast pace to get the mold fairly hot, hot enough to have the boolits with an even and fairly heavy frost to them. As usual for a new Lee mold (even though I pre-heated it on a hot plate, and yes, I cleaned off machining oil too), it took about 25 pours for them to start dropping like I Like them. Using a good 1" Mic, I measured several samples to get the best average measurements.

171 gr.
.271 on the four base bands
.266 on the driving band
.2615 on the nose

I did buy two of these molds,I did cast with both of them, the second one was slightly larger in some spots...again measuring several samples.
172gr.
.272 bottom two base bands
.271 middle two bands
.267 driving band
.262 nose

Also, I'd like to add that a Gator 6.5 check snapped on easily and nice and secure, like they are suppose to. (My Lee/midsouth CM mold from a couple years ago with the large nose, also had a large GC shank, it was impossible to put a GC on with only your fingers.)

So they look pretty close to the Specs posted on Midsouth's website. I guess all that's left now, is the loading and shooting :) I was at my sportsman club range last Saturday, no one plowed, it was about 10º, So I hoofed it in through the snow, from the gravel road, to test fire some 40's cast from a NOE mold. I won't be doing that to shoot a rifle...maybe in a month or so.
Jon

[Dutchman]

Gardner's Cache sizes them .268". His is one of the early Lee single cavity molds. I don't know what they drop at..

http://gardnerscache.com/6_5mm_170_fp_g_c.html

Dutch