Lee mold accuracy?

[str8shot426]

Casted some lee 35 caliber 158gr swc last night. Alloy was 50/50 ww/pure with 2% tin. What I ended up with were 163gr. Boolits not including the gas check.

Does lee have a standard alloy like lyman does to standardize there molds?
How close to listed weights are your lee boolits?

[Cloudwraith]

I just cast some COWW + 2% pewter (TL356-124-2R) 9mm 124g yesterday. They were a consistent 126.3 +- .2 grains.

[tazman]

I believe Lee uses straight ww for their alloy. In which case adding pure lead would increase the dropped weight. I wouldn't consider your difference to be a problem myself.

[Wally]

As I recall I read that Lee uses 90% Lead/10% tin as the nominal "as cast" weight for their bullet molds. When using WW alloy I find they weigh about 5% more then the nominal weight.

[deerspy]

I have two lee 309-150-GC molds I use lead from Mo bullet Co 92pb, 6sb, 2sn and one cast .310 to .311 dia an 147 to 148gr, and one cast .309 to .310 dia and 145 to 146gr but I have only cast about 500 bullets so far and cant seam get very many good ones.

[tazman]

I cast some Lee 358-150-rn last week from indoor range lead that weighed 147-148. Usually I don't check the weights unless it is a new mold.

[str8shot426]

This is a new mold, and I was curious to see what the boolits dropped. I am not concerned to the extra weight as I load up from the bottom on new experiments.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

If all else fails, check the accuracy of your scale.....just a thought..Jim

[mikeym1a]

all of my Lee molds drop slugs several grains heavier than the design calls for, however, since most are within 1 grain of medium weight, I don't worry. I always figures it was something about my alloy. It doesn't seem to make any difference in their shootability.

[str8shot426]

Well here they are. Weighing about 165grains with gas check, I checked my scale with certified weights, dead on. I will work up some loads with 2400 and herco and give a full report. Stay tuned.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/27/5ade9uta.jpg

[runfiverun]

if you want a little oomph without it being too much, I'd start at @ 6 grs of herco and hover around the 7 gr area as my final load. [let the 2400 take over from there]
if you wanna go slower than a faster powder would be in order.
the 2400 will get them moving right along and is super versatile in the 357 case.

[243winxb]

Lee uses 90% Lead/10% tin

[454PB]

I have the same mould, and I like to load them in front of 9.5 grs. of BlueDot for around 1250 fps. in my 6" GP-100.

Excellent boolit!

[fredj338]

If you get ANY bullet mold to throw the exact weight with your chosen alloy, give a blessing to the casting Gods. It doesn't happen often. My 45R228 throws almost exactly 228gr using range scrap. The 200RFFP, 208gr with the same alloy.

[tazman]

To give an idea how much differences in alloy effect a boolits weight, listen to this. A week ago I cast up a bunch of 120tc boolits from a ingots smelted from a bucket of range scrap from an indoor range. They weighed almost exactly 120 grains plus or minus 1. Today I cast up another batch, same boolit mold, different bucket of scrap from the same range, actually collected the same day as the first. Weighed 125grains plus or minus 1.

Unless you know precisely what is going into your pot, you can't predict exactly what you are going to get.
This is one of the reasons I seldom try for a max load.
Fortunately for my use it doesn't matter. They are all within reasonable tolerances for the midrange loads I use. They all shoot to the same group for me at the ranges I practice.

[Walter Laich]

I'm more concerned that they are close in weight, not what the actual weight is.

[str8shot426]

Well they do not like herco. I started out with this powder because I had ridiculously accurate groups with the lyman 358430. Low end were all over the place.
Toward the top end it got better but I am not satisfied.

Next up 2400.....stay tuned.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/29/ebypagu8.jpg

[fredj338]

Herco is a lot like Unique, it wants to run near the top end for best results.

[silverado]

Well here they are. Weighing about 165grains with gas check, I checked my scale with certified weights, dead on. I will work up some loads with 2400 and herco and give a full report. Stay tuned.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/27/5ade9uta.jpg

With that mold straight ww alloy gives me basically the same weights you are getting, my 44 240 gr swc mold gives me about 239.9 grains... just be happy they are consistent... my uncle always told me that was the key to accuracy

[leadman]

Lee is using Lyman #2 now for their alloy from one of the techs there. All of my molds purchased in the last several years are dropping boolits heavier than advertised. They are very close to advertised weight with linotype.

[silverado]

It seems to me they decided to make a lswc design for the guys loving the 158 grain boolits... well the design was close enough and worked good.... so why change a good thing.... 158 is NOT a magic number... just interpolate the best you can or Pm me if you want and I will tell you the data that I used.

[quilbilly]

Almost all of my Lee molds cast boolits a bit heavy (3-5%) but accurate diameter wise so I don't worry about it.

[str8shot426]

Alliant 2400 works out much better. Consistant across the board. Little windy and shaky today, but still better results than herco.
Groups shot at 100ft.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/31/mu3uzehu.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/31/ze6a7uqy.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/31/by7ynesy.jpg
Next up imr 4227. This is a great hobby! Or should I say addiction.