Hard-casting with Lee .600 round ball

[luke777]

Hello from Australia.

I am gearing up to make my own 3" Tri-ball shotgun cartridges and see that Lee make a mould. I have good temp control and access to good clean WW and lead stock. I intend to water drop.

Just wondering about my learned friends experiences with the Lee .600" R.B. mould. Especially with regards to over/undersize finished product. The load data for these things requires no oversizing so maximum 0.600" finish size is important. Undersize is not an issue.

I can get a custom mould made if you all think the Lee won't be a decent option for me.

Thanks and kind regards.

Luke

[Blammer]

don't use pure lead as Water dropping won't help any.

I think the lee .60 RB mould will work fine for what you need.

I don't recall anyone complaining that the RB moulds are oversized at all, so shouldn't be any issues there.

[bangerjim]

I have 3 different Lee RB molds and they are right on where they should be. I use pressure casting to get perfect fill every time. And be sure to preheat the mold on a hotplate to full casting temp B4 starting.

bangerjim

[luke777]

Excellent. Thank you for your insight!

[Hogtamer]

I have that mold and have cast thousands for a 2 ball load. Wheel weights are the way to go with the ball loads, harder the better.

[jhunter77]

I used the lyman and water dropped COWW's they shot great. 6.5" at 65 yards.

[Lonegun1894]

For what it's worth, as per the Lee book, Lee tolerances specs are .000-.002" OVER for standard bullet molds intended for cartridge guns, and .000-.002" UNDER for their RB molds. Mine seem to fit in that range.

[MT Chambers]

I think you put in too many zeros, should be tolerance of .2".

[Lonegun1894]

I think you put in too many zeros, should be tolerance of .2".

I beg to differ. A tolerance range of .2" undersize would be me getting a .400"-.600" ball mold when I asked for a .600". or .2" oversize would be me getting .600-.800" ball mold when I ordered a .600". As I stated it above, .002" under is getting a .598"-.600" when you order a .600", or .002" over would be getting a .600"-.602" when you order a .600". I don't know about you, but .2" isn't a tolerance range when were discussing molds, it is a royal screw up. If you ordered a mold for a .45 ACP and wanted it to cast .452", and got something that cast at either .252" or .652" (you know, a .2" + or - tolerance range) , I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty angry.

[leftiye]

Perhaps it was tongue in cheek?

[Lonegun1894]

I hope so, either that or maybe just a post after a long day at work and not paying as much attention as he thought he was. We've all had those days. I just didn't want anyone too new to this to know better to take it seriously and get themselves in trouble.