Lee mould dropping size .38 & 45acp

[exdxgxe4life]

Hey everyone,

I did a little experimental casting today with some new molds and just wanted to share my experience for anyone that might care.

I bought a new .38 mold (6 cavity) and 45 mold (2 cavity) and used what I believe to be pure lead and then 50/50 pure lead and clip on wheel weight. Here are the results:

.38 (Lee Mold #358-125-RF)with what I believe to be pure lead:
147348147349147350

They appear to be spot on for the most part, maybe a little over sized, which is good.

.38 (Lee Mold #358-125-RF)with what I believe to be pure lead and 50/50 clip on wheel weights:
147351147352147353

Again, pretty ok, but on average even more so a little over sized.



.45 (Lee Mold #TL452-230)with what I believe to be pure lead:
147351147352147353

A little undersized...Not too happy about that, but I plan on testing powder coating these to see if I can get away with the softer lead. The powder coat will I imagine raise it closer to .452 which will be fine.


.45 (Lee Mold #TL452-230)with what I believe to be pure lead and 50/50 clip on wheel weights:
147354147355147356

These were pretty consistent at .451.5 which I'm happy with.

So hopefully someone finds this information useful. If you have any comments on maybe how to improve the process let me know.

Thanks!

PS The "pure" lead was a cheap purchase from craigslist of an old guy who apparently used to work in construction and had these sheets of lead that were apparently off a bridge. It's a flat sheet with two 1.5/2" holes on either side. Anyone run into this or know the composition? I didn't think to take a picture until after I had smelted all of it.

[dudel]

Now if we could just get Lee to be consistent with their molds........[smilie=1:

[Harter66]

My 452 255 RNFP casts 50/50 drops at 454 . My 358-125 runs 360 , which works for me as I feed a 38 S&W and 9mm.

[Frank V]

I have several Lee moulds & like them.
I like their 150gr .38 SWC, it's not a TL mould.

Almost forgot I have a Lee .38 148gr WC mould too, it throws a very accurate bullet. [smilie=w:

[Tenbender]

I have Lee 358 125RF mold that drops .359. I have a 452 255 RF that drops .453. Don't get much better than that !

[blikseme300]

Now if we could just get Lee to be consistent with their molds........[smilie=1:


Yep, I like Lee molds for their price but it's hit and miss on dropped size. Learning how to lap molds goes with the territory. I have more than 30 Lee molds and most needed lapping to drop at the right size. Once done though they drop without any pounding and all it takes is a shake of the mold or a tap with the gloved hand.

[dudel]

Yep, I like Lee molds for their price but it's hit and miss on dropped size. Learning how to lap molds goes with the territory. I have more than 30 Lee molds and most needed lapping to drop at the right size. Once done though they drop without any pounding and all it takes is a shake of the mold or a tap with the gloved hand.


That's been my experience as well. I like the Lee 6 cavity aluminum molds. Good production and light weight. I think all mine needed some work one way or the other. Some more than others. I have a few, that after the work drop where needed and can be used without sizing. All others need sizing.

[Tenbender]

Just got a Lee 452-200 mold today. A 6 cavity. Had to use it. lol It threw 454 at 210 gr. That's ok with me. My Rossi likes 454's. Made 450 boolits in less than an hour. I will never buy another 2 cavity mold. Now , will my Rossi shoot them ? Those 255 gr'ers were killing my shoulder ! :mad:

[Landshark9025]

This thread is very interesting and timely. I received the same mold for my birthday and did the initial cast with it last night. I cast a few hundred from pure range scrap at about 700 degrees then, at the encouragement of one of the members here, cast five "runs" making sure to drop the boolits in order and let them cool. That way I could see which cavity each one came from. I then measured each one twice. Once down the part line and once across the part line. It has been my experience that they are slightly larger perpendicular to the part line.

I measured them all again this morning.

Unfortunately I don't have time to transfer it to Excel for posting, but I will do that this evening. I've attached a pic of them laid out.

Here's my initial take:

There's about a .0015 - .002 variance in cavities
My casting cadence was not the same as usual as I was trying to make sure they landed correctly, but there was about a .001 variance between the runs.
From last night to today, it seems like an even number were the same or grew by .0005. That could just be the boolits hardening more and the calipers not compressing them.
With the exception of one boolit, all were .360 - .363. Most were .360-.362


I'll post the results in Excel or Gdocs this evening, but my initial take is that it doesn't look like you can get away without sizing. I know more experienced and respected members than I do it, but it makes me nervous. I think as long as it is .001 or so over what I am looking for the sizer ought to take care of it.
148041
https://goo.gl/photos/7c8J47eAVKnSpSpd8

[Harter66]

Land shark
That was very helpful in my case to have them cast so large . I had a little H&R 38 S&W that had 362 throats and 360 groove . I used them in a 357 dia 9mm and a couple of other 38s and 357s . 1 cavity had some chatter marks and is the largest it made it pretty easy to sort off the 362+ bullets for the H&R and the rest need only be sized for the 9mm .

[mdi]

Well, I can get up to a .003" difference, using the same mold by just varing the alloy and the casting temperature. I have several Lee molds and one .35 cal. SWC and depending on alloy and/or temp. I get .357" and .359" from the very same mold. I'll bet that would drive a Lee Hater nuts!...

My very first mold was a Lee 24o gr. SWC T/L. I use it in my 4, .44 Magnums in Magnum brass and a .44 levergun with Special brass. My alloy (around 9-10 BHN) drops at .432"-.433"...

[Landshark9025]

Well, I plugged all the numbers in and it isn't as big of a difference overall as I thought. I am sure once could analyze them to death and come up with some revelation, but for me, the bottom line is, they are all about .002 or greater larger than what I will be sizing them to, so whatever they are, they are.

Here is the link to the spreadsheet:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byhj1odtzmjqOEs2NnJ2THh4TlE/view?usp=sharing

If you would like me to send you the actual file, just PM me your email addy.

[mdi]

Good spreadsheet and info. I would add alloy and alloy temperature to the equation...:mrgreen: