Question about Lee .50cal. Minie Ball mold

[Maven]

I'm contemplating purchasing one of the .50cal. Minie Ball molds, either the 354gr. Target Design or the 360gr. Improved Traditional Design. My question is about the "as cast" dimension when using Pb: Is either Minie likely to drop from the mold a bit LESS than .50cal so that it may obturate as they are supposed to? On the other hand, given Lee Precision's tolerances, are they likely to be LARGER than .50cal.? Or, do the tolerances vary by Minie design, randomly, or what? Btw, the mold will be for my Knight inline and a larger diameter would be much better than a smaller one. Thanks in advance!

Paul

[James C. Snodgrass]

I bought a 54 (real) bullet mold from them it is supposed to engrave at loading, it sorta does but like you said it does swell with pressure at firing and is accurate. So basically if it will stay on top of the powder once it shoved home it ought to be alright . I would load and mark my rod and tap the barrel lightly with a rubber hammer on the muzzle to see if the thing stays put. if so you got it made .[smilie=1:

[mooman76]

I have both the improved minie and the target, in fact I bought a second target minie because I ruined the first trying to alter it to get it to drop smaller bullets. As you might have guessed by now they drop too big, or at least for my guns. They drop just over .50. The first couple loads drop not to bad and I can drive them down the barrel with minimal force but after a couple shots and the fouling starts to build up they get tight like a maxie. That's not my idea of a minie. Not sure why Lee didn't make them a tad smaller like the minie's that are over 50 cal but they don't. I even considered having lee make me a sizer die to drop them down a few thous. It wouldn't take much.
I might also add that I have had thes moulds about 20 years so they might be better now!