clemje
04-11-2020, 10:33 AM
Howdy Y'all! Long time lurker, first time poster...
I've been casting boolits off/on for the last 20 or so years and have found it invaluable for shooting on the cheap. This will go especially true for the new beast I just picked up... brand, spankin new 8" S&W 500 Magnum! I've been doing a bunch of research on molds and loads, as well as gathering up all the components I need to load for it. Dies, brass, powder and primers have been secured--all I'm missing is a mold and possibly gas checks.
Now my first thought was to buy the 440 grain Lee mold as it seems to have good reviews and is an accurate, versatile boolit. Finding the mold is easy--gas checks, not so much... about the only maker anymore it seems is Sage and they are completely sold out. I've tried emailing them but they do not have an ETA on restocking. I'd like to eventually get into making my own gas checks but I don't have access to the proper machinery to make the tools and pre-made dies are pretty pricey.
So then, I started looking at other molds in a plain base design. I ran across Accurate Molds and found their 50-411P mold which really blew up my skirt. I'm a BIG fan of Keith style boolits and throwing a half inch diameter, 1 ounce chunk of lead in that design just sounds intoxicating. But the options they offer are almost dizzying...
So my questions are this:
Will the Lee be accurate without gas checks until I can find some? I plan on running everything from mouse fart loads to full tilt big boy rounds... but mostly middle of the road stuff.
If I go the Accurate Mold route, should I go with centered tolerance (+/- .001)? I use Lee push-thru sizing dies and will be powder coating.
Also, any thoughts on aluminum vs brass if I do in fact go with an Accurate Mold? I do have quite a few aluminum Lee molds in other calibers and enjoy using them. Also have a few Lyman steel molds and they too have been fantastic but I've never used brass.
So what say ye?
I've been casting boolits off/on for the last 20 or so years and have found it invaluable for shooting on the cheap. This will go especially true for the new beast I just picked up... brand, spankin new 8" S&W 500 Magnum! I've been doing a bunch of research on molds and loads, as well as gathering up all the components I need to load for it. Dies, brass, powder and primers have been secured--all I'm missing is a mold and possibly gas checks.
Now my first thought was to buy the 440 grain Lee mold as it seems to have good reviews and is an accurate, versatile boolit. Finding the mold is easy--gas checks, not so much... about the only maker anymore it seems is Sage and they are completely sold out. I've tried emailing them but they do not have an ETA on restocking. I'd like to eventually get into making my own gas checks but I don't have access to the proper machinery to make the tools and pre-made dies are pretty pricey.
So then, I started looking at other molds in a plain base design. I ran across Accurate Molds and found their 50-411P mold which really blew up my skirt. I'm a BIG fan of Keith style boolits and throwing a half inch diameter, 1 ounce chunk of lead in that design just sounds intoxicating. But the options they offer are almost dizzying...
So my questions are this:
Will the Lee be accurate without gas checks until I can find some? I plan on running everything from mouse fart loads to full tilt big boy rounds... but mostly middle of the road stuff.
If I go the Accurate Mold route, should I go with centered tolerance (+/- .001)? I use Lee push-thru sizing dies and will be powder coating.
Also, any thoughts on aluminum vs brass if I do in fact go with an Accurate Mold? I do have quite a few aluminum Lee molds in other calibers and enjoy using them. Also have a few Lyman steel molds and they too have been fantastic but I've never used brass.
So what say ye?