Lee 6 cavity mold

[machinest-man]

Has anyone used Lee 6 cavity molds (Aluminum Type)? Are they worth getting I am using for shooting not selling the bullets I mold? I am doing 9MM, 45 and 38.

[Bull-Moose]

I have several. They cast nice bullets. I have no complaints.

[Castaway]

They work great. Run two at a time, as one fills, the other cools

[machinest-man]

Thank you for your output.

[centershot]

YES! They work great!

Castaway said
"They work great. Run two at a time, as one fills, the other cools"

I see this recommendation frequently, but I can't seem to keep up with two at a time, they always run too cool. Just me, I guess!

[ACC]

Cheaper too

ACC

[derek45]

I've got some in 38/357, 44, and 45 that work well.

I recently had one that I was not happy with the quality control, nor the cruddy customer service.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?447751-Does-this-new-LEE-Mold-look-OK-to-you-!-!

https://i.imgur.com/IGff75p.jpg

[Hickok]

I really like the Lee 6 cavity molds.

You can have boolits falling like the leaves off the trees!:smile:

[swamp]

I have used them and like them. Bottom pour pot I find works best. Go thru a lot of lead.
swamp

[Mk42gunner]

Lee six cavity molds work, but aren't necessarily the easiest to start casting with.

DO NOT hold the third handle while filling the mold, no matter how tempting it is. Over size out of round boolits will result.

Robert

[oconeedan]

I love them for bullets that you "shoot a lot", such as 45, 9mm, etc. They make a pile of bullets fast, and if you tumble lube them or powder coat them, the best thing for blasting ammo.
Start a cold mold with pouring 1 cavity, then 2, then add more cavities as it heats up. It won't be long before you are dumping 6 at a time.

[BLAHUT]

I have and use lee molds. I like them.

[la5676]

YES! They work great!

Castaway said
"They work great. Run two at a time, as one fills, the other cools"

I see this recommendation frequently, but I can't seem to keep up with two at a time, they always run too cool. Just me, I guess!
The 6 holers I cast with need cooling off on a damp cloth every few batches. Never had the “too cool” issue.

[Mal Paso]

Preheat the molds on a Hot Plate, better for the mold not cutting 6 cold sprues.

I've been using the 6 cavity style with 6 and 8 cavity MP Molds for a while. I got my first Lee 6c this year. It is smaller, lighter and there is a slight variation in bullet diameter between cavities that's close enough for pistol. MPs are worth the extra bucks if it's something you cast a lot. My new 35-200 is 8 cavity! There's 40 lbs waiting to be sorted and gas checked. LOL

[Misery-Whip]

My lee molds came from the box casting well. I have 6.

But I also have a few mp, noe, and arsenal. The craftmanship and ease of use is worth paying for.

[dverna]

What is acceptable?

One persons criteria might be different than another’s.

They are so cheap, my advice is go for it. If you are looking to cast match quality bullets for 50 yard Bullseye shooting, Lee may still get the job done. But for serious accuracy needs I would invest in a higher quality mold.

I have a 6 cavity Lee for the .40 I bought for SHTF and blasting ammunition. I have not used it but it looks decent.

For .357 bullets that will be used in carbines at longer range I went with custom molds. They are very well machined.

[Soundguy]

I have several..love them for buckshot..

[derek45]

I like my ARSENAL and NOE more

https://i.imgur.com/9Ybxl8R.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/z1oEwmp.jpg

[imashooter2]

The best thing about a Lee 6 cavity is the third handle on the sprue plate. NOE molds are wonderfully machined (never had an Arsenal) but they are a pain to use compared to the Lee. Just one man’s opinion…

[Walks]

They work great. Run two at a time, as one fills, the other cools

Yep

[cwlongshot]

There is much better no doubt.

BUT LEE are entirely useable and far less expensive.

Midway currently has many on CLEARANCE with some 6cavs 25$!!!

CW

[MSUICEMAN]

The 6 holers I cast with need cooling off on a damp cloth every few batches. Never had the “too cool” issue.

same. i probably get about 5 pours before it spends 15 seconds on a damp cloth.

[Rich/WIS]

Have them for 45 ACP, 45 Colt, 9mm, 40, 44, and 38/357 (2). Pre-heat with a hotplate while lead pot melts and good bullets almost from the first pour. A 20# pot is a plus, you'll go through a lot of alloy quickly.

[bubbau]

I use them and have no issues with them.

[Iowa Fox]

I like them. I have a bunch of the 6 cav group buys that we did here. Last winter I purchased a new 6 cav mold and it's an incredible caster from the first pour. All I did was scrub it up in hot water and dish soap then preheat on my hot plate. Can't beat um for the price.

[Targa]

No complaints about Lee here, I have at least a dozen of them that all cast very well. I would suggest also looking at MP molds for 9mm and .38 casting. They are about $30 more than Lee’s six cavity molds but with MP you get 8 cavities and they are higher quality.

[gwpercle]

With a 6-cavity mould you want a large capacity bottom pour , at least 20 pound capacity .
Otherwise you waste too much time waiting for lead to melt .
Another member uses two pots ... casting from one while the other pot melts a fresh fill and gets up to temperature ,

I don't use a bottom pour pot , I pressure cast with a Lyman spouted dipper ...
NOE 3 and 4 cavity moulds have spoiled me , Lee is like driving a old Chevy ...that needs a paint job , brake job and engine overhaul
NOE is like driving a brand new Lexus
That said ...most of my moulds are old 2 cavity chevy's and 1 cavity Lyman .
Gary

[imashooter2]

With a 6-cavity mould you want a large capacity bottom pour , at least 20 pound capacity .
Otherwise you waste too much time waiting for lead to melt .
Another member uses two pots ... casting from one while the other pot melts a fresh fill and gets up to temperature ,

I don't use a bottom pour pot , I pressure cast with a Lyman spouted dipper ...
NOE 3 and 4 cavity moulds have spoiled me , Lee is like driving a old Chevy ...that needs a paint job , brake job and engine overhaul
NOE is like driving a brand new Lexus
That said ...most of my moulds are old 2 cavity chevy's and 1 cavity Lyman .
Gary

A new Lexus with no door handles. [smilie=l:

[John Guedry]

All my molds are Lee's, I have one 6 cavity for 9m.m. and it does what it's supposed to.

[bruce381]

Preheat the molds on a Hot Plate, better for the mold not cutting 6 cold sprues.

I've been using the 6 cavity style with 6 and 8 cavity MP Molds for a while. I got my first Lee 6c this year. It is smaller, lighter and there is a slight variation in bullet diameter between cavities that's close enough for pistol. MPs are worth the extra bucks if it's something you cast a lot. My new 35-200 is 8 cavity! There's 40 lbs waiting to be sorted and gas checked. LOL

do above also i cast a few then hand lap the holes removes all the "fuzz" from machining and they they drop like rain.

[tward]

I have lots of Lee’s, they cast well and the 3rd handle for the cam action sprue plate is great. That said, when you get the money treat yourself to a brass MP mold, they are works of art and a joy to cast. His fit and finish are superb and the hollow point, hollow base pin system works great. Tim

[wilecoyote]

two six-cav. Lee molds at hand and a 20 lbs. bottom pour are the faster and better upgrade, for me, if I can plan to use the same batch of alloy for the same caliber.
fine enough for my needs and they have never given problems for twenty years to date, whereas in the beginning i had no other teachers or mentors except the R. Lee handbook_

[sse]

I just got the lee 6cav. .45 200gr tl. They drop great very few rejects and powder coated, man o man do they shoot good.

[armoredman]

Has anyone used Lee 6 cavity molds (Aluminum Type)? Are they worth getting I am using for shooting not selling the bullets I mold? I am doing 9MM, 45 and 38.

I've been using the 6 banger for the 9mm .356 124gr TL boolit for years, does a great job.

[Harter66]

I have several also ,358 ,.401 ,.452 , 00B .

I buy my NOEs in 5c , 4 if I want w/w/o checks , I wish they had the sprue handle .

I have a Lyman 4 cav ....... 100 gr 25 cal is hard to keep hot .

I have an 8cav H&G #130 it too is hard to keep hot .
In all I have at least 7-8 moulds that suck up 2000-2500 gr per pour . This may be the year I spring for the bottom pour .
I will +1 for a 20# pot with the 6s even a bottom pour in the bigger moulds like some of mine would only get 60 pours and be empty . I can only ladle about 15# so that only ends up being about 45 pours before I have to reload , and wait .

[lancem]

I just fired up a 6 cav .223 55 gr lee mold. Pulled it out of the box and hit it with some brake cleaner, set it on the pot to preheat while the lead was melting and while casting with it to get it up to temp it was cranking out perfect boolits in no time, I thought I was going to have trouble because of the small caliber but they filling out great and dropping free just opening the mold. Can't wait now to get things set for some serious casting in the next couple of days.

[leadbutt]

Na... It just means that you run with a comfortable cadence. Im not racing, im just enjoying the music and pouring some silver.

L. Bottoms

[pworley1]

They work great. Run two at a time, as one fills, the other cools

What he said.

[openbook]

I use several Lee molds and one of them is a 6-cav. One advantage to the Lee 6-cavs is the sprues are very shallow, so you use less lead per pour. I think an RCBS or Lyman ladle would be able to fill a 9mm 6-cav in one pour. The 45s—not so much, so that's something to consider if you use a dipper.

My 6-cav is a 55-grain boolit. It needs fast casting to stay hot, but the larger boolits may keep enough heat in the mold to run two of them like some have said. On the other end of the spectrum, I have a Lee 405-gr boolit mold (2-cav) that requires some babying to keep it from getting too hot!

[tacofrank]

I have three and very happy with them. Lots of good bullets quick!
TF

[rbuck351]

I also have three Lee 6 C molds and they all work fine. Not the quality of the 5 or 6 NOE molds I have but they do work fine.

[Charlie Horse]

I mainly use Lee 6 cavity. If I want accuracy, like for a rifle, I use their 2 cavity. I think the 2 cavity molds allow my casting process more uniformity.

[dogmower]

good molds, much better quality than the 2 cav lee molds. just wish they made 6 cav molds in a few more lee designs (Lee, are you listening?)
I'd love the see the TL .309 230 5r and the .309 113f in 6 cav design.

[HollowPoint]

I have two 6-cavity Lee molds and three 2-cavity molds. They all drop some nice-looking bullets.

My only peeve is that regardless of the alloy I'm working with when casting 9mm or 45, the bullet weights are never within a grain or two of the stated grain-weight that the Lee mold was made to cast.

For example, the bullets cast from my 9mm six-cavity mold are always from 130 grains to 134 grains. The mold is a 125 grain round nose mold.

My Lee six-cavity 45 caliber 200 grain Truncated Nose mold drops bullets that average about five or six grains overweight.

All the bullets look great and shoot great but still, I'd love it if they dropped from the mold a bit closer to the stated grain weight that the mold was designed for.

HollowPoint

[BJung]

I have 6 cavity molds for every one of my calibers so I'll have a good quantity of practice bullets. I shoot on a budget and try to get the most for my money and the Lee mold is inexpensive and cast well enough. I have a few specialized 2 cavity molds as well. This leaves me with funds to purchase 2 cavity quality molds like the MP Molds, which I think cast better bullets

[farmerjim]

They work great. Run two at a time, as one fills, the other cools

I do the same, it works great.
You need to be using a bottom pour pot to keep up, and a hotplate on the side in case something slows you down.

[rsrocket1]

Absolutely agree that a bottom pour pot is a must with the 6 cavity molds.
I have one in 45, 38/357, 40 and 2 in 9mm. The 401-175-TC has been my most used mold with over 80,000 bullets cast. I make about 1000 in 2 hours. I then PC them in about an hour and size them in another hour. 4 hours and $25 in lead for a month or two's worth of bullets. Pretty good. The challenge with the 452-230-TC is cooling the mold down a bit between casts and keeping enough lead in the pot. The challenge with the 356-120-TC is getting the mold up to operating temperature quick enough and not wasting 6-10 casts of wrinkled bullets to heat up the mold.

https://images2.imgbox.com/30/0f/EH9lD75e_o.jpg

https://images3.imgbox.com/d7/ac/MuqJJG3z_o.jpg

[mvintx]

I have heard of the sprue plate bolt stripping threads out of the aluminum mold block, but no one who posted here mentioned this problem. I just bought a Lee 6-cav 452-200SWC this morning and want to treat it right when I get it.

[Pete57]

No complaints here

[Cast10]

So far, ALL I USE………9mm and 10mm.

They makes lots of boolits fast!

[Charlie Horse]

Lee six cavity molds work, but aren't necessarily the easiest to start casting with.

DO NOT hold the third handle while filling the mold, no matter how tempting it is. Over size out of round boolits will result.

Robert

Thanks. I have a friend I need to tell about this. :lol:

[fredj338]

QC with Lee can be all over the place. I have great 6cav & a couple PITA ones.

[fredj338]

I have two 6-cavity Lee molds and three 2-cavity molds. They all drop some nice-looking bullets.

My only peeve is that regardless of the alloy I'm working with when casting 9mm or 45, the bullet weights are never within a grain or two of the stated grain-weight that the Lee mold was made to cast.

For example, the bullets cast from my 9mm six-cavity mold are always from 130 grains to 134 grains. The mold is a 125 grain round nose mold.

My Lee six-cavity 45 caliber 200 grain Truncated Nose mold drops bullets that average about five or six grains overweight.

All the bullets look great and shoot great but still, I'd love it if they dropped from the mold a bit closer to the stated grain weight that the mold was designed for.

HollowPoint

That is most likely your alloy & casting temps.

[Willie T]

I have six of the six cavities that I cast pistol Bullets with. Also have several two cavity molds for stuff I don’t shoot as much. I really like the sprue handle on the six cavities. The ones I have are all pretty darn good. Running two at a time is too much like work for me. I use a 20 pound bottom pour pot. You can drop a lot of good Bullets in a hurry.