Regarding Lee moulds--what am I doing wrong?

[Recluse]

In between doing shots of Nyquil by night, Dayquil by day in my battle with the flu, I've been browsing through new posts and old alike. Out of either boredom, or NyDaquil induced delirium, I did some old searches for stuff back four/five years ago when I first start hanging around the joint.

I keep finding all kinds of posts, in regards to Lee moulds (especially the two-bangers) saying stuff like:

"Stay away from the crappy Lee moulds."

"Stay away from the crappy two-cavity Lee moulds."

"Lee moulds are junk."

"Lee moulds suck."

"Lee's six-cavity moulds aren't bad, but their two-cavity moulds are junk."

"Can't cast good boolits with Lee moulds." (Six-cavity, two-cavity, one-cavity)

So, maybe someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong since I don't seem to have any problems with any of the nine Lee moulds I have (all of which are two-cavity moulds, BTW)??? :confused:

Whenever I order and get in a new Lee mould, I spend about an hour with it cleaning it up, scoring the vent lines, polishing the cavities, etc. Shoot, I do this with Lyman, RCBS and Saeco moulds as well.

However, I've had more problematic moulds from Lyman in the past few years than I have had with Lee. I've only had one Lee mould that gave me a bit of trouble. A bit more polishing, slight tightening of the sprue plate and some Bullshop lube and voila--perfect dropping boolit mould.

The boolits are round (very round, as a matter of fact), bases and lube grooves are sharp, and drop a consistent weight for me with my basic alloy mix. Can't say the same with the past couple of Lyman moulds. Out of round, had to hammer the boolits out (no matter what temp I put the alloy at), and one of the moulds started developing rust in record time.

Haven't had a Lee mould rust on me yet.

Now, I have some very good Lyman moulds, but they're older moulds made/purchased back in the 90's that I bought used off a fellow in southern New Mexico. Likewise, old friend of mine bought a new Lyman 4500 and within a month, sent it back for replacement. Three months later, he sent that one back to Midway and paid the difference for an RCBS Lube-a-matic.

I've yet to have to send back any of my Lee push-through sizers.

Who knows? I like to tinker, but again, after about that initial hour or sof tinkering with a new Lee mould, the tinkering is done and the casting is begun--and with no problems.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

:coffee:

[superior]

I have 2 lee's and they make awesome boolits very easily!

[Heavy lead]

Of the moulds I've purchased lately Lyman is hit or miss, RCBS is mostly hit, Lee is mostly hit. I never bought any Lee two holers, don't know why, just didn't. I picked up a Lee 452-300 grain gas checked mould in two cavity cause I couldn't find a 6 holer anywhere, and frankley I'm impressed so far, I've lubed the mould as directions told me to do and it casts fine, fine boolits.

[MT Gianni]

What you are doing wrong is reading the instructions both Lee's and the end users [ours].

[supv26]

I have used my Lee mold now a few times and have over 1500 CB ready to lube. I haven't had a single issue with mine. I did like the instructions said and used a few tips from here and my 2 holer is working great.

Tonight was the 3rd time I've used it and found out it's personality. I figured out just how long to let the sprue cool before I cut it and then just how long I needed to wait to drop the bullets. And, I mean drop, as in, just open the mold and the bullets would just fall out almost every time.

Now I need to lube, load and shoot! :Fire:

[Bret4207]

The first thing you have to do is be impatient. Don't bother paying attention to anything and make sure especially not to pay any attention to that build up of lead on the sprue plate casued by you not waiting for the sprue to freeze. It's also a good idea to get a few lead spatters on the faces so it won't close all the way. The take your pocket knife to it to "fix" it. Using this method disaster is a certainty. Glad I could help.

Folks keep forgetting, it ain't the arrow, it's the indian.

[454PB]

I'm so old I don't remember when I bought my first Lee mould. It was about a month after they started making them....1972?

Anyway, I still have the first one I bought, it still works just fine, and is surrounded by about 17 others....all single or two cavity.

I quit lubricating them about 20 years ago, that eliminated the only problems I ever had with them.

[mooman76]

It would seem that most of the people that scoff at Lee moulds and have trouble with them are the ones that start out using the steel moulds like the Lymans and RCBS. I'm up to about 55+ moulds, most of them Lee and I have 3 GBs on order. When does it stop! I like all the moulds I have but i can buy at least 3 Lee's to every one of the others so I can try more bullets and have a bigger variety.

[hedgehorn]

I use them and they do fine. I have a couple of the two cavity moulds that you have to make sure the alignment is right on every time you close them. I think the hollow locating surfaces are a bit loose.

[Willbird]

I think they are worth exactly what you pay for them. However a good Lyman or RCBS will still be making bullets 3 generations after purchase, this is not true of the LEE 2 cavity molds. I'm one of the guys who says the LEE 2 cavities are not nearly as nice as the 6 cavity.

Bill

[chuebner]

My only problem with my Lee molds (12 so far) is with the sprue plates. I finally drilled and tapped each one for a set screw similar to the Lyman setup to keep the sprue screw secure. If you RTFM and follow the advise here you will have excellent results with Lee molds. I sure have.

charlie

[Tom W.]

I dunno, all of my Lee molds were ( and are) just fine. I really don't like Lyman molds, however, and do like RCBS molds. Those things are made like tanks... or at least the ones that I have are...

[ubetcha]

I to have Lyman.RCBS ,and Lee moulds.They all work very well.The only problem I have run into with the Lee moulds are The wood comes loose on the handle after awhile,but thats not a big concern.A little JB Weld takes care of that

[marlinman2008]

I only use lee moulds and they work great and i've yet to see any rust on them and the more you use one the better it gets as it gets broken in

[ddeaton]

I thought the same thing from reading all this bad press on here about them. I thought I would start out with them and then move up. I have about 12 6 bangers now and love them. I just ordered 2 more tonight. I have one I dont like, it casts good, but has tool marks on the ogive. It is the 358 158 gr rfn. I still cast and shoot it though. You sure have to get them hot though.

[opentop]

I like my Lee molds, 2 cavity and 6 cavity. I can get them all to drop good boolits!

[45&30-30]

From my experience, I always thought the only reason someone had a problem with a Lee mould was because they didn't read the directions and didn't smoke the cavities, then after they did this they were a convert. My only complaint is why they don't do classic designs as standard production runs. I guess the profit on special orders makes more business sense.