New Lee 380 mold

[dragonrider]

First impressions were very good, so after some light deburring and thorough cleaning. The pot was fired up and I cast eighteen boolits, I rejected three for wrinkles and one for poor fillout. Measuring proved to be interesting, of those left they all measure .359"-.360" except one that mesured .355".
4 cavities dropped well the two in the center are somewhat sticky but I believe that will succumb to some light lapping. So I proceeded to cast up a bunch.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/358-100/th_IMG_0152.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/358-100/?action=view&current=IMG_0152.jpg)
Before I stopped casting tonight I cast up two lapping boolits
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/358-100/th_IMG_0150.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/0603/PaulGauthier/358-100/?action=view&current=IMG_0150.jpg)
I don't know who's idea it was to place a nut on top of a cavity and cast through it to make a boolit for lapping but it is pure genius.
I suprises me to say this but I think Lee got it right with this one. This is the best Lee mold I have ever used. Once I get the sticking cavities to drop well I will be happy.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I cast up about 400 boolits last night with mine and the mold was a joy to use. The only prep was to boil the mold with dishwasher detergent and lube the pins with Bullplate. I preheated the mold and began casting good boolits, and the real miracle was that all of the bullets dropped easily from the cavities with an occasional tap. About half way through the session I added bullplate to the top of the mold and the bottom of the sprue, and I got some in two cavities which caused wrinkled bullets for quite a while. I used WW's and added about 1.5 lbs of Linotype to 8 lbs of WWs. The bullets dropped at 100.3 grs and miked between .359 and .360. I sized them to .358 and lubed with 50/50 Alox. I loaded up 15 rds 10 @ 2.0 grs and 5 @ 2.3 grs of 231. At 7 yds I put 14 rds into 3.5". I was aiming with the bullseye sitting on top of the front sight and the shots were centered about 1 1/2" below the bullseye. The 15th shot I held the front sight at the top of the bull, and round struck about 1" below the top of the bull. I was shooting with a Kel Tec P3AT and I was extremely pleased with the group size. All of the rounds functioned perfectly. I am well pleased with the mold and the performance of the bullet. Next I will try to get some chrono data, and try it my 9mm pistols and my 9mm AR.

G