Lee Mold way oversize should I send it back?

[lakota]

I just got a new Lee 2 cavity mold for my .380 Ruger LCP. It is a 102 grain round nose .356" mold. I cast a bunch up and ran them through my Lyman 4500 sizer that has a .358" sizer die installed. I figured I would lube them as I have never had a Lee die that required any sizing. Well I notice they are going through the die with a good deal of resistance and come out shiny. I decided to test load one and the bullet got stuck up inside my seating die. I got the dial calipers out and this .356 mold is dropping bullets that measure .360". I recall reading somewhere that cast bullets shouldnt be sized down past a certain amount but I cant recall what that number was. Should I get a .356" sizer die for the Lyman or should I send this mold back? I was using wheel weight alloy to cast.

[Bret4207]

You have a somewhat rare mould. It's not "RARE", but it's casting a little larger than normal for Lee. IMO, that's about what a 357/9mm mould should cast, but what do I know.You could send it back, but you might be better to advertise the mould and the size it drops here and sell it for what you have in it. There are surely people here looking for just such a boolit. You'd be doing them and you a favor. Or, send it back, your choice.

[onesonek]

Sizing down a few .001", I wouldn't think be a problem. If your loaded sized boolit chambers smoothly, and shoots as you expect, then I see no problem what so ever.

[jmsj]

lakota,
you are a lucky guy, most of the casters here that have complaints regarding their molds is that they cast too small. On a traditional lube design, sizing .001-.003 should be no problem. Tumble lube designs can have problems w/ sizing down too much as it swages out the small tumble lube grooves.
Good luck, jmsj

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Lee molds...oversized???? Wow, you ARE lucky!! I know what ya mean...it can be tedious if they are hard to push thru the sizer.

[ph4570]

Were it a 6 hole I would buy it from you. My Sig loves .359-.360 boolits.

[Tazman1602]

What Bret said.

Some people here are actually looking for that mold that DOES pour oversize. You can probably get at least what you paid for it and maybe more, then buy a new one -- OR you could send it back to Lee and see if they'll do anything, they've been good to me.

Art


You have a somewhat rare mould. It's not "RARE", but it's casting a little larger than normal for Lee. IMO, that's about what a 357/9mm mould should cast, but what do I know.You could send it back, but you might be better to advertise the mould and the size it drops here and sell it for what you have in it. There are surely people here looking for just such a boolit. You'd be doing them and you a favor. Or, send it back, your choice.

[deltaenterprizes]

That might make a great mold for 9mm Makarov and light loads for 38 special.

[timkelley]

Load up a sized one in an empty case and try it in your chamber. I have two other Lee molds that cast large and when sized at .358 they go thru my XDs and even my LCP.

[MtGun44]

.357 or .358 is probably what you need for most "9mms" including .380s (9mm Kurtz).
Sounds pretty good. If you are measuring with a caliper - - - you need to get a .0001
micrometer, calipers are only good for +/- .001, so you may be off on your measurements.

Check our Enco tools, you can get a decent mic for under $50 sometimes WAY under.

Bill

[JeffinNZ]

Hell no! Put it on Ebay as a limited edition custom oversize mould and someone is bound to pay 4 times what you did.

[lakota]

Well I just tried to seat a few more bullets. I have set the flare to maximum-there is visible damage to the neck after the flaring operation. The case still will not accept a boolit. Any attempt to seat a boolit results in a crushed case and a bullet stuck up in the bore of the seating die. I have to pull the die out and whack the bullet out with a mallet and dowel rod[smilie=b:

[Larry Gibson]

If you want smaller diameter bullets try "smoking" the mould or use Midway's Mould Prep. A light coating in the cavity will reduce the "as cast" diamter .001 - .003. Lee's tolerance is a +.003 so it looks like you got one on the "+" side. My 356-120-TC mould drops bullets of WWs + 2% tin at .359 and I size them .358 for use in my 9mms, never had a problem with .358 bullets in 9mms.

Larry Gibson

[montana_charlie]

I was using wheel weight alloy to cast.
Try pure lead, or a 50/50 mix of w/w and pure.
CM

[Tmaloy]

If you want smaller diameter bullets try "smoking" the mould or use Midway's Mould Prep. A light coating in the cavity will reduce the "as cast" diamter .001 - .003. Lee's tolerance is a +.003 so it looks like you got one on the "+" side. My 356-120-TC mould drops bullets of WWs + 2% tin at .359 and I size them .358 for use in my 9mms, never had a problem with .358 bullets in 9mms.

Larry Gibson

I have the same mold in a 6 banger, I would love to have my mold drop like yours. Now I'm going to look into beagling it or lapping it out to .359.

Troy

[splattersmith]

...should I send this mold back?


No. [smilie=s: