Why aren't we contracting Lee for GB molds?

[btroj]

I agree with Waksupi. All newbies to GB buying should be required to go thru a traditional Lee GB. Send money to the honcho, wait 6 months, then find put it isn't in spec. Moulds are returned, another 6 month wait, then we get the moulds and hope and pray. M
Mine all turned out fine but I did wait about 14 months for one, it was worth it. Best 45 Colt bullet I have.

Yeah, the people Impatient with NOE and Mihec don't understand. We are at least getting a good product when it comes home. We have it way too good.

[dromia]

Like everything Lee does it was a lottery.

I was in on a lot of Lee GBs and about half were usable working moulds after the usual fetteling. The rest sit there to remind me of how not to run a mould making business. I have one mould that went back twice after a wait of however many months and its still out of spec.

There was a period when if you rang them up to enquire on progress they would put your order back to the end of the list. They just couldn't handle the demand but wouldn't own up to it. Money first and then whistle.

I'd sooner make boolits with molten lead and my bare hands than give those shysters any more money.

NOE and Mihec here make an infinitely better product for not much more money, they speak to you and treat you as though they value your custom unlike Lee who treated you like you were a nuisance once they'd got your money.

Accurate also make a fine mould and I use them its just a shame they can't do pointy and calibres less than 30.

[375RUGER]

some light reading for you danderdude

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/...=26226&page=12

link should take you to the cliffhanger-ahh the mould is here, the boolits pour out, but wait........what's this.....





that's just mean, I know.

[357maximum]

I honchoed my small share of lee mould buys here. If they got their act together and started making on target moulds in a rasonable amount of time, fired that guy named Pat, and then proved all this to me I might think about......ah never mind....i still would n't.

They do make some other nice products though. I simply dote on their R.E.A.L design for muzzleloaders and I like their universal flare tool. The bigggest service lee provides for us handloaders is that they keep the other guys in the industry somewhat in check.


I really miss BRP

[lathesmith]

Most tool makers, it seems, have their specialties. I absolutely love Lee dies, their Classic Cast presses, and some other very reasonably-priced, and very serviceable gear that they sell. I even love their 6-banger mold design; in my mind they really brought the art of affordable multi-cavity mold-making to the masses.
Unfortunately, I can attest that the horror stories of many of the honchos here for custom group buys are definitely true. I honcho 'ed a mold or two myself, and like others, NEVER AGAIN. Lee may have invented the affordable multi-cavity mold for the masses, but others right here on this site perfected it. Why would you fool with Lee, when we have these great mold makers right here, that will actually communicate with you? I really like being able to talk to not just the office help, but with the guy who will actually be making the stuff.

Others can do what they want, but I'll stick with the Custom Mold makers right here on this site, thank you very much.

lathesmith

[fatnhappy]

about 3 months into my last Lee group buy my wife told me she was pregnant.

Guess which I saw first?
...and my daughter was in spec.


BTW, fully half of the half dozen Lee group buys in which I participated were greatly out of spec.

Like others have said, there's a reason we've gone elsewhere. Once you've beheld the quality of Miha's moulds you'll understand.

[btroj]

Like I said, the people who have been around a while for group buys understand why Lee is out of the picture.
Lee worked very hard to get us to go elsewhere.

[Springfield]

I have moulds from LEE, Lyman, RCBS, BRP, NOE, NEI, Accurate and maybe a dozen from Mihec. But I still would go for a LEE GB if it was for a pistol bullet that I needed to cast a lot of. A precision rifle bullet, maybe not. Out of my 25 or so LEE 6 cav's there is only one that is really out of spec, a 45 Colt bullet that drops at .458, but I just use it in my 45-70 for plinking.

[jameslovesjammie]

I have a few group buys from Lee, NOE, and Mihec. From "committing" to receiving my mould, I think two Lee's were nearly 2 years. Yes...2 years. Mine are in spec...enough so my sizer will take them down, but one is still quite oversized and out of round.

My NOE and Mihec were somewhere around 2 to 6 months. And they drop fantastic boolits.

Why would anyone want to do a group buy from Lee? Even if their mould comes perfectly into spec it isn't as good as a Mihec 6 cavity aluminum, which costs just a little more. Miha's mould is just like a Lee's EXCEPT that he uses a better grade of aluminum, he has done the "leementing" for you, and his mould is oozing craftsmanship.

[mtnman31]

I've got a few Lee molds from past group buys. I did have one bad mold (9mm Makarov that was off-center) but contacted them and they replaced it. The replacement was spot on.

Personally, if the bullet design was of interest to me, I'd be more than happy to do another group buy mold from Lee. As much as I like them, some of the other custom makers' wait times are to the point where Lee's wait times were when many of us jumped ship from them.

BTW - I have never honcho'd a group buy and I can't speak of any problems from a honcho's perspective.

[Wayne S]

" Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me"
Lee has to have a good reason they didn't & don't offer rifle calibers in their 6 cavity line.
Also, they require 30 paid orders for only one set of spec's.on a mold. Look at NOE's list, they offer 3 different set of specs for the same design and sometimes only get a total of 20-25 buyers.

[Springfield]

Actually you can have a single mould made by LEE but you will have to pay the set-up fee of 150- 200, don't remember which. And in real life NOE isn't making any moulds right now that have less than 30? takers. And let's get it right, LEE makes lots of rifle bullet moulds. I know they aren't the best quality molds out there but they do work pretty well most of the time, and they are a good deal for the money if you find one that will work for you. And they are about the only one that makes 6 cavity moulds, except Mihec, and his are few and far between.

[bowfin]

I did a group buy in another forum for a run of .32 NAA dies. It went pretty smooth and they worked fine. Die guys might be different from mold guys, though. I did have some communication problems with the office people insisting I send in fired cartridges, but I got hold of the guy on the floor and he said he didn't need them, as they had the specs already.

[Wayne S]

Actually you can have a single mould made by LEE but you will have to pay the set-up fee of 150- 200, don't remember which. And in real life NOE isn't making any moulds right now that have less than 30? takers. And let's get it right, LEE makes lots of rifle bullet moulds. I know they aren't the best quality molds out there but they do work pretty well most of the time, and they are a good deal for the money if you find one that will work for you. And they are about the only one that makes 6 cavity moulds, except Mihec, and his are few and far between.

$ 200.00 + usually $ 60.00 $ 260.00 for a 6 cavity mold ??
NOE will put a GB on their schedule with only 15 orders and doesn't require any advance payment
Yes Lee makes 2 cavity rifle molds, BUT why don't they offer the same bullet in a 6 cavity ?? they have the cherry, and they have 6 cavity mold blocks ???

[Wayne S]

Actually you can have a single mould made by LEE but you will have to pay the set-up fee of 150- 200, don't remember which. And in real life NOE isn't making any moulds right now that have less than 30? takers. And let's get it right, LEE makes lots of rifle bullet moulds. I know they aren't the best quality molds out there but they do work pretty well most of the time, and they are a good deal for the money if you find one that will work for you. And they are about the only one that makes 6 cavity moulds, except Mihec, and his are few and far between.

$ 200.00 + usually $ 60.00 $ 260.00 for a 6 cavity mold ??
NOE will put a GB on their schedule with only 15 orders and doesn't require any advance payment
Yes Lee makes 2 cavity rifle molds, BUT why don't they offer the same bullet in a 6 cavity ?? they have the cherry, and they have 6 cavity mold blocks ???
IF they offered their 312-155 / 312-160 TL I'm sure there are enough AK, SKS, ect. shooters that the molds would sell,
AGAIN, there must be a reason they don't offer rifle bullets in their 6 cavity line as a catalog item

[45 2.1]

Yes Lee makes 2 cavity rifle molds, BUT why don't they offer the same bullet in a 6 cavity ?? they have the cherry, and they have 6 cavity mold blocks ???

Lee doesn't use cherries...................... their molds are bored.

[bowfin]

I believe Accurate Molds is an untapped resource for group buys. I suppose the setup fee for doing one mold could be split among 20 molds of the exact same dimensions.

[jameslovesjammie]

I don't believe Accurate Molds has a setup fee.

[bowfin]

I don't believe Accurate Molds has a setup fee.

That is correct. My thoughts were that it might be easier for Tom to set up once and run 20 molds rather than to set up and tear down 20 times for 20 molds.

I have one of Tom's molds, and it hardly required a break in period and dropped very pretty boolits the first time I used it.

[40Super]

I would definately agree with trying to get Accurate for GB's. He is of equal quality as the others.(not Lee)