#*+%&** Lee quality!?

[snuffy]

I posted on another thread about this Lee .458 340 RNFP mold. It was casting at .465. Pat at Lee said to send it back to them, they'd replace it.

Well 3 weeks after sending the lee 340 mold back it was replaced, got it Thursday. An inside measurement across the top gave me .460! It should be a good one for plinking!

Now after casting with it, I'd rather have the original back! The new mold actually has the blocks pinned off-center on the handles. That causes them to not line up while being closed. Add to that, the pivot bolt in the handles was cranked so tight I couldn't open or close them. Then there's the sprue plate, it to was so tight I could hardly open it, a little bull plate lube fixed that, but it had already galled so now the plate won't sit tight on top of the blocks. A fin is formed on the base of the boolit. finally you have to beat on the pivot to knock boolits loose, they certainly don't DROP OUT!

I'm going to be on the phone to Pat again, this time he'd better send a good mold! And no, I'm not sending this one back, I might as well have bought a Lyman mold for all I've already spent in shipping and the original cost.

[Buckshot]

.................I've never had a Lee 458-405F or a 458-340F that cast even .459". They'd go .457/.458". I forget now but I believe over the years I've had 3 or 4 of each one and they were all the same. They weren't a total loss though. Sized down to .454" and .452" the 405gr was useable in a Destroyer carbine I converted to 45 ACP. The 340gr is a great boolit for the 45 Colt.

Just this afternoon I was casting some 58 cal Minie' bullets and a block half fell off!!!! The dern pin fell out the bottom of the block so it just slid right off the handle, HA! The pisser is, when everything is cooking along right (and especially casting something like that with a BIG hollow base) and you're getting good boolits, spending the time to get a pair of needle nose to lift the hot pin out of the sprues, align the block with the handles, drive the pin in and set it, means you're back to casting Minie's with voids for awile.

..............Buckshot

[snuffy]

Hmmm, then maybe I SHOULD keep it! It's casting at .4495. The problem is getting that damn fin off the bases! Along with the misalignment, it is hardly a pleasure to cast with.







I did get a few good boolits, they're loaded, ready to test.

[mag_01]

--- The fins are easy--- remove the screw holding the sprue plate --- Then a piece of fine emery paper or sand paper on a wooden bench or to be more precise use a piece of glass as a base --- Align the mold and turn upside down and swipe it across the sanding surface until you achieve the desired result --- also clean sprue plate then reassemble and plate and mold surfaces should mate properly. If you have a problem with sprue plate loosing up merely drill Small hole and use a set screw to hold sprue plate screw where you want it . Mag_01

Hope this helps you ---

[snuffy]

Mag, it seems I remember the screw that holds the sprue plate,(on some older lee molds), would not come loose. I'll try this one, the other problems are workable, it does make a nice boolit, other than those fins. If it comes loose, I can see if it's warped or the blocks aren't flat.

[454PB]

The sprue plate securing screw is very tight, but with a proper fitting screwdriver it will come loose. Put the mould in a vice with padded jaws to prevent marring them, then push down hard on the screw while turning.

If it's casting .4495", it sounds like it is .008" to .009" undersized for your use.

[snuffy]

The sprue plate securing screw is very tight, but with a proper fitting screwdriver it will come loose. Put the mould in a vice with padded jaws to prevent marring them, then push down hard on the screw while turning.

If it's casting .4495", it sounds like it is .008" to .009" undersized for your use.

Rats! Fat fingers, poor typist, I meant .4595.

I got the sprue plate off, a drywall Phillips bit, driven by a ¼ drive socket wrench and ¼ socket, got it to turn. Just as I thought, the top of the mold was galled. It looked like whoever assembled it used way too much torque, it pulled the threads up to form a sort of cone under the sprue plate. That lifted it up off the top of the mold. I hit the high spot with an old points file, it looks like a normal gap under it now. I'll give it a try later.

[Maven]

snuffy, If the points file doesn't cure the problem, there's one more thing to try. In your post #3, look at the pix of the sprue plate. Remove it from the mold and, using a pencil, draw a line from the center of the forward sprue hole to the center of the pivot hole. Put the entire plate in a padded vise to the depth of the pivot hole, but make sure the scribed line is ~ vertical. Take a claw hammer and strike the plate sharply and horizontally on the countersunk sprue hole side, and as close to the vise as possible, to bend it down slightly. Test fit it to the mold. If you've gone too far, just smack it again less vigorously from the opposite side and test fit anew. You may want to repolish the plate to eliminate any burrs raised. Btw, one of my Lee molds will still produce fins in spite of reforming the sprue plate. I can eliminate them by slowly pouring my alloy into each cavity with the ladle/dipper either slightly above or resting upon the sprue plate. I.e., the dipper is not fitted to the sprue hole and the mold + dipper are not rotated together.

[Freightman]

I have a 405 HB that cast .462 but I get great accuracy from my 1867 Rolling blk and size down for my Shiloh and Buffalo Classsic. If you cast to big and have a hard allow you will have a hard time putting them through a sizer, ask how I know!

[Namerifrats]

Those fins would make your bullet into nice little cast torpedos!

[snuffy]

Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead eh?

Got involved with making some salsa, the tomatoes are all nearly dead, may not get many more. Terrible garden season, pretty discouraged. Not much can kill a lead boolit, so I'd rather be casting.

Maven, good idea, if filing it didn't stop the fins, I may try bending it.

[snuffy]

I fired up the pot today, made some boolits with the problem mold. Still getting fins! So after it cooled, I took it apart again. The same cone shaped burr had re-appeared under the sprue plate and around the screw hole. So I got out a piece of plate glass and a piece of 320 grit sand paper. (Thanks mag_1)

The top of the mold was hardly flat! The sprue plate had galled the back corner of the mold, so I had to keep sanding until that flattened out. The sprue plate was fairly flat, didn't need much work.

Upon re-assembling the sprue plate, then taking a look at the gap under the plate, I hadn't accomplished much. I took the plate off, I noticed a ring had shown up right around the edge of the screw hole. That shoulder washer that goes through the sprue plate was TOO LONG!! It was not allowing the screw to tighten the spring washer down against the sprue plate, allowing it to create a gap under the sprue plate. Running it against the sand paper shortened it up quickly, NOW the sprue plate is tight---er than before.

[John Boy]

Snuffy, I've been casting the Lee 457-340-F (what you call the Lee .458 340 RNFP) and using it in my 45-75.
Using 1:20 alloy, it drops bullets that are 461 bases and 353gr weight. Resized to 460 and being
shot with the rifle groove diameter of 457 ... great groups

No problems with the mold either

50 Yard Target
http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,393

100 Yard Target
http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,393

Combined 200/300 Yard Target ( using a 200 yd target) - the X patches and the one X are 300yd holes
http://render2.snapfish.com/render2/.../of=50,590,393
... and the 200/300 shots were with 15-25 mph winds gusting from 11:00

[leftiye]

Snuffy, Countersink that screw hole a little so that the screw can't pull up more aluminum when screwed in. Don't tighten the screw real tight. I leave my sprue plates just tight enough that they don't flop, and don't use any washers for tension. Let the plate lie on top of the blocks. Often pressure will tilt the plate up off of the blocks. File that shoulder washer down until it stops interfering. Sounds like some kind of high temp locktite is in order to keep the screw from working loose.

[snuffy]

Snuffy, Countersink that screw hole a little so that the screw can't pull up more aluminum when screwed in. Don't tighten the screw real tight. I leave my sprue plates just tight enough that they don't flop, and don't use any washers for tension. Let the plate lie on top of the blocks. Often pressure will tilt the plate up off of the blocks. File that shoulder washer down until it stops interfering. Sounds like some kind of high temp locktite is in order to keep the screw from working loose.

Yeah I did countersink that screw hole, used my RCBS chamfer tool. Also used the sandpaper to shorten that shoulder washer so it would let the sprue plate sit down on top of the mold. It should be ok now, will try it again tonight.

John boy, I want to try it out with 20-1 alloy. I have some ready to be alloyed, just have to find the time to do it. Hopefully the problems have been worked out with the mold so I can get some good boolits!

Oh, I bought a bottle of trail boss yesterday,(9 ounces). I had heard it was the cats meow for light loads in 45-70. Hodgdon's site calls for 14 to 16.5 grains for a 340 boolit. I'll repot back when I load some!

[snuffy]

Well dad gum it!

I tried the mold after the last fix, at first, the first ten or so fills, I though I had it fixed. Pretty, clean bases and no fins. So then the fins started to re-appear. I checked the tightness of the sprue screw, it was tight, but I tightened it more. No difference. Then I loosened it so the sprue plate flops closed under it's own weight. That helped, the plate finally would lay flat on the blocks. But the sprue was raised up on the base of the boolit. I made a bunch of boolits and let it cool off.

Upon taking it apart, nearly all the threads came out of the hole with the screw. So now it looks like I may have to re-tap to the next larger size. Lee uses a self tapping screw, probably why the threads aren't too good. I'm also going to try bending the corner by the screw hole to make the plate lay down better. (Thanks Maven) I think what happened is some lead stayed under the sprue plate, it was holding the plate away from the blocks. Should have coated it will bull plate lube!

[MT Gianni]

Snuffy, when you retap that screw add a set screw from the side to hold it where it needs to be. Gianni.

[snuffy]

Well I finally made it to the hardware store to buy some screws and a tap drill set. Since the lee screw was a #10, I went with a #12-24 screw, tap and tap drill. It worked, BUT the tap was a plug tap, so it didn't tap good threads to the bottom of the hole.

So out comes the dremmel tool, with the thin cut off grinding wheel in it, I made a cut on the tip of one of the screws in the packet I bought. Essentially I made it into a self tapping screw. This came closer to tapping all-the-way-to-the-bottom. I purposely left it just shy of completely to the bottom, it tightens up right before it is snug against the sprue plate. It should eliminate the need for a set screw.

The shoulder washer had to be enlarged, fortunately I have a number drill set, I used a #3 drill to do that. Now to warm up some lead to try it out.

[jh45gun]

I bought the Lee .459 mold the one with the hollow base and it works just fine for me. Wheelweights come out over the .459 and I run them through a Lee .459 sizer which is what my gunsmith said I should shoot for a bullet out of my Green Mountain Barrel in 45/70. Sorry your having problems all my Lee molds have worked well for me as has the furnace and the dies. The only Mold I do have that is not Lee is a Ideal 311407.