Mold is bad

[MT Gianni]

ok well i think iv got part of it figured out. im not supposed to be getting .355 bullets. im supposed to get .356 bullets. part of the mold is undersized.

which is likely why i have been getting all of this dang leadding. if i get it back and its still dropping .355 bullets, lapping will open up the mold to .356?

If done properly.

I like lee molds, they have gotten more people into casting and let them know whether or not this hobby is worth their time. I would not expect to race on a track with any professional driver with my old Subaru either. I got what I could afford and use it as such.

[MBTcustom]

ok well i think iv got part of it figured out. im not supposed to be getting .355 bullets. im supposed to get .356 bullets. part of the mold is undersized.

which is likely why i have been getting all of this dang leadding. if i get it back and its still dropping .355 bullets, lapping will open up the mold to .356?

Yes. But be careful.

[birddseedd]

lapping = drilling screw into a bullet, mixing with tooth paste and spinning bullet in mold?

[WILCO]

There is a very simple solution.
That's all I was saying.

Tim,

With all due respect, I've always found it in poor taste for one businessman to bash another.
It's one thing to point out flaws in one's product and the benefits of one over the other, but in my opinion, you've crossed a line with your written comments on LEE Precision. Richard Lee has written a book or two and I've never seen him disparage a competitor in writing.
One could stand to learn quite a bit from Mr. Richard Lee. Both in the world of metallic cartridges and running a business.

[sawzall]

Tim,

With all due respect, I've always found it in poor taste for one businessman to bash another.
It's one thing to point out flaws in one's product and the benefits of one over the other, but in my opinion, you've crossed a line with your written comments on LEE Precision. Richard Lee has written a book or two and I've never seen him disparage a competitor in writing.
One could stand to learn quite a bit from Mr. Richard Lee. Both in the world of metallic cartridges and running a business.

Does goodsteel (Tim) make molds? I thought he was a machinist / gunsmith. I'm an auto mechanic does that mean I can't bash the RV mechanic who poorly repaired my camper trailer?

[birddseedd]

depends, if a guy is doing utterly shotty work and screwing people over, thats one thing, and he proally wont be in busienss long. but if its someone who you just don't like how they do things, state how your product/service is better, but don't talk the competition down. in fact, if you lift up the competition, and show how yours is better, it lifts yours up that much higher

this is how iv been trained

[ubetcha]

"The bullets and mold measure the same"...Something not quite right here..the cavity should be measuring slightly larger than the actual slug that dropped from it..all lead alloys shrink when solidifying. Although being out of round is not uncommon. I seem to remember when Lee first brought out their moulds..that the big advertising feature was their use of a hardened steel "bullet" being forced under pressure between the mould blocks.."coining" final size to shape & giving a mirror like finish..they no longer advertise this..has this process been dropped?

If I recall correctly, Lee stated that their round ball molds were machined and then a carbide ball of " proper size" was inserted and then the mold halves pressed together. But that was awhile ago. If that still happens, I don't know

[dragon813gt]

Tim,
Richard Lee has written a book or two and I've never seen him disparage a competitor in writing.
One could stand to learn quite a bit from Mr. Richard Lee. Both in the world of metallic cartridges and running a business.

I suggest you go back and read the book again. He calls out one particular vendor by name. And while not directly naming the competition. He talks about how his products are superior. I don't expect any less because he is trying to sell his product. But he does exactly what you don't like.

Tim's comments are in line and nothing is wrong w/ them. The fan boys get hurt when people bring up facts about a poor product. Most of my bench is made up of Lee products. But I use other brands because in some instances they make the better tool. Molds is at the top of that list.

It is 100% true that if it wasn't for Lee's products a lot less people would start reloading/casting. They have helped the hobby tremendously. But maybe they are a curse? Just imagine how easy it would be to purchase components if 75% less people were reloading

[Ausglock]

Hardline now do a 6 Cavity

[Gtek]

There are some of us that demand and expect quality from ourselves and others. I am a life long aircraft mechanic, how about I start pushing half ***, well it's close work out of the hangar for the people that prefer the low end stuff! Now you are going to tell me the difference between the two aren't you? Isn't the first one on the list freedom of speech, I heard no one scream fire. I have copies of it here in my home, and while the PC police have trained otherwise I have not seen- We have the right not to be offended/disturbed. Mr. Tim and I said we own them, we paid the money. 2+2=4 and sometimes Lee's quality SUCKS!

[birddseedd]

its not actually yelling fire that is the issue, frankly, if you yell anything that causes public panic you are going to get into trouble. its causing panic that you are getting in trouble for. brandish a toy gun and youll get into the same trouble.

its a piss poor argument anti gun folks try to use to support banning guns.

i know my comment is not relivant to the ongoing conversation

[Moonie]

How can a mold and boolit have exactly the same dimensions? Has no one else noticed this? Are you using a micrometer to measure or a caliper, how are you measuring the mold?

I find this curious, if they were indeed exactly the same size the boolit would not easily drop out, boolits shrink and release once they cool. This is a well known fact and they shrink different amounts depending on the alloy.

Not trying to disparage your character, just wondering about the discrepancy in your findings and well discussed physical properties of casting and boolit shrinkage during casting.


Also, not defending bad molds from Lee but I have received bad and out of spec molds from our wonderful custom makers. I've never recieved a Lee mold I couldn't get to work but I can't make cavities smaller on out of spec custom molds at considerably more cost (even after one was replaced due to damaged caused during manufacture, the boolits are too large)

[birddseedd]

caliper. i know its not the most accurate, but it is what i have. obviously the bullet is smaller, just not smaller enough to for the sensitivity of the caliper. however, .355 to .358 is enough that even a caliper can tell the mold is screwy.

iv gotten conflicting information on what size the bullet should be. most recently i was told the bullet should be .360. .01 larger than the bore. I thought it was .001 larger. the size bullets this mold is supposed to be dropping is .001 larger (.356)

?

ty

[MBTcustom]

Tim,

With all due respect, I've always found it in poor taste for one businessman to bash another.
It's one thing to point out flaws in one's product and the benefits of one over the other, but in my opinion, you've crossed a line with your written comments on LEE Precision. Richard Lee has written a book or two and I've never seen him disparage a competitor in writing.
One could stand to learn quite a bit from Mr. Richard Lee. Both in the world of metallic cartridges and running a business.

Forgive me gentlemen for sidetracking from the intent of this thread, but I must answer this as my integrity has been brought into question here. I bear no ill will about that, as a mans integrity must ALWAYS be questioned.
Wilco sir, with all due respect (and you have my respect sir) I think you misunderstand my comments and you also misunderstand my thoughts towards Richard Lee and the products he sells.
I did not set out to bash Lee products here, any more than you would be bashing all Remington products because a guy showed up to an F class match with a Remington 710 and was complaining that his rifle was junk.
You would tell him that if he expected to be competitive and enjoy himself at a match then he brought the wrong gun to the bench. My comments were meant in the same spirit.

My personal feelings toward Richard Lee and the products he sells are very high indeed. He has revolutionized the shooting industry and has exhibited superb skill in design and engineering to overcome inexpensive materials, thereby placing very acceptable reloading equipment in the hands of poor people (myself being one of them from time to time).
That can never be taken from him, and if you suppose me to be disparaging his good name here or elsewhere, I will lay my hand over my mouth and utter not another word or keystroke. No sir, that was not my intention at all.
since that is the impression I gave, I will very humbly beg your pardon.

The context of my comments must be taken into consideration, and I would ask you to do so.
The OP was disappointed by a Lee mold, that may actually shoot just fine in another firearm because said mold was casting out of round boolits. (I would submit to you that they are all round when they leave the barrel, but I digress.)
My opinion is that the OP is asking a lot of a Lee mold (especially now that we know the measurements were taken with calipers).
My opinion was that if you are going to judge a mold by workmanship and the perfection with which the boolits drop on the bench, then Lee molds are not often capable of blowing my skirt up in this regard. They often shoot amazingly well, but the mold quality is like all of the rest of Lee's equipment: It's got it where it counts.
If a Lee mold doesn't drop acceptable boolits, the solution is to do things that I would never in a million years do to a custom mold in order to make it perform better. There are stickies written on how to get Lee molds to behave properly for a reason: Often they dont.
Does that detract from Richard Lee or the molds he produces? No sir. In fact, you might say that I was defending Richard Lee's molds by putting them in their correct context and pointing the OP to products that he would not likely be disappointed in.

Thank you.

[theperfessor]

Remember that the mold expands when hot. The question is how much does the mold cavity expand going from room temperature to 400F, and how much does the lead alloy shrink from its melting/freezing point to room temperature. Aluminum has a rather large expansion coefficient of about 0.0000124 in/in-F. Lead has an even larger expansion coefficient of 0.0000163, so it would seem that the bullet would shrink more going from its melting/freezing point of about 621F to room temperature. This would seem to indicate that the cavity could not be the same size as the resulting (lead) bullet. I don't what alloying does to the expansion coefficient, and I don't know if there are any phase changes in solid lead alloys as they cool that could cause an additional size change.

[Hamish]

Buying Lee moulds is like pulling the handle on a slot machine,,,,,,,,,,,,

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Remember that the mold expands when hot. The question is how much does the mold cavity expand going from room temperature to 400F, and how much does the lead alloy shrink from its melting/freezing point to room temperature
snip...

I am under the impression that as a aluminum mold expands as it heats up to casting temperature, that the Cavity shrinks is size.
Am I wrong ?
Jon

[birddseedd]

Forgive me gentlemen for sidetracking from the intent of this thread, but I must answer this as my integrity has been brought into question here. I bear no ill will about that, as a mans integrity must ALWAYS be questioned.
Wilco sir, with all due respect (and you have my respect sir) I think you misunderstand my comments and you also misunderstand my thoughts towards Richard Lee and the products he sells.
I did not set out to bash Lee products here, any more than you would be bashing all Remington products because a guy showed up to an F class match with a Remington 710 and was complaining that his rifle was junk.
You would tell him that if he expected to be competitive and enjoy himself at a match then he brought the wrong gun to the bench. My comments were meant in the same spirit.

My personal feelings toward Richard Lee and the products he sells are very high indeed. He has revolutionized the shooting industry and has exhibited superb skill in design and engineering to overcome inexpensive materials, thereby placing very acceptable reloading equipment in the hands of poor people (myself being one of them from time to time).
That can never be taken from him, and if you suppose me to be disparaging his good name here or elsewhere, I will lay my hand over my mouth and utter not another word or keystroke. No sir, that was not my intention at all.
since that is the impression I gave, I will very humbly beg your pardon.

The context of my comments must be taken into consideration, and I would ask you to do so.
The OP was disappointed by a Lee mold, that may actually shoot just fine in another firearm because said mold was casting out of round boolits. (I would submit to you that they are all round when they leave the barrel, but I digress.)
My opinion is that the OP is asking a lot of a Lee mold (especially now that we know the measurements were taken with calipers).
My opinion was that if you are going to judge a mold by workmanship and the perfection with which the boolits drop on the bench, then Lee molds are not often capable of blowing my skirt up in this regard. They often shoot amazingly well, but the mold quality is like all of the rest of Lee's equipment: It's got it where it counts.
If a Lee mold doesn't drop acceptable boolits, the solution is to do things that I would never in a million years do to a custom mold in order to make it perform better. There are stickies written on how to get Lee molds to behave properly for a reason: Often they dont.
Does that detract from Richard Lee or the molds he produces? No sir. In fact, you might say that I was defending Richard Lee's molds by putting them in their correct context and pointing the OP to products that he would not likely be disappointed in.

Thank you.

so how much for a mold 5 cav at least, that will drop perfect .356 rounds?

[MBTcustom]

Like I said, crack off a Benjamin and its yours.
Twice the cost for twice the mold.
Check it out:
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...8so74h0rsleok6
http://www.lbtmoulds.com/pdf/2007CATALOG.pdf
http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=3
http://www.mp-molds.com/index.php?pr=Molds
http://www.appcastingco.com/about-us/

[birddseedd]

Like I said, crack off a Benjamin and its yours.
Twice the cost for twice the mold.
Check it out:
http://noebulletmolds.com/NV/index.p...8so74h0rsleok6
http://www.lbtmoulds.com/pdf/2007CATALOG.pdf
http://www.accuratemolds.com/catalog.php?page=3
http://www.mp-molds.com/index.php?pr=Molds
http://www.appcastingco.com/about-us/

which one is for tumble lube?

side question, why hollow point? those are usually used for self defense.