Disappointed in Lee 7/8 slug mold.

[PepeLapiu]

So I finally started casting some slugs. I selected the Lee 7/8oz because it seems to be tge most accurate out of smooth bore barrels and both my shotguns are smooth bore.

First Lee mold I bought only lasted me 2 casting sessions (about 200 slugs each session) before failure. The mold is dinged up and tgat's most likely my fault because I didn't lubricate tge mold sufficiently.

The second Lee mold I bought after the 2nd session would start loosening up and now both the sprue plate screw and the center pin screw are stripped.

Lee needs to use stainless steel instead of easily stripped soft aluminum for their molds.

Now I am considering getting the Lyman parachute looking pellet slug. But I'd need to get rifled barrels for my shotguns to shoot that slug.

Very disappointed in Lee.

Anybody else has found a way to make that Lee slug mold work for them?

[Hogtamer]

I use baby oil along the way, and tap, not beat with wooden mallet if necessary. So, of the ones you cast, what was your load?

[PepeLapiu]

I have not loaded anything yet.
I am still awaiting my shotshell liason manuals.

Maybe that was my problem. I was beating it up pretty badly. I am going to try one more Lee slug mold. One more and that's it. I will get a wooden broom handke and tap very gently. And if that still doesn't work, I'll need to find some alternative slug mold.

I still say Lee should be making their molds out of stainless steel, not weak soft aluminum.

At higher temperatures, even if the aluminum doesn't yet melt, it still gets weaker and softer from the heat.

It would also really be a nice touch if Lee made their casting pot out of stainless steel so it wouldn't rust from the first use. And impurities would less likely stick to the pot.

[longbow]

Lee moulds aren't generally that bad.

Did you pre-heat the mould and keep it hot during casting? I find that with HB or HP moulds there tends to be sticking if the mould is not up to temperature.

Use a little sprue plate lube or 2 stroke motor oil to lube the sprue plate and alignment pins.

If after pre-heating the slugs still stick then check for burrs. Lee moulds are soft aluminum and often have small burrs around the cavity edges or on the HB pin. If burrs are found CAREFULLY remove them and the sticking issues should go away.

By the way, stainless steel is a poor mould material. Aluminum is fine and many good quality moulds are made of aluminum NOE and Accurate being two makers that use aluminum though of higher strength than Lee moulds. Iron and brass are two other common materials for moulds.

Your choices for slug moulds are pretty limited for hollow base moulds for smoothbore shotguns. Lee and Lyman being the two main commercial manufacturers.

There are custom makers like Brooks but you will pay extra for the quality and custom/semi custom making of an individual mould.

Lyman makes two styles of hollow base slug moulds:

- sabot slug (the hourglass airgun pellet shaped mould)
- Foster slug

I believe that the Lyman sabot slug mould can be used with reasonable success in smoothbore to 50 yards or so but have been told that it becomes unstable at transonic velocities from smoothbore. I have not used that slug so cannot offer first hand experience.

The Lyman Foster slug is intended for smoothbores but in my experience and reading of other's experiences, it casts significantly undersize so has to obturate to fill the bore. Mine casts at 0.705" and I have never been able to get decent accuracy from it using either Lyman loading recipes or recipes recommended by others.

Have you considered round balls?

I have had very good succes using three sizes:

- 0.662"
- 0.678"
- 0.735"

The 0.662" and 0.678" fit into standard shotcups and the 0.735" is shot naked over a hard card wad column. All have produced quite good accuracy of 3" to 4" groups to at least 50 yards. Accuracy does not hold up to 100 yards though as the balls often pick up a spin and start to veer off course somewhere after 60 o 70 yards. Some 100 yard groups are good but too many fliers and unpredictable accuracy.

The undersize round balls can be shot through a choke depending on fit of ball and shotcup but the 0.735" ball has to be shot from cylinder bore.

Many people have had good success using 0.690" balls as well but I am not one. I have found that it is too large for most shotcups I can get hold of an dI have not managed to get decent consistent accuracy. The other three work well for me though.

A benefit of the 0.662" and 0.678" balls are that they run about an ounce so any 1 oz. to 1 1/8 oz. shot or slug recipe can be used.

Round balls are very easy to cast as well and Lee makes a 0.690" ball mould so inexpensive if you want to try that one. My recommendation is to by a Lyman or RCBS 0.678" ball mould if you want to try round balls. Both the Lyman and RCBS moulds are iron so considerably tougher than Lee aluminum though you should not be beating a mould of any material... nor should you have to if you care using good casting techniques.

Longbow

Longbow

[elvas]

PepeLapiu,
The Lyman Sabot Slug mold could be used in smoothbore barrels as well. No need for a rifled one.

[PepeLapiu]

What do you guys use for lube in the Lee mold?
I am going to give the Lee obe more try.

And yes, I leave my pot to heat up at least 20 minutes at the highest setting before starting to cast.
And I leave my mold dipping in the lead to warm up for at least 20 seconds.

The slugs are coming out frosty looking and all well filled so I think both the lead and mold are hot enough.

[PepeLapiu]

I find that with HB or HP moulds there tends to be sticking if the mould is not up to temperature.

What's HB and HP stand for?

[bandsmoyer]

Be sure you're using pure lead. I've had that same mold for years, the only problem i had was with WW.

[William Yanda]

What's HB and HP stand for?

hollow base, hollow point?

[Maximumbob54]

What the heck do people do to destroy Lee molds??? I have over a dozen of them and have cast mountains of bullets with them just fine. What gives???

[MBTcustom]

You might try getting a thermometer and running your lead 100 degrees over the transition temperature from solid to liquid. You might also try setting your mold on a hotplate instead of in the lead.
450 degrees is a great starting point and is probably within 25 degrees +- of where you want to be.

The fact is, aluminum melts at 1220 degrees F. If you have your pot "set to it's highest setting" and it's getting up over 1000 degrees, and your mold is soaking at that temperature, then your mold is only a warm summers days worth of energy from being a puddle floating on top of your molten lead, or dripping off your handles. Regardless, you are drastically over heating your mold with at least double the temperature it needs to operate correctly. Which certainly WILL wear it out in short order.

That's what your problem is, and why your molds are wearing out so fast. Just add a little finesse to your process and your mold will last a good long time.

Also, Lee molds are probably actually HARDER than Accurate or NOE being they are made from extrusions, but either way, after a couple heat cycles, all the temper is gone out of the aluminum and it's all about the same. The custom boys make their blocks heavier though, with good chamfers on all the corners which does make them more robust and more resistant to damage.
That said, any Lee mold will give years of faithful service if used correctly. I've made many a fine cast bullet from a Lee mold.

[FullTang]

As noted above, Lee molds don't need very hot lead to work well---if the slugs come out frosty looking, that's way too hot. My Lee pot has never gone beyond #8 on the dial, and I usually throttle back to 6-7 while casting. The slugs do seem to do best with relatively pure lead (as it says all over the instructions.) Some alloys are just a lot "stickier" than others.
Commercial mold release spray (like Frankford Arsenal) works well for sticky molds, but I've found that some cheap Liquid Wrench Dry Lube I got for $3 at WalMart works just as well. Spray on, let dry, then cast away. Easier and more consistent than smoking the mold, though that works, too.

[longbow]

Use Bullplate lube or 2 stroke motor oil to lube the sprue plate and pins... just a light wipe with a Q-Tip so ensure there is a film of lube so the sprue plate doesn't gall the aluminum.

When I first started casting I was told to smoke the mould cavities to help release, which I used to do, but found that smoking or mould releases don't really do anything. Good clean cavities without burrs drop boolits. Sticking in cavities is caused by burrs, rough machining or poor release angles. With many moulds a light lapping (or Leementing) will remove imperfections and produce a fine casting/releasing mould.

With your slug mould Lapping is difficult due to the core pin.

You did not mention whether the slugs are sticking in the cavity or onto the core pin. My Lee 1 oz. mould had burrs on the core pin I had to remove before it would release well. Yes, you shouldn't have to "fix" a new product but for $25.00 Lee moulds are good value for money so if they require some TLC before use then mine get it. Beating the mould to death is not a good solution.

[PepeLapiu]

Good info guys. Tells me I did a lot of boo-boos.
Firstly, the mold would not fill out unless the Lee pot was dialed all the way up and allowed a good 15-20 to heat up good. And I also had to dip the mold into the pot for a while. If I didn't do all this, the mild would not fill out well.

Hopefully the Lee-mending article trick of oversizing the vent lines will help here.

Mainly the boolit would get stuck to the core pins, not the sides so much.

I can't polish the mold using the Lee-mending bullet and screw with Comet tip due to the core pins. But what I can do is polish the **** out of the mold and core pins with a dremel and some Comet.

Also I was using candle wax to lube the V groves and sprue screw. And I was using A LOT OF IT. But I'll switch to the synthetic 2 stroke oil and q-tip trick.

The sprue screw is a very shallow screw with very few threads on it. I am just going to drill a hole right through the mold and use a bolt and lock nut.

I think if I do all this I will be able to cast at much lower temperature and this should reduce the wear on the threads.

Thanx guys. Will be buying an other Lee mold tomorrow. If that one fails too, you all gotta chip in to pay me back that 35$.

[PepeLapiu]

My Lee pot has never gone beyond #8 on the dial, and I usually throttle back to 6-7 while casting.

Errrr. ..you must be using a metric Lee pot. Mine only goes as high as 7.

[Red River Rick]

Errrr. ..you must be using a metric Lee pot. Mine only goes as high as 7.

Metric Lee Pot..................hmmmm. Only in Canada!

RRR

[PepeLapiu]

Reminds me of how I trained my helper.
When he got a piece cut too short I would tell him not to use the metric inches.
And he replied "But I measure once and cut twice and it's still too short"

And when he cut something crooked I'd tell him to change his chalk line as the string on that one is bent out of shape.

[Hogtamer]

PePe, DO NOT "polish the**** out of the Lee mold" with anything, much less a dremel tool. DO NOT drill out the sprue or try to enlarge vent lines. Lube the mold a bit as stated, heat the mold a bit and start casting soon after the lead melts. The heat of the lead, after 2 or 3 pours will heat the mold to the correct temp and you will start dropping good slugs. Baby oil and a q-tip will work to lube, and if it smokes a little it's plenty hot. TAP lightly on the mold if necessary with A wooden tap, maybe an old hammer handle.

[PepeLapiu]

Did you read the Lee-mending article in the mold maintenance section?

Is it possible that you mainly have casted those 6 cavity molds?
The 1 cavity molds are acting up very differently than the 6 cavity molds from what I understand.

[PepeLapiu]

And how would polishing anything cause any damage to the mold? I can't see how polishing would remove anything more than .001 of aluminum if a very light abrasive like Comet is used.