SAECO mold

[HVACscott]

are SEACO molds as good as the price suggests?

[Teemu]

Only have one but nothing bad to say it.

[samari46]

Have three and find them to be much better than RCBS or Lyman molds in my experience. More expensive yes but the ones I have aren't going anywhere soon. Frank

[Walks]

Yep, they are Great molds

[Conditor22]

I have booth steel and brass, they both cast nicely for me.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Have a saeco by redding , single cavity shows a gap at the bottom , every once in awhile it has a small fin on the tip , not sure if it came like that or last owner did something , has no lead build up np dings or dents nothing else remiss with it , but you can see light through it .

Still makes good bullets it is 40 caliber at 375 grains marked as 412 but I come up with 411 , but all in all it drops nice bullets , came with a rifle I am waiting for the instant delay system to give me permission for a Constitutional right .

[onelight]

I have a 32 , 95gn Rn , 2 cavity that is easy to cast with and shoots good in 32 s&w and h&r .

[Petrol & Powder]

I have a few and they are excellent molds.
They are expensive but like many high quality tools, they are a one time purchase.
I would put their quality on par with RCBS with SAECO holding the advantage of being available in 3 and 4 cavity models if you want.

If RCBS offers the bullet profile you want and you're ok with only 2 cavities, RCBS may be the less expensive way to go. But if you want more than 2 cavities, you have to look elsewhere.

[oldhenry]

I have 4 of the 4 cav. & like them. I also have several of the 4 cav. Lyman. The SAECOs are lighter & their overall size is much smaller than the Lyman. This puts the cavities closer together, so they heat up faster. With the SAECOs in a long casting session I use 2 molds alternating. Of course I could utilize a damp towel to control the heat buildup, but production is better alternating.

My 81 year old hands like the SAECOs.

[dale2242]

I have had Saeco molds thru the years.
They are excellent.

[toallmy]

In my very limited mold collection I have several saeco 2 - 4 cavity molds and very much enjoy casting with them , . But at the cost of a new saeco mold - the custom mold makers usually win out when I order a new mold .

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

YES, worth the price!
When I started casting, a friend sold me all his casting stuff. In the mix was a couple 4 cavity Lyman molds and a couple 4 cavity Saeco molds...all were purchased new by the seller in the 1980s. The Saeco are excellent casting molds right from the getgo. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of the Lyman molds, just too heavy, and I sold those Lymans and their goofy nutcracker handles. I still have one of the Saeco molds (#411) and it is one of my favorite SWC for the 41Mag.

[lotech]

I probably have twenty, though some are never used anymore. Most of mine I bought more than twenty years ago. These are good moulds.

[greenjoytj]

I have a SAECO #955 .452”/.454” 255 grain RNFP my first .45x size mold for 45 Colt.
This iron 4 cavity mold dropped bullets at .4561” dia. at 262grs with 20:1 Rotometal alloy the last time I cast with it.
The large dia. makes the bullet tough to size to .452” sizing can almost smear away the crimp groove. Even though SAECO advertises the bullet for .452”/.454” it clearly is for .454” barrels, that was a disappointment. Learn by burn.
This mold is very well built I liked casting with it too bad they cast so large.
I tried using a LEE up sizer die then used the lubri-sizer, the crimp groove didn’t get smeared away but large base fining occurred after passage through the LEE sizer, the finns were annoyingly difficult to remove by cutting off with a razor blade I gave up trying.
If I could figure out a better way to remove the base finning without damaging the base edges I would start to use the bullet again it was a good bullet.

I’ve move on to a Lyman 452664 four cavity bevel base RNFP mold which is presenting its own set of issues the biggest is the out of round casting. The mold stretches lengthwise along the part line I think due to heat expansion so bullets measure larger diameter at the part line than across the part line.

[RKJ]

I've got 2 that I got used and they are excellent. They would be the last ones I'd give up.

[rintinglen]

Short answer--no, they are not. Like Petrol and Powder, I find them to be RCBS, but half again as expensive. They are better than Lyman, but you can get Accurate, MP or NOE of better quality for significantly less. Some would have you believe they are the second coming of H&G, but that is not my experience.

[Hanzy4200]

I own one 2 cavity. Picked it up at a gun show for $15 with handles. Was somewhat beat up and had old oil gunk all over it. I cleaned it up, and that mold casts like a dream. I had intended to trade or sell it, but I liked it so much it earned a place in my mold stack.

I think they are fantastic molds, but the new price is to high. RCBS is nearly as good, and custom makers like Accurate are better at a lower cost.

[toallmy]

I believe they are the second best mold compared to H&G in ( a hard metal 4 cavity ) and they are still in production , but you can get new 4 cavity brass and aluminum molds at 1/3 - 1/2 the cost of a new saeco 4 cavity now .

[DonHowe]

In my limited experience Saeco molds are more expensive than LymN or RCBS but better quality than either. The material and workmanship of Saeco molds is what I expect of quality tool. I hade 2 RCBS molds, both bought new, and both dropped out off round bullets. Nearly every Lyman mold I have used exhibit this trait ad well
I have had several high quality custom iron molds and believe Saecos workmanship is on par with them. The difference between a production Saeco and, for example, the Steve Brooks lathe bored mold I owned is that with the alloy specified Brooks' mold dropped bullets right on the specified diameter. You are lucky toget that in a production mold.

[fredj338]

They are great molds BUT, for the price I would go to Accurate. Unless you must have a RN design, Accurate molds are very good quality. I have a couple 2cav Saeco for my magma & a 4cav for hand casting. They are great molds bu really expensive today. I have had the 2cav molds for about 15y, the 4cav was only a couple years ago & I bought that with a 50% OFF cert, still well over $100. The handles are also stupid expensive.