Lee Molds

[flatnose]

Seems I must learn the hard way. I bought a 6 cavity Lee and it was really bad. So being the brilliant guy I am I tried one more and it is worse. I only use Accurate and Arsenal molds except for the many RCBS and Lyman i have had for years but I thought I would save a dollar. BIG MISTAKE. How does Lee get by with making such cheap junk? Oh yea people like me try them!! Tom at Accurate I wont stray again.

[ranger391xt]

What problems did you encounter? Which mold did you get?

I have three lee 6 cavity molds ĺAll in pistol calibers) that all cast fine. I also use Lyman, MP and also have an H&G, so I have cast with a variety and some that higher quality.

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[justindad]

I got fed up with bullets in my aluminum NOE molds sticking too much. Lyman can’t produce a mold with concentric cavities. Iron and brass from RCBS, Saeco, and MP are all that’s on my radar these days.

[Bazoo]

I've had about 50% success ratio with Lee moulds. Some are undersized in the smallest cross-section. Other than that, I've not had much in the way of complaints. They all have cast pretty good. I regret selling a few good ones, because it took some doings to find them. One of my favorites is a Ranch Dog 432-265-RF.

I've had several flops from Lyman, both used and new.

RCBS has all been good ones.

I currently don't have any accurate, but have had one in the past, and it was a joy to use.

Never had an NOE or MP

[poppy42]

Well I tell you What, send all your horrible Lee molds to me and I’ll give them a proper burial for ya!!!!! Free of charge!

[flatnose]

I got fed up with bullets in my aluminum NOE molds sticking too much. Lyman can’t produce a mold with concentric cavities. Iron and brass from RCBS, Saeco, and MP are all that’s on my radar these days.

You owe it to yourself to try Accurate. You wont ever go back.

[flatnose]

Well I tell you What, send all your horrible Lee molds to me and I’ll give them a proper burial for ya!!!!! Free of charge!

Too late I threw them all in the can so i am never tempted to try it again. Life is too short to bother with that.

[flatnose]

I've had about 50% success ratio with Lee moulds. Some are undersized in the smallest cross-section. Other than that, I've not had much in the way of complaints. They all have cast pretty good. I regret selling a few good ones, because it took some doings to find them. One of my favorites is a Ranch Dog 432-265-RF.

I've had several flops from Lyman, both used and new.

RCBS has all been good ones.

I currently don't have any accurate, but have had one in the past, and it was a joy to use.

Never had an NOE or MP

Accurate has some limitations on design but if they have what you want you wont be sorry.

[ukrifleman]

Nothing wrong with Lee 6 cavity moulds if they are heated correctly.
I use a Lee 6cav mould for the 160gn .312 bullet and initially had problems.
The large steel sprue plate takes longer to heat up than the aluminium mould itself and can cool the alloy as you fill the mould, resulting in poor casting.
I tried turning up the alloy temperature and dipping the mould into the pot without success.
I then read a post on another forum that suggested using a hot plate to heat up the steel sprue plate and it worked!
I now preheat the sprue plate and get consistently good casts.
ukrifleman

[Targa]

I have been lucky, I have a dozen Lee molds and they all cast as well as my high dollar molds.

[schutzen-jager]

totally gave up on LEE + all their products last year after dealing with their complete lack of any reliable + fair customer service - what was once the best is now the worst -

[45DUDE]

I have never owned one and bought two 6 cavity Lee in the last month. After a hundred or so boolits they started dropping good and they like to run hot. I'm not sure they will cast in cold weather but that's a while off. I wish they made 4 cavity. Both of mine drop boolits without whacking. I will buy another next time I need one. My iron molds are getting heavy.

[Larry Gibson]

I currently have 93 moulds.

31 of them are Lee moulds.

I also have MP, accurate, NOE, Lyman and RCBS moulds along with a couple other odds n ends.

I still have the first 2 Lee moulds I bought in '74 and they still cast excellent bullets. Fourteen of the Lee moulds are 6 cavity. I have had numerous other Lee moulds all of which also cast excellent bullets. They were sold or traded off for other reasons none of which was because they were bad moulds. I have cast untold thousands of bullets with Lee moulds with no serious problems encountered that were not my own fault. All problems were resolved, and the moulds continue in use. Lee Moulds do take a little more preparation when new than do custom moulds but once that is done they are very good moulds. There is a reason you pay 1/2 or more for the Lee than you do a custom moulds......it's in the final finishing.

It's also in the incorrect use of Lee moulds, especially the 6 cavity moulds that can lead to problems. Note; I am not talking about any real manufacturing defects. I've seen a lot of pictures of moulds posted on this forum over the years and also see a lot of used moulds in LGSs across the country of which many were obviously abused or misused including more expensive moulds. Not saying those who've posted here have misused their moulds but many do who simply don't understand they are, that is all I'm saying.

I would dare say, that many who start with Lee moulds and criticize them heavily have, or will have, many of the same problems with the more expensive "custom" moulds.

[Carrier]

I don’t have the amount of moulds that most here have but of the 20 I have 18 are Lee. The only two that have given issues is one a 6 hole from Big Lube that is a Lee. It would cast bullets .460 to .462. I finally was able to get the heat and mix right and have them dropping at .455ish and can be sized ok now. Took a lot of work on my part to get them right but works well.
The other one is a TL356-124-2R 6 Cavity Mold that was just horrible in finish and cast severely out of round bullets. Sent it to Lee and got in big argument with the “tech” there. Finally they sent a new one which was slightly better but still had daylight showing at bottom of mould and bullets still out of round though not as bad.
I heated that mould up with a mapp gas torch put it in a vise and tightened as hard as I could and left it overnight.
That mould now casts bullets about as perfect as a mould can.
Most of my Lee moulds are one or two hole and I have never had issues with them it only seems to be the six hole ones.
I have a couple of steel Lyman moulds that work well but that’s the extent of my mould experience.
I would like to try some of the higher end moulds but with the situation up here in Canada we may find ourselves casting but nothing to shoot them with soon.

[Iowa Fox]

totally gave up on LEE + all their products last year after dealing with their complete lack of any reliable + fair customer service - what was once the best is now the worst -

From my experience with their current customer service I think John Lee better jump in or the kids are going to ruin 2 generations of hard work.

[Harter66]

You want to know what's really wrong with the vast majority of Lee moulds ?

It the buyer that expected them to work like , old Lyman , RCBS, NOE etc . You have to use them exactly like what they are , an entry level tool for a job that works . They will not ever be the more expensive tool any more than the better Ning Po wrenches will be Snap-on .

Stop messing with them and tuning them . Take the out of the box run a soapy tooth brush over them break the sprue plate edges on the 1&2 cav lube the pins and the hinge get em hot and work em like a rented mule . That cures about 90% of the bugs .

I have H&G , Cramer , Lachmiller, RCBS, Ideal , NEI , Mountain , MP Rapine, Lyman, and NOE moulds to go with the Lee's. Every single Lee that I've had to do stuff to was worked on to make it work like something else . I have 3 of probably 20 on hand and 40+ total that just aren't right a pair of .380 RB moulds and that .458-500 5R single . The RB holes aren't deep enough and the sprue leaves a huge flat at.370 not good in a hole that needs .375 to seal . The alignment pins on the nose end of the 500 are swaged up and frankly the mould block just isn't big enough for the bullet. I'll probably make a 450 gr HP or something of the like out of that one .

When good to better moulds , everything but Lee starts at $65 for singles and goes way over $150 for 5-12 cav and a Lee 6cav can be bought everyday for $50 and with the right sale for $38 I don't see the comparison.

[GregLaROCHE]

I have lots of LEE molds. They only two cavity, but work well for me. Probably the only mold I’m not happy with is an old Lyman that came with a gun that I bought.

[flatnose]

You can scrub, wash, heat and lube all the other things that are mentioned but that dont fix dimensions and blocks that dont close properly. I remember having an issue with a Lee collet crimper years ago and talked to John Lee on the phone and he solved it fast. I thought wow that is great service. Sadly that is gone now. So if you can just throw it all out and dont waste any time on them any longer. Life is too short. Just forget they exist.

[Soundguy]

I must have 20-30 lee molds with only 1 of them being problematic. Have plenty of lyman/ideal, mp ..etc.

Some molds are just a hair particular..but usually run ok once you find out what they want.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have bought a lot of Lee molds over the years, maybe 50? or maybe 75? I don't recall, but I have over 25 on the shelf right now. I did have two or three from all those that were dimensionally challenged, but the only other problems I had were inflicted by my own two hamfists.

The worst offender of the dimensions was a Lee 2-cav 410-195-SWC, I think it dropped at .407 ...which is a pretty good Dimension for a lightweight boolit for a certain rifle.