I'm sure someone came up with this already.
To smoke my six banger mold I heaped some sawdust in the Lee melter.
Smoked that mold, and the garage.
I'm sure someone came up with this already.
To smoke my six banger mold I heaped some sawdust in the Lee melter.
Smoked that mold, and the garage.
My LEE 250g 45 mould's cam/handle has boken off so many times its not funny. I rewelded it multiple times but it breaks at the edge of the weld. I just stopped welding it and wack the stub with my hickory handle like a normal mould.
I find preheating it for an hour first helps.
Send the broken piece back to Lee, they'll replace it for you free. An hour seems pretty excessive for preheat, what are you using to preheat?
Nozombies.com Practical Zombie Survival
Collecting .32 molds. Please let me know if you have one you don't need, cause I might "need" it!
If your breaking the sprue cutting handle, your waiting too long with too cool a mold. The sprue plate has to be moved as soon as the last sprue chills. A 6 cav mold needs serious preheating and no time spent looking at the boolits, between pours.
I have 16 LEE 6 cav molds and have never had a problem cutting the sprue with minimal force.
I bought a repair kit just in case I had the problem others reported. It's still unopened.
Give LEE a chance to make it right. They have always done right by me.
You also need to make sure that the sprue plate is FULLY closed before you cast. Otherwise the little cam can't do its job correctly. That requires lots more force to be exerted where it shouldn't need to be.
Rick
____________________________
If it looks plumbous, I'll probably try making bullets out of it. Dean Grennell
I am a newcomer to this site. I am sure this has been hashed out many times before, but can't find the threads. Which is the best (quality) of these two molds--RCBS or Lyman? Thanks in advance for your information.
O. P. Holder
Great topic, I like the idea of using the drywall screw having a greater surface area counter sunk into the aluminum rather than a steel pin or set screw that might eventually start sinking into the aluminum block. I am fortunate to live close to Lee Manufacturing. I call explain what I'm looking for they get it ready for pick-up and away you go. A friend had a problem with a die, we took it back and and were told to wait a few minutes and they had it corrected.
They are very nice to work with, just wish they had factory prices rather than dealer volume prices. We pay more out the door although save on shipping which ends to be a wash.
Used my 1st 6 cav yesterday. Much faster then my old 2 cav. The only thing I need to change is to a 20 pound pot instead of 10lb.
I am having trouble chambering boolits in my lever 357. The edge of the forward driving band catches on the bottom lip of the chamber. I need suggestions as to the best mold to use to correct this--preferably gas checked.
The two problem boolits I am using are Lee C358-158-SWC and RCBS 38-150 SWC.
For those of you having problems with Lee Liquid Alox and tumble lube, I highly recommend that you try the Recluse formula, 45/45/10.
There have been several threads on its preparation and use, all here on this forum.
Its easy and very effective, and a lot faster as well.
Jerry
Carolina Cast Bullets
Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional ! ! !
Hey Slick--any pics of that finished mould? I wanna see that sprue plate bolt--and what is the purpose for changing it??
Hey all. Total noob here. I read every post and the two links to mold prep were great. However, I want to do this right. Could anybody make a drawing or take a picture and show WHERE I need to lube my mold. I know the pins, but all the different screws and pivots confuse me...should I unscrew and lube...do I just but the lube on the sides of the screws...do I need to/how should I lube the sprew plate...etc
Any help on how and where would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, the sprue plate should be lubed. Get some Bullplate, or some fully synthetic 2 stroke oil, and using a Q-Tip lightly moistened with the lube, coat the bottom of the sprue plate, and the tops of the mould blocks with the lube. While doing that, with the same LIGHTLY moistened Q-Tip, touch the pins, as well as the screws on the top of the mould. (I lube the sprue plate pivot screw, the retaining screw, and the screw that holds the cam lever to the sprue plate on a Lee six cavity mould).
Again, I can't over emphasize that you need to use very little lube. With a Q-Tip, if you dunked it in the lube, squeeze it against a paper towel to absorb some of the oil, as you have to be very careful not to get any in the mould cavities! I also give the top of the sprue plate a light coating as that helps to keep the sprue from sticking to the sprue plate. The hinge bolt of the handles should also get some lube, here you don't need to be as careful, and can use more lube than you did on the mould itself.
The idea behind lubing the top of the blocks, and the bottom of the sprue plate (and the top of it for that matter) is to keep lead that's not totally solidified from sticking to either the sprue plate, or the tops of the blocks. I find that after doing this the first couple of times using a mould that it's not necessary to do it each time you use the mould. Before you start casting with the mould, see if you can feel a slight film of lube on the bottom of the sprue plate, if you can, you probably don't need to reapply the lube. If during a casting session you see lead starting to stick to the tops of the blocks, or the bottom of the sprue plate, you can take a short break from casting to reapply the lube. But remember, it's very important to keep the lube out of the cavities! If you lube the mould like this, and you've inspected the mould beforehand to make sure there are no burrs on the edges of the cavities, you should have a good casting session with your mould!
- MikeS
Want to checkout my feedback? It's here:
http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/...d.php?t=136410
Take a look at THIS!
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TO ALL: try using www.surplusrifleforum.com . they have had server problems and I believe they went to a new server sight. God Bless to all.
Goofy
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America " for an amount of "up to and including my life."
On the subject of the Lee 6 cavity moulds, has Lee standardized the handles for these? Can you use the two cavity handles on the 6 cav moulds, or do you need to buy a dedicated set?
Thanks
"Experience is a series of non-fatal mistakes"
Disarming is a mistake free people only get to make once...
Do you mean Lee's 2 cavity handles? They are part of the 2 cavity mould assembly and not removable.
Even if you did manage to remove them, they would be too small to fit the 6 cavity mould.
The handles Lee offer seperately are for their 6 cavity moulds, and will fit many other makes of moulds as well, sometimes requiring a bit of grinding to fit.
Thanks, that's the info I was looking for.
"Experience is a series of non-fatal mistakes"
Disarming is a mistake free people only get to make once...
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |