Lee .40 175gr TC drops at .405"?

[NuJudge]

I am new to the .40 S&W. I bought a Lee 6-cavity 401-175-TC mold I expected to drop bullets of about .402" or .403" diameter. Before I bought the mold, I bought a .401" die for my Star Lubricator/sizer from Lathesmith. The bullets drop about .405".

Is this other people's experience? The lube groove is rather shallow, and my experience with sizing down .004" at the same time as lubing results in the lube groove disapppearing. Lubing before sizing does not, so I'm thinking about getting another lube die, about .404"

[Shiloh]

That is too small. What alloy are you using? Mine casts at .4015 using range scrap.

Shiloh

[Wayne R. Scott]

That is too small. What alloy are you using? Mine casts at .4015 using range scrap.

Shiloh

Help me out here, (I went to public school), isn't .405 larger than .4015?

Wayne

[9.3X62AL]

.405" too small? Not for 40 S&W! If you don't mind sizing twice, a .404" size die might be valid answer. I would be more inclined to return the mould and get one that casts as you expected, .402" or thereabouts. Your mould is well out-of-spec.

[462]

NuJudge,
Interesting. I just returned two Lee moulds that were .002" too small. Somewhere, somone has one that drops as advertized.

[Shiloh]

Sorry.

Misinterpretation. Read it as .4005.

Posted while watching "Bangkok Dangerous" with Mrs. Shiloh. Action movie with Nicholas Gage

[Kraschenbirn]

Hmmm...just cleaned, deburred, and polished a 2-holer for the TL version of that boolit this morning and it drops .4015 from both cavities using straight W-Ws. Actually, it didn't need a whole lot of work but it's a noob's first mould and I'm trying to get him started right.

Bill

[Greg in Malad]

It could be worse, I bought a 6-cavity .401-175-SWC tumble lube mold last week that drops .407. When they were cutting the mold, the boring bar chattered so bad that the bullets look hexagon shaped and it takes a screw driver to push the bullet out of the mold. I will send it back tomorrow.

[fatelk]

My Lee .40 six-cavity TC-TL mold casts at .405 also. I really should have returned them, but I didn't. By carefully watching lead and mold temp, I can get them a little smaller. I run them through a Lee .401 sizer, and tumble lube. Actually they work pretty good.

I know some will say that you get what you pay for, and if you buy cheap Lee molds you have no right to complain and just need to fix them yourself.

Personally I think it's reasonable to expect a product to work as advertised and guaranteed, and the manufacturer should make it right if it doesn't.

[greg1]

I agree with you, the product should work. I have tormented trying to get the Lee molds to work correctly. With suggestion from this site and vendors willing to exchange defective molds, I have several that work OK. I now have a .45 mold that is out of round and the sprue plate scrapes bad on the top of the mold. It throws on the high side at .455 and .4525 on the low. I would run it through my .452 Lee sizing die but it sizes at .451 even though it has .452 stamped on it. It is clean and no leading. I want to upgrade to RCBS or Lyman molds but with WW drying up around here, don't know how long it will be economical to try to cast.

[Greg in Malad]

Greg,
The sprue plate scraping usually is caused by a burr on the edge of the plate. Close the sprue plate slowly and see where it starts to hang up, then use a small fine tooth file or stone to remove it. Sandpaper wrapped around a dowel, spun in a drill will open up the size die. I buy all my Lee sizers undersize and hone them to the size I want.

[greg1]

Thanks for the quick reply. The mold came with scratches on the top of the mold. I did as you said and got it doing the way it should. I guess the sprue plate is stamped and it leaves a lot of roughness to scrape the aluminum. I will try your advice and try to get the sizer out to .452 or maybe .4525. I just loaded some that were "as cast" at .455/.4525. Haven't shot them yet. They will chamber.

[evan price]

I had a 6-cavity Lee 401-180-tc and it threw .410!
I sent it back to Lee and they sent me another one out that throws about .403. It is probably the nicest Lee 6-banger I have, right with the TL-429-240-tc I have that is second best. The boolits just fall out on their own.

Now, the TL-452-230-2R I have is a freaking nightmare, takes forever to heat up, makes wrinkly boolits, no 2 cavities are the same size...it may take the trip back to Mother to be replaced if it doesn't shape up.

[Harter66]

My 401-175 TC also drops at .405 with WW with commercial cores cut 25% with hard shot it drops at .403 and 182gr +-1. I've been happy to this pointas I've shot them in 3 pistols and a rifle to good effect.

[troy_mclure]

my 2 cav drops right at .401 with shot/2% pewter.

they weigh in right at 180gr.