I guess I don't get it .

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RBHarter
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I guess I don't get it .

Post by RBHarter »

I don't understand . Every now and then someone posts " I have a shoe box full of Lee moulds that ____________ , I'm going to toss " , so I send a PM " hey I've a club foot kid that wants to cast but has all the grace and smooth of a 16 yo asking the cute girl out and I'd hate to have him start with my NOE moulds " or something equally as clever . Looks like about 1/5 has paid off . Eager to see how terrible the moulds are I rubbed the rust of the really bad 1s and did a little prep on them all got them warmed up and poured a few . I don't think a couple of the moulds were even used . As a last bit they are all the old style moulds .
IMG_20170304_113117916.jpg
In the mix , an original Bator 22 , 285-130, 309-130, 312362 (? A Lyman 30 cal 100 gr RN plain base ) , 401-145 , 430-214 and 456-220 RN .

Outside of some lube wandering and mould temps being low there didn't seem to be any difficulties .

The Bator .
It has a weird step on the nose , I'm thinking it was a second maybe . It also has almost no step for the gas check . Not necessarily a bad thing for squirrel wreckers and general practice. They seem to weigh the correct 50 gr and are .226 with a .218 GC shank.

The 100 gr Lyman
I paid good money for this 1 . It is fussy about how it pours but as iron moulds go once it gets up to temperature it runs well and makes a nice PB 97 gr RN of .312 . Probably a little bit small for its intended 32 pistols but fine for the 30-30 and 308 plinking and squirrel duty.

The 309-130 RN
This is a single , GC mould I never did get it up to temperature with the pre heat or casting but that isn't a mould fault . The weight is on and the last 2 pretty bullets cast were about .312 bands , .287 GC shank , .301 nose and 127 gr . I think if the pot is a little hotter these will run better , but the pot is down at 710 in deference to the 5-6 cavity 45s I've been running .

The 285-130 RN.
Is a single also I thought I had this in a 2C also it turns out it is a different bullet . This one has a longer nose than the 2C mould . These show 133 gr , .260 GC , .287 bands and .275 nose . This guy was on the hot plate quite a while and the 3rd pour gave me keepers . No issues here either except being a single cavity mould .

The 401-145 .
These came up pretty quickly also inspite of being pestered about coming up for lunch . .4037 bands at 153gr . I'll have to run a hundred or so and see how the 40 likes these . No issues casting these either . Only 3-4 pours and keepers fell free easily .

The 429-214
Just a few pours and keepers fell free easily and tip in at 212 and 213 gr @ .433 . By this time I had dumped the sprues and rejects back in the pot and should have fluxed but I got lazy and sense there isn't any use for 44s this was just to check out the mould and see just how bad it really is .......Kind of a let down , it worked just like it was supposed to ... +guns

The 456-220
I think this is the conical for the Ruger old army .
In just a few pours it was hot and poured frosty bullests with a .452 base , .456 middle and .462 on the front band / bottom of the ogive at 232 . Giving me the option of course to feed them to the assorted 45s so no problem with not having an ROA .

I can't see what the deal is . Is it that I have enough time in with casting aluminum moulds that I just find the hidden tweeks and run them ? Maybe there's enough wrong with me that I make the poor grade moulds look good ? Maybe I'm not picky enough to know there's some obvious problem ....

I wouldn't say that these are better or easier to work with than the iron moulds or the more expensive NOE , RCBS ,Lyman , LBT or Cramers that I have and use . There is a difference and it is worth the money particularly in smaller calibers . For the larger calibers outside of particular designs I don't see the difference being as big.
No way I'd trade my 454424 NOE for a 452-252 but the 452-255 RF is no contest and the 6C Lee wins . For 225s my NOE gets the nod . 35s are a toss by choice .

These 6 free Lee moulds are are the best money I've spent on moulds bar none . They are in spec and easy to get running with a little care .
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Re: I guess I don't get it .

Post by akuser47 »

Nothing wrong with being so comfortable casting that you make it seem easy even when old dirty molds are used. Nice find.
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Re: I guess I don't get it .

Post by Ranch Dog »

I've acquired a bit of equipment the same way. "If you are going to chunk it, I will pay $X for you to ship it to me. Have all kinds of stuff. Some I use, some I store, and some I pass on to others that might need it.

I cast with some "2nds" and returns from my mold business. I've found nothing wrong with them. I have long forgotten the percent, but most of my warranty return molds cast bad because they were sprayed with some type of aerosol mold prep. I've just followed the simple Lee instructions and always have a good session. I also have Accurate, and NOE molds but my first choice remain my custom Lee molds.

Now that I figured out the Load-Master, I'm on the hunt for someone who is ready to toss one and is trash talking it. My nephew needs one.
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Re: I guess I don't get it .

Post by RBHarter »

akuser47 wrote:Nothing wrong with being so comfortable casting that you make it seem easy even when old dirty molds are used. Nice find.
A couple of these looked to be unused .
I have a "good" mould that still doesn't talk to me I'm yet to get 5/5 out of it , always a cold hole or sprue , just a quirk of that particular mould I guess . I have a pretty good routine for casting but I'm no master .
IMG_20170304_113014357.jpg
The lower right corner is the Bator with the shouldered nose flat .
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