man, I love six cavity moulds!!

[Slow Hand]

Woke up a little early this morning and spent about an hour and a half in front of the lead pot. Got up, plugged it in, came inside and had a cup of coffe and headed to the garage. When I was done, I had nearly 800 230 gr .45 bullets cast up! It's a Lee tumble lube mould, so they are drying right now with liquid Alox on them. Plan on running them through the sizer tomorrow, just to be safe and work on loading up at least 500 of them during the week. I've got a new .40 cal 180gr 6-cavity that I've not had a good chance to break in yet, but I think it might get a good workout tomorrow morning!

Did a little figuring and it was just over 26 pounds of lead through my little Lee bottom pour pot this morning!

Doug K

 

[6birds]

Nice! Just did another 3 pails of WW this week, gonna do another batch of 348 Win (350 dia) tomorrow.

 

[uniquejohn]

what type of sizer do you use?

 

[Slow Hand]

I've got an older Lyman 450, but with these bullets I tumble lube them with Lee liquid alox and use a Lee press mounted push through sizer. Very quick and easy. I've only had a few times of good luck with my old Lyman. I usually get lube over the ogive or under the base of the bullet. I prefer bullets lubed that way, but it just doesn't seem to work like it should for me.

Doug K

 

[Leadeye]

Those Lee sixes will make you a fast hand.

 

[Slow Hand]

Irony?

Here I am braggin about Lee moulds and then this happens!!

The boy is down for a nap, so I figured I'd use the time to cast up a big pile of 170gr .40 cal SWC's with my new Lee 6-cavity mould. Got the pot all warmed up with the mould sitting on top to pre-heat it, filled it up the first time and the handle snapped off in my hands! this is the same exact alloy I was using yesterday with no problems at all. I actually was planning on hardering it up a bit as my .40 loads are a bit higher pressure then the .45s. Sent an email to Lee and knowing their customer service, I'll have a new sprue cutter by the end of the week. Will update when something happens.

 

[jtb]

One trick is to fill just the front cavity and increase the number of cavities as the mold heats up. I keep a cheap hot plate on the bench to preheat molds and keep them up to temp while I take a break. I work on quite a few molds and have a spare parts box for these little glitches. Good excuse to buy some more molds, so ya can rob parts.

 

[Slow Hand]

Good idea on heating up one cavity at a time. I never thought of that. I do try and fill from opposite ends every time, just so that I heat the whole thing evenly. I usually just set the moulds on top of my pot to pre-heat them. My poor workbench is cluttered enough without something else on it, but the hotplate is a good idea!

Doug K

 

[Leadeye]

JTB knows molds!

 

[6birds]

One trick is to fill just the front cavity and increase the number of cavities as the mold heats up. I keep a cheap hot plate on the bench to preheat molds and keep them up to temp while I take a break. I work on quite a few molds and have a spare parts box for these little glitches. Good excuse to buy some more molds, so ya can rob parts.

I have an old iron, held upside down in a block of wood, it keeps the mold nice and hot between pours, and can be adjusted down for the small 1 and 2 cavity jobs. The guy who taught me how used and old coffee pot.

 

[smg10383]

thats great

 

[Slow Hand]

Got eh lever int eh mail today. From an email Sunday to Wednesday is pretty quick from Wisconson to Indiana! I've only had to use Lee's warranty a couple of times, once my own fault and they've always come through great for me!

Doug K