.457 mold question

[Fred Jr]

I want to get a new .457 rb mold. Any one have any experience with the Lee six cavity mold? Usually don't use Lees but i don't shoot the R&S as much and i don't have 20 or 30 years of shooting ahead of me!

Thanks,
Fred

[Wayne Clark]

Fred,
Lee has vastly improved their molds. The new ones now have alignment pins versus the old ridge/ rail compression system. However with the six cavity , the sprue plate hinge can be a problem as you have to cut all 6 sprues at closely the same time. If the sprue plate is not up to casting temperature it requires some force to open to the sprue plate with its handle. Hence the fault, these have been known to snap off at the hinge. To prevent this I recommend the mold sprue plate be seriously preheated to casting temperature before session begins. A propane torch is one, just use your imagination. As well. all Lees must be given TLC.
W. Clark

[Fred Jr]

Thanks Wayne! I think I'll just go ahead and get one.

[jonk]

The problem with the lee 6 cavity mold is very simple to rectify; namely, when you push on the lever to cut the sprues and open the plate, you quickly run out of room before the job is done. The linkage is a 2 stepped affair that only allows 15 degrees of traverse.

The solution is to put a longer bolt in on the handle so that the entire linkage is BELOW the sprue plate and suddenly, voila, the sprues cut off with no effort.

This is the only downside to lee 6 cavity molds- other than that they require some good preheating. I cast all my smith bullets with one. Get the mold good and hot, and pour away... can drain a 10 lb pot in as many minutes (granted a quarter of that weight is sprues that get remelted).

[Fred Jr]

Thanks Jon, I'll give that a try when I get one.

[Randall]

jonk,

Could you post a picture of the longer bolt modification? I have trouble with some of my Lee molds and the force that it takes to cut the sprues.

Thanks

Randall

[jonk]

I can, and I will... just give me a few days. What I will do is make the mod on another stock mold and take pictures at each step.

[Maillemaker]

I don't have any 6-cavity RB Lee molds but I have double-cavity Lee molds. They are great with very little sprue.

Steve

[jonk]

I strongly recommend against the six cavity molds. All the folks I know that use them are in serious mental distress. The long mold is impossible to keep uniformly hot so casting failures are endemic. One guy I know started drinking heavily and now lives under a bridge.

To each his own... you DO have to preheat them and run the lead kind of hot in my experience, yes; but if you preheat them on a hot plate or with a torch with a fan attachment (like for paint stripping) for a few minutes prior to casting, and you don't dawdle, they work quite well, for me. Admittedly they are a bit easier to get going if you are casting hard lead with some tin in it, but even for my smith bullets (I use pure lead in those) I can surely get them to fill out with no more rejects than any other mold.

[Randall]

Thanks jonk, I'm looking forward to seeing the process so I can modify mine. My 6 Cavity Lee molds do really well preheated on a hotplate before casting or maintaining the heat if I need to take a quick break. If i do that I loosely cover the mold with a piece of foil to hold the heat in more effectively.

[Fred Jr]

Lee doesn't make a six cavity .457rb mold. Had to settle for a double. Haven't used it yet.

[Wayne Clark]

Fred,
Track of the Wolf lists them on their website.
W. Clark

[Fred Jr]

Hi Wayne, I called Lee and was told they didn't make a 6cavity rb mold. Guess they just don't know what they make. I already got the double cavity so I'll just live with that!

[jonk]

I got the pics up, in a separate thread.

As for TOW and Lee having differing items, Lee probably did a group buy for TOW that isn't a publicly available offering through Lee. Just like Regimental Quartermaster sometimes does, and Midsouth.