Lee Smith Mould

[gemmer]

Does anyone have experience with the Lee .515 Smith? I just had a Gallagher relined to .515 groove and I'm like to know if the .515 drops a bit oversize or do I need a .518.

[Jim Wimbish, 10395]

I have a Lee 6 way gang mould in .518 and it drops about a .521 or .522. I also have a brass 4 way gang mould that casts a .518. It's not cheap, but let me know if you are interested as I don't need both.

[Hal]

I'm certainly no expert, but I would go with the .518 if it were me. I've yet to see the Lee mould that cast oversize. Every one I've ever used cast at or smaller than spec. Of course there's all reasons this could happen and it could be ALL my fault, but it's just been MY experience with Lee using MY alloys and My techniques. If they are too big, you can always size them down. Kinda hard to size them up. I would think a .518 sized to .517 would be ideal for a .515 groove barrel. But again, I'm no expert.

[Fred Jr]

Like Hal said I'm no expert but I would think that since it is a breech loader you might want the bullet a tad larger than the bore.
Good luck!

[george7542]

I have a six gang lee .515 that drops around .517 with my lead

[gemmer]

I'm certainly no expert, but I would go with the .518 if it were me. I've yet to see the Lee mould that cast oversize. Every one I've ever used cast at or smaller than spec. Of course there's all reasons this could happen and it could be ALL my fault, but it's just been MY experience with Lee using MY alloys and My techniques. If they are too big, you can always size them down. Kinda hard to size them up. I would think a .518 sized to .517 would be ideal for a .515 groove barrel. But again, I'm no expert.

In retrospect, I think the .518 is the way to go and I ordered one from Lodgewood. My Lee 450/.515 TD Government does cast at .517, but why take the chance with the Smith mould.

[jonk]

Depends on the alloy. My gang mould drops at about .516". It's billed as a .515. I have a fat 2 cavity mold that drops at .518. This is using soft lead. If I use hard lead, it goes up to a .518 on the 6 banger, and .520 on the 2 cavity.

[bobanderson]

I went through this last year. It all depends on what alloy you shoot.

I like a bullet that is .002 to .03 oversize in breechloaders so I bought the Lee 6 gang .518 mould. Because I use a hard alloy, my bullets were dropping out at .520 or so. Not a huge problem but it did make sizing a pain.

Fortunately, a skirmisher on this board (Thanks again, Clint) accepted my offer to trade my .518 for a .515 which throws my hard lead at about .517. Problem solved.