Are Lee molds worth a try?

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  • Last Post 29 May 2010
Ishoot2 posted this 15 August 2009

I am rounding up bullet casting equipment. I was wondering your thoughts on Lee molds for an 03A3 for bench rest competition or Should I put the money toward Lyman molds? Any advise or opinions appreciated.

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KenK posted this 15 August 2009

I think you would be better off buying a Lyman, SAECO or RCBS mould but I don't know what your budget is.  If you find you don't like casting you will find the three brands I listed above resell used for near or more than new retail price on ebay.

A lot of folks seem to be satisfied with their Lee moulds but I don't much care for them.

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RicinYakima posted this 15 August 2009

Ishoot2,

I have several Lee moulds that I use for making plinking bullets. Their advantage is that for the beginner, if you mess one up, you are not out very much money. IF your READ and FOLLOW the directions EXACTLY with the required lube and break in procedures, you can usually cast a couple of thousand bullets. If you baby them along, some folks can get many thousands of bullets out of them.

You get what you pay for in this life. Lyman makes some good ones, more in the old days, but a lot of dogs also. RCBS and SAECO are the next level up. LBT and some custom moulds will last 100,000's of bullets if cared for reasonable effort.

With all that said, if you want to shoot matches, it is more important how well you select and prepare you bullets, then what mould they came out of.

HTH, Ric

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hunterspistol posted this 15 August 2009

     The mold will need to fit the rifle, that's the short answer. Here's some pages that will help with ideas.  I'm just reading up on how to get accuracy from a rifle, takes some careful measurement.

http://www.hornady.com/ballistics/internal.php>http://www.hornady.com/ballistics/internal.php

http://www.lbtmoulds.com/measurebore.shtml>http://www.lbtmoulds.com/measurebore.shtml

     And, yes sir, I realize this is heavy reading. Veral Smith's website is worth reading even if you don't have the cash to order from him. He's a leading authority in cast lead bullets and has spent quite a bit of time and money experimenting with them. His entire website is almost a tutorial.  I'm in the process of setting up a rifle myself although, I doubt it will go benchrest competition.

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bpd303 posted this 16 August 2009

Hi, My take on the subject is not which company made the mold but how they are cared for.

I have approximately 22 different molds made by Lee, NEI, RCBS,Lyman, Ideal, Hawken and a couple of custom.

The Lee molds have preformed well over 30 years of casting. I started with Lee because of the cost but have found that they cast just as well today as my NEI and custom molds. My nine Lee dies tend to cast slightly oversize which I like, more choices on sizing. Just make sure you size to the grove diameter of your rifle.

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Ishoot2 posted this 18 August 2009

Thank you gentlemen for your replies. I think there was good advise in each one. I think I may start out with a couple of Lee molds, but am sure I will be using others before it is over. I am excited about starting casting and realize it will probably end up like my reloading where as you start out to save money and end up with alot of equipment and components searching for higher accuracy. But I like to pace myself with the learning curve to keep mistakes to a minimum. Good Shooting to All.

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Bob S posted this 07 September 2009

My experience with the regular Lee cal .30 moulds is that the noses are way undersized for any US .30 cal barrel.  With that said, I haven't purchased a Lee .30 mould in quite some time, but the ones that have cast about .298-.299 on the nose.  They have never performed well for me in a USGI cal. 30 barrel.  Since the WW II barrels could have a bore diameter of up to .3015” and still “pass", that doesn't come as any big surprise. OTOH, the Lee 312185, the “.303 British” mould, does pretty well in all of my 03's and 03A3's:

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RicinYakima posted this 07 September 2009

Nice to see you on the board again, Bob S. Ric

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Bob S posted this 07 September 2009

Hi Ric!

 

Good to “see” you again also.  I trust you are well ... ?

 

I may be in the wrong pew.  I didn't notice right away that this board is Military Bench Rest ....  I didn;t have much success in high power until I gave up shooting off the bench, and I never looked back.

R/Bob

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RicinYakima posted this 07 September 2009

No Bob, you're in the right place. The thing is that high power requires a difference sub-set of shooting skills than benchrest shooting. And they are not interchangeable. The reloading techniques are the same as is the rifle preperation. Benchrest only requires hand and head skills, while high power requires muscle skills for the whole body. Ric

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skeet1 posted this 24 April 2010

I agree with Bob S, the Lee 312185 works very well in my 03-A3. I also think the nose portion of most of the other Lee .30 molds are to small. The price is also good.

Skeet1

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JeffinNZ posted this 24 April 2010

You know, I never used to rate them. Just seemed to cheap and didn't like the aluminum blocks. Then I bought a Carcano in 6.5mm and the best mould available was the 'cruise missile' by Lee out of Midsouth. Once I had “Leemented” the mould (visit Castboolits and search Leementing) it produced fantastic bullets and the rifle loves them.

For pure target shooting and chasing one hole groups I don't think they make the grade and the CBA score sheets support this but the are pretty good.

Cheers from New Zealand

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JSH posted this 25 April 2010

A bit of advice someone gave me when I started casting, with lee molds in mind but I use it on all of them. "if you can hear the halves of the blocks when closing, your closing them to hard or fast" Bob, all of the lee 30 caliber molds I have new and used none of them will fit my K31's, properly. jeff

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jppr26 posted this 25 April 2010

im not comp. shooting but from a rest at 50yrds so far the best grouping ive got is .5” with a 170gr gc lee with unique with my 03a3

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GregT posted this 29 May 2010

Hello! I have found Lee moulds to be very adequate for casting good bullets. I don't like the idea of lubing moulds that they have promoted, and I coat the areas they recommend for lubing with Mold Prep I get from Bufallo Arms company. I have about 200 moulds of various brands, some quite old. The Lee moulds are a bit faster to get in production with, More important to me is the fact that their customer service help is knowledgeable and responds quickly and THEY KNOW RELOADING!

GregT

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