Home Forums Reloading Bullet Casting First experience with Lee 6 cavity molds

...was pretty good. Got the 45-255-RF, this one:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=570018

Degreased it and smoked the cavities but no other prep work. It took a while to see how this mold liked to be filled. The most consistent effort was using the bottom spout on my RCBS Pro-Melt. One dipperful isn't enough to pour 1530 grains of alloy and a good sprue!

Sat it over the melt to heat up then it only took a couple of pours to bring it fully up to heat. After it got to temperature I used some LBT lube mold on the alignment pins and the sprue plate bushing.

I use what is supposed to be #2 alloy, but several years ago my wife mixed up my linotype, #2 and wheelweight ingots into one big pile, so what goes into the pot is anybody's guess. Until they are used up my alloy is somewhere between WW and linotype. This mold drops bullets at .455 which is kind of big, but they sized through a Lee .452 sizing die pretty easily.

Anyway, had never used a Lee but figured for the price I'd give it a try. Pouring technique seems to be more critical than some of my other molds (we'll see - have only used this the one session this weekend) and I'd often mess up one cavity, but it sure as hell is nice to drop out 5 or 6 bullets every time you open the blocks. That'll make for some good blasting time at the range.

Quality is good, folks have said that their 6 cavities are a big step up from their 1 and 2 cavity molds. Never used a sprue cutter like this but it worked well and cut clean sprues without a lot of effort.

So far so good, I'm liking this mold.

I have several Lee 6C and they like to be very very clean, no smoking at all.

I clean while cold with brake degreaser and scrub with an old tooth brush.

Most of mine like to be HOT to get good fill out. Yea production increases in a hurry!

Jim in Idaho, If you try dropping your mixed up pile of WW and pure lead ingots on a concrete floor, the WW will sound with a "cling" where the pure lead ingots go "thud". Try it. mikshor

With you 6 cav. Lee, be cautioned not to pour all 6 cav. in cold blocks, you'll break the sprue cutter handle off.

Cast the first 2 cavities only , open, cast the first 3 , open....so on and so on.....until the blocks get HOT.

Once Hot, you can pour all 6 cavities without a problem. Lee gets many phone calls related to broken handles on the 6 cav. molds,this situation is easily prevented.

I warm mine up with a propane torch (the one I use to light the wood stove with) until lead doesn't stick when dipped in pot. I like to drop bullets in a bucket of water with a slush of snow floating in it to keep them from hitting the bottom too hard.
Easy to cover the bottom of the bucket with 6 cavities.

If you're often short of snow for your casting bucket, use a large sponge floating in the bucket. Drop your bullets onto the sponge (it's wet, so it won't hurt it) and when the sponge gets too many bullets on it, it'll roll over, letting the slugs drop to the bottom of the bucket.
Here in Kaintuck, we're often short of snow for casting buckets.......

Be careful not to make frozen Margaritas too strong if you substitute, may ignite.

Very good molds for the money, and make bullets in a hurry. I've got the 125 and 158 gr .357 mold and 200 gr tl 45 acp mold. I just need to find some time to crank out some bullets.

Smoke the molds with wooden matches like the old timers did. You'll get much easier "drops" and better fill out too.

I used to smoke my molds until I tried midways mold release.just a squirt on a Q-tip and very "light" cote in the mold cav/spure plate.it makes those bullet drop out nice and easy.

pete

That light coating is important. I sprayed it directly onto a mold as per their instructions and the next several dozen bullets came out all dimpled. That was a few years ago so I forget which mold but most likely a Lyman or RCBS. You couldn't see it or feel it in the cavities but it definitely affected the bullets' finish. Took me a while to clean out the cavities good with a toothbrush and alcohol.