Lee brand Molds

[chaos]

Please post your thoughts or opinions on lee brand molds. They are 1/3 the price of what I am looking at in RCBS. I've never considered lee much other than a bottom pour pot.

Waste O' money or bargain?

Chaos

[docone31]

You know, I like the Lee Molds. I got a crappy one once, and they turned it around with a much better one.
I find, they cast well and easily. I am used to them now and I am very comfortable with them.
I like them. I even have the timing and heat down on them. I like them.

[NSP64]

I like lee molds. If they cast too small then they are easier to lap up to size than rcbs,or lyman.
P.S. I have 2 rcbs and 7 lee

[DLCTEX]

I have acquired my 18th. Lee mold today, I also have RCBS, Lyman, TC, Ideal, and unknown brands. The Lees make just as good boolits as the others, sometimes with more effort, sometimes with less. They do get up to temp faster than steel molds. Using Bullplate lube makes them work more easily and prevents lead smearing if I cut a sprue early. DALE

[miestro_jerry]

I have about 11 RCBS Molds, 14 Lyman molds and 20 Lee Molds, that is if you count Ranch Dog molds as Lee Molds. Plus I ordered another Lee mold this morning. I use one of their bottom pour pots, that I bought back in te 80s, still works great and the spare coil for it, is still sitting and waiting for the day that I will need it.

For me I have taken the plunge with the Lee luber sizer system, these are for my Ranch Dog molds.

I have used Lee dies for many years, one die didn't resize the shell properly, I sent Lee 5 spent cases from that rifle, the dies and I think $20. I got a dies back that worked for me.
I like the Lee factory crimp dies, but the turret press didn't work right for me. I do own Dillons, which have worked faithfully fo me since Dillon 450 press came out.

So Lee stuff can be "cheap" looking, but the stuff works and the company stands behind their product.

I own no stock or interest in any of these companies, but I buy things and try them out, if they don't work for me, I sell them at gunshows.

Jerry

[Brownie]

Lee molds work well, but they wear out after about 5000 bullets. I cannot remember ever wearing out a steel mold.

[Poygan]

I have around a dozen Lee molds, single or double cavity. I don't have any 6 cavity molds so I can't comment on them. I think the Lee molds are good for low production casting. I think they are much easier to gall but Bull Plate lube takes care of that. I prefer the RCBS molds for continued use.

[chaos]

Can I run their bullets through my Lyman 4500 and lube them with it even though some have very small lube grooves?

I purchased this damn thing, I just cant see going and lubing in a bowl....

[epj]

I have used Lyman molds in the past, but am currently using Lee molds. Don't have a lot of experience with them yet, but they seem to do just fine. Important to keep the alignment pins lubed.

[mooman76]

Yes Lee moulds are worth it. I have about 40 and I also have some Lymans and a couple RCBS. They are all good moulds. Sure Lee don't last forever but they last a long time with proper care and I have yet to wear one out. If you buy a Lee mould and don't like the bullet, you aren't out much and you can get sever moulds to try for the price of others. $60-70 is allot of money to find out you don't like the bullet.

[ubetcha]

I have several Lee molds, some lyman molds ,some RCBS molds,plus one mold that was given to me by Dick Lee himself.It's a 116 gr wc single cavity in 357.Many years ago I was a range officer at a local sport shop that had a range in the basement and had bullseye leauges.Mr Lee and I were talking about differant mold and bullet weights and he asked me if I had ever used anything lighter than 148 gr in 357.The next week he gave me a mold and said to give it a try.If it didn't work then just throw it away.I still have it.As far as I know,It's a one of a kind.
The only thing that I have to do with Lee molds is in order to get the bullet to fill out properly is I have to run my lead temp to 800 degrees.They just don't fill out until I get to that temp.My Lyman and RCBS fill out at 700
All of my pistol dies are Lee and I have their collet dies in 30-30 and 30-06.The rest are hornady and Lyman.Most of my presses are Lee also with one Pacific

[DLCTEX]

Chaos, if you are refering to the TL bullets with the micro grooves, some can be lubed in the lubersizers, but they are designed to be tumblelubed andloaded as cast. If you don't size them down too much they will retain enough lube to work. DALE

[chaos]

Dale, Some of their designs look more traditional. I guess these would be OK to size and lube as normal with my lubrisizer?????

[DLCTEX]

Yes, the traditional bullets are just like RCBS, Lyman, etc. They are sometimes pan lubed, or tumble lubed, and loaded unsized or sized . Some lube before sizing, some after, some during. DALE

[45-70Govt]

I have had Lee molds, dies,melting pot and a press. All look kind of cheap but that blends right in with the rest of my place

All items work as intended although my last mold in .458 cal is given me some problems. It is not the mold I am sure but my lack of know-how. Those 500 grainers still come out with wrinkles on one side.

[EMC45]

I use Lee exclusively! I have tried an RCBS mold and did not like it! I couldn't get the heat right and it took forever to get the first good bullet. I do appreciate the mold lent to me by another member here, but I am not familiar enough with the use of a steel mold I guess. I like the Lees a lot! And I lube all my Lee cast bullets in my Lyman 4500. I have 4 molds for .358, 2 for the 45 acp, 1 for .30 cal., 1 for 45-70, 1 for .323, 1 for 9MM, 2 for .44, and they are all Lee!!!!

[Dennis Eugene]

I'm to cheap to buy lee molds. Dennis

[Down South]

I have genuine conglomeration of different brands of reloading and casting equipment. I don’t have that many moulds. I have a couple RCBS and four Lee 6-holers. All of the Lee moulds except one do a great job. (On one the halves aren’t exactly centered and caused the boolit to be about .003” out of round. Sizing seems to cure the problem). For the price they are a great deal. I use Bull Plate sprue plate lube with them and it works great too.

Lee molds work well, but they wear out after about 5000 bullets. I cannot remember ever wearing out a steel mold.

I don't agree with that. Taken care of and used properly, the Lee mould should go a whole lot farther than that.
I've got one Lee mould with at least that many boolits under it and it is still going strong.

[dromia]

Lee moulds are like all Lee products well thought out and designed but hit and miss on production and materials, thats why the price is so "good".

If you are prepared to do some fettling then Lee moulds can give you thousands of trouble free cast boolits for your £.

I have around 30 lee moulds at present the vast majority are 6 holers and quiet a few of them are Cast Boolit GBs. The six holers are a far better mould than the double or single cavities but still a goodly proportion need fettling.

I also find that Lee's HB moulds tend to be cut above their ususal and I have a few of them, one the 405 gn 45-70 HB is a real treasure and has casted perfect boolits from the first cast. I wish that all Lees moulds worked so well.

If there is a similar boolit mould made by an other manufacturer then I'd sooner pay the extra for that mould than buy a Lee.

However when it comes to production then the Lee six holer is very attractive price wise which is why I'm in on so many GBs.

Lee is a good starting point for entry level casters, however the risk of a duff mould is higher and if you don't want to or know how to fettle then they can be demoralising. Personally I'd point tyro casters at Lyman moulds if the price isn't too frightening.

For experienced casters Lee certainly offers a lot of potential as is evidenced by the success of the GBs.

[looseprojectile]

I consider myself as being of the 'old school' type of caster.
Just in the last year or so I discovered Ranch Dog moulds.
I bought the small .44 mould and the .50 caliber mould for the S&W.
I have also used the Lee liquid alox to lube most of the other boolits I cast.
I can lube two or three hundred boolits while you are changing your sizing die in your luber sizer. About ten minutes. Use a zip lock bag.
I am into time and labor saving processes. The Lee sizing system is much faster than the old Lyman sizer luber.
The results of shooting these boolits are excellent, as good or better than the old methods.
Try the LLA one time and you'll see for yourself. You can even develop your own shortcuts to save some handling of those pesky boolits. I run the boolits through the Lee sizer dry to seat the check. Then just put them in the baggie, squirt in the LLA, massage them till the lube is evenly distributed and dump them out on parchment paper. With some long rifle boolits I stand them up on the bases and they dry overnight.
Life is good