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Lee Wadcutter Mold

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01 January 2003, 11:49
Skokan
Lee Wadcutter Mold
Has anyone had any experience with the Lee TL358-148-WC bullet? It looks intriguing, but if it onlygives average accuracy, I'll not waste my money. It's the bullet with lots of small grooves and is supposed to work wonderfully with their wet alox lube.
02 January 2003, 10:06
Leftoverdj
I've used the Lee TL wadcutters in both .38 and .32 with Liquid Alox as long as they have been on the market. They shoot better than I do and about as well as any other cast wadcutter as far as I can tell. I've always used the six cavity moulds and scrounged alloy and only visually sorted. When the gun and brass allow, I shoot them as cast, otherwise I size to .358 or .314.

I was a PPC shooter and looking for large quantities of cheap reasonably accurate wadcutters. A limited amount of testing in one of the Lee Rests showed me I was getting 3.5 inch yard groups or better at 50 yards loading in bulk. This was adequate for my needs so I did not refine my loads any further.
03 January 2003, 17:21
Skokan
Thank you. That is a good recommendation. I think I'm convinced to get it.
04 January 2003, 01:27
54JEFF
I've found the Micro-Band bullets to be very accurate. A word of caution though, these moulds seem to be a lot more picky concerning alloy, temp, mould prep etc. My cull rate is about 4 times higher with this mould. Good luck! Jeff
04 January 2003, 04:53
Skokan
Jeff, Thanks for the advice. I'll have to learn to be patient and careful.
04 January 2003, 19:53
Leftoverdj
I have a fairly low cull rate since I learned to cast hot and to dump the first few pours into the scrap box. Easier than sorting them out later. Matching the temp and the pace to get light frosting works best in my .38 mould. With the .32 mould, I just go as fast as I can to get and keep the blocks up to temp.

I do most of my casting in the winter beside a wood stove. When I add alloy, the Lee moulds go on top of the stove until the alloy is up to temp. I would guess the surface temp of the stove at 250-300 degrees. It still takes about 3 pours to start getting good bullets.

One thing that is certain is that those little grooves will hold plenty of lube. I have never had leading at wadcutter velocities even with a light coat of liquid alox and dead soft bullets. The .32s go through a Benelli autoloader that wants a velocity around 1000 fps for functioning.