quote:

Originally posted by Leftoverdj:
Jim and I have talked about this before. The Lee six cavities are great value, but do have their quirks. You want to be sure the mould is nicely preheated and the arm that operates the sprue plate is fully closed before starting casting. If the mould is cold and the lever is not fully over, you are trying to cut six very hard sprues without the benefit of the built in camming power. You can break the lever like that. Lee will replace it, but it's a nuisance.

I have somewhere between a dozen and two dozen of the Lee six cavities. Never broke one, never wore one out, and have had the oldest since the year they came out. It's cast an easy 50,000 bullets.

If all else were equal, I'd be using iron gang moulds, but they ain't equal. A Lee 6 holer costs $35 from one of the mail discounters. I've picked up a few from Lee's closeout page for $25. Even the custom moulds from the group buys are running under $60. I'll compromise some for those prices.

Not much compromise is needed. They cast good bullets and hold up under reasonable handling. One thing to be careful of is that Lee moulds mostly cast very close to the nominal diameter. You cannot assume that they will cast oversize for sloppy bores.

Most of the group buys address this and spec the bullets large. Makes them worth the extra price for those of us who need fat bullets. Most Marlins and NEFs do. Milsurps can vary widely in groove diameter.