Should that term even be in the Lee name? I've got a Lee .452/200 that i've paid 3 times for shipping. The new mold came with half dozen slugs ALLEDGEDY droped from this mold. Maybe. I'm dropping the same problem that started this complaint!The rear driving band is undersize. Now, there sample bullets were at spec dimensionally but they weighed 192 gr.! I'm using 1% tin with wheel weights. Are these people tring to blow smoke up my ass by using lino? My bullets are dropping at 199gr. I've tried everything I know, hotter, cooler, faster slower, etc. I've honed out other molds but it IS a pain. So, aside from buying lino, any help???
Thanks for your help, Regards, Jeff

54Jeff......"Beagle" the top of the mould halves with some aluminum tape....about 1/4 of the way down on both mould halves. Should pick up about .003".

Shouldn't be that way though. These mould manufacturers have relied on the "lino" excuse long enough and most of us common casters uses WWs.

They should increase the diameter to what the majority of the casters are using. Lyman and Saeco moulds are real bad about this undersize with WWs bit.

The aluminum tape should work just fine as I'm using it right now to take a Lyman 457193HP from .458 up to .464 X .463 to size to .462 for use in a .458 Win Mag Number 1 Ruger that has a huge throat./beagle

......The base is the last place to fill, obviously. Usually poor base fillout can be a venting issue. Assuming the rest of the bullet is well filled. Another is alloy pressure through the sprue hole and the alloy 'button' you leave on the sprue. The alloy has to fill UP and AROUND it's perimeter, under the sprueplate, while alloy is being admitted at it's CENTER. The exterior of the bullet cools first and draws alloy from the center, toward it. Without a good button on the sprue, 'center pull' from the edges of the base will be affected.

As alloy is first admitted, it sloshes all around with quite a bit of agitation in the cavity. As it fills, air is also being displaced. At some point the lower part of the bullet is solidifying and agitation is much reduced up toward the base. If air is trapped the alloy won't fill properly. The problem of a loose plate is that alloy can enter the area between the plate and top of the blocks.

All the above is just mechanics of filling the cavity. You said you've tried hot? How hot was it? Try this extreme test. Get your alloy to casting temp and hold the pre warmed blocks in the melt for a good 30 seconds. Now pour a bullet. You'll have to wait as the sprue button will take some time to solidify. Wait some more! Now swing the plate and look at the bullet. It should be totally and sharply filled. The surface will show a very definate and sharply defined crystaline structure to it. NOT a dull silvery frosty surface.

What we've proved is that with a very hot mould, the alloy WILL cast a good bullet. The mould cavity itself is not at fault. Something else is happening. As all moulds are individuals, even though your alloy works in other moulds (I'm assuming) this mould wants something different.

Did you smoke the cavity with an un-waxy/oily flame? I use my Zippo, or a BIC lighter. Do NOT use a candle or paper match. This carbon layer is an insulator and slows heat transfer to the blocks.

Try changing how you admit alloy. Tilt the blocks so the alloy hits the edge of the hole and swirls into the cavity. Hold the blocks a bit further away from the spout and pour straight in until you you see the alloy 'bounce' back up, and then pour a bit more.

Do you have a thermometer and really KNOW how hot your alloy is? Are your blocks really clean? Substances on the block faces can capillary into the cavity. Is this a new batch of alloy?

.........Buckshot

To add to Beagle & Buckshot's advice: Get yourself some Bon Ami cleanser or Pearl Drops toothpaste. Cast a few bullets with the mold, let it cool and make a lap from one of them. You can drill & tap the base or use a drywall screw with the head removed. Roll the CB between 2 steel plates with either Bon Ami & oil or Pearl Drops. Chuck the CB/lap with screw protruding in a drill or drill press, and rotate at moderate speed for ~2 mins. in ea. direction. Thoroughly clean, dry and re-smoke the mold (wooden matches are perfect for this) and try casting @ 800 deg. F for a while, gradually reducing the temp. to 740 deg. If that doesn't cure the problem, you made need to boost the Sn content to 2%. Hope this helps, ...Maven

54Jeff,

LEE makes some great do-it-yourselfer molds -- if you want a slick working, accurate, it casts a bullet that fits your gun exactly type mold, you got to do it yourself.

LEE just gives you a good place to start. I bet we can all talk you through the process of LEEMENTING your mold so it does exactly what you want it to do.

First, what do you own for measurement tools? Micrometer? Caliper?

Second, we are going to talk you through slugging your gun's throat to find out what size and shape your throat REALLY is.

Third, we are going to talk you through hand lapping your LEE mold using a lap made from one of your "frustrated" bullets to get it to better fit what your throat really is.

Then fourth we are going to talk you through modifying your lubriciser die to size your bullet to fit your actual throat like a finger stuck in a tight glove.

(see, I picked a better visual image this time)

When it is all done you will have a Veral Smith class bullet fit out of a cheap little $14.55 aluminum mold block.

We have the technology, we can rebuilt it better, faster, stronger.

(insert the theme song from 6 Million Dollar Man)

We can teach you HOW to do it (with pictures, no less) and you too will become a cast bullet expert in the process.

We can do it here, or we can do it over on AIMOO since they have an entire list-section set up over there for LEEMENTING with nothing in it yet. That way we can support their backup-list program a bit with some good content.

What do you say? Are you game? I can honestly say I've done it a hundred times, so (shudder) I guess I that makes me an expert on fixing up LEE molds.

Oldfeller

[ 09-05-2003, 03:16: Message edited by: Oldfeller ]

I'm going to try and address the venting issue first but I think the LEEmenting lesson would be a GREAT idea. Sometimes I think a man with a micrometer is Lees worst nightmare. I have a Brown&Sharpe that reads to tenths, and I know how to use it. Wherever you decide to set up the LEEmenting lesson I'll be there. Thanks all, Regards Jeff

Hard to diagnose a mold problem from far away, but the complaint sounds very familiar .... an awful lot like what I call SBS (shrunken bullet syndrome)..... which can be affected by a number of things .... venting, alloy, mold temperature, and pouring technique. I have never laid eyes on a 6 cavity Lee but would be concerned that the bullet may be too big for the block, to my way of thinking. And contrary to popular belief, wheelweight will cast better in a big bore mold without tin.

A simple way to determine if the cavity dimension is correct is to cast with cerrosafe, with a cold mold. If the cerrosafe bullet is uniform but your WW + tin has an undersize bottom band, then the problem is SBS. To cure SBS, you need a better alloy (straight WW), less heat (pot at 650�, let the mold sit open for 30 seconds between pours), and more flow (an RCBS ladle with the spout drilled out to 5/32). It may be that this bullet is too big for the block and will be prone to SBS no matter what you do.

Perhaps a better way of saying it, Dan, is to make sure the lead has enough real lead to hold the heat longer. Bismuth has an extra heat holding capacity because it is denser than lead and therefore can be used in the melt for this asset. It is therefore better to add bismuth and let the tin percentage remain at the 2 percent level to help keep the melt fluid. Bismuth can be found by robbing mashed pellets from an indoor range. Beware of any copper in the melt when high latent heat is demanded for fillout. 22 molds are problematic in this arena too because there is not enough lead to ever heat the molds properly for an easy casting pace, ie, for old fart usage. ... felix

I think I got it!! Seems venting was the problem. I opened the holes on the sprue plate a few thou, then draged it over a vice mounted file, then a stone. Smoked the hell outta everything. Dropping good slugs now. This is my first bevel-base mold, think that may have something to do with it. Anyway, all seems well now,thanks for the tips.
Regards, Jeff