Yes, they are four different companies that are in competition with each other in the mildest, widest sense of the word.

Midway is promising to provide custom-cut single cavity rifle molds and take your order only after the molds are built and ship them "now", but at a slightly increased purchase price.

Midsouth is taking firm orders on new two-cavity custom cut full length rifle molds (a Midsouth exclusive for right now) for less money than Midway charges for a single cavity mold. Because they take your order in advance, Midsouth doesn't hit you up for a minimum order charge or similar nonsense, but you do have to wait for the orders to accumulate and Midsouth does take your order as a "firm order" when you place it and will not allow cancellation.

LEE itself is getting more and more into providing bullet designs for the odd calibers, which is a very good thing as the LEE stock molds are always in stock and are always available at the very best discounts from a wide variety of sources. LEE is actually the biggest player mentioned so far, as they actually make all the molds for Midsouth and Midway anyway.

Who to buy from? Who has the caliber you want at a price you are willing to pay.

Right now, Midsouth/LEE and Mountain Gun are the only ones actually in the non-standard caliber or throat-fitted mold providing business as of right now this minute, but that will change very soon according to Grumble's recient post from Larry Potterfield.

The upshot is that here are more and better choices in molds and better service and prices in the future as things even out between the three major players.

Since we began chasing custom molds on Shooters about a year ago, things have changed for the better several different ways.

First, as we got organized to buy mold runs we figured out how to get the cost down to reasonable prices and fairly quick delivery. The pioneers had to beat out that path, and for that I thank Jumptrap and I honor all his advice (he didn't miss it on a single thing, BTW). Buckshot got the benefit of all that Jump work too, which I am sure he appreciates as well.

Next, three of the major players (Midsouth, Midway, LEE) began individual efforts to fill the empty holes in the supply of the various mil-surp calibers -- the higher volume odd ones anyway.

The first out of the gate was LEE themselves, announcing several new calibers up front "for next year" and working through several more on the fly, all of which are now available from ANY discount LEE distributor who sells the full line of LEE products.

Next was Midsouth, selling custom cut molds through their web page. (new stuff is there, take a look -- double cavity rifle molds and new "easy release" improved designs on the existing ones)

http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/so_mould.asp

Midsouth is still the low cost - best value folks for right now, but they do accumulate your orders and place them as they get up to 25 with LEE, which means some delay is associated with getting your hands on your new mold. Plus, they tie up your money while you wait. Still, you get a two cavity full-sized rifle mold for less money than anybody else will provide a single cavity mold for, and you get to side-step the minimum order requirements to boot.

Last is Midway, coming through with 4 needed custom bullets and promising 4 more in the near future. Midway should be able to offer both 6 cavity and the new 2 cavity full-sized rifle molds, once they get around to discovering that they can. Midway may charge a bit more for their molds, but they promise to ship when they take your order, which is a strong plus for some users.

Me, I think Mountain Gun's molds in brass and steel are very good looking for long term mold investments, as he is dropping right into Veral Smith's old price range with a better looking mold that can be had in a "you-pick-um" variety of calibers and styles. I see a good future for Mountain Gun's business efforts, as he seems to be making happy people wherever he ships his molds.

Mountain Gun's very well turned out aluminum block molds prove that aluminum isn't instantly fatal to cast with, nor does it immediately turn into aluminum dust like some folks seem to like to think it does. Some aluminum LEE molds may wind up being very durable long-lasting molds, who knows? Time will tell. We will see how that buffering compound works out for everyone on the 6.5 molds group -- it may be a very advantageous trick that finally beats the "wear-out" factor for LEE aluminum molds.

What is the upshot of all of this change? You can get more of what you want now with more and better coming. And that is a good thing. Enjoy it. Heck, just sit back and enjoy the wealth of new opportunities, and heaven's sake learn to enjoy an aluminum mold or two in your collection. Cast iron isn't all there is by a long shot.

Loosen up and enjoy, these are the good times in our little part of the gun world.

Oldfeller

hey oldfeller ,is that mountain molds or mountain gun,i'm not sure,thanks

475/480
Try this link. Mountain Molds

thanks doublejk,actually i have ordered 2-475 molds from mm,after your post last week ,i just wasnt sure if he had his names correct,thanks sean h