smoothshooter
Well-known member
Anyone have a lot of experience with the Lee 105 grain SWC?
I bought a gang mold a while back but have not used it yet?
I bought a gang mold a while back but have not used it yet?
Lee 105 gr Wadcutter.
- Thread starter smoothshooter
- Start date
Might just be me but I don’t like Lee bullet designs. I like bullets with well defined and sharp edges on the grease grooves. I’m still running a 450 press for sizing & Lube. The Lees are rounded ribs and designed to be tumble lubed with Alox. Some guys love it.
I have had one for years. As Drm50 stated Lee molds make a sort of soft edged bullet. I bought mine to make rounds for my wife and daughters to have manageable practice rounds for their revolvers. This bullet served that purpose quite well and was very accurate to 50'. They shot a lot of them and never had any issues with the bullet leading. I did tumble lube them with the Lee Alox. So IMHO its a good bullet properly applied.
OP
smoothshooter
Well-known member
I too, vastly prefer sharp shouldered semi-wadcutter designs, but in actuality, it does not matter a lot for most uses.
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The Lee 105 is not one of their tumble-lube designs.
The Lee 105 is not one of their tumble-lube designs.
I use to load that bullet in 9mm. Now I load it in .380.
gwpercle
Well-known member
Believe it or not I have a WWII era Walther P38 that loves that bullet .
Size to .357" and loaded over 4.7 grs. Unique or over 4.6 grs. Red Dot it will shoot both loads accurately (15 shots into one ragged 1.5" hole) and shoots them to the P38's sights !
38 Special ... load it over 2.7 grs. Bullseye for a sweet plinking and tin can / target shooting load . This load is very light for target shooting
Actually it is a good light bullet , for mid-range loads with :
Unique - 4.7 grs to 5.2 grs.
W231/HP38 - 3.9 to 4.5 grs.
Bullseye - 3.0 to 4.5 grs.
Red Dot - 3.5 to 4.4 grs.
I bought this mould for light loads and to conserve lead which it does .
The loads with Bullseye are very accurate but other powder will do ... there is additional data in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th edition for other powders with this bullet in 38 special ... if powder (bullseye) hard to get use Red Dot or 700X or one of the others listed in Lyman #4 .
Not a thing wrong with Lee moulds ... I've been casting with them since Lee came out with their first single cavity that sold for $9.00 !
Aluminum cast differently than steel . Clean with Acetone , preheat mould on a hot plate ...big mould , looses heat fast , keep the heat up , cast hot and fast ... Lube the underside of the sprue plate/ top of blocks with synthetic 2-stroke oil (chainsaw oil) .
If you have problems go to a site called Cast Boolits ...that's all they do there .
Good call on the 6 cavity - mine's only a 2 cavity- the newer Lee moulds are much better than the old ones ... CNC machining has eliminated the "soft" edges ...look at the photo in post #5 , the edges look sharp to me ... too sharp and you have trouble knocking them out .
Gary
Size to .357" and loaded over 4.7 grs. Unique or over 4.6 grs. Red Dot it will shoot both loads accurately (15 shots into one ragged 1.5" hole) and shoots them to the P38's sights !
38 Special ... load it over 2.7 grs. Bullseye for a sweet plinking and tin can / target shooting load . This load is very light for target shooting
Actually it is a good light bullet , for mid-range loads with :
Unique - 4.7 grs to 5.2 grs.
W231/HP38 - 3.9 to 4.5 grs.
Bullseye - 3.0 to 4.5 grs.
Red Dot - 3.5 to 4.4 grs.
I bought this mould for light loads and to conserve lead which it does .
The loads with Bullseye are very accurate but other powder will do ... there is additional data in the Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook 4th edition for other powders with this bullet in 38 special ... if powder (bullseye) hard to get use Red Dot or 700X or one of the others listed in Lyman #4 .
Not a thing wrong with Lee moulds ... I've been casting with them since Lee came out with their first single cavity that sold for $9.00 !
Aluminum cast differently than steel . Clean with Acetone , preheat mould on a hot plate ...big mould , looses heat fast , keep the heat up , cast hot and fast ... Lube the underside of the sprue plate/ top of blocks with synthetic 2-stroke oil (chainsaw oil) .
If you have problems go to a site called Cast Boolits ...that's all they do there .
Good call on the 6 cavity - mine's only a 2 cavity- the newer Lee moulds are much better than the old ones ... CNC machining has eliminated the "soft" edges ...look at the photo in post #5 , the edges look sharp to me ... too sharp and you have trouble knocking them out .
Gary
max503
Well-known member
I have that same gang mold. It has it's faults but I really like the design. Sometimes I get cracks in the top driving band. The bullets stick there sometimes.
With the gang mold you get a lot of variation. I've thought about getting a 2 cavity for when I want some better quality boolits for my rifle.
With the gang mold you get a lot of variation. I've thought about getting a 2 cavity for when I want some better quality boolits for my rifle.
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I was just loading some in 9mm for my Walther Q5. Some 9mms allow them sized to .357 but that one requires .356. It's a very accurate shooter. The biggest downside is that I prefer subsonic loads and it's a fine line between a load that cycles your gun and a load that has the supersonic crack with that lightweight bullet.
I use the longer 140 grain version in .38 Special a lot. It's very accurate.
I use the longer 140 grain version in .38 Special a lot. It's very accurate.
The Lee 105 is not one of their tumble-lube designs.
I agree its not a Tumble lube design but for my application the Alox worked great. I was never able to get my mold to cast a bullet that sharp...nice work...
Mold Dc 358-105-swc - Lee Precision
Sharp edges, one lube groove (not tumble lube design), well defined crimp groove, 105 gr SWC. Not all Lee bullet designs are tumble lube, just 12 out of 45; Hand Gun Bullet Molds - Lee Precision
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I didn’t bother to check what that bullet number was. I was thinking Lee Wadcutter. Having said that I still don’t like Lee molds. The problem for me is to get bullets to drop with well defined grooves. Yes I know you can fool around with 2 cavity mold and hit alloy, metal temp and mold block temp just right and get a decent pour. Why bother when you can get good bullets by accident in a quality gang mold? I’m not going to go to all the trouble to cast my own bullets, load my own ammo and use second rate stuff. Also one of biggest plus for Lee molds is cost. I’ve got Ideal and Lyman molds that are over 100yrs old and cast as good as day one. Sharp well defined bullets.
noylj
Well-known member
Works great in 9mm, 38 Super, and 38 Spl. I shoot it in all guns as-cast (not sized).
If I was still casting, I would special order one in 115 gn or 124gn
If I was still casting, I would special order one in 115 gn or 124gn
max503
Well-known member
max503
Well-known member
After reading this thread I cast some more. Before casting I gave the cavities a good smoking and that solved the sticking problem. A guy at the range suggested I seat them out farther so I did. That is as long as I can seat them without jamming into the leade on my G26.
Cute, ain't it?
Cute, ain't it?
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Lee puts the smallest meplates in the industry on it's SWC. I have owned this, the 140 gr and the 166 gr in the past 25 years. I no longer own them. I bought this at the recommendation of friends but soon let it go. I far prefer the 125 gr rf Lee for light bullet work.
