Lee .452 200gr. SWC Double Cavity Molds?

cmort666

cmort666

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I'm looking for a Lee double cavity .452 200gr. SWC conventional lube mold. I am NOT looking for the tumble lube mold.

Graf's, Midway, and Natchez are all out of these.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
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Are you sure?

mort,
Just wondering if you really WANT a Lee two cavity mold. I have only one and have sworn never to buy another, ever.

The bullets come out of it just fine. The way the "gibs" and the sprue plate are made leave a lot to be desired. If it were me, and I have one of these molds, I would invest in the 6 cavity version and never look back. The mold and handles are more expensive, I know, but the frustration level will more than make up for it! ;)

Try here: Home - Kempf Gun Shop Not everything they have is on the webpage. You will have to call them but I'll bet they have what you want or can get it right quick.

I might be in the mood to talk about selling my 6 cavity, minus the handles. Send me a PM.
 
smith crazy said:
mort,
Just wondering if you really WANT a Lee two cavity mold. I have only one and have sworn never to buy another, ever.

The bullets come out of it just fine. The way the "gibs" and the sprue plate are made leave a lot to be desired. If it were me, and I have one of these molds, I would invest in the 6 cavity version and never look back. The mold and handles are more expensive, I know, but the frustration level will more than make up for it! ;)

Try here: Home - Kempf Gun Shop Not everything they have is on the webpage. You will have to call them but I'll bet they have what you want or can get it right quick.

I might be in the mood to talk about selling my 6 cavity, minus the handles. Send me a PM.
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These are not for my personal use, but for a different purpose. They're for someone to get a feel for bullet casting.

Thanks for your help.
 
A Lee mold gives as much feel for bullet casting as "fried liver & onions" does for the taste of a grilled steak.

One Lee mold is one too many -- just my opinion.
 
Engineer1911 said:
A Lee mold gives as much feel for bullet casting as "fried liver & onions" does for the taste of a grilled steak.

One Lee mold is one too many -- just my opinion.
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This is for somebody to learn the basics of bullet casting before going into it commercially. They're going to be used only to the extent that they can learn the fundamentals before actually doing production on much more elaborate machinery.
 
mort,
No offense but that logic is like giving a mechanic 12 different sizes of crescent wrenches until he learns how to fix cars!

Get good tools from the beginning and the learning is much easier!

IMHO!
 
smith crazy said:
mort,
No offense but that logic is like giving a mechanic 12 different sizes of crescent wrenches until he learns how to fix cars!

Get good tools from the beginning and the learning is much easier!

IMHO!
Click to expand...
It's the easiest and most cost effective way to let the people involved learn the BASICS before they build or buy a large casting machine. They have NO experience with casting lead bullets, but a lot of experience with casting and forging in steel. If they build, they need to know what their finished product is supposed to look like.
 
I had a Lee 200 gr SWC 2 cavity I sold not too long ago. The only reason to get rid of it was because I liked it so much I bought a 6 cavity! :)

I have several 6 cavity, 2 cavity and single cavity Lee moulds and I'm sorry to say it, but they will cast as good or better than Lyman, Ohaus, NEI or RCBS. The 6 cavity isn't as heavy and tiring as the Lyman 4 cavity and it produces 50% more bullets per cast.

There certainly isn't any snob appeal to a Lee, but you can buy 3 of them for the price of one Lyman or RCBS, plus they have handles with them.

The only Lee that gives me a little trouble is a single cavity .429" HPSWC and that's just because of the extra effort to get the HP pin hot enough.
 
I have sixty to seventy moulds (haven't counted them recently). I have moulds from all of the majors (H&G, 2, 4, and 6 cavities; Lyman, 1, 2, & 4 cavities and Hollow points; Saeco 4 cavity; RCBS 2 cavity; a couple of no namers; and several Lee bullet moulds, 1, 2, and 6 cavity; NEI 2 and 4 cavity; LBT Four cavity; several custom single cavity moulds (Borton & Darr, Bartlett, etc and recently some MiHec custom moulds. I can cast match quality bullets from each. You DO have to be smarter than the mould (little attempt at humor there (:>)).

The Lees are inexpensive but CAN do good work. You do have to learn to cast from them and the use of Bullshop Sprue plate lube is a VERY useful accessory with all my moulds but particularly the Lees. The two cavity moulds benefit greatly from lightly lubing the alignment pin and v-block will Bullshop Sprue plate lube - this gives perfect alignment when closing the mould. The Lees are a bit "tender" and are NOT for the hamhanded
worker. With care, however, they will give excellent service.

FWIW

Dale53
 
Alignment of a Lee isn't too much of a problem, if you don't get "hamhanded", as Dale said. Sometimes simply resting the leading edge of the mold on the casting table while closing it will cause it to close properly. That's providing your casting table has some semblance to being flat. Mine has a sheet metal covering.

Sprue plates can be lubed with a carpenter's pencil. Graphite from the pencil on the top of the mould, or the bottom surface of the cutter, won't affect anything other than the smoothness the cutter will operate with.

A touch of beeswax on the handle pivot, sprue cutter pivot and the alignment pins will usually make them operate in a more efficient manner.

I run my Lee 20# pot at 7, after the initial melting and mould heating process. The larger 2 cavities will cast as fast as one would want without overheating. Moulds like the Lyman 225415 will probably take a little more heat just to keep them up to operating temperature.
 
Paul5388 said:
There certainly isn't any snob appeal to a Lee, but you can buy 3 of them for the price of one Lyman or RCBS, plus they have handles with them.
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And that's precisely whey we bought these Lee dies.

Their SOLE purpose is to allow somebody to learn what a proper bullet is supposed to look like, and to experiment with hardnesses, mold designs, etc., before building or buying a VERY expensive machine (or machines). We're never going to see those molds again, and they're never going to be used for production. Why spend $100 when you can spend $19 to achieve the same goal?
 
I've gotten some very good information about casting, but can anybody tell me where I can get the mold I'm looking for? We've got the rest, but need that last one before we send the lot off.
 
As a last resort you could order from Lee directly. You'll pay a few dollars more but they should be able to tell you if it's in stock.
 
walnutred said:
As a last resort you could order from Lee directly. You'll pay a few dollars more but they should be able to tell you if it's in stock.
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I believe the boss ordered directly from Lee. Their web page is confusingly laid out, but he eventually found it.

Thanks.
 
I've ordered directly from them in the past and called with questions. My experience has always been positive. While I do not have a large collection of molds like some here, I do have a dozen or so molds. Ideal, Lyman, RCBS, Lee and a few homemade ones. All makes seem to have their quirks but the Lee molds have worked fine for me.

Like others when using aluminum molds I cast with two molds to help keep them from overheating.
 
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