Wore out my LEE 6 cavity 358-158-RF mold

hatman1793

hatman1793

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The LEE mold number is 90692.
This was a very nice mold. Probably cast countless thousands of bullets through it. Where it really started to shine was when I moved away from tumble lubing these bullets. Powder coating them was the way to go & when I discovered this, the mold was always in the lineup.

The two mold halves finally began to warp creating lead “flashing” on either side of the bullets. Just a little flashing at first & this was easily scrapped off with an exacto blade. Unfortunately the flashing got worse & thicker as time went on until the flashing turned into a whole new step. Six steps are enough.

Higginsons Powder carries the whole LEE line, so the same new mold was ordered & has arrived. I suppose that the mold still has value to somebody some interested party who is determined to rehabilitate it.......
 
The 6 cavity and new style 2 cavity should last a long time with maybe a little tweaking to keep it closing straight enough for the pins to mesh.
Hats off to you having managed to wear one out! Hard to even imagine the cost of buying that many bullets compared to the price of the mold and a pot.

The older Lee single and double molds could be a frustrating experience and I look forward to upgrading a couple when run out of patience. Too cheap and stubborn to give up on some yet.
 
Send it back to Lee. It’s over the warranty period but they have a replacement program of some sort. Might not be worth the shipping but I’d look into it.
 
If you burn off the original manufacturing oils and spray the new mold with liquid graphite after every thousand bullets cast, it will last forever. Most molds don't warp. They get lead stuck to them. Use a magnifying lamp and scrap it off and then liquid graphite it. Good for a few more thousand.
 
are you sure it is warped mold blocks.
Some lee molds get a layer of burnt on lube on the alignment pins keeping them from closing tightly.
And some folks do not lube the alignment pins at all, this will keep them from closing completely.
I started to use synthetic 2 stroke oil and a Q tip to lube the alignment pins and have yet to have a problem
Over 50 years of casting bullets and I have yet to warp a set of mold blocks
 
Good morning,
I didn’t wear out that same Mold, but I replaced it with a “new” style 6 cavity. I find for the couple of dollars(ok..$60)a new 6 cavity LEE mold costs vs the 1000’s of boolits I make. It’s well worth the upgrade. I gave the old one to another caster and he was very appreciative. It was his first 6 cavity mold. He was all smiles when he started using it. He very quickly upgraded his melting pot to a bottom pour!!
I probably cast over 20K boolits with the “old” mold and had lapped the holes with valve compound and polished it with Jb’s bore Paste. Last time I talked to him it was still dropping boolits like...well it should!!
As has been mentioned I would do a bit of cleanup and lube with any 2Stroke oil and give it another chance....or forget about it and use a new one.....

Have an awesome weekend!

32Bullseye
 
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