A LOT of shooting for $20

[Ben]

I bought a $20 Lee , .30 cal. , 170 gr. g/c mould.
It is one of the new ones with the improved venting and alignment pins.

I decided to remove the g/c shank in both cavities.
The 2 bullets from the mould drop within 2/10 ths of a grain of each other.

This mould will cast MANY thousands of bullets. I realize it isn't an NOE or Mihec, or
an Accurate mould. However it makes nice bullets, they are very accurate and I don't have to
take the time to install gas checks.

I shoot these about 1,200 - 1,350 fps.

I did spend about 1 hour or so " Lee Menting " this mould when I received it from MidWay.
It is a smooth running piece of machinery now.

If you plan to shoot plain base bullets,( as most all of you are aware ) the rear end of the bullet is the one where the steering wheel is located , not the nose. The base of the bullet is critical . The bases must fill out 100% perfect or you should reject them.

A nice looking and very accurate bullet in just about all of my MANY .30 cal. rifles.

I cast about 200 or so today, I'll most likely shoot these in my Handi Rifle, 30-30 Win. and
my T/C Super 14, 30-30 Win. :

The nose mikes .301 " and the bands size nicely to .310 "

Here are about 1/3 of the bullets that I cast today.
I've sized these .310 ", filled the 2 lube rings with Ben's Red and then rolled them in BLL.
They are on the drying rack now :

 

[JWFilips]

Ben,
A nice batch of Plain Base! What could be more fun. It is nice to have both cavities PB'd Makes casting a bunch easy
Jim

 

[Ben]

Fast to cast with this mould today.
The bullets do not stick in the mould. ( I spun both cavities of the mould with fine Clover's for about 10 seconds or so )

Since no g/c is to be installed, also fast to lube and size in my Lyman 45.

In today's money, you'll end up doing a LOT of shooting for your $20 investment.

Ben

 

[9.3X62AL]

Ben--

What grit(s) size(s) do you use for cavity lapping? I have a couple moulds that could benefit from this process. In the past I have used automotive rubbing and polishing compounds for this purpose, and the results were satisfactory--but I'm all about improvement and enhancement wherever/whenever possible. Thank you!

 

[Ben]

Al :

I'm not certain of the abrasive #.
It isn't written on my can. Mine just says Clover's Fine.
I also have the same in Coarse, but never use that in a bullet mould.
I've never seen the fine Clover's abrasive put any scratches in a mould.
Seems like I bought my two cans in an Auto Parts store about 30 years ago.
( I think the primary use of this is for valve grinding )
I'll need to live about 500 more years to use this can up at the rate I'm going right now.

 

[S Mac]

Looks good Ben. As a side note I have used baking soda to polish cavities and gotten good results, make a paste and go to town.

 

[Ben]

Yes, I've heard that Baking Soda will polish a cavity.
I'll have to try that also.

Ben

 

[JWFilips]

I remember when I started out firelapping my JP Sauer Mauser My first thoughts were to use Clover But search as I might on the internet I could never get a definitive Grit number for their products.... so I ended up making my own pastes. I was very fortunate at the time because I had just finished a catalog shoot for a company that made diamond abrasive powders. From that shoot I had samples of 120 grit, 240 grit 320 grit 400 and 600.

I'm not certain but I think Clover "fine" is about 320 grit but that is MWAG based on what I found on the internet
Jim

 

[Ben]

I'll have to try the Baking Soda in a mould soon.

Thanks,
Ben

 

[9.3X62AL]

www.newmantools.com/clover.htm

Nice chart of what they offer, from 80 to 1200 grit. "Fine" they classify as either 320 or 280 grit. The chart gives grit dimensional data, both SAE and metric.

Thank s again, folks.

 

[Ben]

You bet AL ! !

Best to you,
Ben

 

[fiver]

the grit seems to break down as you use it.

mix that baking soda in some tooth paste and it works very well.
I have used colgate whitening tooth paste to put a finishing polish on molds and other stuff that would make top grades at a car show.

 

[JWFilips]

That Is a great chart of the Clover abrasives! Never found that one Thanks! Guess my guess was pretty close at 320
I would think Baking soda and Toothpaste have to be in 1000 + zone
Another one I have use for "Leementing" is comet cleanser

 

[Ben]

Whenever I have a mould that wants to have a bullet stick in a cavity requiring the proverbial - - TAP - TAP - Tap to try and free the bullet , it gets the Clover Fine Abrasive Treatment.
Usually I spin a bullet in the cavity 10 - 15 seconds . That usually does the trick.









Problems over.

Clean the mould and get back to casting........This time with a problem free mould.

Ben

 

[Missionary]

Greetings
When the Hall breach loader rifles were being assembled (1823 and on) the final polish / fitting the breach to the rifle was done with flour.
Mike in Peru

 

[KHornet]

Interesting!

 

[quicksylver]

Ben.....Since you have something that uses 309 molds, I have an unused Lee c309-160-r
you can have for shipping if you like..if you want it great, if not the same offer applies to anyone on this site.

Dan S.

 

[quicksylver]

Ben on second thought ..I am going to rescind my offer...Just send me your address and I will send you two lee molds.
Just a small down payment for everything you have done for us guys.

 

[Ben]

WOW....You're a pal ! !

I've sent you my address.
Many thanks,
Ben

 

[Ben]

I've got about 200 of these that are sized
.310" lubed with Ben's Red, and then rolled in BLL.