Yesterday's Weapons Forums

Now that I have melted lead.
I had a Lyman steel mold that I bought about 30 years ago and it throws about a 400gr slug without a gas check attached. I wanted a flat base bullet for the Shiloh Sharps so after some checking I ordered a Lyman 480gr #457658 flatbase from Midway. I didn't order handles assuming the ones I had would fit, they didn't. but I think I can modify them so they will.

They also had Lee hollow base 405gr aluminum molds with handles on sale so I thought what the heck, it should work good in the trapdoor. I don't really care for the aluminum mold, they don't close tight enough and leave a paper thin trail between the blocks.

Well, my wife wants to head over to the west side of Mpls so it looks like its time for a trip to the Gun Stop. Might buy a new set of Lyman handles instead of modifing the old ones.

Back from the gun store. Picked up a set of the large handles and couldn't believe they were $37 and like Txpete said, they are made in China and cheaply.

There is quite a bit of difference between the two sizes. The ones I bought a while back are on the left and the new ones on the right.



They are really cheaply made but getting new ones was better than making the old ones work. Hopefully I'll finally be able to make some bullets.

If your Lee mold is defective, then Midway or Lee will replace it with no problem. Lyman molds are better made, but Lee molds do work well. If they didn't make good bullets, I would have to shoot a lot less. I suggest you check here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/index.php, for good casting advice.

_________________
Ten Bears: "You are the Grey Rider. You would not make peace with the bluecoats. You may go in peace."
Josey Wales: "I reccon not."