Lee 2 Cavity, Not had good experience and I have mixed feelings about getting another

Somewhere around 10-12 years ago Lee changed their two cavity block design and I did not have any luck with them. I have several of the old style 2 cavity molds that I've had for the best part of twenty years and continue to use and have never had issues with them. I always liked these molds as they were inexpensive enough to buy a mold to give a firearm a tryout with cast and not break the bank. Treated with care they last very well. I've not found this to be the case with the new style.

When they made the change I bought two, one was the 311155 for 7.62x39. I didn't get one run out of it before the mold halves were misaligning and making bullets that were not just out of round but the two halves were offset by as much as .010". Completely unusable. I had the same issue with a 452200 SWC mold. I simply quit buying them and went to buying NOE molds and I've never looked back.

All that said, I love the Lee 6 cavity molds. They flat out work. I have several of them I've been running for the last twenty years and they just keep on casting great bullets.

My issue is this, I recently bought a 223 barrel for my Encore and want to give it a spin with cast, but I don't want to invest in either a 6 cavity, a more expensive aluminum 4 or 5 cavity or a two cavity iron/steel mold. I would like to hear about others experiences with the new style Lee 2 cavity, the good and the bad and particularly how to ensure that the dang thing don't fail inside the first run. I don't mind Lee products, I run a couple Load Master's, cast with Lee molds and casting pots, and use their dies, but these 2 cavity molds have left me feeling less than confident I will get my moneys worth if I lay out the cash for one.

What say ye?

Edit: Found Midway running the 6 cavity for 50 bucks and free shipping this evening, problem solved. Thanks for your help guys.

I am going to guess that you failed to heat cycle the new style mold several times to allow the alignment pins to settle in and when you started casting, one or both of the pins moved. Verify that the pins are holding the blocks in the correct position and enjoy that mold. Then once you have figured that problem out, you will feel more comfortable trying the Lee 2 cav mold.

JohnH

Was there a reason that you didn't send the defective moulds back to Lee ?

Ben

The new 2 cavity molds have steel alignment pins like the 6 cavity molds and should work same as the 6 cavity.
I have one of the new 2 cavity molds but I have not used it yet.
Next time I heat up my lead pot I will have to try it out!

I have one of the new Lee 2 cavity round ball molds that is excellent. Just remembered I also have a 2 cavity .459 mold that works great.

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Originally Posted by Ben

JohnH

Was there a reason that you didn't send the defective moulds back to Lee ?

Ben

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I didn't like the new design to begin with and having had failures with other Lee products I wasn't inclined to go through the effort. Do know that I have used their customer service before and been pleased with it. I have an old style single cavity mold, 311185 that when I bought it the nose was undersized, .294 rather than .300. I sent it back with a sample cast and when it was returned (within two weeks) the nose was a perfect .300, they sent samples too. I would not be surprised to find I have cast 4000+ bullets with that mold over the years.

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Originally Posted by Dusty Bannister

I am going to guess that you failed to heat cycle the new style mold several times to allow the alignment pins to settle in and when you started casting, one or both of the pins moved. Verify that the pins are holding the blocks in the correct position and enjoy that mold. Then once you have figured that problem out, you will feel more comfortable trying the Lee 2 cav mold.

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There was nothing in the instructions about heat cycling the molds. NOE instructs to do so and with those molds I do so. Arsenal Molds does not make such a recommendation with their molds and neither does Lee with their 6 cavity. I've never had problems with any of those, only the new style Lee 2 cavity. Does Lee now make such a recommendation?

Greetings,

If you refer to the new design moulds with the alignment dowels, perhaps it is due to the Aluminum faces "sticking" together.

I had a similar issue.

To resolve it, I give the mould a gentle tap on the side to seat the dowels.

A further effort to reduce sticking was to coat the mould faces with Neolube (Graphite mixed in Alcohol). This also seems to help.

Cheers,

Dave

Could you explain how you heat cycle the molds?
thanks

I just got a 35-200 Lee clone this morning, no more that what I know, the bullets looked good to me after casting some. They'd stick here and there, but I didn't smoke the mold like they recommended or any of the other tricks to keep them from sticking. Just preheat, and go. Just my experience thus far. I'm happy enough that I'm going to pick up a two holer 300 grain for the 44 mag.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

All my molds are 2 cavity by Lee Precision. Some work fine and some are troublesome. I've had the sprue cutter screws come loose on both the right hand thread design and the left hand thread design. I put some Loctite on the threads, but I think the heat allowed the Loctite to stop working. I'm thinking of upsetting the threads so they are jammed into the aluminum. The alternative would be locking Heli-coil inserts... for the right hand threads. The other problem is the special locking pins to keep the aluminum blocks mounted on the handles as they keep backing out. I think I've solved that by using a punch and hammer to drive them into the aluminum further. Some mods I have smoked per the instructions and some are not smoked. The one that cast the best is an unsmoked .452 200g SWC with tumble lube ribs.

I will say this, that Lee molds are cost effective if you are not shooting hundreds of rounds a week. Actually I cast and Hi-Tech coat more boolits than I shoot. three Lee molds for the cost of one from RCBS.

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I didn't get one run out of it before the mold halves were misaligning and making bullets that were not just out of round but the two halves were offset by as much as .010". Completely unusable.

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This sure sounds like the alignment pins came loose.

Lee changed the design in 2012.
There were issues with loose alignment pins in the first couple years, they put out this warning, which I don't even think was the real problem. I have a 22 Bator (bought in 2013) that had one loose pin (I never over heated it), anyway I fixed the looseness and it has worked fine ever since.

I believe they corrected whatever the real problem was, at least judging by the several 2 cav Lee molds that I had bought since 2016, they've all been just fine.

https://support.leeprecision.net/en/...le-cavity-mold

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Originally Posted by JohnH

There was nothing in the instructions about heat cycling the molds. NOE instructs to do so and with those molds I do so. Arsenal Molds does not make such a recommendation with their molds and neither does Lee with their 6 cavity. I've never had problems with any of those, only the new style Lee 2 cavity. Does Lee now make such a recommendation?

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I am not sure that Lee has addressed it but there are numerous comments in threads where members have done a complete heat/cool cycle for three times and no problems. Personally, I let an experienced caster use a new Lee 6 cav mold and he did not heat cycle it and the pins drifted. Minor fix and fine now. Your experience might be different.

There is a thread on Lee-menting a mold that I have not looked at in a long time and it might be mentioned there. It addresses some issues that might be taken care of before putting the mold in service.

I absolutely love the new 2 cavity moulds .
But you do have to do a bit of hand finishing and you have to soak them in acetone to pull out the oil that is deep in the pores of the aluminum and you have to break them in with at least three complete heat cycles and you have to properly lube them with synthetic 2-stroke oil in the proper amounts in the proper places . Tip - don't smoke the cavities ...use a Teflon based Dry Lubricant to thinly coat the cavities for easy drop out ... soon the cavities will get a patina formed and nothing will be needed . Come on Man ...$28.00 for a 2 cavity mould with the freaking handles ... that's still a good deal and Lee will take care of any defective mould .
I'm more than Happy with what I pay for one . Think about this Lyman Handles ...just the handles ... are $52.99 and that don't include the blocks $94.99 .
That's $147.98 for Lyman or $28.00 for Lee ... you pays your money and you takes your choice .
Just to tryout a cast boolit design or try a rifle with cast ... I'll picks the Lee and smile :-D every time !
Gary

Got a new 2 cavity 35/200 RF from Lee, no problems so far, put it on the hot plate, heated it up a bunch, cast till it got too hot, laid it down, let it cool, came back, preheat, good to go now! And it throws great boolits to boot! Just my experience.

I recently got a Lee single cavity 459-405 hb mold and it is doing fine for now. Also a 500 grain double cav. and it dropped good boolits too. I don't figure these will last for many years though, but they will allow me to zero in on a boolit type/weight that works well in a new firearm before I spend North of $100 on a high end one. There are a lot of accomplished shooters using that 405 hb boolit in 45-70 and it shoots well enough in mine that I would just keep buying those molds if I needed to.

I have gotten two two cavity Lee Molds ion the last year - the Lee 358 158 grain SWC, and the Lee 430 240 grain SWC. Just followed the instructions on cleaning the molds with lighter fluid, and then smoking them with a butane lighter. First casting session was not real good for either one, but shortly after that when they'd seasoned a bit, not had any further problems.