Lee Loader

HEY! It's getting kinda quiet around here, anyone have a new question for April?

How about "What is your favorite handgun cast bullet/mold?"...

mikld wrote:HEY! It's getting kinda quiet around here, anyone have a new question for April?

How about "What is your favorite handgun cast bullet/mold?"...

Yeah, with spring each year, things do get very quiet and see to stay so for about a month and a half. Same around the 4th of July and Labor Day.

Let's see; I shoot a 25 Auto, 32 Auto, 380 Auto, 9mm Luger, 38 Spl, 9mm Makarov, and 45 Auto. My favorite mold is a Ranch Dog!

TL255-50-RF
TL314-75-RF
TL358-100-RF
TL358-125-RF
TLC357-135-RF
TL367-100-RF
TL457-235-RF

To name just one:
Mine is the Lee 358-125-RF.
Powder coated and sized to .359, It works in the 38 sp, 357 mag, and 357 Max.
Sized to .357, it works in all my 9mms and will also work in my 380.
I have heavier cast bullets that I like for hunting, But for day to day shooting this is the one.
I cast so many of them that I bought 2 six cavity molds, and use both at the same time to speed things up.

Well ......
38/357 it's the 358-158 RNFP Lee
9mm the 358-125 RNFP Lee
40 gets the 401-175 TL SWC . I got the same results on target as a 175 LBT but Lee is 6C
45 gets complicated ........
Have the 6C 452-200 , 452-255 , Lyman 454424 single and NOE 5C copy and a 453-350 RNFP M-M . The 454424 is my absolute favorite and the NOE version makes a bunch in a hurry .
It looks weird in an ACP case , that's what I bought 452-200 for . For the weight and production
I'm probably going to drop both of the RNFP moulds and stick with the SWCs the new to me H&G 8C #130 will crank out some bullets and in a yr or so I'll get to try them in ACP, Schofield, Colts and maybe even a Raptor .

I'm not a caster myself, but I have bought/paid for one mold to supply a buddy with (obviously in exchange for a supply of boolits) .... same mold RB mentioned above - 38/357 it's the 358-158 RNFP Lee.

Before that my bud had bought the LEE 125 gr mold for the .38/.357 and had finally begun to learn the importance of bring the mold up to temperature before filling. I tried a bunch of the 125 gr and was disappointed enough to offer to buy the 358-158 RNFP. Having tried several other commercial cast and jacketed bullets in the last 7 years, that LEE 358-158 RNFP has been my favorite for all around shooting.

jd

My favourate has to be the TL 358-158 SWC for 38/357. It is the only Lee mold I haven't had to "adjust" to get it to easily drop pretty, round bullets. In 9mm I went to the TL124-356-2R which I had to polish to get it to release bullets without banging hard on the handle joint. I have to size the bullets after dropping or they bulge my cases to the point they won't fully chamber in my S&W MP9. This is my IPSC gun and having to deal with this in the middle of a stage isn't conducive to polite language. I have another mold of the newer pattern which gave me an alignment issue until I discovered the problem was loose pins. Note I also have this mold "Beagled".

Yep, my most favorite molds/bullets are Ranch Dog's 44 cal. RNFP, 240 and 265 gr. I started casting for my Puma and couldn't find a bullet that would feed good and be big enough for it's oversized barrel. Feller over on castboolets recommended the RD so I got one and it worked so well I got another. Both the 240 and 265 grain bullets work quite well in all my 44 Magnums (5)...

An old Ideal 2 Cav, 148gr Button nose wad cutter.
Lee, 2 cav 140gr SWC
Both 38/357

I guess we could open up the question to include jacketed, plated (ugh!), monolithic, or coated...

Has anyone tried the Lee TL356-95-RF. Interested in what diameter it drops, .356" would be too small for any of my pistols.