Unusual start-up with my new Lee mould

[Steelbanger]

I've been searching for a light weight 38 cal bullet to run through my 642 S & W Airweight. This little revolver really smacks my hand with normal 38 Special loads so my search involved only light bullets to reduce recoil. Friday the mould arrived so I planned to break it in on Saturday morning. I did the usual inspection, boiled it with dish washing detergent to remove any oils then smoked the cavities. I planned to lube the sprue plate, alignment pins and bushings and hinge points when I was starting up on Sat. This incidentally is the new style 2 cavity design and it has plain base, no bevel, bullets.

Then Murphy and his law showed up.

I use Bull Plate Lube on all my moulds so after dipping the mould in my pot for about 20 seconds and was lightly applying a q-tip with a drop of Bull Plate on the alignment pins then the bushing side of the blocks but when I put the q-tip in the hole to lube it the bushing went right out the back of the die and fell to the floor. I found that then had to decide whether to, A shut down or B try a quick fix and I went with plan B. After getting it in position on my vise I used a 1/16 punch to crimp the bushing in place by tapping the aluminum just above the pin and extruding it onto the bushing. I made about 5 or 6 of these crimps to hold everything in place. Moving back to my enclosed porch I then started again and began casting. I got good bullets on the second cast and they remained looking good until Murphy reminded me to pay attention. The sprue plate was loose so I tried to tighten it with my handy Phillips screwdriver. The screw turned but wasn't engaging any threads so I backed it out and everything fell to the floor, plate, screw and washer. The mould was seriously hot so I gave it time to cool then tried to start the screw - no go. At that point I shut down and will decide whatever to do with it today. All I know is that I checked the tightness of that screw before I started and it was tight. I really hate to clean up the threads in aluminum so I am probably going to call Lee today.

At least I have enough bullets to load for testing as I counted just under 150 for my short session of casting and beautiful they are too.

[Steelbanger]

Hello again,
Packing my mould to send back to Lee when I looked into the box and saw a small piece of paper inside. I pulled it out and lo and behold, it tells that Lee has a new "always tight left hand screw" on the sprue plate. The light came on , I tried the screw counterclockwise and it screwed right in. Now I am wondering why the Lee folks didn't tell me that when I talked to them this morning. Anyway, this attachment may help some of you in a similar situation. The Left Hand designation is stamped on the corner of the block, "LH" with diameter and weight below that.

I feel so dumb.

Lee Lefty threads .JPG

[Ranch Dog]

Interesting and thanks for the report. The direction of the thread makes sense for keeping it tight. What specific mold is this, I'm interested for the same reasons you stated.

[62chevy]

Is that the 356-95-RF mold that looks like the RD mold for .380 acp? If so that may be why the screw wouldn't loosen up for for some lube. Got to check now.

[62chevy]

Doesn't say LH or any notes left in the box so guessing it has standard threads. Not sure if I should jump for joy or go darn no lefty as lefty threads might make sense.

[Steelbanger]

Hi Michael,

This is the 358-125 with a nice flat nose. These formerly had a bevel base but apparently are now plain, flat base. I can't wait to try them. Heavy bullets go a bit high in my snubbie and I'm hoping that these are closer to point of aim.

[Ranch Dog]

Hi Michael,

This is the 358-125 with a nice flat nose. These formerly had a bevel base but apparently are now plain, flat base. I can't wait to try them. Heavy bullets go a bit high in my snubbie and I'm hoping that these are closer to point of aim.

Okay, I see it on the list. I'm shooting my "Heavy" 380 Auto bullet the TL358-125-RF and it has been shooting very well from the Rossi 351. The bullets appear very similar except for the Micro Bands on my bullet.

[akuser47]

This is a good Idea as it will help it stay tight when using it. funny how things can have a solution already there just hidden. Good to hear you don't have to send it back. keep us posted to how they shot.

[Fyodor]

So this turned out to be a classic RTFM problem? *big grin*

[Steelbanger]

So this turned out to be a classic RTFM problem? *big grin*

I had to Google that acronym but now I'm laughin' And yes, you are correct. But it should be more like read the extra printed paper at the bottom of the box.