Which mold ?

[Sudsy]

????
Round ball .440
Lyman steel 1 cavity
or
Lee aluminum 2 cavity for $10 less

 

[Whitworth]

Lee.

 

[Griz44Mag]

????
Round ball .440
Lyman steel 1 cavity
or
Lee aluminum 2 cavity for $10 less

I make a lot of balls - I like the light weight of the Lee molds and the almost invisible sprue after cutting.
If you are into volume - get a Lee 6 cavity. You can drop a lot of lead in a small amount of time. It also helps with the longer mold to use a bottom pour pot so you can fill all the cavities without re-dipping a ladle.

 

[Sidney Smith]

Lee all the way. For the cost of a Lyman mold and that's just the mold, I can get probably two Lee molds, with handles. Lyman molds are nice but expensive, and as far as it used to be, they didn't come with handles. I have only one Lyman mold for a reason. I have many Lee molds for the same reason.

 

[TreeMan]

I have a few Lyman minie molds. They are nice but expensive. All but one of my roundball molds are Lee. Lightweight, come with handles, no sprue and 1/3 the money of what a Lyman costs.

 

[ADK Bigfoot]

I have four cavity Lyman round ball molds in .380, .440, .445, .457, and .490. When I sit down to cast, I produce a PILE of round balls.

ADK Bigfoot

 

[Sudsy]

I have all Lyman and RCBS molds, never did the Lee aluminums - and I never had a good reason why

Ordering the Lee right now

 

[nkbj]

Have had problems with small diameter Lee round ball molds. That tangential sprue cut off is sometimes within the sphere rather than on the tangent. When that happens on a .35 round ball you're gonna need to be really close to the rabbit.

 

[Brokennock]

I have both.
I do like the smaller, almost nonexistent sprue of the Lee, and the cost is nice.
But, overall, I like my Lyman molds better. I find the heat of the mold more consistent and easier to maintain once they come up to temp. While it does cause a larger sprue. I also seem to make less mess, less overfill, less partial fills due to not pouring directly into the hole, with the Lyman's larger hole in the plate.

But, full disclosure, many here have more experience than I do casting.
And, I am doing things a little different than most.
I am casting from a "Hot-Pot" so basically I am picking up all my lead and pouring straight from the pot, which is great for temp control, but, tough for physical control until one gets used to it.

You can see the difference in the sprue in the last picture. The left side are .610 ball from the Lyman, the right are .595 ball from the Lee. I rarely get both cavities of the Lee to drop a keeper, usually one of the two is rejected. Probably due to poor technique on my part. I did learn that it is better when heating the Lee, or keeping it hot while working something else, to keep the steel sprue plate on the heat source. This seems to need more heat than the aluminum mold block. The Lyman heats more evenly.

(I too could not believe I pulled off that one handed pour for video purposes)

 

[Sudsy]

I have that hot pot as well, agree - very difficult to work with
Retired it to small ingot making long ago

 

[dave951]

In this case Lee, BUT, I'm not a fan of Lee molds as they are made to a price point and as such aren't anywhere near as durable as my conventional molds, especially minies. Of the Lee minies, I use one, 1, ONE, and that's the discontinued "target minie" and I use it in my Parker Hales.

 

[Horse]

Lyman is my choice, I have used Lee but the Lyman wins out imo.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I think all molds can have issues, I traded turkey feathers for a Lyman .535 that casts lopsided balls, .535 on one side and .528 on the other. I have had older Lees that the blocks didn't match up right and left some flashing around the ball.

I have a bunch of new model Lees that are spot on, much better than the older ones.

I would buy a Lee.

 

[Griz44Mag]

In this case Lee, BUT, I'm not a fan of Lee molds as they are made to a price point and as such aren't anywhere near as durable as my conventional molds, especially minies. Of the Lee minies, I use one, 1, ONE, and that's the discontinued "target minie" and I use it in my Parker Hales.

Strange - I have some Lee molds that have been in continuous use for over 30 years. Seem pretty durable to me.
When I purchased a Lyman .735 I returned it because it did not align properly and made oblong balls.
The second one they sent would not open once on the handles because the pins were misaligned.
The third one was OK, after almost 3 months of returns and waiting.
I won't be bragging about Lyman quality - I haven't seen it.
I have never returned a Lee mold - and have an extensive collection spanning several decades.
A lot of that has to do with taking care of your tools properly.

 

[mooman76]

I started with the Lees and now have others too but Lees are my first choice because of the price. Some claim they are less durable than others but if you take care of them like you should, they will last a lifetime and more.

 

[Griz44Mag]

I started with the Lees and now have others too but Lees are my first choice because of the price. Some claim they are less durable than others but if you take care of them like you should, they will last a lifetime and more.

Like you - I also have others - specialty molds from NOE and MIHEC that cast either hollow bases or hollow points, and a couple that cast for gas caps to be crimped on.

 

[dave951]

Strange - I have some Lee molds that have been in continuous use for over 30 years. Seem pretty durable to me.
When I purchased a Lyman .735 I returned it because it did not align properly and made oblong balls.
The second one they sent would not open once on the handles because the pins were misaligned.
The third one was OK, after almost 3 months of returns and waiting.
I won't be bragging about Lyman quality - I haven't seen it.
I have never returned a Lee mold - and have an extensive collection spanning several decades.
A lot of that has to do with taking care of your tools properly.

If you're only casting round ball, Lee is fine. I've tested a number of Lee molds for minies, and again, only 1 provided accuracy (and they discontinued it!) and compared to my other minie molds from Moose, Lyman, RCBS etc, Lee doesn't even come close in quality.

In general, I don't really like most of Lee's stuff. Again, it's built to a price point. I have a few Lee items in regular use, but I have backups for them. No issues with anybody else.

 

[Sidney Smith]

My Lyman maxi mold, the sprue cutter screw has to constantly be retightened. Not so with any of my Lee molds. Fortunately I only need to use the Lyman mold sparingly. My grandson likes to shoot maxis, so I make him up a few dozen a year for practice and to hunt with.

My .311 Lee double cavity has had problems getting both holes to fill up with lead. The one hole closest to the handles for some reason likes to give me half a ball. Cannot figure out why.

 

[Brokennock]

I have that hot pot as well, agree - very difficult to work with
Retired it to small ingot making long ago

Actually I really like my hotpot. I don't have any of the lead temp issues I read of others having. I like not having to move a laddle full of molten lead from a pot to a mold, potentially dripping or spilling it,,, or having some of the drip/leak issues I read of with bottom pour pots.
It does have its challenges, a bit heavy to work with, not a lot of space to heat up a mold (thus the hotplate), and kind of small if the lead needs to be fluxed/cleaned.
I flux and clean my bulk lead in a large pot on a turkey fryer burner and cast small muffin tin ingots of clean lead for the hot-pot.
Overall once some of the challenges are worked around,,,, for my needs,,,, I really like it.

 

[hanshi]

I have both molds and usually prefer the Lee when time comes to cast.