doubleh
Member
I recently posted about my troubles with a 140 grain Lee mold and also about a single cavity 125 grain Lee mold I bought used off of ebay. I also use a .358" Lee sizer for these and other 38 special and 357 bullets. The Lee sizer is a recent purchase. I was getting .357" bullets out of it and when I measured it it read a very thin hair over .357". OK, no problem, I will hone it to 358 which I did and I am now getting .358" bullets out of it just like I should have been from the start.
Just to see how close the molds were to their stated weight I decided to weigh the bullets from each using a Frankford digital scale. I first checked with 140 grains of RCBS check weighs and it was correct. Imagine my surprise when I started weighing bullets and found them to range from slightly less to slightly more than 150 grains. The mold is clearly stamped 140 gr. I decided to weight the 125 grain bullets and found the weigh from slightly less to slightly more than 130 grains. The mold is stamped 125 grains. The next step was to see if this held true with other Lee molds so I grabbed some 240 grain bullets I had cast up for 44 magnum. Unlike the others these are close to their stated weight of 240 grain and per Lee's instructions are measureing at .430" without sizing. I guess one out of three isn't too bad but I am going to check what is what with my other Lee molds.
I even managed to find some load data for the 130 and 150 weight bullets. The main problem I have now is that I have less than a pound of one recommended powder for either weight bullet.
Just to see how close the molds were to their stated weight I decided to weigh the bullets from each using a Frankford digital scale. I first checked with 140 grains of RCBS check weighs and it was correct. Imagine my surprise when I started weighing bullets and found them to range from slightly less to slightly more than 150 grains. The mold is clearly stamped 140 gr. I decided to weight the 125 grain bullets and found the weigh from slightly less to slightly more than 130 grains. The mold is stamped 125 grains. The next step was to see if this held true with other Lee molds so I grabbed some 240 grain bullets I had cast up for 44 magnum. Unlike the others these are close to their stated weight of 240 grain and per Lee's instructions are measureing at .430" without sizing. I guess one out of three isn't too bad but I am going to check what is what with my other Lee molds.
I even managed to find some load data for the 130 and 150 weight bullets. The main problem I have now is that I have less than a pound of one recommended powder for either weight bullet.
