New Bullet Molds for less Than $65

ebay

Cheap moulds ain't good and good moulds ain't cheap.

I buy most of mine at Noe and Arsenal Molds. Arsenal is 68 for a 2 cavity. Noe has sales usually around the holidays for 15 to 20% off. You can also find used molds on the cast boolit site.

Catch the occasional 25% off sale at NOE or hang out in the sales forum on Cast Boolets. There are occasional good deals on eBay as well.

There’s always Lee. I’ve cast a lot of good bullets over the years from Lee molds. For the first 20 years of casting that’s all I owned.

Nothing wrong with Lee molds, especially the 6 bangers. Other than that, I have lost track of the number of second hand molds I have bought for $65 or less. Heck, I just tracked down a rare Lyman hollow base mold hunting Minie in 54 caliber that hasn't been made since the early 90s on ebay for less than $65. Iron molds basically never wear out if they aren't allowed to rust or intentionally mistreated. Aluminum molds seem almost as durable. Even molds that may not look too pretty usually cast well. I have two lyman 4 bangers (a 38 wadcutter and a 490 round ball) that are far from pretty and must be 25+ years old, but both churn out beautiful bullets. I paid maybe $40 each.

Used is going to be about your only option for under $65 other than Lee. Lee molds can be real winners. Like others have mentioned the 6 cavity molds are generally well regarded and even the 2 cavity molds work at least 50% of the time. NOE 2 cavity molds will be close when on sale.

Used can be hit or miss. I’ve bought a couple used molds that looked good in pictures but turned out to be dogs.

gunbroker.com

I have 10 Lee molds and they have given me great service. I've had a couple minor problems but they were easily fixable by me. They all drop really good pills with no problem. The only suggestion I would give for Lee molds is to get a small table top or clamp-on fan and use it to cool your Lee molds between pours. I do all my casting outside and with Lee's aluminum molds they need to be cooled once in a while. I am looking at a Lyman mold for one of my guns as Lee doesn't make a mold for it.

I only have 2 molds and both are Lee and both were purchased from ebay for about $20.00 shipped. One was new, a 356-102-R1 and a used 452-200 SWC. both drop very useable bullets and both are just 2 cavity molds. The 356-102 only comes as a 2 cavity and from what I have found is that only Accurate makes one like it and it is over $100.00...

NOE
Arsenal
Accurate
MP

Those are the big four for new molds. RCBS still makes a really solid mold and you can sometimes get deals on used ones on eBay.

If it's a bullet that you are going to shoot a lot of then you should be willing to spend a bit more. MP makes some EXCELLENT 6 and 8 cavity molds for right around $100. I've got a few of them. The 6 cavity are brass and the 8 cavity are aluminum.

Brass is fast becoming my second favorite mold material, right after iron. The aluminum that Lee uses is a bit softer than the aluminum that the other mold makers use.

My buddy and I shoot a lot of 9mm. The eight cavity MP molds I have drop a lot of bullets real quick. I've cast over 1000 bullets in three hours.

If you know what you're looking at then eBay is the second best source for used molds. Cast Boolits being the first.

OOPS!

Lee molds get a bad rap, but I've been using some for over 25 years (my first Lee mold was a 44 cal. 240 SWC and I cast good shootable bullets to this day with this mold. You can get a Lee 2 cavity mold for around $50.00... https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-molds/bullet-molds

I quit buying any dies or molds from ebay. Last time I looked I saw a mold I might try and I asked the vendor about the weight of the bullet. He knew nothing about bullet molds and couldn't even show a pic of the cavity. Years ago I bought a mold from ebay and it was used, as described, but used by a gorilla. Dings and scratches, sloppy fitting halves, etc. I once bought an RCBS die set from ebay and it took me 10-12 hours to repair all the threads and replace set screws (they looked like King Kong was the previous owner). Some things I want to have it in my hand, or be brand new before I buy it.

Lee does get a bad rap. I have several Lee molds, some at least 25 years old and have only had one that wouldn't work right. Some have become a little finikey and require you to check that they are aligned right when closed. I admit this takes a little time but I'm past getting in a big hurry. All my other molds are RCBS. Other than being much slower to heat up then the Lee's they have been perfect. A Bernz-a-matic propane torch speeds heat up time a great deal with any brand.

I am closing in on 5000 bullets cast with a Lee 6 banger for my 45. Still works beautifully.

When I bought my first mold it was that Lee 356-102-R1 and that was after trying bullets from 3 other molds that members from both here and Cast Boolits had sent me samples of to try out. a few even sent some of the same that were both tumble lubed and some Powder Coated. That Lee 356-102 performed the best in both of my guns so that is what I looked for when looking to buy a mold.

Also having never cast anything before I didn't know if I was going to like doing it or even if it was going to be more work then I wanted to perform. So I tried starting with as little invested as possible with the knowledge that if this did work out and I enjoyed it I would then spend the money for a proper pot and maybe better and more molds.

The two molds I received from ebay were well displayed with many clear pictures so I felt fully aware of the condition they were in. Also $20.00 used is a far cry from $65.00 used. I also do not consider myself a gambler and yes buying used can be a gamble with anything not just molds.

mdi said:

Lee molds get a bad rap, but I've been using some for over 25 years (my first Lee mold was a 44 cal. 240 SWC and I cast good shootable bullets to this day with this mold. You can get a Lee 2 cavity mold for around $50.00... https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-molds/bullet-molds

I quit buying any dies or molds from ebay. Last time I looked I saw a mold I might try and I asked the vendor about the weight of the bullet. He knew nothing about bullet molds and couldn't even show a pic of the cavity. Years ago I bought a mold from ebay and it was used, as described, but used by a gorilla. Dings and scratches, sloppy fitting halves, etc. I once bought an RCBS die set from ebay and it took me 10-12 hours to repair all the threads and replace set screws (they looked like King Kong was the previous owner). Some things I want to have it in my hand, or be brand new before I buy it.

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If you're paying $50 for a two cavity Lee you must have money to burn. They are half that on Amazon. You can get a two cavity Arsenal mold for $68 and they are head and shoulders above a Lee. A two cavity NOE is $79 and they are twice the mold a Lee is.

Whenever I post the cost of a reloading/casting tool. I will give a high rounded off estimate (mainly to stop the "I can get a better price at XXX sporting goods"). Actual prices are $26.98+ shipping. Arsenal website shows $65.00 for 44 cal. molds. And yes, Amazon has 44 cal Lee molds for $25.98. The OP asked for inexpensive mold, able to cast good bullets, not a Lee badmouthing session...

Any quality mold is darn near a lifetime investment. I have a few different ones, Lyman, Lee, rcbs, and they all have different personalities. Just because a quality mold is expensive doesn't mean a cheap mold is necessarily bad, just less likely to be perfect. I will say that the Lee 6 cavity molds, especially in the larger sizes are a lot less temperamental than the little Lee 2 cavity molds.

mdi said:

Whenever I post the cost of a reloading/casting tool. I will give a high rounded off estimate (mainly to stop the "I can get a better price at XXX sporting goods"). Actual prices are $26.98+ shipping. Arsenal website shows $65.00 for 44 cal. molds. And yes, Amazon has 44 cal Lee molds for $25.98. The OP asked for inexpensive mold, able to cast good bullets, not a Lee badmouthing session...

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It's not bad mouthing if it's true.

A NOE or Arsenal mold is much higher quality than a 2 cavity Lee. Better quality aluminum. Better sprue plate, more mass to hold the heat.

eBay or Gunbroker and look for Lyman or especially RCBS. Either are steel and will last many lifetimes. I prefer RCBS because the quality is so over the top. With Lee you get what you pay for, I know because
I have several. To really understand the difference in quality in Lee and some of the others, you have to compare the weight of a Lee 2-cavity to that of an Arsenal, NOE or Accurate.

35W

In this case if one has 3 different molds from different companies that all produce a similar designed bullet and they all produce usable bullets of the same quality then how can one say that one is better than the other?

I'm one that believe a tool will last to the degree that it is used and treated. An abused tool will not last no matter who made it. I don't understand how anyone can compare an aluminum mold to a brass mold or a steel mold. Lets just compare aluminum to aluminum and brass to brass, steel to steel.

kmw1954 said:

In this case if one has 3 different molds from different companies that all produce a similar designed bullet and they all produce usable bullets of the same quality then how can one say that one is better than the other?

I'm one that believe a tool will last to the degree that it is used and treated. An abused tool will not last no matter who made it. I don't understand how anyone can compare an aluminum mold to a brass mold or a steel mold. Lets just compare aluminum to aluminum and brass to brass, steel to steel.

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Here's a firsthand example- I bought a 6-cavity Lee 429-240-2R that should cast a .430" bullet weighing around 240 grs. Well the diameter was pretty close but the bullets weighed 255 to almost 265 grs. Another 2-cavity Lee I bought suffered from alignment pins that would fall out when the mould got hot. That is how one says that one brand is better than another.

When I said to compare Lee aluminum molds to Arsenal, Accurate and NOE, I was referring to those brands of molds made of aluminum, not brass or steel.

35W