Lee R.E.A.L. Molds

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I don't know or remember right offhand about this R.E.A.L. stuff you throwed in there, but Lee molds are good. I own three. .31--.451--.457. I don't ever use them but I got them from Cabela's years ago and I keep them put away here just for an emergency situation. It make's me feel better having them in reserve with the way things are nowadays. (and getting worse). The reason I know they are good is because I have a lifelong friend down in Alabama who uses one for his '58. (.451) He really like's it Bigbadgun. I'm not sure but I think he buy's (or used to anyway) a lot of his lead from Cabela's to. (Don't quote me on that but he bought it from some catalog company) I do know he got his mold, a melting pot, a heater, and some other stuff concerning making his own .451's from Cabela's....
 
Hmm GOTC I have 3 round ball molds .454, .490, and .380 I am thinking of the REAL mold or maybe a .50 Minnie I want more feed back.
As far as lead the best line I can get on lead is on ebay at about a dollar a pound with shipping. I have 55 pounds now but I am gonna be doing a major pour in the next couple weeks.
 
Bigbdgun, I PM'd you back my friend...Well, I really can't help you buddy. You know I would if I could. I just don't know much about all of that....
 
No Bigbadgun, on second thought I'll wait until I might happen to see a few more posts before I send him into exile! Might be a pretty savvy man. We'll see. Will you explain this R.E.A.L. mold to me? Anybody, you or Zimmerstutzen or anybody. I am totally unfamiliar with what ya'll mean....
 
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I've had good luck with mine. It's a .50 cal 250 grain. I use it for a crappy old CVA sidelock that I could never get to shoot worth a darn with patched balls. With the REAL it shoots probably 6" groups at 100 yards. Still not great, but good enough to kill a deer. I'd like to try it in a better gun one of these days to see how it does.

It casts pretty consistent bullets, not as good as my Brooks mould but then again it costs a whole lot less. Since they're made of aluminum they heat up very fast, and you can start casting good bullets right away. I'm sure they're not as durable as a higher quality mould, but for $20 or so you can afford to replace it if it wears out in 10 years. Plus, they're so cheap if it doesn't work out for you you're not out a whole lot of money, like if you had spent $150 on a high quality mould.

If you want I could send you a dozen or bullets to try out, before you buy one.
 
My CVA Hawkens shoots nice groups with round ball but I like the idea of not needing to swab the pipe down after every shot. That is more the reasoning and if the hold good groups also hey bonus. Thanks alemonkey I sent you a pm.
 
I've got quite a few Lee molds & they are well worth the money IMHO.

I do have a R.E.A.L. mold in .50 caliber 320gr. & it molds a sweet bullet that has lots of down range punch but like all bullet & rifle combinations you'd have to work out the charge to where it likes it for best accurate performance.
My Lyman Trade Rifle doesn't seem to like the Lee R.E.A.L. bullet all that much but my CVA Bobcat really shines with it out to 120 yards "farthest I've shot it" with 75gr. FFFG Goex & 50/50 Crisco/Bees Wax lube in the groves.

If you buy one & start molding your own remember two things.
(1) use as pure of lead that you can get because just like the letters mean it does engrave the rifling apaun loading & any lead that is harder will make loading quite hard.
(2) while molding the lead in Lee's molds smack the bolt hinge not the mold, the mold being made of Aluminum will start to deform if you hit it too many times & eventually could make it not close correctly "don't ask how I know this." :rolleyes:

Like Alemonkey I too can send you a few if you'd like to try out, 2 different weights what luck would that be?
 
as #8 & #10 I've had good luck with the REAL slug in my .50 CVA 1-48 twist.
over about 75gr 3F groups begin to open up however. I have shot off a rest near 1" groups with 60 grs 3F @ 50 yds with this slug. a felt overpowder tightens groups some. it's important to use as pure soft lead as possible to cast and lube well the slug.
 
I'm using the REAL 250 in my 77/50s. It's nice not having to brush the bore every other shot. The other nice fact is I always have ammo in stock now. I hated going to the supplier only to see that they changed what they are pushing.
 
The REAL bullets are made with, as I recall, four bearing bands to seal the bore, and three wide grease grooves. They are very blunted at the nose, and a have lousey ballistic coefficient. The problem is that in some rifles, the rear bands don't really seal the bore and the wider front band is tough to get pushed down past the muzzle crown. so you end up with a conical that can be slightly canted in the bore already before the powder is ignited. Add to that the obturation and you could have the base melting for lack of sealing the bore. Accuracy goes to heck real fast. I found that they are terrible in a barrel made for PRB's. the rifling is too deep and the bullet just doesn't seal the grooves. Perhaps in one of those 1:48 shallower groove barrels it would do better. Frankly a 6 inch group at one hundred yards would be a average to lousey offhand group for me. Off a bench I would expect a 2 inch even from a smooth bore.

If you consider a miniie ball, Keep in mind that a minnie bullet is extremely sensitive to powder charges and anything over about 60 or 70 grains may well blow out the skirt of the hollow base minnie and ruin any chance at accuracy.
 
Zimmerstutzen..THAT'S what I was waiting to hear. I didn't know anything about this R.E.A.L. stuff so I have been on several different forums today researching. Also talked to 2 different product specialists at Cabela's. Everyone told me that if I was going to use them to watch out for pretty well what you just got through posting here. I won't ever use them anyway. I buy my sabots for my inlines from Cabela's and my inlines are all the rifles I'll ever shoot anyway....
 
I'm more of a PRB type myself so anything beyond 100 yards is walkin for me to see another day but I bought my R.E.A.L mold some time ago to give it a try & since my Bobcat really likes it I tend to keep a few molded for just that rifle.
 
If the REAL fits well, it will shoot well. If it fits loose, then Zimmer's description would apply to any bullet.
If heat from the burning powder can pass up the base of any cast lead bullet, what he describes will happen. Hot gasses will melt the lead and blow it past the bullet where it can plate onto the bore with combustion byproducts. It can't be accurate if that happens.
If any bullet can engrave the rifling enough to avoid slipping, but not be too tight, then a gas seal can be made to fit over the powder to prevent hot gasses from searing the bullet. Wool, paper, grease cookies, plastic bases that look like cup seals from a car's brake cylinder....whatever.
REAL is a short bullet that should out perform a round ball in medium to slow twist rifles. If you can find the right seal, lube and load combination. :scrutiny:
I'm mostly interested in 54 caliber, so I have Lee mini balls, T/C Maxi-Balls, Hornady Great plains, whatever I see at the black powder shop if it interests me.
I have Lee REAL molds for 50 and 58, but have not tried them yet. The 50 is the lighter of the 2 choices, it's for my Trapper pistol kit, which I haven't finished yet. The 58 is for my Cabelas Interarms Hawken, which has only been shot with Patched Round Balls so far...So sorry I can't give any feedback.
My point is that any cast bullet can suffer from gas cutting, not just the REAL, so get someone to send you a fistfull to try. Heck, it'll be fun and you might learn something. ;)
 
I use the 250gr in my Kodiak Dbl rifle with 1/48 twist and the 320 in my inline with a 1/28 twist. Easy to load and very good accuracy.
 
Haven't tried the real bullet but do use the Lee .58 mini ball in my Zouve, I like them.
If I found some of the real I'd try them they look like they should do the job, be worth a try.
 
I have the larger of the two .54 R.E.A.L. molds (which means I forget what the grain weight is right now). :p

I have found them to be very accurate in my Pedersoli Jager, which has a faster twist than a strictly round-ball gun. :D

Thing is though, that the PRB and the R.E.A.L. group in pretty much the same spot. :scrutiny:

That means, I am very happy with the R.E.A.L. mold. I use the Alox Lube on them and do not seem to have any problem with the bullet not centering, either.

Bottom line, it might be a crap shoot. Some people praise them, some don't.
You'll never know until you try!

The Doc is out now. :cool:
 
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