Wondering about the quality of Pedersoli molds. Need a .395 for my .40 cal rifle and Pedersoli and Lee look like the only production molds I can see. Buffalo Arms have the Pedersoli in stock and wondering if it’s worth the $$. Thanks….
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Pedersoli Bullet Mold—Opinions
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Richard Turner
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I have a dozen or so LEE molds and quality is consistent. Midway USA has the .395 mold in stock for less than $25.
Midway USA LEE Molds
Midway USA LEE Molds
hanshi
Cannon
I've probably have a couple dozen plus Lee molds. Yes, they are quality!
The lead you pour into the mold, isnt going to care how much you paid for it. I would get a Lee Mold, and follw their instruction to get it woking properly and blacken it also.I have lots of lee molds they cast good RBs, and bullets.
Dave
Dave
I believe Pedersoli makes a few proprietary moulds, like the one that is for the special compression bullets used in their Lorenz rifles. I would pay the price for one of those if I needed it, as the alternative would likely be a set of custom blocks that would cost even more. However, for a round ball in a common size, I would absolutely go with the Lee. I have a couple of Lee moulds, and they work fine. Just follow the directions.
Best regards,
Notchy Bob
Sorry, but I'm not a fan of Lee molds. For minies, they're marginal. Get a quality mold from Moose, Lyman or RCBS and you'll see. As for round ball, best going is Tanner. You can get any diameter you want-
https://www.ballmoulds.com/
Yeah, they're in the UK, but even with shipping, they make a quality mold at a competitive price.
https://www.ballmoulds.com/
Yeah, they're in the UK, but even with shipping, they make a quality mold at a competitive price.
For the money you can’t beat a Lee mold.
The Achilles heel is the sprue plate and the way it attaches. The screw simply doesn’t hold up and the plate it’s self can get bent enough to leave an oversize sprue.
maillemaker
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I'm a huge fan of Lee and most of my molds are Lee molds, and I use a Lee 420 pot.
That said, I do not recommend Lee hollow-base (Minie) molds. The aluminum core pin galls against the aluminum mold blocks.
Possibly if you coated the core pin with an alcohol/graphite mixture (Moose Juice from Moose Molds) it might stave that off.
That said, I do not recommend Lee hollow-base (Minie) molds. The aluminum core pin galls against the aluminum mold blocks.
Possibly if you coated the core pin with an alcohol/graphite mixture (Moose Juice from Moose Molds) it might stave that off.
And if you're serious about shooting and being accurate and doing the best possible, you'll see why Lee molds aren't the best out there. They keep the price where it is by a weak sprue plate and using as little material possible meaning they overheat fast and have dinky handles. Their minie molds are simply garbage. The base pin is not securely mounted and that mount is a thin, flexible part and since minies have to be poured hot, they overheat in very short order. I'd make the analogy of buying a high end sports car but putting regular gas in the tank and using cheapo recap tires on the wheels. In tools, buy once, cry once, love the quality forever.
Well I’m very serious about shooting, unfortunately I’m jut not in the class where slight variations of bullets are going to have much impact. With few exceptions most of the guns I shoot can hold a better group than I am capable of. And I shoot as well as many just not as well as a few.
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My first minie mold was a Lee and the core pin assembly failed on the 3rd casting session. The Lyman I've been using since has worked fine.
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Lee molds work the best. If you order a mold try to get a double cavity mold if you can.
Same here! Who determines what accuracy is! Lee round ball molds work great for me.
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You probably have never used a high quality mold. While they do "work" there are much much better quality molds available.
Really? Without a standard like MOA or Figure Of Merit, there is no way to quanitfy results and determine if what you're doing is working. If you look at the top 50% of competition shooters, guys who do care about accuracy and precision (and I'm pretty sure they have no issues defining both), you won't see Lee molds in their equipment.
But back to the ORIGINAL post, Pedersoli molds are decent quality. The common issue in any mold is variation in the size of the bullet they cast and that is directly related to alloy, casting temperature, and machining processes. That's the reason no mold makers will guarantee their mold will cast a certain size and weight. They simply can't control Bubba tinkering in the garage with wheelweights instead of pure lead or a quantifiable alloy. And it's also the reason sizing dies exist for cylindrical/conical bullets. For those bullets, a final pass of through a sizing die will ensure concentricity and actual diameter of the bullet. That's very common. But, even the best molds and sizing dies will not produce a good bullet if the operator doesn't use good technique and quality material.
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