This is another LEE 6 cavity mold. Other LEE 6 cavity molds I've bought have always needed some "Leementing" to get them to perform well. This one needed nothing! I washed it with Dawn dish soap, smoked the cavities, preheated and started making pretty little bullets that fell right out of the cavities perfect.
With 6 cavities it doesn't take long to produce a pile of bullets. And at 50 gr. each, a pot of lead goes a looooong way.
I fumbled with the tiny 22 cal gas checks for a while, and finally put my 7 year old daughter to work snapping the gas checks on the bases. Seemed much easier for her with her little fingers. Then I lubed and sized in the typical Lee tumble lube method with their alox.
I loaded some on the light side, starting with 5 gr. of Unique and going up, trying to duplicate 22 WMRF performance. I also loaded some on the upper end of the scale to duplicate my jacketed bullet load with 14.0 gr. of H4198.
The 5.5 gr. load of Unique shot very well, as did the 14.0 gr. load of H4198. Both of them grouping in less than 1-1/4" at 50 yards
I must have been half asleep still when I left for the range at 6:00 am, because I totally forgot my chronograph. According to the Lyman book, the 5.5gr. Unique load should be running about 1950 fps, and the H4198 load should be around 2600! Frankly, I was surprised the faster load shot as well as it did. That's the fastest I've ever pushed a cast bullet. These are cast of a Lyman #2 alloy duplicate. I'm going to put together some more of these two loads and try it again with the chrono to verify the accuracy and get actual velocities.
Once again, my hat is off to Ranch Dog!
