lyman vs rcbs

[dan]

howdy casters,
  i have been toying with the idea of casting my own, and have a few questions. i shoot a t/c contender in 32h&r mag, also the 32-20. t/c made their barrels .308-.309. i see that lyman and rcbs have some molds, and in midsouth, they are about $10 apart. is one better?
  the 32-20 has been used for long range silhouettes, to 200 meters. i have been shooting a friends cast 175gn, and the rams go down when i do my part. it looks like lyman has a nice 160-170 gn head, with only one lube ring, some call it a bore rider head, any draw backs with only one lube ring?
  the 32 h&r, i have been shooting a magnus 100gn head, would like to find a mold in the 90-95gn range.
  last question, how far can i size down a .311 head? shooting it in a .308-.309 bore?
  i have quite a bit of range lead, i would think that it will be on the soft side, but can get ww to mix in. any suggustions
                      thanks......dan
  p.s. might be looking for some good used molds.....thanks

[Lloyd Smale]

for reasonably price molds you cant beat rcbs ands seaco. there better quality molds then what the lymans are I have lots of lymans though and they will do the job.

[Kragman71]

I tend to agree with the previous post.
I have been casting for a long time,and,over the years,have traded off the Saecos and the Lees,to keep all my molds Lyman. I am very happy with Lyman.
However,if you get more advanced in your knowledge,sooner or later you will want the RCBS or Saeco.
I asked the same question last year,so I know the answer.
Frank

[sundogg1911]

I've used Lyman, RCBS, Lee, & Saeco, but I tend to wear out the Lee's (loose the pins out of the handles, and stip the spru plate screws) I like Saeco, but I use a Lyman 450 Luber and it's just easier for me to get top punches for the Lyman and RCBS moulds because the top punches for both brands work in the 450. you can now get Saeco top punches for the 450 but they're a little harder to find and a few bucks more

[# 566]

Dan,
I have old lymans, RCBS and Saeco's, You won;t go wrong with either the rcbs or Saeco, I like the saeco's just because they offer 4 cavity molds.
THE throats in your 32-20 and 32 mag are probably .310, at least my 32-20 is. you will be better off sizing no smaller then .310

[Capt_C]

I have 7 RCBS moulds, and one Lyman mould.  I'll keep buying RCBS, and will NOT buy another Lyman.

Haven't tried SAECO yet, but I hear they're great moulds.

I also have a few salvaged Magma moulds that are now modified to fit RCBS handles and have had sprue-plate stop-pins added; these are good moulds, too.

The Lee 6-cavity moulds are OK -- very fast to cast a lot of bullets.  Their 2-cavity moulds aren't worth the cost to ship them.  

Haven't tried NEI, LBT, or H&G moulds (yet) --CC

[Florida Jim]

I tend to agree that RCBS are the better molds. I have mostly RCBS. Lyman went through some quality problems with their tooling a few years back. Their molds were out of round, and wouldn't fill out properly. Recently it appears that their quality has improved greatly. I ordered a 45 caliber nose pour mold (457676) designed my Paul Mathews for my 1885 browning. I seems to cast Excellent bullets using 30 to 1 alloy. Unfortunately, When I E-mailed Lyman about ordering a 40 caliber verson. I was informed that this was a limited run and no longer available. I also just bought a 400 gr (457124) version of the famous 457125 for use in a H&R trapdoor carbine that I just bought. I intend to shoot black powder in it. I haven't had time to cast with it yet but I was impressed that Lyman is now using a one quarter inch thick sprue plate. I understand that Lyman will sell the thick plated to retrofit on older molds.
I've never been fond of lee molds, they don't seen to hold up with heavy use. My RCBS have cast thousands of bullets with no wear.
After saying all that, it appears tha Lyman has got their act together, and I wouldn't have any problems buying one.
Anyway thats my two cents

Jim

[HBL]

I personally have never tried Lyman or RCBS moulds. I do have several friends that did. They found out that I was using NEI and LBT moulds for all my bullet making and decided to try mine out.

They since got rid of the ones they had and bought NEI or LBT.

For me, the aluminum moulds work better. Quicker heat up times and easier to maintain mould temp after working with them for a short time.

HBL

[Capt_C]

I understand that Lyman will sell the thick plated to retrofit on older molds.

RCBS made their sprue plates thicker several (maybe 10+) years ago... they sent me the new-and-improved sprue plates FREE to retrofit my older moulds.

This is another advantage of doing business with a company like RCBS.  --CC