Durability of Lee six-cavity tumble lube pistol bullet moulds?

[Questor]

I'm thinking of getting a pair of six cavity Lee moulds. Are they durable and trouble-free? I'd need to be able to cast at least 50,000 bullets with the pair of them.

[Gavinator]

 They are better than Lee's 1 or 2 cavity molds, but to go 25,000 a piece you'd need a couple upgrades. Lots of good info here,

http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdisplay.php?f=9

[Lloyd Smale]

they wouldnt last me near that long.

[Questor]

Thanks especially for the boolits link. I read the posts about the Lee six cavity moulds and it seems that they are typical Lee junk that can't be counted to last any reasonable length of time unless the shooter happens to think that 1000 bullets is a lot.

I think this project has been nixed because between the cost of lead and the stuff I'd need to cast with, it's just not worth it.

If Lee has a good guarantee on the product, it might still be worth doing. Do you happen to know if they're good about replacing broken things?

[Lloyd Smale]

in all reality there 6 cavity molds arent a bad deal. They cast nice and hold up much better then the two. There priced like a steal 2 cavity so i guess if you think about it your casting 3 times the bullets as you would with a steal two cavity and they last long enough to get a good pile of bullets. Some guys that are easier on molds then me and dont cast the thousands of bullets i do get a lifetime of use out of them. Lee has been pretty good to me about fixing ones that i broke. They have even replaced a couple that were beyond repair.

[jhalcott]

  If you think about it this way,it MIGHT be a good deal.
The cost of a six hole Lee compared to a 2-3 hole from a custom maker is very in favor to LEE. You CAN get 2 6 cavity molds for each bullet you want. Wear one out - start with the 2nd. The speed of casting with a 6 holer means LESS time running the pot.More savings due to reduced energy needs. Also LESS strain on you as it doesn't take long to empty a 10 pound pot of alloy with a 6 holer.  Before you know it, you'll save enough $$ to get a bigger pot!

[Lloyd Smale]

biggest problem i see with lee molds are there crappy bullet designs. Theres a few good ones but there rare. Now some of the group buy lee molds in good bullet designs are probably the best bang for the buck on a mold but the problem with them is once you wore them out you cant buy a replacement so a guy needs to buy at least a couple of them and then if the bullet doesnt shoot in your gun your stuck with money shelled out for a crap bullet design. Best advise i can give you on buying molds is to beg borrow or steal some bullets out of a mold to try in your gun before you waste the money on a mold. Ive got a drawer full of molds in crappy bullets designs that are about useless and im not just talking lees some of them were expensive molds. I also went through a stage where i was having them custom made to my specs and found out for the most part i didnt know near what i thought i did about designing bullets and i was better off sticking to proven designs.