I've been casting bullets for a long while using Lee 2 gang molds.  

I'm looking to speed up production and wondering if the 6 gang molds are worth the cost, or if I should just order a second 2 gang.  I usually use two molds anyway, to keep busy while waiting for the lead to harden.

Any thoughts?

Six cavity is the way to go for pistol.

Agreed.  Your productivity will go up quite a bit.

The 6 cavity Lees are quite nice and made significantly better than their 2s (although I've only ever had problems with one of their 2s, a .45-500-3R)

The worst thing I can say about their 6s is that they sometimes might have a sticky cavity, but that's very easily fixed.

The 200 SWC tumble lube is a great .45 bullet! I've shot thousands and recently replaced it with a lyman 452375 clone by Mihec,

six cavity is the way to go, I don't think I'll ever buy a 2 cavity mold again.

Get the 6 cavity and don't look back.

One thing you'll want to do with the Lee 6 cavity mold is make sure you use an appropriate lube on the sprue plate, and anywhere else where metal meets metal during the casting process.

I have a Lee 6 banger that I use to make bullets for both my 9mm's and my .38's (38-125RF)  If I had to guess I'd say it's made over 10,000 bullets.     It has a good bit of wear, but it still makes suitable bullets.

I vote 6 cavity.  I need around 1k rounds a month sooo that is my only viable option.  I tried doing it with 2 gang molds...almost stopped casting.

I still can't achieve the rates I read about over on the CastBoolites site.  I do about 450-500 hour (after I cull the bad boolits).

The trick to going fast is in finding the right lead and mold temp, and trying to operate in that window as long as possible. You'll find a cadence that fits and requires as little downtime as possible.

Aluminum molds reach the point the quickest but also overheat quickly. That said I think they're the easiest to use anyway, and the light weight keeps fatigue at bay. When my aluminum molds overheat I touch them to a damp cloth to wick away from of the heat. When they're too hot, it takes a long time for the bullets to get safe enough to drop without deforming, bending, or breaking.

The other trick is having enough lead... two pots is extremely helpful for that, so you can alternate as one gets empty, refill it with sprues and extra lead, and let it get ready while you use the other.

I never really thought about running two pots at the same time.  Great idea!

I use 6 cavity molds because I get a limited amount of time to cast.  They work great. If someone made a 6 cavity .224 mold I would start casting for the ar's.

I think you all convinced me!  I'll have to order a 6 gang once I have some available funds.  

And since pics are fun, this is what I have been working with the last couple weeks.



The pot on the right is for hard lead and what I have been using.  The little pot on the left is for soft lead which we use for muzzle loaders.
The empty short cup is for sprues.  I try to catch them in there so it makes adding back to the pot easier.





Tonight I was casting both .40s (left) and .45s (right)





After powder coating, this was the haul of .40s from tonight.  The PC is really what is holding me up.  I need to get a bigger oven  But I still got 200-300 done tonight, I just need to size them still.

I spray mine too, but if output is the goal, try tumbling and just dropping them in wire mesh and baking them.  Hardware cloth is perfect!  When the PC starts to melt it will cover it very well and only a few tiny patches will be splotchy.

That said I prefer the perfect look of using a sprayer,  and none of the black colors seem to tumble well.

I might try that sometime, but I too like the even look of the sprayed pc.