lyman handles

[happyhunter]

Newbie here,
bought my first mold of fleabay the other day. A Lyman 2 cavity 358477. I am looking for handles for it and I see some are "short" and some are "long"? What is the difference? What do I need for my 2 cavity? I know the 4 cavity handles have the pivot out in front of the mold and the 2 cavity has the pivot between the mold and handles. How does long and short come into it?

Thanks,
HH

[MBTcustom]

I have used both.
It just depends on what you like. I like the short ones sometimes because they are easy on hand fatigue, but they get too hot lots of times. I like the long handles because they run cooler but I get tired quicker.
To be honest, if I were in your position, I would buy the cheap Lee handles and modify them to fit the Lyman mold by grinding them down to 1/4" from the 5/16" they come as. No problem. $12 beats $50 all day long no matter what you have to do the grinding with.

[Wolfer]

2nd what goodsteel said, you can dress a set of lees down pretty quick. I have both and one is just as good as the other.

[220swiftfn]

The difference is the length of the jaw. The short handles are for single cavity molds, for a two cavity mold you need the long handles (also for single cavity cut on the dual size block, ie; .45/70 molds).

Dan

[ku4hx]

Newbie here,
bought my first mold of fleabay the other day. A Lyman 2 cavity 358477. I am looking for handles for it and I see some are "short" and some are "long"? What is the difference? What do I need for my 2 cavity? I know the 4 cavity handles have the pivot out in front of the mold and the 2 cavity has the pivot between the mold and handles. How does long and short come into it?

Thanks,
HH

When I bought my first molds around 1970, (Lyman) the "S" handles were for the single cavity and the "L" were for the double cavity. And since I bought a few of both single and double cavity I bought both "L" and "S" handles. For my 40+ year old molds, these handles are not interchangeable.

[MBTcustom]

The difference is the length of the jaw. The short handles are for single cavity molds, for a two cavity mold you need the long handles (also for single cavity cut on the dual size block, ie; .45/70 molds).

I use my Lyman short handles on single and double cavity molds, they certainly would be too short for 4 cavity molds I would think, but not actually having any 4 cavity molds, I can't really say for sure.

[220swiftfn]

I use my Lyman short handles on single and double cavity molds, they certainly would be too short for 4 cavity molds I would think, but not actually having any 4 cavity molds, I can't really say for sure.

Hmmmm.... Then I'd have to say that you either got lucky or you got handles that someone filed to fit. Usually the short jaws hit the back edge of the mold block channels when you close them.


Dan