Confused about mold handles

[Whitespider]

Especially confused about the Lyman breed.
Small size, large size, single cavity handles, two cavity handles, four cavity handles?
Some times I see a single cavity mold that is said to use the two cavity handles, or the large size, but wouldn’t the large size be for the four cavity?

I have single and double cavity Lyman molds, 5 sets of handles that have two different diameter woods on them, but other than that I see no difference. All the handles seem to work on all the molds. And I can find no markings as to what size they are.

Would someone please help me out here?
How many sizes of Lyman handles are there?
How do you tell one size from another size?
Do Lyman handles work on RCBS molds?
Do RCBS handles work on Lyman molds?
Are there different sizes of RCBS handles?

Thanks a ton.

[ktw]

How many sizes of Lyman handles are there?
How do you tell one size from another size?

As far as I can tell...
- Lyman 4 cavity blocks take a set of lyman 4 cavity handles, there may be more than one type (i.e. hinge pin inside and hinge pin outside)

- Lyman 2 cavity blocks and large single cavity blocks take the Lyman two cavity handles. These are sometime referred to as "large" handles.

- Lyman small single cavity blocks take the "small" handles. You may be also be able to get away with using the larger two cavity handles on them.


Do Lyman handles work on RCBS molds?
Do RCBS handles work on Lyman molds?

The RCBS blocks have a narrower slot for the handle arms. Lyman handles do not fit this slot. You can mount a pair of Lyman blocks on the thinner RCBS handles but the block halves will be "floppy" on the arms.


Are there different sizes of RCBS handles?

Not to my knowledge.

-ktw

[mooman76]

I here sometimes the two cavity don't fit some of the older lyman or maybe ideal single cavity but can be tweeked to made fit. Just get the Lee 6 cavity. It fits the 2x and single. Not sure on the 4x but maybe if you drill new holes. The Lee also will fit the RCBS if you take a little metal off!

[ciPeterF]

I found this somewhere... kal.castpics.net .. they look pretty good. No first hand expience, just found the site last week..

[Shiloh]

LEE fit the Lyman 2 cavity. My shooting buddy says they fit RCBS as well. I just got another set of LEE mold handles. The plan is to run three or four molds at a time.

Shiloh