Lee mold handles are just pathetic

[AbitNutz]

So I have just about every set of mold handles on earth. Unfortunately, it seems the only mold handles that fit Lee 6 cavity molds are Lee's. I have two pair and both of them are just junk They're loose, the wood handles routinely try and slide off. They certainly in no way and compare with my Saeco handles. Of course, they weigh half as much and cost one tenth. I don't want to in any way to disparage Lee 6 cavity molds. I have more than a few and while some are better than others, I think they're a tremendous value.

Anyway, I know Dick Dastardly makes a set that are described as being superior and are certainly not a bank breaker at $19.00.

http://www.biglube.com/BulletMolds.aspx?ItemID=0eeebd4b-02a2-4d94-a40a-32e1cc4c3d4d

What is a bank breaker is the Carbine Tree locking mold handles at $62.00 + $11.00 for shipping. We're talking $73.00 for mold handles! I emailed the owner but he's out for the week and the sight doesn't say if it will fit a Lee 6 cavity mold.

I am so fed up with the Lee handles that if I knew the Carbine Tree handles would fit, I'd pop for them and just live with the regret.

Does anyone know of any other choices? Anyone have a Carbine Tree handle?

[Springfield]

I peen the bolt threads on the pivot and also use high heat silicone inside the handles on LEE's and it solves most of the problems.

[AbitNutz]

That's a great idea and I'll certainly do that...thanks so much for that. I bought some JB Weld for the wood grips. JB says that it's good for 650 degrees. I have no idea how hot the handles ever get but I would hope it's less than 650.

I just hope when I start to peen the threads I just don't beat it to a pulp.

[Heavy lead]

JB Weld works on the handles too. First thing I do with them, I've broken them, but only when I did something wrong, IMO much better than Lyman handles, I've broken two sets, that's over $60.

[selmerfan]

+1 on the JB weld for the handles. I only have one set, but the pivot has been just fine for 1000 boolits or so.

[357maximum]

For what they charge ................Lee handles are well worth the price with a bit of LeeMenting. A couple of minutes with some adhesive in the handles and a quick tap of the swivel bolt threads and TADDAAAAAAAAAAAAa you have a decent set of handles.

[Springfield]

I have about 25 LEE moulds but only 10 handles and I REALLY hate it when I have to stop casting because the handles start acting up. The JB works well too but with the silicone I can remove the handles if I have too. The JB is kinda permanent.

[sagacious]

The hot metal handle tangs dry out the wood. The wood shrinks, the handles get loose. Just epoxy or JB Weld and you're back in business for the long haul.

[Buckshot]

.............I drill through each handle and install roll pins. For the bolt, the nut is supposed to be the 'retaining' type, as you can see the upset metal around the crown around threaded hole. I don't mess with them as normally they don't come loose, or I guess I should say that I haven't had many come loose. I just went out and checked. I have 6 of'em and ALL the handles have roll pins. I don't remember it but one nut has been doctored and it looks like I used the corner of a cold chisel and a hammer to upset metal into the bolt threads.

...............Buckshot

[excess650]

I've used high temperature RTV (high temp silicone) to keep the handles in place. I have 1 set of the 6 cavity handles where the pivot nut has loosened.

Yes, Saeco handles are the best, but $.

[jaguarxk120]

The really sad part is when you buy something and have to tweek it before you use it.

I've read that about mfgrs products that have to be filed, ground, bent, sanded, honed, or made so that one has to giggle the whole machine/product to make them work.

But when the stuff is cheap, we will put up with anything, I guess.

[AbitNutz]

It's true, they're cheap but what I'm complaining about is there is no other choice, regardless of of price. I would actually be willing to foot the gigantic bill for Carbine Tree locking mold handles if they would fit.

[cajun shooter]

I have been using the JB Weld on Lee handles for years. Once you do that ,no more problems. It is the first thing I do when I buy them. Midway has them on sale at this time for $12 a pair.

[xr650]

Have you tried these?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=56554

[AbitNutz]

Nope...but I will now. They look like exactly what I've been looking for...thanks rx650!

[montana_charlie]

Does anyone know of any other choices?
http://kal.castpics.net/Handles.html

[StarMetal]

I do what Buckshot does, roll pin them.

[geargnasher]

I make a set of handles myself for the six-cavity Lee moulds, used 5/16" bar stock for the tongs and 3/16" for the handles/pivot. Drilled the pivot hole and finish reamed to 1/2", used a hardened bolt with a smooth shank section and a locknut with a couple of washers. For the handles I used wooden chisel/file handles purchased in bulk from the hardware store and made copper ferrules. Pinned the tang Like SM and Buckshot.

For $19 I would gladly buy someone else's, my time is worth a lot more than that.

Gear

[Dale53]

MiHec also has premium grade mould handles for his moulds and Lees (they both take the same handles):

http://www.mp-molds.com/shopping/pgm-more_information.php?id=6&=SID

They are laser cut and CNC machined from STEEL. They should last forever.

For those who are financially challenged, do as some of the rest of us have done (ala Buckshot) and either pin them or drill the handles right through the metal sleeves and run a #5 machine screw through them and loc-tite a nut on the other side. It is easily done, you do it ONCE and NO MORE SLIPPING HANDLES.

Frankly, I have had handles come loose on Lyman, RCBS, Saeco, and Lee. Now, regardless of the make of mould handles, I fix them before they fail.

Dale53

[AbitNutz]

Wow...two choices. I have a MiHec mold and it is quite a thing of beauty.

I got a note from Carbine Tree and was informed that their locking handle molds do not fit Lee 6 cavity....pity, I was looking for an excuse to try them.

[Calamity Jake]

I do what Buckshot does, roll pin them.

I do the Lyman's also at they too get loose.

[Bwana]

I take a inch long piece of wet dry sandpaper 1/2 inch wide, fold it over so the abrasive faces out on both side and insert into handle and tap it back onto tang. No more coming off until I want it to.

[Crash_Corrigan]

I sprang for a set of the Carbine Tree handles for my 2 cavity molds. They really work well but they are heavy. Using them on Mihecs brass molds in 2 cavity they really are a handful. I make use of the support afforded by the mold guide under the spout of the my Lee 4-20 and after filling I leave them decked until the sprues change color. Then I open the sprue plate and discard the sprues into a handy carboard lid. I then turn over the mold and open the mold, smack the end of the HP pins with a hickory stick and the boolits fall off. Insert the stick inside the mold and close the mold so the pins go back to where they belong.

I then set the mold on a flat 2 x 4 and make sure that they are alighned and close the mold completely.

Time for the next cast. It takes more time to read about the procedure than to do it. It does an excellent job and the mold always has the same pressure holding it closed and the days of having fins on the boolits are gone. However it is tiring and those handles are made to last forever but they are heavy and combined with the brass mold it is a handful.

My left forearm is looking liking Popeye's.

[MT Gianni]

The really sad part is when you buy something and have to tweek it before you use it.

I've read that about mfgrs products that have to be filed, ground, bent, sanded, honed, or made so that one has to giggle the whole machine/product to make them work.

But when the stuff is cheap, we will put up with anything, I guess.

I see it as more to keep it going rather than make it work. I consider most lee 2 cavity molds like Bic lighters. I want them to last as long as possible but when they are done I am not that worried. I have only used their handles since 93 and have a few with fireplace cement in them and a few without it.

[Recluse]

What the hell do you need handles for?




Way back when I first started casting boolits I knew less than nothing. I first got a hold of Lymans casting manuel and read it cover to cover a couple of times and then went out and got a Lee 4-20 pot and a Lee 148 GR WC 6 Banger mold.

I had a 586 Smith and Taurus 85 to feed then. I set up the pot and after scrounging some wheel weights went to town. I got a small cast iron pot and put it on a coleman stove and smelted down the weights and fluxed with candle wax.

It was all going good until I started to mold boolits. I had a pair of leather gloves but that Lee 6 banger was really hot. I got another pair of bigger leather welding gloves and wore them. I now had two gloves on the left hand that held the mold and one glove on the right hand, safety glasses, boots etc. I was covered.

It was a nasty job making boolits but I kept it up. They turned out pretty good and I was a happy shooter and boolit caster. This went on for two years.

I guess I made about 6,000 .38 Wadcutter rounds during that time and one day a friend of mine invited me to go to a gun show at Cashman Field here in Vegas.

I was enjoying looking around and my buddy found my Lee mold with some others on a table. Only this one looked different than mine. It was the same mold but it had a pair of handles on it! :drinks: Wow! I never knew they came with handles. :mrgreen: All this time I was holding the mold in my left hand when I opened it to dump out the boolits and then I put it under the spout on a brick to hold it while I poured alloy into the empty mold and shook my left hand to cool off. :confused:

Needless to say I bought another Lee six banger with a pair of handles that day for $20 and used the handles from the new/used mold on my old mold. They fit just perfect. :-D

Save your money and see if Crash will make you a good deal on those old welder's gloves he used. [smilie=1:

(Sorry Crash, but that story has never failed to bring a huge smile to my face or a chuckle to my heart. I was reading it this morning while my little girl was in surgery and it cheered me right up.)

:coffee:

[Crash_Corrigan]

Recluse: I am glad to put a smile on your face in light of your recent situation. Yeah that story is true....I had a not a clue about the handles available for the 6 bangers and I cursed Lee every day when I cast boolits in my two molds.

Ya see a little education can be dangerous. Now that I am 67 1/2 yrs old I realise how stupid I am and I have enuf sense to go to a person who is smarter than me. My SWMBO. She has never steered me wrong. She is a true Christian through and through and has always given me the proper advice. Not that I always follow it but she has proven to be a very asute and intelligent and decent person.

No matter that we can no longer habitate together. We still get together 2 or more times a week to break bread and enjoy our time together. We are both Alpha people and collide and fight easily. However I am mellowing out some and I ignore her outbursts and exploding temper for the most part. Last month she went off on a tear about something totally unimportant and I just gathered up SGT. Rambo and went home.

The next day she called to apologize and she realized that she was off track.

I still cannot understand how she could run a car with a broken heater hose 2 x and the second time have the motor seize solid. Ditto on running my EAA Witness 9 MM Target gun through a squib round and then fire a full power round into the stuck boolit and thereby blowing up the gun.

I guess the female half of the population are wire really different than us guys.

One day a guy finds a lamp on the beach and rubs it. God shows up and grants this dude one wish. He wants God to build a bridge roadway to Hawaii from California since he doesn't like planes or boats. He wants to drive. God sez "yes I can do this but the cost to the country in steel and concrete is more than than economy can bear....can you tone it down a little?"

The dude says "OK...just let me understand women. Why they do the things they do and how they think. I just want to understand them...can you help me?'

God sez " Did you want a two or four lane highway to Hawaii?"

That sez it all.

[GLL]

Red River Rick makes the KAL handles which to me are the best available ! Just wish the wood was a inch or so longer !

I have a couple dozen LEE handles and for the money they work fine. You do need to modify them a bit and add the JB but not a bad deal. The LEE handles are powder technology and one pair simply broke in half when I opened them a little too vigorously. I will continued to buy them even though my best custom moulds get Rick's nicely machined handles. There is just something about good craftsmanship that is hard to pass up ! Kinda like BRP, NOE, and MiHec moulds ! :)

Jerry

[John Boy]

They're loose, the wood handles routinely try and slide off.
Permatex 80060 High Tack #97 Super Gasket Sealant and then peen the collars some more.

Other than the wood, the handles wobble when one moves them up and down. Just tighten the bolt nut so they don't. The mold halves will open squarely. You will find your bullets don't stick as much and will be much better formed when they drop.

What a deal for 12 bucks when you trick them out a tad!:wink:

[fryboy]

after spending 3 times as much for made in china lyman handles i love the lee's !! ( yes lyman's are made in china - had one new set get loose and the pin worked out and the handle slid off- guess what ? to tighten it there was a rolled up piece of chinese newspaper -or whatever oriental language it was ) a simple brass or steel rod inserted into a hole drilled thru the lee's work just peen it and grind flush ,if i have to buy something that suks it mite as well be the much much cheaper made in america lee's

[Heavy lead]

after spending 3 times as much for made in china lyman handles i love the lee's !! ( yes lyman's are made in china - had one new set get loose and the pin worked out and the handle slid off- guess what ? to tighten it there was a rolled up piece of chinese newspaper -or whatever oriental language it was ) a simple brass or steel rod inserted into a hole drilled thru the lee's work just peen it and grind flush ,if i have to buy something that suks it mite as well be the much much cheaper made in america lee's

I've got two newer sets of Lyman 4 cavity, they are simply junk, had a third, it broke. I would never buy another set of them for any price.

[Changeling]

This brings up a question on Glue: I don't happen to have any epoxy on hand, but why wouldn't something like "Gorilla Glue" work just as well ?

[geargnasher]

This brings up a question on Glue: I don't happen to have any epoxy on hand, but why wouldn't something like "Gorilla Glue" work just as well ?

Don't tell me you can't get epoxy where you live, either!

GG, like all urethanes, has a very low heat tolerance.

Gear

[MtGun44]

Interesting.

Never had a moment's problem with my several Lee 6 cav handles.

Bill

[Shiloh]

I Like the LEE handles. CHeap and they work well. I have been thinking of pinning mine.

Shiloh

[myg30]

No trouble from mine YET ! But thanks to you wonderful guys here at CB I have all the fix's.

I enjoy casting more than shooting ! Did I inhale to much fumes ?

Mike

[Changeling]

Don't tell me you can't get epoxy where you live, either!

GG, like all urethanes, has a very low heat tolerance.

Gear


You can get it (epoxy) but why if you don't need to. So, if the GG won't work I will get the epoxy, I think I can get a pass to go on that side of town, LOL.:wink:

[Doby45]

I would NOT use epoxy. Epoxy breaks down with heat. I have used it many times on model aircraft and if you epoxy something and later find out you did it wrong, you just break out the heat gun and by heat gun I mean the sexy hair drier thingy. So in closing not only does heat break the epoxy down, it doesn't require half of what a mold would be subjected to. Use the high temp engine sealant and be done with it.