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TOW has some Lee 6 cavity .520 round ball molds in stock right now. Ive been waiting a while and they finally came through.
 
Well I never ‘needed’ a .520” diameter mold, but I have quite a few 54 caliber guns and guess one would be handy to have.

Question for the peanut gallery. Do the Lee 6 cavity molds only work with the Lee mold handles? I have a number of different manufacturers handles and I am curious if any may fit.
 
Well I never ‘needed’ a .520” diameter mold, but I have quite a few 54 caliber guns and guess one would be handy to have.

Question for the peanut gallery. Do the Lee 6 cavity molds only work with the Lee mold handles? I have a number of different manufacturers handles and I am curious if any may fit.
Come with handles. At least mine have.
 
Come with handles. At least mine have.
Where did you get 6 cavity Lee molds that came with handles?
1671030511855.png
 
@SDSmlf , could be,, years ago Lee offered the handles with the mold, and the box was 29.99.
And now they don't,,
Kinda like a 1# box of cereal,, that today weighs 12oz,,
 
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These 6 banger moulds do not come with handles. You need to purchase the Lee handles separate. The only lee moulds that come with handles are the little aluminum block ball moulds.
Ohio Rusty ><>
 
These 6 banger moulds do not come with handles. You need to purchase the Lee handles separate. The only lee moulds that come with handles are the little aluminum block ball moulds.
Ohio Rusty ><>
Not having a Lee 6 cavity mold in hand so I could check, curious if any other manufacturer’s handles fit it? I already have a number of handles to choose from, but none specifically for the 6 cavity Lee molds.
 
I don't think lyman handles will. The Lee handles have long arms with the mould screw holes in the ends to fit the long length of the 6 cavity mould.
Ohio Rusty ><>
 
These came into stock months ago. The automatic back in stock notification is not fast at all.
One of our members alerted me in early September they were back in stock, and I bought one. Mid November I got the notification it was now on the shelf.
@Ames , do they now come with handles? I bought 2 molds from Lee, 6 cavity, and had to buy handles.
Thanks.
 
FWIW, I recommend drilling and pinning the wood part to the steel frame of the handles. They are just a friction fit from the factory and I've had one start to come off while casting, before I pinned it.
 
I have two .54s with very tight bores, it is a struggle to start a .530 ball and a .015 patch (hammer time), any thinner patch doesn't hold up.

I bought a .526 mold from Tanner, these balls load easily with my patch ball combination. I never thought of a .520 ball.

I have a Rice barreled .54 that will load and shoot .530s and .535s well.
 
I have a .54 caliber Hawken with a GRRW barrel. A lot of these old Green River barrels have undersized bores, and mine is one of them. It likes .520 balls. I bought one of the Lee six-cavity .520” gang moulds from Track just recently. The six-cavity moulds come as blocks only. The single wood handle you see in photographs is for the sprue cutter plate. Track of the Wolf states explicitly that you need to order handles.

So, I have a set of large Lee handles to fit the six-cavity mould blocks, and they fit very well. I also have an old set of Lyman “small” handles and a relatively new set of Lyman “large” handles. After reading this thread, I took a look at all of these earlier today. The Lyman handles, large or small, will not fit the six-cavity Lee bullet moulds. The “arms” on the Lyman handles are not long enough. A talented machinist with a well equipped shop might be able to modify the Lee six-cavity blocks to fit large Lyman handles, but I’m not sure of that I just don’t think it would be cost effective in any event.

I think Dixie has Pedersoli handles and Buffalo Arms has handles by Saeco, and these might fit some other manufacturers’ mould blocks, but the Lee handles I have seem to be pretty good quality, at half the cost of the competition, and you know they’ll work with the Lee six-cavity blocks. They are easy to install and remove with a #2 Phillips screwdriver.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob
 
Let us know how they work. My experience is that I have so many rejects with two cavity molds that I do all of my casting with single cavity molds and have almost no rejects after the first six.
 
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