Pulling Mold pins ...Lee Bullet Mold

[Longbow53]

Any advice on pulling the pins on Lee molds to use handles for other molds , like Lyman, etc? thankyou

[country gent]

I have done it 2 ways. First is locate and lay out the hole on top accuratly and drill to pin then punch out. 2nd is to pull them kenetically tapping with a hammer to pull them out, its a long slow process on some moulds since the pins are pretty tight and also light in weight. Not sure how well the 2 cavity handles will work as the fingers are thinner on them.

[P Flados]

Until recently, Lee single/double cavity molds have a pin that is staked in place. I have drilled a 1/16 hole down directly above the pin & driven the pin out. This was to fix a mold (add shims) that was too sloppy and the halves would mismatch/jam on closing. Later, I figure a better way to add a shims between the handle and the blocks.

The newer style has an allen-head spiral flute pin. I have worried one of these out but do not recommend this.

The same basic Lee handles fit both of the above. These Lee handles are stamped from 1/8" thick stock and do not fit mold blocks from other vendors.

I would tend to think that anyone capable of doing a good job figuring out a way to adapt these handles for some other brand mold would probably not need much help figuring out how to remove the Lee blocks.

The Lee handles for their 6 cavity mold are more general purpose.

[Longbow53]

Thanks guys, hadnt really looked at the thickness of these mold handles, as they were giving to me. I have two pair to play with!

[gwpercle]

Longbow ,
The Lee 6 cavity handles will work with no modifications on Lyman one and two cavity moulds and NOE three and four cavity moulds....and I'm sure others. Much easier than trying to adapt the Lee one and two cavity handles to another makers mould.
Check out the "sticky" Lee 6 cavity mould handle interchange chart . It's 8 th or 9th down from the top . Leave the 2 cavity lee handles on thier moulds , not worth trying to use them on something else .
Gary

[Tackleberry41]

The one 2 cav Lee I did get the pins out of, wasnt easy. The holes in the handles were pretty much at the edge of the metal where it wouldnt take much to tear out. Cant see where another brand would even work without 'moving' the holes in the blocks, which aside from being impossible, Lee has made the blocks so narrow the holes in the block are generally pushing metal out being so close to the edge. Theres no room for anything else.

I have always said Lee would be doing many of us a favor by simply foregoing the handles. Whatever money is spent on the handles could be put into the mold blocks, and they would take up so much less space on a shelf. The Lee molds I do have take up 3/4 of the shelf, while every mold I have bought since isnt close to filling the last 1/4.

[brassrat]

As of today, I have a Lee, dbl. .45 BP ball/ boolet mold with ATTACHED handle and no BP gun. My, new to me Lyman, dbl 9mm mould is still handle-less. At least reading this confirms my thoughts to not mess with the Lee.

[country gent]

Lees are good inexpensive tools and equipment ( notice I didnt say cheap there is a diffrence)but modifying and working on some of them are a real trial to deal with. I have removed the handles on 2 sets one for me so I could set them up to do some mill work. I located the pin holes and relocated them in the mill and drilled down to the pins with an end mill ( flat cut so no edges left when I touched the pin. I then pushed the pins out with a pin and ahrbor press. Its really more work effort and time than its worth

[brassrat]

I gotta look closer at things, like those pins that I swore were screws. I will just leave them unless wanting a challenge. plus having no shop.