[Doc Hoy]

The handles do not touch. The problem is that I am not very good at applying the same force every time when I hold the molds closed.

Some may say, "You should not have to hold the molds closed."

But I have found this to be the case in every mold I have, be they Lyman, Ideal or Lee.

Some of you may recall a post about two years ago in which I described spring loaded mold handle for my Lyman and Ideal molds. Using these spring loaded handles I cut standard deviation of round ball diameters by more than half. I can easily beat the consistency of Hornady balls.

So when I detected inconsistency in the RNFPs I was casting I naturally looked for a way to hold the molds tightly together with the same force every time. Because of the way Lee molds are put together it is hard to get them apart to change mold handles. And because of the way they close, my spring loaded handle design won't work on them.

So I just use the hand spring clamp (kind of like an oversized clothespin) to hold them closed. The effect is the same as the spring loaded handles on the steel molds. The mold line virtually disappears. And the bullets come out closer to round. Also they are more consistent from slug to slug.