Lyman 358477

[Ben]

Found this one a few days ago.
The mould arrived today. Very Nice ! !

Very clean, appears to have been cast with very little.

Cold outside today, when it warms up some, I'm anxious
to see what the " numbers " are on this one. I'm hoping
for a nice round .3585 - 359" . I have two others and they
throw undersized bullets and are out of round. I guess I'll
keep spinning the marble in the wheel until I hit the jackpot.

This one may have good application in my
357 mag. , Ruger SP101, 4.2 " revolver ?
Many casters and shooters have good
things to say about this mould ! !

 

[waco]

I have a four cavity brass NOE version. I like it in my K-38 with Titegroup. 3.2gr.
Shoots well in a Rossi and Marlin lever gun as well.

 

[yodogsandman]

It's the only mold that I felt I ever needed for my 38 Specials. Still do!

 

[Wasalmonslayer]

That is a great mold!!!
I have an Noe clone 5 cavity and a Lyman 4 cavity. They both make good quality bullets and throw .360 diameter which is kinda rare on a Lyman!

I think you will really enjoy that mold Ben!!!!!
That is if it casts to size.

Wasalmonslayer

 

[Ben]

I talked today with the previous owner. He says it throws .359.

 

[Wasalmonslayer]

Perfect!

 

[Brad]

Well it is a Lyman so it CAN'T cast undersized.

Ben, do you spend hours a day searching for these moulds? If anyone can find a desirable older mould it is Ben.

 

[waco]

Well it is a Lyman so it CAN'T cast undersized.

Shouldn't that be in PURPLE!?!?

 

[Ben]

Ben, do you spend hours a day searching for these moulds? If anyone can find a desirable older mould it is Ben.

I think in the law enforcement circle, they call it " BOLO ", be on the look out.

 

[RicinYakima]

Well, when you are retired, sitting around for the weather to clear so you can go to the range, what should you do but look for "bargains"?

 

[Harry O-1]

Some years ago, I did a test of the 358429, the 358477, and the 357446 bullets. All used from 6.0 to 6.2gr of HS-6 powder. All were sized to 0.359" and used Tamarak NRA lube. I used a S&W K-38 with a 4x Leupold scope from a rest to test them. I fired about 50 rounds of each bullet in 5-round groups then averaged the group sizes at 25 yards. Then I did the same at 50 yards. Then again at 75 yards. (three different trips to the range)

All three could be considered accurate. The 358429 had marginally the best group sizes above 50 yards. The 358477 had marginally the best group sizes below 50 yards. The two were about equal at 50 yards. The 357446 did not have the best groups anywhere, but was close enough for government work. I use the 358477 from almost all 38 Special loads now. It works well in all my .38 Special revolvers.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Lyman #358477 was among the first mould designs I bought in 1981 when I began casting to feed my war toys. It was a winner right from the git-go in 38 Special, and has remained my go-to bullet in that caliber. Mine casts fat enough to just "clean up" in a .359" H&I die to work well in my 1920-made Colt Police Positive x 4" in 38 S&W. I have three 1# coffee cans filled with #358447, 2 in WW metal and 1 in 92/6/2. These latter casting will get my first 357 Magnum test drive with this design in a short while. In terms of "numbers produced and fired" over the years, "477" is likely the first-place finisher.

I have no idea whose design this is. It has some Keith-like attributes, but in other ways it differs. Unlike #358429, it will seat and crimp conventionally in 357 Magnum cases and still fit in S&W N-frame 357 Magnum revolvers.

 

[smokeywolf]

Nice score Ben.
As my time to shop is more limited these days, I'm trying to be more picky and focus on multi-cavity moulds.

Something I've never seen speculated on; when did the Lyman moulds start losing their quality and consistency? I know it wasn't until the "Ideal" name had disappeared from the mould, but how long after that?
Reason I bring this up is, most of my moulds are '30s to '50s Ideal moulds and all cast nice round bullets. I have only a couple of recently purchased Lymans and have not yet taken time to play with them.

 

[Ben]

Smokeywolf,

Good question ! ! Not certain I have the specific answer.
I made a comment " over on another forum " about Lyman mold quality control and was raked over the coals by a member ( who , by the way, isn't on that forum anymore ).

I was told that there wasn't a Lyman mold that he couldn't get to cast a perfect bullet. That was all I needed to hear from him, he was on my " Ignore List " in about 2 seconds.

I've owned dozens of Lyman moulds that threw " sub-sized " cast bullets along with being out of round by .001 and sometimes .002 ". I still own a Double cavity Lyman 225415 that cast .222" X .225". Totally useless for my applications.

In Lyman's defense, I also own some Lyman moulds that are spot on , near perfect moulds. I'm of the opinion now that buying a modern Lyman mould ( unless that have really cleaned up the Q/C ? ? ) is a bit like throwing a marble in the roulette wheel.

I can't remember buying a defective IDEAL mould. They may be out there, but all I've bought were GOOD ONES.

Ben

 

[RicinYakima]

Consider that all their workers from the Ideal days, pre-1970, are long gone. How many young machine tool operators can make the old machines work well? Maybe Layman should consider updating to new CNC equipment.

 

[Ben]

I wonder if they have figured out that some of today's 8th grade drop outs don't do very well on old worn 1930's machinery ?

The old guys could take a machine with wear on it and still be knowledgeable enough and have the skill base and machine experience level to cut an A+ mould. Like you say, now they are gone............

Ben

 

[GaryN]

I bought a few in the early 80's and they are pretty good. I know the ones from about 2000 on had various problems.

 

[GaryN]

I made a comment " over on another forum " about Lyman mold quality control and was raked over the coals by a member ( who , by the way, isn't on that forum anymore ).

I was told that there wasn't a Lyman mold that he couldn't get to cast a perfect bullet. That was all I needed to hear from him, he was on my " Ignore List " in about 2 seconds.

Ben

I got the same thing when talking about a mold. The same mold also had one sprue hole that was drilled short. I had to go buy a tapered tool (don't remember what it was called) to finish the job. Then I sent it to Eric to open up. Eric did a wonderful job by the way.

 

[Rick]

Consider that all their workers from the Ideal days, pre-1970, are long gone. How many young machine tool operators can make the old machines work well? Maybe Layman should consider updating to new CNC equipment.

I wonder if they have figured out that some of today's 8th grade drop outs don't do very well on old worn 1930's machinery ?

The old guys could take a machine with wear on it and still be knowledgeable enough and have the skill base and machine experience level to cut an A+ mould. Like you say, now they are gone............ Ben

RCBS figured it out. Not all that many years ago the guy that had run the RCBS machine shop and turned out some mighty fine molds on some pretty old machine tools retired, forget his name offhand. It took like over night for RCBS to realize they had a big problem. It was at that time I had the only example of a truly lousy RCBS mold I had ever seen, talked with them on the phone and he asked me if I would hang onto it for a few months and then send it back. When I asked why he replied that the whole shop was getting new CNC machines and until finished they weren't getting much out the door in the way of molds.

 

[Missionary]

Greetings
That all makes sense ! I cannot imagine attempting to take over a lathe that is older than the machinist who just retired from running that machine for the last 35 years.
Mike in Peru