Unusual bullet mold

[KeithB]

I like oddball items, including bullet molds. I was digging through my mold collection the other night and found a mold that might be of interest to folks here. It is a two cavity Lyman/Ideal mold with one cavity cut to 357446 and the other to 358311. When I bought it it was advertised as NOS and that it had never been used. I believe it, there isn't a use-mark on it anywhere. No marks where the alignment pins fit into the mating block, no scratches or dings anywhere, the color indicates it has never been heat cycled after manufacturing. I'll never use it, there are enough used -446s and -311s on eBay if I wanted one. And I do, I was bidding on a 4 cavity -311 the other day but quit when the bid price got within $20 of a new one from Midway.

Here is the box and how it is marked. The only damage to the box is the flap where it has been opened numerous times.


Here is the markings on the side of the mold.


The sprue plate, hinge screw and lock screw on side show no marks from use. The top of the block is undamaged also, no marks from rotating the sprue plate.


The interior faces are clean, no damage around the alignment pin holes. There is a little corrosion in the -446 cavity.


If anyone with knowledge of Lyman/Ideal history has any idea of when this could have been made please share your knowledge. The blocks say Ideal, no Lyman marking anywhere, but the box says Lyman/Ideal.

 

[Missionary]

My understanding is when Ideal was still producing a buyer could have "whatever mould cut he desired" using already produced cherries.
The box could have been added later if the original was gone or destroyed.
Or when Lyman took over they surely had an excess of unused blocks and used then up as needed.
Normal business practice is keep all usable possible products until exausted.
Consider Winchester, Colt, S&W still using frames, barrels and parts well past when the newest model was being placed in full production.

 

[358156 hp]

Lyman did offer special order moulds, almost any combination you want for an additional fee. I routinely see 4 cavity moulds set up for two and two, or four different designs. I have one myself that's not as nice as yours is in 358156 & 358250. After I received it I realized that somebody had removed the gas check step on the 156 cavity. I should have looked it over more closely when I received it but I didn't.

 

[Bret4207]

My impression is that you could get special order moulds up into the 50's anyway. I have several, but I think most are Cramers.

 

[Ben]

If I had to guess, I'd say that may not be the orig. box ?

 

[fiver]

the box is pre zip code, and says lyman Ideal,, so that'd date it some.

 

[RBHarter]

Everyone should have at least one . I bought this about 10 years ago for the .36 cal 58 Rem .

 

[KeithB]

I owned a cheap brass mold designed for some sort of cap and ball revolver that had the same combination of cavities. One was a round ball, the other a conical type bullet. I gave it to a friend of mine when he bought an imported revolver of the proper caliber, don't remember the brand. It wasn't nearly the quality of your Lyman.

I'd enjoy seeing pictures of other combo molds if anyone has any they'd be willing to share. I enjoy speculating to myself the reason why someone would want a mold with whatever combination of cavities.

 

[Brad]

I have a Lyman that has cavity on top and bottom. One a round ball, he other a maxi. Both for 54 cal.

 

[Tom]

Walt Melander used to offer combo moulds, too.

 

[RicinYakima]

Lyman used the orange box and marked all of the moulds they made from 1925 through their sale in 1972, when the new company dropped "Ideal" and marked everything Lyman and used the grey boxes. The 357446 only lasted to the 1950's as it was designed for the S&W N frame magnum, as none of their other SWC would fit into the cylinder. So most likely for a 38/44 Heavy Duty/Outdoorsman.

At least through the mid-1960's they would make any combination you wanted to pay for.

 

[JustJim]

I used to have some combination moulds that were ordered and obtained in the early '70s.

I ran across a comment about Lyman on another forum that kind of explains some things about the variations seen in Lyman moulds from the '70s and '80s:

In the late 70's, I worked at Lyman, where they make reloading equipment. The factory was 100 years old, with overhead drive belts still running some of the equipment. It had been bought and sold several times, each ownership group squeezing the turnip a little harder to try to milk some profit out of it before flipping it. Re-tooling that place would have pretty much required starting from scratch. All of the equipment was ancient. We had B&S screw machines with three digit serial numbers dating to 1905.

 

[RicinYakima]

All very true. The Lyman family bought it back for $.50 on the dollar after 4 years. Some of the old equipment is still working, at least as well as it did 100 years ago. Wonder why bullets aren't the same diameter?

 

[fiver]

heck you'd think if everything was wobbling all around they'd at least get the holes bigger.

 

[Thumbcocker]

Walt Melander used to offer combo moulds, too.

Yup. I had one cut for 2 different bullets for. 303 British.

 

[beagle]

As my ,memory serves me, up until the late 50s and early 60s you could order the doubles from Lyman and any mould number in the inventory with a HP. Also moulds that were oversized and undersized. I ordered a 311410HP once but back then I had shallow pockets./beagle

 

[.41Mag]

Here are a couple of mine, a Lyman and a Shiloh. The Lyman appears barely used.

 

[KeithB]

The Lyman looks like it was for a .351 and .401.

 

[.41Mag]

The Lyman looks like it was for a .351 and .401.

Yep, neither of which I have! LOL

 

[obssd1958]

I have that Shiloh's twin.