Lyman 311359

[Ben]

I bought this single cavity Lyman 311359 a few days ago, it arrived today.
I just had to get outside with the mould and cast some today.

I had to do some " fine tuning " on the mould, but the end result is a fine casting mould.

I want to use this bullet in my T/C Contender , 30-30 hoping to save some lead and cut down on recoil a bit ( 120 gr. bullet vs. 170 and 180 gr. bullets ).

I have no idea how it will shoot , but I guess I'll be finding out in a few days ? ? ?

Here are some photos.

THANKS ,
Ben

 

[S Mac]

Cute little buggars, looking forward to your range report Ben.

 

[Ben]

Will be interesting to see what these will do ?

 

[fiver]

they'll shoot.
I have been running them through the wifes ruger in 300 BO. and they shoot as well as the 165 silhouette I was using.
I'd bet they do well in your little 32 cal T/C too.

mine cast a bit big so I'm working on cutting some push rods to push each one through the sizer so the nose on the next one don't get flattened.
but they size to 310 okay, and I'm gonna give e'm a go in the 30-30 and the carbine too [when I get another box of roundtuits]

the 4 cavity mold I have flings the little guy's out quickly, but the mold gets heavier faster.
it's like balancing a bowling ball out on a ruler after about a half hour, even with the no-hold routine I have developed with the 4 cavity lymans.

 

[Ben]

This single cav. isn't much on " production ".
However for accuracy, it is consistent, bullet after bullet.
I weighed 5 in a row picked up at random.
For my purposes, we might as well say there was a small to near zero deviation
in their weight.

Ben

 

[JWFilips]

Nice fat bullet for a Lyman "311"

 

[Ben]

The .3123 " gives a lot of latitude for sizing.

Most of my work is with .310" and .311" bullets.

 

[fiver]

I'm still surprised by how many boolits I can knock out with a single cavity mold.
the pace is a bit quicker with them so even though your not doing 4 at a time a little pile of them will build up pretty quickly.
I have an older ideal [no vent] single cavity mold that keeps my 8 mauser and my 32 win fed.
I use it with a 10 lb pot, and it just moves so quickly with a lower melt temp it's amazing.
open,close,fill,open,close,fill...

 

[Ben]

This one today was doing real well.
I was impressed with the pile of bullets that I had at the 45 minute mark.

Ben

 

[yodogsandman]

Ben, I got a Lyman 311359 (2 Cav) last year for the same reason. Haven't had a chance to do any more than just cast a few to check the size. I'll be following along with interest.

 

[Ben]

Wish me well....................

 

[RicinYakima]

Ben, good luck and I hope they shoot very well for you! This is the circa 1910 "hi-speed" 32/20 design. With folks reloading with the new smokeless powder for higher velocity, they had hoped that the spritzer point would be a big seller. However Marlin never pushed them, and when they closed Ideal production in 1914 there were not very many made in the one piece moulds. Lyman made some in the 1930's for the Savage 23C bolt guns. They really took off when M1 Carbines became available, as any load that would work the bolt would feed '359's. It has always worked well in the 32 WCF's and 30 WCF's for me, but I never loaded them in any bigger cases. Show us what they can do!

 

[35 shooter]

I'll be watching this too.

 

[Bruce Drake]

I prefer this mold for my 300BLK and 30 Apache AR15 rifles and I occasionally use it in my AR10 in 308Win for a fun plinker also.

 

[Islanderflyer]

I just cast up about another 500 this morning with my 2 cavity 311359. This one works well in my m1 carbines. I think I'm going to try some in 30-06 for a lightweight plinking bullet.

 

[KHornet]

Have had a double in that mold for years. Shoots well
in all of my 30's including a 94 Win, shooting it single
shot. Great little bullet.

Paul

 

[Paul Gauthier]

I have that same mold, was using it in my SKS. Mediocre performance so I did not persue it further. But I do have a 30-30 barrel for my Contender, I believe I will give it a shot.

 

[Cherokee]

I use that bullet in my 30 Carbine. Does fairly well at 100 yd with open sights; @ 25 yd its a tack driver (I can see the target that close !)

 

[mattw]

Gotta revive this thread, tested these this weekend in my 300 blackout AR... They worked and fed, was a little surprised by the fed part! Mine is a very old 2 cavity and none of my gas checks will fit it without a lot of effort. Does anyone know of a slightly larger check? I have tried .015 aluminum, sages coppers and Hornady checks. I also have this mould in an old Ideal block that was a factory hollow point. Will be making a few of them as well.

 

[Ian]

Try using something like straight clip-on ww dikuted with some low-tin scrap, run the alloy down around 690F and run the mould pretty fast and hot to get good fill and minimum size. Other than that, grind the end off of a tapered punch until it will just start inside the check and give the punch a square whack with a hammer to stretch them a little.