Lyman 31141 ( A bit Strange ? ? )

[Ben]

I purchased this single cavity Lyman 31141 without being able to see the interior of the mould. ( a rare thing for me to do ! ) When I was un boxing the mould this a.m., I thought........ WOW ! !,......... that mould has a strange looking nose. I have never seen a Lyman 31141 with a nose profile like this one. I went into near panic mode. I thought ....OH NO ! !, Bubba has struck again ! !

After casting about 100 bullets, 99% of my fears disappeared.

The " numbers " for me and my .30 cal. rifles look just fine. I have named this one the 31141 MN ( Modified Nose ). I don't know the history of this mould ? ? , but who ever did the work to the nose of this one was GOOD ! ! The nose is perfectly round and mikes .3018" with my alloy . I cast about 300 or so this morning.

Ben

 

[fiver]

the last little bit of the nose is the only part they didn't modify.
they also changed the back of the bullet.
you probably have the best, most useful 041 mold on the planet now.

 

[Ben]

fiver........You took the words out of my mouth.
I can't help but believe that this one will be a " SHOOTER ! ! "

I wish I knew more about who did this work ? ? ?

Ben

 

[Ian]

Somebody got mad at the nose and fixed it. The nose shape and size between the front band and ogive has always been the weak link with that mould number.

Somebody did a Lee group buy a lot of years ago and I got one second-hand, six banger with an intermediate band on the nose that goes .304 up to .305 or so. It's a shooter in a lot of things, even rifles it doesn't fit all that well.

 

[Ben]

Who ever did this mould was a pretty good machinist.

Ben

 

[Ian]

Pretty good, not perfect. You can see where the front edge was concentric with the nose, but not the back edge where it meets the front band. That's the problem with re-boring a mould and why Erik won't work on anything deeper than the rear band. The problem is what to indicate off of, and really the only answer is as far forward in the cavity as you can go, and as far back (gas check shank), so you can get the cavity itself running true and not have looping or wobbling runout. If the cavity isn't bored straight in the blocks, one might have to shim the blocks in the vice jaws, or tap the mould around to get it cocked just right to present the cavity true to the boring bar.

 

[S Mac]

Will be interested in how it performs. Odd looking duck for sure.

 

[smokeywolf]

Ben, don't mean to be hypercritical, but if pic No. 3 is indeed the measurement of the band(s), your mike is showing .3131, not the .312 in your notation.

 

[Ben]

Ben, don't mean to be hypercritical, but if pic No. 3 is indeed the measurement of the band(s), your mike is showing .3131, not the .312 in your notation.

You're right, that's what happens when I type faster than I can think.
Thanks, I've changed the photo.

Ben

 

[Ben]

If you don't like long nose bullets hanging out past the drive bands with zero support, this bullet is for you. About 80% of this bullet will be in contact with the barrel. By the way, I put this bullet on the scales, 183.4 grs.

 

[Brother_Love]

I would say that bad boy is going to be engaging the rifling quite effectively!!!!!!

 

[Pistolero]

The ultra rare 311041 SWC mold.


Looks well done, for sure. I should make nice holes in the targets, too.
Looking fwd to results.

Bill

 

[Ben]

Won't be long .
I should have some target photos.

Ben

 

[Ben]

I shot this bullet yesterday. My Howa, 308 Win. at 50 yards put 10 rounds into 1/2 " .
I'm very happy with this bullet.

Ben

 

[Pistolero]

Looks like it proves the mod is at least OK, in the sense it
isn't harming anything, shooting great.

What do you get with the standard 311041? This is the only
way to know it the mod is an improvement.

Bill

 

[fiver]

just looking at it and having dealt with the 041 myself IMO it's a great improvement.

 

[Ben]

Bill,

I can't say I've had time yet to do a true " side X side " test comparing the two.
I was anxious to try the modified nose version.
It shoots just as good as many of my other .30 cal. nose riders.

Ben

 

[SkinnerD]

I know this is an old thread but it is one of the few that came up re the original 31141 mold rather than the 311041. I just bought a virtually unused pristine mold stamped 31141. It is identical it seems to the one the OP this thread has with the "modified" nose, i.e. mine also is a FP not a HP. Did the 31141 come out as either HP or FP? With mine a FP nose, does that mean it too has been modified? The voice of inexperience asking here...cheers

 

[RicinYakima]

I know this is an old thread but it is one of the few that came up re the original 31141 mold rather than the 311041. I just bought a virtually unused pristine mold stamped 31141. It is identical it seems to the one the OP this thread has with the "modified" nose, i.e. mine also is a FP not a HP. Did the 31141 come out as either HP or FP? With mine a FP nose, does that mean it too has been modified? The voice of inexperience asking here...cheers

Up until 1974, and Lyman was sold, you could order any mould HP.

 

[CZ93X62]

I have only owned 1 example of Lyman #311041, which I bought in the mid-1990s if memory serves. It is the 'Classic' 30/30 WCF bullet, and mine has an ogival nose radius and a flat nose for safe usage in tubular magazines (which the majority of 30/30 rifles have). It shoots well in my 30/30s, and keeps up with the Lyman #311291 that did my early stuff in 30/30. Both bullets do well in 30-06, too. In contrast, the O/P Ben's castings have a more 'Truncated cone' form to their nose. I have taken no deer with these bullets, but my share of coyotes have fallen to both bullets from 30/30s and 30-06s for many years. Of course, lead-based cast bullets are now verboten here in Kalifornistan, so that course of conduct has come to an end.

No, I mean that, CDFW--for reals!