Lyman mold suffix FX..What does it mean?

[Char-Gar]

A friend bought a Lyman mold 452423FX....What does the FX mean? Please and thank you!

[Bent Ramrod]

Sorry, Chargar, FX is a new one even on me. I have an "EX" but no "FX". Have you tried to E-mail Lyman about this? There seems to be a lot of designations that Ideal and Lyman do not explain, even in their catalogs.

So far, what I've gathered is that "U" is Udersized (generally closer to the nominal size than the number).

"S" is Small (according to Floodgate).

"R" is Reject (sold with no guarantees, but in my experience just as good as any other Lyman mold).

Somebody ought to get this down for the record. One of the classic "48 Hrs Mysteries" is the code numbers that J. Stevens & Co. put on their Favorite rifles. Typically an alphanumeric like "A 732". Then somebody lost the code book, to the eternal discomfiture of collectors and scholars of Stevens rifles. We can't let this happen with Lyman molds! :-P

[utk]

My Lyman 429421 has a CV prefix.
Does anybody know what CV stands for?

Urban

[Finn45]

This is what Lyman replied when I asked this some time ago:



Hello, Lyman used 2 letters to designate which cutter was used for that mould. We are not sure what Ideal may have used the single and three letter codes for. We are sorry that we cannot be of greater help on this.

Lyman customer service



This might not be the whole truth; the actual info might be hiding on the desk of the oldest worker, who is keeping the old records because "those papers were there before me". Or maybe that info is lost completely... Anyway, marking different cutters must have been essential with popular designs in order to catch flaws in production; "Hey there, you must throw that 311291 cherry away, it's making way undersize cavities!"... "Oh yeah, which of the three right now on the production...?"... "How'bout checking those 50 311291 molds waiting for the delivery...". Not to mention warranty issues and fast production checking and corrections when customer calls and complains about faulty mold.

[floodgate]

Guys:

There is one other suffix that means something specific: a 1956-dated chart from Lyman lists - among a bunch of "undersized" moulds with the "U" prefix - a "#311413-E-S" as "extra Small". Otherwise, Finn's answer from Lyman Customer Service about sums up all we know on the topic. Thanks, Finn!

floodgate