Lyman #257285

[Grasshopper]

A few months ago, I acquired a fair quantity of old bullet moulds... Some I have a use for, and some not! :)

But this one is a puzzlement! :( I had originally thought that it was for the .25 ACP. It appears to cast a .257/.258 diameter bullet of 56 grs. I can find no loading data for it. Nor can I find any reference to it. The only reference I can find, is in the Lyman #3 Cast Bullet Handbook. But it lists it as an 87 gr.

It was hand written on the outside of the box as a 56 gr. The mould has a bullet still in it. I have not tried to remove it. Mould is in excellet shape.

Does anyone know anything about this mould? What was it designed for? I'm thinking it may be of use in my .25/20 or .256 Win Mag...

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Edward

[Bret4207]

PB 25-20 boolit from the pics at castpics.

http://www.castpics.net/subsite/HistMolds/IdealandLymanMolds.pdf

[Grasshopper]

Bret,

Thank you for that link. I never knew that existed. My mould looks like that if it were cut off at the rear lube groove. Perhaps it was a special order or something. I think I'll try to cast some boolits with it and try it in my .25-20.

Edw

[Bret4207]

At one time Lyman would shorten their moulds for a nominal fee. Might be just what happened.

Post a pic if you can. Folks are always interested in oddities.

[NHlever]

The original drawing looks like it might have been the plain base version of the 257312 that I have. Like Bret said, it would be cool to see a picture of the mold, or boolits. When using a cherry to cut a mold, it would be easy to make it any depth you wanted.