308241

[hydraulic]

Have no idea where I found this mold. Must have been when I was sober... I can usually remember things when I'm drunk. It's an old Ideal single cavity plain base
.30-30 mold, one of the old ones with the permanent handles attached. It's listed in the #39 Lyman book. I ran up a few bullets from wheel weights and they looked terrible. The lube grooves were rounded off and looked like they wouldn't hold any lube at all. Still, the base was sharp and round, so I ran a few through the sizer, .311, and the bands between the groves shined up and they came out looking a lot better. Tried 10 grs. Unique and found them to shoot really well. I didn't try for groups. This is going to be the family fun shooter when we all get together. I have a 94 carbine and a 64 rifle and this makes a great target/soda bottle full of water, fun gun. The girls like the carbine because it's light. I don't trust the sons-in-law with firearms. The best part is the cost. Plain base bullet=no gas check. 10 grs. Unique=.02 cents, primer=.02 cents, lube is free. (CWFL--Charley's World Famous Lube----half beeswax and half deer tallow.)

[singleshotbuff]

hydraulic,

I have the same mold, only mine is marked U311241. The U is SUPPOSED to idicate undersized, but mine casts .313" from my alloy, go figure. Mine is 2 seperate blocks that attach to a handle like modern molds, but mine is OLD based on the box, which says IDEAL on it.

Anyway, from what I have learned, there are 2 styles of this mold. One casts 125grs and the other casts 150grs. I have the latter, which (being a bit OVERSIZED) casts at 159.5grs from my alloy (50/50 wheelweights and range lead). Which weight do you have?

Mine casts PERFECT boolits! I love it, perfect boolits are ridiculously easy to make and they drop right out of the mold. Rejection rate is near zero. As you mentioned, the lube grooves do look a little small, but there ARE 3 of them on my 150 (159.5)gr version.

I THOUGHT this would be a good candidate for my M44, 7.62X54R which slugs .312". No dice so far after trying Unique and IMR-4198, 4-5" groups at 25 yards. I'll keep at it. Looks like mine may work in a 303 British maybe.

I was sober when I got mine, bought it over the summer at a gun store in St. Charles Missouri (Graf and Sons retail store), with my Dad. Paid a whopping $5.00 for it.

Enjoy those cheap plinkers. Old Lyman/Ideal molds are fascinating.

SSB

[JDL]

Mine is the double cavity 311241 and it too casts very well. My plinking load is 6 grains of Unique out of my '94 .30-30. I let my oldest grandson (11) give it a test run during the Thanksgiving weekend and he cleaned up all the loaded rounds I had. :-D Popaw needs to get some more loaded up! -JDL

[Bent Ramrod]

The 311241 is my "go-to" boolit for .30 calibers. If it doesn't shoot well, chances are the gun won't shoot well with anything.

Keep casting with that little mold, and maybe turn up the heat. The smaller blocks integral with the handle tangs tend to cool quicker, which may be causing your fillout problems.

[hydraulic]

Mine is the 150 gr variety, and it weighs l49.8 from wheelweights. That's just the one bullet I weighed, I don't know what they would average. I'm on my way out to my acreage with a 99 Arisaka, same 10 grs of Unique. Bullet is sized .311 and that's what the Arisaka bore is SUPPOSED to be, so we'll see. Those lube grooves aren't going to fill out because I can see the rounded bands in the mould. I can't believe it WORE that much so I suppose it has been abused sometime in it's long life. It also has "ventilating" scratches along one side. Come to think about it, I'm going to throw the chrony in pickup and see what 10 grs. are doing in that M64 Winchester. Well, I guess I better just lay it on the back seat.
Singleshot: I haven't miked mine yet, but they must be above .311 because that die will polish all the groove bands. If that 99 won't shoot them sized, I'll dip them in lube and shoot them unsized

[26Charlie]

Have shot 311241 for many years in the .30-06 as a plinking and 100-yard target load over 8.0 gr. 700-X. It shows about 1250 fps, and will group near an inch most times, from a target-barreled Springfield with Lyman sights. This is the 150 gr. version - I picked up a single-cavity mould for the 125 gr. version, but haven't shot many as yet.

[Maineboy]

I bought a single cavity Ideal marked 150 grain version about 4 years ago on Ebay. I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it wasn't much. If I remember correctly, it casts about .313. Since I size everything .311, I have to run them through the sizer. I was hoping to just tumble lube, load, and shoot them. Mine works pretty well in my 2 30-30s and my 30-40 Krag but I have to keep the velocity down to no more than 1300 fps or so. It is a nice cheap plinking boolit.

[hydraulic]

Got out to my range on the acreage and set down, put my elbows on my knees and short stroked a round into the 7.7. Round went up the pipe, extractor didn't pick it up, round stuck in barrel. No ramrod. Put the 99 away and set the Chrony up, fired a round with the 64.... no readout. Battery dead. Cussed and came home. Try again tomorrow.

[hydraulic]

Sat down.

[jhalcott]

sitting makes it EASIER to MISS the chrono! STANDING makes it easier to HIT the chrono! Hyd 's day seems like my own. Bathroom sink drain broke. Got new parts and replaced bad ones! NOW the sink to drain area LEAKS???? Can't say what I'm thinking as children MIGHT see it!