Ideal Mould

[bullet maker 57]

I found an old Ideal mould 358242 7 cavity. This thing is industrial. Must weigh 3 lbs plus.Is anybody familiar with this mould? I am guessing it is for 38 special or 357 mag. Maybe 9mm?

Thanks

Pete

[HARRYMPOPE]

Its an Armory Mold.Good ones if they stayed "true" and didn't get beat up.

[bullet maker 57]

The mould looks like it closes tight. There is not any play in the hinge or the alingment pin.There is some pitting on the sprue plate and hinge pin nuts.The cavities look clean and rust free.

Thanks for the information

Pete

[hedgehorn]

Love to see a picture of it

[bullet maker 57]

I will try to get some pics on Monday.

[HARRYMPOPE]

they tend to get beat up from closing them too hard.What happens is the faces dont close well at the back end towards the handles and those bullets fin.Of the three that i have had none had a loose pivot up front.Sometimes just a little careful touch up with a file and its will be a wonderful mold again.I have an Armory in the 308241 that after some touch up is a gem of a mold.

[MT Gianni]

There are two weights assigned to 358242. The light one is around 90 gr, the other is a 124 gr that is a shooter in a 9mm.

[bullet maker 57]

Well gentlemen, I guess the only way to see if the boolits fin and what weight they are is to cast some BOOLITS!
Thanks for the replies. I really don't want to sound ignorant but what is an armory mould?

Pete

[Wayne Smith]

An armory mold is just that. Back in the day the Army would use cast boolits for practice and before that - 45-70 and 45 Colt - the use ammo was cast.

[bullet maker 57]

That is what I thought, just wanted to be sure.
Thanks

Pete

[CWME]

I have a NOE reproduction 90gr and an original Lyman single cav 124gr that I hollow pointed. Both shoot very well in the 38/357 for me. The 124gr version is a bit fat for my 9mm so I haven't run it in that very much.
Cast some up and give them a try!

[Larry-FL]

I inherited a Ideal 7 cavity armory mold from my dad. I can remember "helping" my dad cast with it 50 years ago. It is a 357446 and is my favorite mold for 38/357. It is big and heavy but still casts nice boolits.

Larry

[Bradley]

I think that Lyman stopped making the Armory moulds in the mid 50's. The smaller the bullet the more cavities it had. I think that they ran from six to eight cavities. The one you have isn't particularly unusual. I've got seven of them. I don't think that they ever made a ten cavity but I'm not sure about that.

[jaystuw]

Bradley, seven armory molds is the most i have every heard of anyone having. Do you cast with them? Do all of them work good? and finally, are any in uncommon bullit styles? sorry for all the Questions but I could not pass up the opportunity to get some info on these interesting and hard to find molds. Jay