Ideal/Lyman Short-Cherried Moulds?

[xtimberman]

When I was asking some questions about another Ideal mould earlier, the subject of "Short-Cherried" moulds came up. It was explained to me that this was commonly done at the customer's request.

I can understand why Ideal/Lyman might've shortened the length by omitting a land or two, but did they ever deliberately short the length by 1/2 land?

I'm including a photo of two bullets from two different examples of Ideal/Lyman#406150 w/o attached handles. Note that the bullet on the left is shorter by ~half the width of the bottom land. The bullets are cast of ~same alloy - but the L example weighs 334gr. and the R example weighs 346gr.

This bullet is designed for .40-72 Win. and that's what I used the heavier one for - and also for an oversized .40-63 Ballard. Both cast bullets of .409"and are otherwise identical - except for the bases.

Do you think that the short mould was cut that way deliberately? If so, why?

xtm

[floodgate]

xt:

It could have been done deliberately, for a customer that wanted a specific weight, but that bottom band on the left looks a bit skimpy; it could well have been operator error in setting the machine up.

Fg

[xtimberman]

FG, That's what I thought, but I wanted your opinion. Thank you.

The "good" mould with the proper base band is no longer in my possession. I had to let it go with the .40-72 when I traded it off - but not before I cast up a large batch of bullets which I dole out for serious shooting. The one with the "skimpy" base band is what I have to make do with when the "good" supply runs out.

Ignoring the base band differences, the "good" mould casts superior bullets to the other one and target groupings show it.

xtm

[Texasflyboy]

Measure the overall height of the two blocks, if they are even steven, its probably what Floodgate said, an error in setup.

If the short bullet block is slightly shorter than its brother, someone milled the top of the block to fix a dent.

I've done that a time or two in my life. Cuts the bottom band a bit but saves an otherwise useless block.

[JIMinPHX]

The Lyman 225415 used to be a 45 grain boolit. It is listed as 45 grains in my Cast Bullet Handbook. The current version is 55-grains. It is the same boolit with the cherry pushed in deeper. The heal is now much longer. All the current paperwork shows 55-grain. The older pictures show a shorter boolit. The older loading data shows 45-grains. Sometimes the mold makers make a change.