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View Full Version : Repaired .30 caliber Yankee HP mould



Glen
01-08-2009, 05:27 PM
A while back I bought a .30 caliber Yankee HP mould that, somewhere along the line, somebody had ground down the captive HP pin so the mould now dropped a flat-point bullet. Well, this last weekend I sat down with a piece of scrap brass round stock and made a new HP pin for this mould (see picture below, sorry for the poor picture quality). The bullets drop from the blocks at 147 grains (BHN ~12), and the driving bands run about .314", and the nose about .304". I think this is going to work very nicely in a 10" .30-30 Contender (but there's a .30-40 Krag carbine that's waiting in the wings as well). An old mould is casting once again!

Ben
01-08-2009, 06:07 PM
That's great Glen, glad it worked out for you.
Looks like a lot of patience and skilled hands produced a nice HP pin for your mold.

Best,
Ben

scrapcan
01-08-2009, 06:12 PM
Buckshot did the same repair for me a year or so ago on the same mould. It is a nice mould and it shoots pretty well out of my 30-30 M94s. It really casts nice also.

Did you ahve to make sure you lubed the thru bolt frequently? I have to on mine or it begins to stick. I also pull it down after it cools and clean it up so it will not varnish into the mould block.

Catshooter
01-08-2009, 08:00 PM
Glen,

Can you post more pics - I've never seen one of these moulds before and am curious as to how they function. Thanks.


Cat

Bullshop
01-08-2009, 08:16 PM
I also have one of those Yanke molds. Mine is in 357 and looks to be an exact copy of the Keith/Tompson design. My mold came with both a HP pin and a FN.
I tried to sell it here awhile back but no takers. After awhile of using it I was glad it didnt sell. Just got in a Marlin 357 mag yesterday and they may mate well.
BIC/BS

beagle
01-08-2009, 08:30 PM
Glen,

I have an old one Lyman 311397 that has almost the same profile. It looks ugly as hell even after cast. Was a standard 311397 and then was modded with the same style HP. Ends up with a large meplat and a pretty good size HP cavity.

I loaded some in the .30/06 just for grins. Whoa!!! Shoots right at an inch at 100 yards. You might have something there./beagle

Glen
01-08-2009, 09:44 PM
Catshooter -- Here's another picture of the mould with the HP pin extended at the end of the transverse screw that holds it in place (there's about .175" of travel allowed by this screw).

Bret4207
01-09-2009, 08:52 AM
I missed a couple Yankees a few years abck, both in brass or nickle as I recall. Sure wish I'd got them. One was a 32-20 HP and the other a 44 design.

Nice work Glen!

scrapcan
01-09-2009, 01:12 PM
What I have been able to figure out, mostly from folks with the Antique Reloading Tool Collectors Assoc., is that the cherries used to make yankee moulds were lyman cherries. Yes that is correct they started life in the lyman factory and then were sold to the makers of Yankee moulds. Mos tof the moulds have very few markings. You can usually id the moulds by the way the handle is built and attached, i.e. the little wire that is twisted to hold the wood handle from splitting.

I have given a bunch to a friend with a win95 in 30-40. They shoot pretty well in that old rifle also.

Glen
01-09-2009, 01:36 PM
That wouldn't surprise me at all , manleyjt. They ocassionally even used the Ideal numbering system (but as you say, most Yankee moulds don't have any markings at all).

georgewxxx
01-10-2009, 09:46 AM
Look in Castpics, there's an article on Yankee moulds plus a bunch of pictures.....Geo