Are Lyman moulds still made in USA

[cdet69]

Are Lyman moulds still made in the USA?

[Hardcast416taylor]

Last I heard they still were, although the quality control is screaming "made in China" from the new molds I`ve gotten in the last 2 years.Robert

[rintinglen]

Still made in the USA, and despite some of the things I have read, still decent molds for the money.

One thing that needs to be said is that up until about 20 years ago, the cast cognoscenti were decrying Lyman molds for being OVER-sized. You used to read stuff like "for every thousandth you size a bullet, your group will increase an inch," and "a properly made bullet mold will cast one to two thousanths of an inch over the bore diameter." Lyman responded by making their molds cast smaller, but then as more and more people began shooting SMLE's and Moisin-Nagants, you started to hear the chorus of complaints.

I have bought 8 Lyman molds since 2009, only one of them cast so small that It was "too small."
I have a 429-667, 240 grain (Nominal) round-flat nose . It runs just under or just over .429, depending on how hot I cast and how much tin there is in the melt. I need .430 boolits for my two Rugers and .431 for my other one and my Smith and wesson for best Results. All is not lost though, I use that one in my 44-40 which has a .428 bore and all is well. I would point out that if I were to use Lyman No. 2 exclusively, that "under-sized" mold would still be casting at the diameter indicated in its name.

Now after all that, I must in all honesty say that I prefer RCBS molds, especially when the boolit weighs more than 170 grains, and these days I am buying more NOE and MP molds 4, 5, and 6 cavities. RCBS does not make 4 cavity molds, Lyman hollow-point molds are antiquated single cavity designs, and some boolits I want are not available from either. For boolits I like a lot, 2 cavities are too few.

[Lance Boyle]

I'm a relative newb and have already sent 2 molds back, one was a 311291 that came back casting 312 on the bands and 301 on the nose. I'm quite happy with that and it prompted me to give them a second chance so I bought a 314299 mold. When I got it cast 311/312ish and 299/300 on the nose. I sent it back and they fixed the bands to cast at near 314 but they left the nose at 300. Not exactly what I wanted for a No4mk1. Even their QC email said that mold was supposed to cast .313/.314 on the bands and .302/.303 on the nose. I wonder why they didn't bother to make sure on the second try that they met their own specs..

In the future I'll just go buy a custom mold for a few dollars more as they're much more likely to get it right the first time and the less expensive factory molds cost more by the time you add cost of a couple return trips.

[cdet69]

Right now I am doing well I guess because my moulds from them meet my requirements. it just seems everything else they are now making is Chineese with the exception of maybe their dies.