First Pour - Ideal 266469 *New* Mold

[Dutchman]

When I say *new* mold I mean new as in never been used. I don't know when Ideal morphed to Lyman/Ideal and then Lyman but this mold is/was new. I bought it just last week off ebay for $65 (2 cavity) hoping that the older Ideal molds dropped larger boolits than current Lyman of the same type.

Yep. Measured across the mold seam: .2685". Rotated 90 degrees: .2681". The nose in front of the crimp groove: .261".

FYI: new Swedish m/96 barrels are typically .255" land diameter - 6.47mm. The brass stock discs are marked 6.46 to 6.59mm.

My new Lyman 266673 (150 gr) drops at .266" exactly and shoots extremely well in two of my rifles, both with excellent barrels.

This new mold required zilch break-in. Bullet dropped easy with no sticking. Sure is nice to cast with a quality mold like this one. I may have to search out Ideal molds from now on.

They look better than the pictures!





266673

[s mac]

Nice. I also like the few Ideal moulds I own.

[swheeler]

Yep that sounds about like mine

[NVcurmudgeon]

Dutchman, I have a number of Lyman/Ideal moulds and never had my hands on a bad one. The total experience I have in 6.5 was borrowing a 266469 and the other recently listed 160 gr. bullet. I wasn't very much interested in the 160 gr. as it was way too long for my Rem. stainless, light weight, .260 Rem. But the 266469, even though too long for the magazine, delivered excellent accuracy. There wasn't much developing going on as I load to a formula. Mostly a new caliber gets loads in the 1400 to 1800 fps with good old Alliant 2400 which usually works well. This time the formula worked just fine: Rem. cases, CCI 200 primers, 14 gr. 2400 (no fillers), 1615 fps, 266469 cast of WW plus 2% tin, sized .266, LOA 2.73", 1.6" group. 15 gr. 2400 (1735 fps) opened up a little, but still kept five rounds within a 2.0" group @ 100 yd. The rifle was pillar bedded, floated, and has a 3.0 lb. trigger. It is very accurate for a "trout rod" of a rifle. It has fired quite a few three shot groups of 0.5" with jacketed bullets, but one must hold his mouth just right! Of course all the work was done before I ever saw the rifle. I've read a lot of your posts and I guess that you are likely shooting original Swedish 6.5 rifles with much longer LOA than my short action .260 Rem.

[bruce drake]

What makes the mold additionally unique is the overstrike of the 311 with 266 on the mold blocks! I like my Lyman 266469 as well for both of my 6.5 Jap rifles (T38 and Type I) but I have to seat them deep to fit the magazine box's cartridge length requirements and my mold and alloy casts them right .268 which is perfect for these rifles.

I also have a 260 Rem in a rechambered T38 Arisaka also so this mold works for that rifle as well. I got around the shorter neck on the 260 Rem with a Mauser magazine box in place of the smaller T38 one to allow me to seat the bullet to the base of the 260 Rem case neck.