Old Ideal molds question.

[adrians]

Good morning folks,
I was curious as to when the Ideal / Lyman company decided to put vent lines in their molds, I have a couple of single cavity molds both 32 caliber one is a mold for the S&W 32 target revolver # 32362 and the other , probably better known is the 320366 spitzer boolit for the Mauser .
Both molds are ventless, any idea how old these molds are ?.
Thanks and have a great day

[Catshooter]

Huh, pre-1930s? If I recall correctly that's it.

And it's spitzer, not spritzer. Sorry, couldn't resist. I bet auto-correct helped you with that one.


Cat

[adrians]

pretty old then, and yes don't you just love auto-correct,,,,

[Bent Ramrod]

The best estimates, from those who were able to buy them new, have the vent lines starting somewhere between 1950 and 1958.

By 1960 or so, Lyman stopped putting "Ideal" on the moulds and started putting their own name on them. The switchover was imprecise enough that a very occasional "Lyman" marked mould with no vent lines can be found.

[adrians]

Thanks br, I was born in 58 so these are older than me, huh!!!
I was doing some checking and I don't see an Ideal 320366 but there is a 323366 which makes more sense for an 8mm cartridge ( unless it's a "j" bore) ,, wonder if it's a stamping mistake or it was actually a production mold just not listed by Ideal.

[Bent Ramrod]

adrians,

My copy of the first edition of the Lyman Handbook of Cast Bullets shows a two-groove (or maybe one groove and a dirt scraper) gascheck spitzer numbered 323366, designed for the 8 mm. I believe this book came out in 1957. The Lyman Ideal Handbook No. 40, copyright April, 1955, shows the same design in the loading suggestions for the 8 M/M/Mauser (sic) but here it is numbered 320366.

What's a few thousandths either way, anyway?. The .30 calibers used to be designated with a 308 prefix and changed over to 311 as the cost of tooling went up. It was just as easy to designate a slightly larger diameter (and start the cavities even larger than that) to get more sharpening and production out of the cherries. I guess they figured everybody had a lubrisizer and would get the boolits down to the desired size by that means.

[adrians]

Glad you found it, and it makes sense what you said ,that explains my old Ideal 308291 instead of the now 311291.
Thanks br.

[frnkeore]

I posted information about a year ago, giving the history of Ideal/Lyman. I asked that it be made a sticky but, it didn't happen The info posted in that thread wasn't mind, it was done by a antique loading tool forum.

If you do a search for Ideal, in this section, you may find it.

Regarding the first three number of the molds, it was what the mold would/could be sized to and not the as cast size. I have a 308329 mold that casts .314.

I found it:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...highlight=idea

Frank

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I posted information about a year ago, giving the history of Ideal/Lyman. I asked that it be made a sticky but, it didn't happen The info posted in that thread wasn't mind, it was done by a antique loading tool forum.

If you do a search for Ideal, in this section, you may find it.

Regarding the first three number of the molds, it was what the mold would/could be sized to and not the as cast size. I have a 308329 mold that casts .314.

I found it:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...highlight=idea

Frank

Frank, never seen your post...It is a good one...it has been stuck.
Jon

[TXGunNut]

Frank, never seen your post...It is a good one...it has been stuck.
Jon

Cool! Thanks Jon and Frank.

[John Boy]

Ideal Molds - Barlow & Marlin Years 1884-1915 History
http://castpics.net/dpl/index.php/th...ears-1884-1915