Belding & Mull Molds

[NoDakJak]

Previous to this week I was unaware that Belding & Mull had produced boolit molds. Last sunday I purchased one from a friend complete with handles. Mold number ie "451210" and is an extremely blunt round nose, plain base boolit. The sprue plate is made of very thick metal. Markings on the mold are "B & M - IRON". The limited data that I have found indicate that these molds were made in 1926/27. Does anyone have any data on the history of B&M molds and experience with them and with this boolit in particular?
At the same time I bought a "Modern Bond" , two hole mold that is in near new condition. It actually looks unused. Mold # is F-257-730. It appears to be approximately a 100 grain boolit with a rather pointed, round nose. Does anyone have any experience or data for this boolit. I anticipate much pleasure experimentating with both these molds. Neil

[Maven]

Neil, While I do own a single cavity B & M "iron" mold, purchased used on EBay, it is entirely different than yours. What I can tell you is that it is excellent in all respects and casts a .432" 269gr. wadcutter, which is superbly accurate in my Ruger SBH. Moreover, B & M produced molds marked "iron" as well as those marked "nickel" if my memory is correct: Search our archives, CASTPICS (bottom center of screen), or "Cast Bullet Notes" from lasc.us at the bottom right of your screen to confirm this. Btw, this is the only mold I have that drops perfect bullets from the 1st pour and with very little variation in weight too.

[shooter93]

Belding and Mull was a small company located about an hour's drive from me. They made and sold a number of reloading products including a straight line press that worked horizontaly. We bought reloading componets from them for years. They closed shop long ago....the new Belding and Mull is primarily and gun shop now using the old name. Cornell Publications has reprints of some of their old catalogs.

[Bret4207]

Neil, I ahve what sounds to be the same or a similar B&M design. Mine has suffered the ravages of decades of improper storage (rust) but still casts a nice, if somewhat rough, boolit. Looking at the B&M designs, the early ones anyway, you get a clue where a certain mould maker of high repute got the idea for the ogival wadcutter. I haven't had a chance to shoot a lot of these boolits, but I imagine they strike with authority.

Modern Bond also made some very nice moulds. I forget which ones I have but they sure are nice to use. I'm fairly sure both the MB and B&M catalogs are available online.

[NoDakJak]

I'm sorry to take so long replying but this Verdamnt computer has been giving me fits.
Since my last entry I have purchased two more B&M molds and several Modern Bond molds. The 30 caliber B&M mold came with handles. It is marked 311169 on one block and B&M on the other. There is an X slightly to the right and below the M. There is no marking to indicate whether this is an iron or Nickel mold. The bullet is a spitzer GC and looks similar to Lyman 311413.
The other mold came without handles. Markings on one end are 452236. The other block is stamped B&M-IRON . The other end of the blocks each have the letter T stamped on them. An oddity is that the sprue plate is half the thickness of the others although is of the same shape. I suspect that it may be a replacement as when it is closed the sprue hole swings past the center line. The cavity is for a Round nose, PB boolit. Some one must have had problems with this mold as they have filed three air vents on each side of the cavity and another on the nose. The owner told me that these caused some feathering but that they shot very well. I no longer own a 1911 so will be firing these thru my 1917 S&W.
I am even happier about purchasing the Modern Bond Molds. I already own a couple and they are very fine workmanship. The only grievance that I have with them is that the grease grooves on them are cut with 90 degree angles and do not drop as easily as those with a slight draft. I remember Elmer Keith writing about this very thing many years ago.
I am extremely happy to acquire these molds. It is very hard to find used molds in this area and when you do they are priced very high. I need to inventory my MB molds and see just what I now have. I am very busy hauling hay right now but am hoping that the good weather holds out long enough for me to cast and test shoot some of these boolits. Neil