Hello, everyone. I think it was in the early 1990's that I started to see Lyman change the profile on their mould cavities..This I think was due to their change to a CNC type cutting operation..gone were the old curved sweeping ogives ..replaced by angular shapes. I prefer the old victorian styles for pure aesthetics..but if the newer styles shoot..thats all that matters. However, I keep hearing of undersized bullets from these new moulds.
In the early days..I'm talking Ideal and early Lyman era..things were just the opposite..oversized moulds were common..the reason? it was thought in those days that sizing was good for a cast bullet..and those early sizing dies would literally "cut them down to size"..they had a sharp step instead of the now tapered leade. And there was another practicle reason..cutter life..every time a cutter was sharpened it became a bit smaller in dia. By having a maximum sized cherry..long production runs with that tool were possible. This is one of the reasons an older design made during the early 1970's might be found undersized..due to repeated sharpining when the same model 10 or so years earlier might very well be too large.
But there is no excuse for undersized cherrys today..Lyman I fear, like many older American companies is letting quality slide..Where is a John Barlow when needed today!