Winchester 32-165 Design or Manufacturing Anomaly???

[beezapilot]

Picked up a very nice old Winchester 32-165 mold and gave it a try yesterday- the first thing I noticed was the little "nub" at the base of the boolit. Wondering if the cherry was mis-aligned? Or was that the design in the old days- an early example of "bevel base"?? My neighbor has a surface grinder, I hate to modify a vintage mold, but....

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[jrmartin1964]

I'm no expert, and I only have two Winchester moulds, but both of them are cut to produce a slight bevel on their boolits. A quick look around the internet for images of Winchester moulds, and it would seem this was a common - if not standard - feature.

[.22-10-45]

I have observed this too on old Ideal bullet bases. I wonder if Ideal/Lyman were using the original cherries for the perfection type adjustable moulds & got a bit careless in the depth setting when cutting a lighter bullet non-adjustable mould?

[catskinner]

I have that same 32-165 mold and like all the other Winchester molds I have it doe have a slight bevel base.

[popper]

Looks like some misalignment but shoot them. They work great. My PB rifle moulds use that type base. With the right alloy, I push 145gr. 2100 fps from a 300BO 18" 1:10 rifle, near as I can shoot 1 1/2 MOA. They seat like a BB but are much easier to cull, self-aligning for seating. Drive band edge is always nice and crisp, base is flat. Use the same design for 170gr. RD style in 30/30 so far 1550 is good. Basically all but ~0.020" of the GC shank removed.

[samari46]

For what it's worth, I have one of the nickle plated Ideal combo mold and reloading tools for the 32-40. I just checked it and it's a flat base mold. I tried casting a few bullets with welders gloves and since the whole thing is metal it got hot fast. It does not have the little tail on it. Wonder how the old timers cast with the combo tool back in the old days. Frank

[Donor8x56r]

I have one of those molds.Same thing as yours.I'm sure it's a "feature" not a fault.
Good boolit for plinking indoor 50yrd with Gew 88.7.5 Gr of 700x works well in mine.