Found the mold I was looking for .....

[Jack Stanley]

I've been looking for some time for an older Lyman/Ideal 358416 design . Originally I wanted to use it in a lever action and it probably still will get some time there . I never really realized it from looking at the picture but once I started casting bullets , it reminds me of the 3118 on steroids . They come from the mold measuring just over .359" and very round within a thousanths or so .

It looks like it will make a nice bullets for small critters that like to dig in the garden and berm without permission . Only downside to this particular mold is that it's not a four or six cavity . I really am not used to going this slow on making a box ( small one at that ) of bullets . It does make some pretty nice bullets and with clean lead I think it might accept bottom pour as easy as ladle casting . Hmmmmm ...... I wonder how it would work tandem casting this with four hundred grain bullets .:mrgreen:

Jack

[tackstrp]

jack i have been using the Lee 102 356 Round nose. I beagled and casts at .358 Cheap molds for 2 cavity sure you could lap out to drop at .359 if wanted. Retail at midway is 19.95

[Jack Stanley]

The lightest thirty-five caliber mold I have now is a six cavity H&G that make a double end wadcutter . It's not the lightest mold ....... just the lightest bullet I make . From time to time I will run a few of those single shot style through the lever rifle . For the most part , that rifle shoots only the heavy LBT flat nose I cast but I am trying to change to a lighter bullet . The only thing that is slowing me up is accuracy and I want the point of impact and point of aim to be the same for all ammo I use in it . AND ..... if that isn't enough , I want the ammo to group well out of the revolver also .

Not like I'm asking much huh? ;-)

Jack

[NHlever]

I cast in tandem with my single, and double cavity molds often. Sometimes I fill one, empty the other, fill it, and repeat, and sometimes I'll just cast 20 or so bullets, and then swith molds. Works good both ways. I have the window open in my shop when I cast, and the sill makes a good resting place for the mold I"m not using when I'm casting a number with each mold before switching. If I'm alternating with every pour, I keep the mold right next to the pot. The only trouble is that sometimes I don't get as many as I want of either bullet :D

[MakeMineA10mm]

Congratulations, Jack!

That's a neat design and makes a lot of sense. I've often wondered why Lyman didn't just bring it back out when CAS started taking off? Maybe a version for a 140-146gr boolit of the same nose and plain-base design? I like middle-weights myself as you can see...

I concur with you about the super-light boolits. I have that 100gr Lee RN mould, but I load it in the 380, where it's actually a heavy-weight boolit! :mrgreen: Some folks load it in the 9mm as a super-light, and I guess there's no reason not to load it in 38s for same thing, but I don't think I'd like it.

[Jack Stanley]

I doubt they would re-introduce an older design like this because of the college kids they got running things . You know , newer is better .... can't let 'em know that the customer was right kinda thing .

I have a four cavity version of there "new" cowboy mold . It functions and feeds just fine from a carbine and weighs about what the comipitition from LEE offers . This new cowboy bullet has a larger meplat than the 358416 so it might be better on critters . Somebody here once told me that smaller multiple lube grooves tended to be more accurate than one large groove . I've never tried to prove or disprove that but I do seem to get accuracy quicker when using that type .

I've never shot cowboy action shooting so I really don't know the game . I notice they tend to like lighter bullets and lower velocity to do the job . That sorta goes counter to how I go about things . When I was training myself to shoot right handed after using the left side , I reduced velocity a bit untill speed and accuracy got better . Then velocity was bumped to what I trained with , I still use the concept with gallery loads while I learn to shoot rifle better .

Ya know with all the "retro" and "vintage" looks being offered in the market it's surprising someone doesn't at least try this in a quality multi-cavity mold . I don't remember hearing anyone say the 3118 design was a bad choice for the 32-20 and with our "bigger-is-better" way of looking at things . It just seems like someone would snatch this one from the darkness and say " Look at this great new bullet !";-)

Jack