308291

[adrians]

hi ,,,i got a hold of an older ideal 308291 mold and using ww and a tad of tin the sucker dropped me a bunch of .311.5 boolits ,what the deal here ?,
i was under the impression ( maybe misguided info) that the lyman 311291 was closer to that dimension.
no complaints though i size down to seat g,c at 311 and im good to go ,,,just curios.
:twisted:[smilie=1::evil:

[Ben]

That a typical " as cast " dimension for that mold.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

The 308 part of the number was the designation way back in the day when Lyman was still doing things right. After that they went to 311 and things got pretty weird...as far as sizes go. The size that you are getting is very good. Count your blessings and take good care of that mold. It is one of the oldest and most successful designs dating back to the early 1900's. LLS

[walltube]

Yes, count your blessings as LeLoupSolitaire writes.

I have a 308329 that measures .313-.3135 drive bands and .305 just ahead of the forward most band. Go figure, adoption of ".311" must be code for 'whutevah'. Sad, really.

[atr]

those Ideal molds are "old school"....and are treasures....take good care of it !
my Ideal #308291 also drops 0.311 with wheel weights
atr

[1hole]

Nothing has changed about Lyman/Ideal molds. The "308", etc, designation tells us the expected final diameter, not the expected cast diameter. Different bullet alloys contract differently so it's good design to allow enough extra to make sure the cast diameter isn't too small and, after all, a difference of 1 or 2 thou on a cast bullet isn't a massive 'error'.