Question about Lyman #358477 mould

[Kermit2]

I purchased a Lyman #358477 double cavity SWC mould which came in an orange plastic box. I already own a Lyman/Ideal #358477 single cavity SWC mould. Is it my imagination or will the newer 2 cavity #358477 mould produce SWC bullets with a rounder nose? The nose area of the bullet cavities look to be or a more rounded shape than that of my older single cavity mould. My older single cavity mould produces SWC bullets with sharp edges on the nose. Is it my imagination or has the nose profile of this bullet changed slightly? Will it make any significant difference in the performance of the bullet as compared to the bullets produced by the older Lyman/Ideal single cavity mould? All information will be appreciated. Thanks!

[Glen]

Lyman has changed the design of the 358477 several times over the years -- driving bands, grease groove, ogive/meplat, crimp groove, etc. There is very little that HASN'T changed. While they may all be good bullets, they are not the same bullet and weight has changed over the years (from 150 to 158 grains). Load accordingly.

[Bret4207]

Many, if not all, of Lymans moulds change a little from cherry to cherry and across the production run. Don;t sweat it, it might work better than the older one. Never know till you try.

[Hurricane]

I have both old and new versions of 358477. The new version has rounded edges to the nose and a smaller lube grove than the older version. The weight is also heavier, about 158 gr rather than 150 gr. Both shoot equally well.

[Kermit2]

Thanks for the replies. I haven't cast any bullets yet with the new 2 cavity mould, but as soon as I do I'll weigh them and see if they're the same as what the single cavity mould throws. The 2 cavity mould is several years old, and the box indicates that it should throw a 150 grain bullet like my older mould. Hopefully they'll throw the same weight or very, very close. I really like the bullets the single cavity mould throws. They're very accurate out of my revolver. I bought the 2 cavity mould to be able to produce more bullets in the amount of time I have. One good thing is that if the 2 cavity mould doesn't work out I always have the trusty single cavity to fall back on! [smilie=w:

[theperfessor]

If your new two cavity mold works OK then you might consider having the single cavity mold hollow pointed by one of the fine folks here that does this sort of thing. Try Buckshot or Erik at hollowpointmolds.com.

(Note: I do not do this type of work, the guys I mentioned have good reps for doing top notch work at fair prices.)

[MikeS]

The 358477 double cavity mould I have is marked Lyman & has a rounder nose, and makes a 150gr boolit. Luckily it's old enough that it doesn't make an undersized boolit, but rather one that sizes nicely. When I first got this mould I noticed that when writing about it, a couple of folks refered to 'the original 358477' which made me wonder about it until somebody here mentioned that the 358477 has had several changes thru it's life.

[Johnny_Cyclone]

Anyone have pictures of the variations?

[MtGun44]

Here is a 150 gr 4 cav of mine. I got a second 4 cav and a 2 cav that are identical.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=161&pictureid=3806

Bill

[Bret4207]

Just happen to have my 4 banger 477 here. Mine has a much squarer profile to the leading edge of the nose than Bills, but the rest looks about the same.

[casterofboolits]

I have two four cavity 358477 moulds that appear to be identical to MtGun44's mould. Both moulds drop 150 grain boolits +/- one grain with my alloy and size to .358 perfectly.

I always bought my Lyman moulds in pairs to get moulds from the same run. But even then the depth the cherry was set at varried quite a bit. I would then mill or surface grind the tops of the moulds to drop listed weight within +/- one grains with my alloy.

Consistant, Lyman ain't!

[Ervin]

I have several Lyman moulds with the same model number. None of them are the same shape or weight.
Ervin