mold ID help

[charlie45]

I happened upon a used mold on the way home today. Its stampped b-358-684.
The handles are forged and have the name Modern bond corp. Wilmington,Del. on them. The cavity appears to be a round nose, flat base with one grease grove and crimp grove.
The mold its self is a 2 holer, of steel with 2 locating pins. I thank you for any info!

[floodgate]

Charlie:

That is indeed a Modern-Bond mould, and they are fine ones. They took up the slack while the old Ideal operations were shut down, from when Marlin (who bought out Ideal in 1910) shut down for WWI production at the end of 1915, until Lyman took up the franchise in October, 1925. They made the detachable-block moulds (which Lyman and H&G later copied) in all the standard sizes from around 1920-22 until the early 1950's; the early ones had straight wood handles, and the metal part was stamped with their name and Wilmington, Delaware address; later ones had nicely-turned, black-lacquered handles with the name and address forged in raised letters. It took us a while to "decode" their bullet identifying system; your "B - 358 - 684" was the second in their .38 caliber series (A..., B...), was to be sized to 0.358", and was 0.684" long. In 1:20 tin:lead, it weighed 145 grs. (there was a longer - more deeply cherried - "B - 358 - 742" which went 160 grs., and you could get a mould cut for one of each, marked "B - 358 - 684 - 742").

Well, you DID ask.....

floodgate

[ron brooks]

Floodgate, don't you mean WWI?

Ron

[floodgate]

ron:

Sure do; guess my typing thumb stuttered a bit.

floodgate

[charlie45]

Well I guess I lucked out. My new (used) mold is in good shape & I plan on using it this weekend. The poor thing had been sitting on a shelf at the gun shop for 30 days with a $10.00 price tag on it. I just picked up a nice S&W M28-2 in .357 the weekend before & remenbered seeing that poor lonely mold. Well its got a nice warm home now.:drinks:

[floodgate]

charlie45:

Just to fill out our M-B data survey (eventually to appear on "Casting Fellows), are the handle covers plain, straight natural color wood or the black lacquered turned ones? And is the handle pivot rivet steel or brass? Maybe a photo would be easiest - we haven't seen a Modern-Bond on this site for some time, and it might help someone else identify an "unknown".

Thanks

floodgate

[georgewxxx]

Doug is this good enough?...Geo

[floodgate]

George:

Good photo! An "eyeball" statistical analysis suggests the LH one with the HP pin is a fairly early one, with the sheared, formed and stamped metal handles and steel pivot rivet; the others are the "standard" style, with forged handles with the raised lettering and brass/bronze pivot; and all of these have the later, turned and lacquered handles. I guess the straight wood handles (with stamped metal) must be the earliest, and scarce. Anyhow, this gives the "gang" an idea what Modern-Bond moulds look like.

floodgate

PS: The next-to-RH mould looks like it has the Hensley & Gibbs style sprueplate (with beveled corners); in fact, a check the other day showed that - although the screws are different - the H & G and M-B 2-hole sprueplates can be interchanged (at least from the pair I tried it out on).

[charlie45]

The handle covers are plain, straight natural color wood amd the rivit is steel. The steel handles are forged with raised name and address.
I am leaving for the range right now but will try to post a photo later this evning.

[floodgate]

charlie45:

Thanks! That's a good data-point; tells us that the change to the turned wooden handle covers came AFTER the forged metal handles, as did the switch to the brass rivets. Trivial maybe, but it all helps sort these M-B moulds out. Yes, a photo would help for the files - and for an eventual writeup for Beagle on the history of thse moulds.

Doug

[georgewxxx]

This is the two different Modern Bond handles.

Ones a .33 cal. with two different size cavities

The other is also two different .375 cal

Both are plain base.

..Geo

[charlie45]

Sorry gents for the delay but my lettle HP is not doing a good job. I well have to borrow my daugthers to take a better shot. I can tell you that my handles are plain and about 1&1/8 dia. I'LL be back!

[Lefthandshooter]

I just picked on up yesterday at a flea market. Guy said it was .41 caliber, but I haven't measured it yet - it is marked "A-358-687" (I think).

Plan on cleaning it up (surface rust) and putting it on eBay. Unsure of value though.

[Lefthandshooter]

Charlie:
It took us a while to "decode" their bullet identifying system; your "B - 358 - 684" was the second in their .38 caliber series (A..., B...), was to be sized to 0.358", and was 0.684" long. In 1:20 tin:lead, it weighed 145 grs. (there was a longer - more deeply cherried - "B - 358 - 742" which went 160 grs., and you could get a mould cut for one of each, marked "B - 358 - 684 - 742").

Well, you DID ask.....

floodgate

So mine is the A series - same size!

Thanks to oneokie for pointing this out to me!

[TheBigBang]

Charlie:

That is indeed a Modern-Bond mould, and they are fine ones.

Yes, yes they are!

charlie45:

"Well I guess I lucked out. My new (used) mold is in good shape & I plan on using it this weekend. The poor thing had been sitting on a shelf at the gun shop for 30 days with a $10.00 price tag on it."

Oh yeah, you lucked out alright, you REALLY lucked out! Enjoy that mold!

[Lefthandshooter]

Hey! I got mine in a deal with a medium HARTZ live animal trap (like new!), a patented 1903 Charcoal iron (antique), and this mold for $28.00.

Trap is worth at least $20, and the iron $30-40 minimum.