Old moulds ?

[Willyp]

I have a Lyman cast bullet handbook[1973]! There are so many different moulds in it. There are 56 different mould designs in the 311 section!!!!!
Why do they quit making a certain mould ???? Is the design no good,the cost or what????
My new catalog,from one place,only list 6 in 311 size,now!
A question is,are older moulds worth buying?????

[StrawHat]

I would imagine the molds are discontinued for a variety of reasons. Lack of sales would certainly be one of them. Someone comes up with a boolit design and a mold is cut. The mold gets used and folks start to comment on it, whether a long time ago via letters or phone calls or today over the internet. The comments, good or bad are considered and decisions are made.

It is a safe bet that the molds still in the catalogs are the ones that sell best. The discontinued ones probably had a fan base but then may have been suceeded by new designs.

Are you considering a specific mold?

[stubshaft]

The older ones are definitely worth buying if the suit your needs. Molds like other commodities go through different fads. Therefore manufacturers follow suit and create/drop certain designs. It has very little to do with the actual performance.

[Bret4207]

It used to be Lyman would supply any mould they had a cherry for or make a cherry for any mould you could dream up. They stopped that in the late 50's/early 60's IIRC. No doubt cost was a factor.

Lyman has almost no interest in casting these days.

[gwpercle]

I was going to purchase a Lyman double cavity mould in 41 mag. to go along with my single cavity #410459...mainly to speed up production and maybe try another design. Look in catalog... NO moulds shown in .410 dia.. This can't be right so I contact Lyman...they no longer catalog any moulds in that cal..

Reason - lack of sales ! Evidentely it doesn't take much for Lyman to drop moulds from production nowdays. If there is no demand how come I can't buy a used one on ebay ? I bid the outrageous price of $87.75 for a used 1 cav. lyman # 410026 and still got out bid. And thats not the first 41 I've bid on... somebody out there wants them, and is willing to pay big bucks.

Say what you will but good old Lee still makes moulds for the .41. At least they still love us . Sometimes I feel like us 41 mag. fans get treated like red headed step children.

[beagle]

For sure Lyman cataloged a bunch of moulds at one time and as has been pointed out, would furnish them on special order. As guns and technology changed, so did the request for certain type moulds and the old ones sat on shelves.

As with any corporation, the Lyman division of whoever they belong to now, demeanded performance of that division by looking at the bottom line. Lyman can't afford to stop and make one mould of some obscure design because you or I want one. Just ain't worth the cost anymore.

On the other hand, RCBS has over the years produced a smaller quantity of mould/caliber combinations and has evolved a great logistic system. Their approach to the problem was to automate and let the logistics system drive production. Say in slack times, they'd have a que of low demand moulds to be made for inventory and these were cranked out and stocked. That's why when you ask for a special order mould, they normally have it ratholed and available.

Back about 20 years ago, someone bought Lyman and cleaned house. All of the low demand spare parts and moulds were dumped and even some of the cherry drawings were sent to the dump supposedly but some were rescued and garaged by a far seeing worker and these have since come to light. Companies just don't store unused inventory anymore. I encountered Lyman #45 sizer castings at a gun show once and kick myself for not buying them.

To us casters, it's a shame but for the bottom line gazers, it's business.

On the same note, I have never figured why Lyman has never listened to the customer...or RCBS for that matter. Why can't we buy these high E-Bay dollar moulds such as the 358009, 225107 and 429421HPs? To me there is a demand. Why no .432" and .459" sizers?

That's why we're seeing a "cottage industry" of mould makers and hollow pointers these days. They're grabbing that niche./beagle

[1Shirt]

Always wanted a 4 Cav. lyman mold with 225215, 245496, 311410, and 375449 just because it would have been "COOL". That said, never could afford to have Lyman make me one back when they still made custom. Have all of these molds in singles or doubles, but t'aint quite the same as the single would have been. However, I have a number of Ideal and Lyman molds that are no longer made, and I cherish them both as shooters and as collectables. Don't know who said "The business of business is business!", but that is the reason for limited numbers of lyman molds today. They make what they sell.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[beagle]

I have about four of the 2C combos and they're neat as all get out. I have fun wondering why they were made that way. What was the guy's rationale for making that particular combo?

Now, I had a DC NEI .375 made for my .375 H & H. About a 300 grain SP and a 320 grtain RFN. I know what that guy was thinking about./beagle

[.22-10-45]

Hello,willyp. I too miss the good o'l days! Have you noticed the "modern" Lyman moulds don't have the nice curves & radiuses on their ogives as of old? Therse cherries are now being machined on CNC machines..faster, more efficient..but lacking in that classy "victorian" look.
Several years ago, I was talking to William Loos, he said he knew of someone who worked at Lyman..when they were changing over to new style cherrys..whole gondolas full of old cherrys being hauled off to scrap yard!
My thoughts were, as these old cherrys were becoming undersized due to repeat sharpening, the tallent of the old time machinists & cutter grinders was just not there any more..I saw it in the automotive industry..when the old timers retired..they closed the cutter grind shop & bought new when tools were dull.

[MBTcustom]

I believe that like so many old companies, Lyman is riding on the name but no longer has passion for what they do. The stuff they are putting out now is the worst quality product that they have ever produced. If they were a new company just coming on the scene, they couldn't sell their new mold at prices to compete with Lee. So why mess with them? We have fellas right here on castboolits that will make you what you want custom at no extra charge, and they are definitely passionate about what they make. Just look up Accurate molds. The owners name is Tom, and he will make you a mold to your exact specs for about the same cost as a new Lyman mold. However, the quality would give H&G a run for their money.
I am as cheap a caster as you can find and I did business with Tom, folks that know me know thats high praise.
The old Lymans were indeed well made, but you dont know how they will cast, what condition they are in or how they were handled. That's a lot of unknowns for something thats 50 years old with a $80 price tag.

[Irascible]

I believe the RCBS 44-250-KT was one fine bullet. I believe they dropped it in favor of the 44-250-K because everyone kept complaining that it wasn't a real Keith bullet. I think stuff like that goes on all the time. And for sure if it doesn't sell it goes away. Then there are bullets like the nose pour BPCRS bullet Paul Mathews designed for Lyman. They made a few and stopped. "To much trouble to produce"

[MtGun44]

No facts, but is seems pretty obvious that they would stop making a mold when sales
fall to some level and they can't get rid of them. Not exactly rocket science.

Bill