Unusual 311467 mould spotted

[BruceB]

Yep, it's an EIGHT-cavity Ideal which I spotted on an auction board. Seems to be in very nice condition indeed, and it surely appears to be a factory job.

I have a four-cavity Ideal for this design (311467 Loverin) already, so I'm not really interested in buying it. However, I was interested to discover an Ideal mould which I had NO idea was ever produced, namely one with that many holes! The eight cavities are closely spaced, but it still seems like a workable proposition. Anything much larger than .30-caliber would seem to be a dicey project due to the lack of space.

Very interesting, indeed....

[floodgate]

Bruce:

What you saw was one of the monster "Armory" moulds, first made as part of a set of tools for Military, National Guard and - later - police department ammunition production in the mid 1890's by the Ideal Mfg. Co. They were available in six- (.44-.45-.50 caliber), seven- (.38-.40), eight (.30-.32), and nine-(.22-.25) cavity versions, in two styles (the later ones having "hooks" on the sprue-plate to limit the plate travel, against "stops" in the integral handles). You can see some of these in the reprint from an early Handbook (No. 4, 1894) in the back of Ideal Handbook No. 37, of 1950, if you have a copy. These were made into the Lyman era, down to their last appearance in Handbook No. 39 (1953); they were replaced by the current four-cavity, loose-block designs a couple of years later. Since bullet No. 311467 was first listed in Handbook No. 38 (1951), that narrows the date of the mould you saw to the early 1950's; it should have been marked "Ideal", but with Lyman's Middlefield, Conn. address instead of the New Haven, Conn. used previous to 1925.

Did you note how much it went for? I am haggling with another collector (not "one of us") over one of these.

("There he goes again.....")

floodgate

[BruceB]

This mould is at $42.50 with almost a week still to run in the bidding.

The pictures are very well presented, condition really looks excellent, and yes, the Ideal logo is stamped above the Lyman (Middlefield) address.

Thanks for the information.

[Newtire]

This mould is at $42.50 with almost a week still to run in the bidding.

The pictures are very well presented, condition really looks excellent, and yes, the Ideal logo is stamped above the Lyman (Middlefield) address.

Thanks for the information.

On E-bay, move the decimal point over one place t the right every three days & this will be the going price. Would be interesting to find what they get for something that unusual.