Looks like a homebrew to me. Any Ideas?

[asp]

I got this mold in an estate sale along with 10 other Lyman & Ideal Molds (and tons of other stuff). This one has no markings, is brass, fits on Lyman 2 cav mold handles, and has what looks like an Ideal sprue plate. The vent lines look like someone scored the mold halves with a scribe by hand. The mold is completely reversible, the sprue plate can be removed from the side pictured and put on WC mold. The top boolit is about .356 dia, I am guessing for 9mm. The SWC is about .30 cal, but what would it be used for? A .30 carbine revolver? Thanks in advance.

http://i779.photobucket.com/albums/yy79/aspoirier/casting%20and%20reloading%20supplies%20for%20sale/IMAG0907.jpg

[Guesser]

The SWC looks a lot like 313445

[zuke]

How about a 30 cal reduced load?

[Echo]

Or maybe a .32 ACP round...

[cbrick]

Cool . . . Yes, that does look like a Lyman sprue plate. You could get another plate and cast both sides. Fill up one side, let it set up & flip the mold over and fill the other side. :mrgreen:

Rick

[I'll Make Mine]

The SWC is about .30 cal, but what would it be used for? A .30 carbine revolver?

There have been a lot of wadcutters and semi-wadcutters fired from .32 revolvers over the years; .32 S&W Long revolvers are known for accuracy, and of course there are the .32 H&R Magnum and .327 Federal that use the same bullets. Aside from .32 Long Colt (originally an outside lubed cartridge, usually found with what reloaders would consider wildly oversize chamber throats to accomodate the larger outside lubed, heeled bullet of the original load), most .32 revolvers prefer a .312 to .317 bullet.

[saint_iverson]

Just a guess, but what about the 7.62 nagant revolver?

[beagle]

May have been for the .32 S & W long back in the olden days when K-32s were used for the medium gun in bullseye shooting.

If it's not a home made job it could be a recut Yankee or Rorhbacher mould as I've seen several cut like that. They'll either be bronze or brass. The sprueplate may have been added at a later date to replace a missing plate or else added when the second cavity was cut.

Or it could be a home project. Looks pretty well done though. /beagle

[asp]

Thanks for the replies everyone. In the rest of the box from the estate sale, I found boolits cast from the, as pictured, top cavity. They measure at .339 dia.

The SWC mold measures approx .313 dia at the driving bands.


Cool . . . Yes, that does look like a Lyman sprue plate. You could get another plate and cast both sides. Fill up one side, let it set up & flip the mold over and fill the other side. :mrgreen:

Rick
Very neat idea. It so happens that I have at least 1 more plate.


May have been for the .32 S & W long back in the olden days when K-32s were used for the medium gun in bullseye shooting.

If it's not a home made job it could be a recut Yankee or Rorhbacher mould as I've seen several cut like that. They'll either be bronze or brass. The sprueplate may have been added at a later date to replace a missing plate or else added when the second cavity was cut.

Or it could be a home project. Looks pretty well done though. /beagle
The cavities do look very cleanly made, except for the tip of the .338 boolit. It could be cleaner.

The SWC might be 313445, but then what the heck is the .339 dia 105 gr (measured a few) for? A very reduced .338 Win Mag load? There were other .338 WM molds and brass in the lot...

[I'll Make Mine]

Maybe someone needed boolits for mouse fart loads in .338. :)

[asp]

That's all I can think of. It's the weirdest thing... I'll probably end up melting the bullets I have from that mold because I have nothing with a .338 bore and there aren't that many that it would be worth selling.

It's not like I'm going to throw the mold away, but I don't think it's worth a whole lot and I don't have a use for it... hmm. Guess I'll fill her up with lead and put it in a box (for eternity). Thanks for the help everyone.

[asp]

Alright... from the same lot. How about these?

311291 stamped on the outside, driving bands measure .378 or so. There was other .375 H&H mag stuff in the lot. I'm guessing the boolit is for that. Modified and never remarked?
http://i779.photobucket.com/albums/yy79/aspoirier/casting%20and%20reloading%20supplies%20for%20sale/IMAG0913.jpg

I have heard of duplex molds... This is marked 311413 and the driving bands measure .340. I'm guessing this goes with the rest of the 338 WM stuff.
http://i779.photobucket.com/albums/yy79/aspoirier/casting%20and%20reloading%20supplies%20for%20sale/IMAG0908.jpg

How often do molds get reworked? Seems like it would be easier to just sell it and get the one you need. Most of the stuff, like his reloads, were dated from the early 70's and there is a good chance the molds haven't been used since then.

[Jack Stanley]

You realize of course that proper decorum dictates that when you find yourself in posession of a mold that does not fit any firearm you have . It is not just proper but mandatory to buy a firearm for the mold .

Jack

[Artful]

You realize of course that proper decorum dictates that when you find yourself in posession of a mold that does not fit any firearm you have . It is not just proper but mandatory to buy a firearm for the mold .

Jack

I thought that was reloading dies?

[asp]

You realize of course that proper decorum dictates that when you find yourself in posession of a mold that does not fit any firearm you have . It is not just proper but mandatory to buy a firearm for the mold .

Jack
Uh oh. I have molds for

44 mag
41 mag
375 H&H
338 Win Mag
38-55

And Reloading dies for
375 H&H
338 WM
7mm Rem Mag
41 mag
35 Rem

And no guns in those calibers :( The reloading dies will probably all be for sale shortly, but I can't decide which molds to keep. There are pretty much the 2 best molds for 44 mag (429421 and 429215), 3 molds for 41 mag, 2 for 38-55 (tempted to keep these...)

Decisions decisions.

[John in WI]

That first mold is neat!

I like how you think Jack. I actually have a beautiful, rebuilt air-cooled Porsche motor and transaxle in my shop, and I'm trying to convince my fiance with similar logic.

[Jack Stanley]

John , of course I can send you a permission slip to appease the fiance ... should that not work I will record "forgiveness" to your account . I sure won't hold it to you forever .

As for the proper way to aquire the materials Artful , let's use the example of the above mold that does not have a firearm for it . Once the caliber of the projectile in question has been determined . It is the responsibility of the owner to determine what firearm would be proper . Then the purchase of loading equipment including dies can begin . If it had been dies he found at the auction , then he would be responsible to find a firearm with which to utilize the dies . After that the casting equipment purchasing begins .

John , with the car parts you are a bit more restricted , however in lieu of the purchase of more car parts that are highly specific . You may actually sell the car parts and buy guns with ninety-five percent of the proceeds of the sale . The other five percent is allowable for transportation , meals and other travel related to said purchases . In that five percent dinner with a fiance while shopping for guns is allowable .

Would you like me to credit you with "forgivness" now or can I expect to see an angry , dripping wet fiance sometime soon ?

Jack

[geargnasher]

Gear's Rules #12. If one accumulates more than 1,000 rifle or 2500 pistol cases of a given caliber, it becomes immediately necessary to purchase a gun chambered in that caliber, along with dies, moulds, sizers, top punches, powder, primers, membership to a public shooting center with a long enough rifle range, ad nauseum.

Gear

[smoked turkey]

For whatever reason all this is perfectly logical to me.

[I'll Make Mine]

Clearly I need to be very, very careful about accidentally acquiring molds or dies for cartridges and firearms I don't already own -- I can't afford to be buying guns just because I have the capability to load for them! I'm safe so far, I think -- got 7.62x54r dies and molds, got .38/.357 dies (no molds yet), and got a Mosin Nagant, Dan Wesson Model 15, and an Excam GT-380 (no dies or molds, yet, for the one that throws away its brass).

[asp]

I know the obvious thing to do is get guns to match the molds, but I'm still curious how these came to be. Thanks for the comments guys.

[rintinglen]

Those are almost certainly "home-brewed" conversions. The .338 has been something of an Orphan when it comes to cast boolit molds. While there are scores of designs listed in Lyman's Cast Boolit Handbook 2nd Edition for the 30 and 35 calibers, there were only four listed for the .338, and none of them look to be particularly accurate. If you had a .338 and wanted to shoot cast, you had to have a mold made, or else make it your self. I suspect that somebody did so with your molds.

Those of us on the outside can only begin to glimpse how easy it is for a skilled machinist to make or convert something as basically simple as a boolit mold. My uncle Bob was a tool and die maker back in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. In his home shop with his trusty Atlas Lathe he made all manner of stuff, ranging from Model T gears and engine parts, to hand tools. My Dad was extremely proud of a Claw hammer that he had made under Uncle Bob's tutelage, but that was child's play for a man who helped build the tooling for many of the Muscle Cars back in the day.

[wild thing]

The 33 WCF used 338 dia. bullets.john

[H.Callahan]

I thought that was reloading dies?
This is correct. What you are missing is that this does not apply to ONLY reloading dies.

Jack Stanley is right. It's the law... *cough*

[Fishman]

Get a .338 Federal and have some fun!