T/c Moulds

[pahoghunter]

Over the weekend I went to a sale and purchased a box with several moulds in it, some were in T/C boxes but the moulds are by LYMAN. Did LYMAN make moulds for T/C or is this just a coincidence?

[floodgate]

pahoghunter:

Lyman did make molds for the TC; I have Lymans #354615, #454616, #504617 and #549619; I believe I got all of these in Lyman boxes, but have also seen sets in T/C boxes, both iron ones that looked like Lyman work, and aluminum ones with the same block shapes and sizes but "el cheapo" sprueplates. I don't recall whether the iron ones had the Lyman numbers; the aluminum ones had the T/C catalog code numbers. How about yours? Do the Lyman-marked ones have the Lyman numbers?

floodgate

[Maven]

pahohunter & Doug, The T/C round- and Maxi-Ball molds I've owned (ca. 1978) were all single cavity, anodized aluminum blocks with steel sprue cutters (not cheap ones) of a different shape than those on Lyman molds. Fit and finish were excellent on both the blocks and sprue cutters. Is it possible that T/C or possibly Green Mt. made them, or were they made by Lyman?

[floodgate]

Maven:

"Is it possible that T/C or possibly Green Mt. made them, or were they made by Lyman?"

I can't really answer that, and I just passed on my last aluminum T/C mould to someone else here, so can't check it over again. Somehow, though, they just didn't "smell" like Lyman to me, and I would have expected Lyman to use their regular sprue-plates and pivot screws. You're right, the plates were good; the pivot screw was the "el cheapo" item on mine.

floodgate

[pahoghunter]

These appear to be standard LYMAN round ball molds, they are stamped LYMAN .490.

[floodgate]

pahoghunter:

OK, that appears to settle that issue; Lyman made them for T/C and T/C packaged them. I have seen the same thing in the Harvey / Lakeville Arms zinc-washer-base moulds: I have two (one a S/C, one a D/C) "IDEAL/Middlefield" - marked (the stamp Lyman was using in the '50s) moulds with Lyman numbers - also in this case bearing the "HARVEY / PROT-X-BORE@" copyright logo, in red Lakeville Arms Co. boxes, similar in size and shape to the ones used by Lyman at that time (without the metal-reinforced corners), but of lighter cardstock. OK, enough trivia for today.

floodgate

[versifier]

Maven,
GM didn't make their own moulds. When I worked for there, the boss wouldn't tell me where they came from, either. I suspect he got a good "keep your mouth shut about it" kind of deal on them and got a large amount of them all at once that lasted for years. Stocks of them, especially 50 cal, were getting low then (circa 1984), and as far as I know, those were the last of them. We definitely had no setup or room to be making them in the converted three car garage attached to his house that was our "production facility". There was barely room to move around the machines.

[Maven]

Versifier, The .440" RB, .490" RB and .45cal. Maxi-Ball molds all came in tan, T/C-marked cardboard boxes. The molds themselves were anodized Al (black - dark blue in color), with two steel locator pins (a la Lyman), no venting lines and with a steel sprue cutter, but not of the typical Lyman form. All were very well made (much better than Lee Al molds), required little, if any "leementing," and cast superbly. May I assume that if Green Mt. and Lyman didn't make them, T/C did?