Found a strange mold today, marked "JEM", made of brass. Ever heard of JEM?

[hornady308]

Picked up a 44 cal brass mold today that is marked JEM. I'm not familiar with this company and was wondering if anyone else has seen a similar mold. It came from a fellow who did a lot of casting in the 1960's, 70's and 80's.

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[Artful]

I remember hearing of them back in the day - was mainly for singleshot schuetzen rifle shooters - If I remember correctly

[btroj]

Might belong to one of the wonderful spellers here. It was a great casting mould and he wanted to remind himself he had a real "GEM".

I love sarcasm in the morning.

[Thumbcocker]

Marlin?

[Maven]

I love sarcasm in the morning." ...btroj

Then you'll appreciate this:

[hornady308]

Actually, it isn't sarcasm in this case. It is reality. Just do a google search for "jem bullet mold" and see the results for yourself. By the way, there is a company call JEM that makes cake molds. Fantastic....

[hornady308]

Marlin?

Sounds good! This is just the sort of "theory" I need to maximize resale value should I ever decide to get rid of the mold on ebay.

[Chilmonty]

That's a Lee Tumble Lube in .44 mag mold. :kidding:

JK, I have no idea what it is. Actually does look like a TL bullet though.

[hornady308]

Update: I threw a few bullets from this mold today using coww and the bullets came out weighing 350 grains and mic ~ .429. Any idea what cartridge this is for? I guess I could give them a try in my 14" Contender barrel in 44 Mag, but I wouldn't think the twist rate would be adequate.

[45-70 Chevroner]

It may have been special made for a Marlin 444, and it looks like it might have been an even heavier boolit as it looks like it was cut off on the base and then the little piece of metal was added to seal the base.

[Janoosh]

I believe Artful is correct. Looking at the mould, one can see it's a nose pour with a plate to insure a straight, smooth base. Perhaps a 44/77 or others for a mid-range cartridge. I don't know who made it.

[Artful]

It was back in the 70's and I never really got into schuetzen rifle shooting sport (costly stuff even back then. But it does ring a bell in my "way back" part of the brain.

[Outpost75]

Your mold was made by James E. McLemore, who is in Indiana. He made a faithful copy of the H.M. Pope Automatic Adjustable Mold, which was a self ejector with moveable base plug and nose pour.

[jgt]

I have a mold made by NEI in the early eighties that cast a Keith style gas checked bullet that is marked 350 grn but with gas check and lube weighs in at a whopping 378grns. It was designed by the Ohio Shooters which was a scheutzen group. It is not much good for a 444 because of the driving band and crimp groove fitting poorly in a Marlin throat. These are shootable in 44 magnums but take up so much room in the cartridge that it leaves little room for powder. I used 680 and 4227 in my Redhawk with mine and it would penetrate a thirty inch log and drive about eighteen inches into a gravel band behind it. It didn't kick much as it was only going about eleven hundred fps. I would keep it if it was mine.