Help requested to identify these molds !!

[relodr36]

One of our late friends was a retired state trooper and a real gun nut and avid handloader.He loaded extensively for the .38 Special,.357 Magnum,.40 S&W,.44 Special,and .45 auto.
He was also an experienced boolit caster and at his estate sale,I bought his molds.Two of them have me stumped as to identificaion.
I figure this is the best source of help in identifying the manufacturer.
1. They appear to be solid brass with handle and block one-piece. If they aren't brass,the only parts that attract a magnet are: the hinge pin,sprue cut-off plate,guide pin,sprue screw,and hollow-pointer retaining screw
2. this mold appears to be for the .44 as the driving bands appear to measure
0.430" -0.431" and the heel about 0.400"

3.They are 8" long overall and weigh 1# 2.3 oz.and 1#3.1 oz with the hollow-point pin in.
4. I don't see any identification marks on either of these molds.
5. The other mold similar to this,apparently is for the .38 Special/.357,as bullets
from my Lyman 358156 appear to be a very close fit in it.
841428413384134841358413684137841398414084141
Thanks!

[500MAG]

That looks like an old Ideal mold. They use to have fixed handles way early on.

[relodr36]

yes,the bullet design is similar to Lyman's but did they make them from brass?

[500MAG]

That I'm not sure of. Hopefully, and very likely, somebody here will know.

[Bent Ramrod]

They look like Yankee moulds to me. They were made of brass, blocks unitized with the handles. The little wire ferrules holding the handles on were Yankee's standard attachment. There is an unsubstantiated but reasonable-sounding rumor that Yankee was able to "borrow" cherries from Ideal and Lyman to cut its cavities in its brass moulds. It sounds good since nobody seems to be able to find a Yankee cavity that is out of line with those in the Ideal/Lyman lineups. Yours looks like an Ideal 429244, which is a Ray Thompson design that Ideal/Lyman offered, with the optional hollow-point.

On some of my Yankee moulds I can still see the scratched layout lines where they located the sprue plate and stop pins. You might check yours with a magnifying glass and see if you can see any. The Yankee Reloading Tool Co was taken over in the late 30's or early '40's by W. Rohrbacher, who continued the line till maybe the late '40's-early '50's. He often stamped the mould blocks with his name and the caliber.

[bhn22]

Correct. They are definitely Yankees. I had a 452423 copy. The hollowpoint setup doesn't look original to me, but for some reason info on Yankee molds is tough to come by, so I could be totally wrong castpics has some: http://castpics.net/subsite/HistMolds/Yankee%20Moulds.pdf
I feel Yankee "out-Idealed" Lyman with some designs, often sticking with the original designers specs while Lyman was well known for making lots of design changes throughout the years. I consider them to be treasures, but not especially valuable treasures. Great molds!

Here's a link to a Yankee factory HP mold thread: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?49740-Help-needed-to-identify-this-mold-quot-E-Keith-quot-all-brass-454454

[NoZombies]

Another vote for Yankee. I've got several, and while most of the Yankees aren't marked, I've got one marked Rorbacher (The name of the guy who either started the company or owned it along the way)

They cast fairly well, and while the bronze casting can sometimes leave a little to be desired, the machining has been top notch in all of mine.

[relodr36]

Thanks,Fellows!!!
They sure seem to match what you guys describe!
As far as the .357 crimp groove is concerned,these pix are all of the .44 mold.The .357 mold shows less useage and I'll take and post some pix of it.
I'll also see if I can see the layout lines with a magnifier,because I can't see them with the naked eye.
The hinges on these molds are really tight and there isn't any "play" at all.
Thanks again!

[relodr36]

The pictures of the .357 mold are in a new thread.
I don't see any layout lines,even with an 8x loupe.

[relodr36]

Talked to the previous owner's reloading buddy today.about these Yankee molds.He said that they were inherited from his father,so the timeline now fits.I also learned that the hollow point setup was thought to be original.

[relodr36]

Posting some more pixs of this mold: