Lyman bullet mold name

[roysha]

What was the 2 piece bullet design that Lyman made some years ago. The bullet was cast in 2 pieces, a very soft nose and a harder base, then epoxied together.

I have always been curious how they worked in the real world.

[PS Paul]

Two part bullets. The idea of controlled expansion has been with us for a long time. The 1915 Marlin-Ideal catalog lists four 2-part bullet moulds -- the 308291 (165 grain GC-RN for the .30-30, .303 Savage and .30 Remington), the 319295 (a 175 grain GC-FP for the .32-40), the 321297 (a 182 grain GC-FP for the .32 Winchester Special), and the 375296 (a 253 grain GC-FP for the .38-55). Note that these cherry numbers are all in the 290's, which would suggest that their introduction was right around 1902. Note also that these moulds all represent medium caliber arms. Apparently the thinking was that producing shootable 2-part bullets in smaller calibers would be too difficult, and that the larger bore weapons already made big enough holes. Anyway, the idea here was to cast the front quarter or so of the bullet with either pure lead or a very soft alloy, and then to place this soft "mushroom" (it had a "stem" to help bond the two halves) in the regular mould cavity and pour the back half with a harder alloy. The design concept is not unlike the Partition and H-mantle bullet designs (just a little bit older). These moulds are occasionally encountered on the used mould market today, but commonly command premium prices. Mountain Moulds of Pocatello, Idaho offers 2-piece moulds for a wide variety of mould designs (http://www.mountainmolds.com/).



From "Ingot to Target" by Glenn Fryxell. Check it out on www.lasc.us. One of the very BEST resources ever.

[PS Paul]

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_9_MouldsMouldDesign.htm

This is a linki to the Chapter in Glenn's book, which describes the effort as well as the evolution of molds.

[bhn22]

They were known as composite bullets. They didn't last long on the market, accuracy was sub-par, and the whole project was simply a pain. There are simpler ways to make soft nose bullets.

[roysha]

http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_9_MouldsMouldDesign.htm

This is a linki to the Chapter in Glenn's book, which describes the effort as well as the evolution of molds.

Great information but didn't really address my question. This "bullet"/mold set had a specific name that Lyman gave it when they were producing them in the, I believe, late 80s or very early 90s.

I really have no interest in casting them. I'm just curious as to the name. I have a totally different philosophy as regards cast bullets and hunting.

[gwpercle]

the problem was it was sooo slooowwww. Two moulds, had to cast each half, let cool, then mix up epoxy and apply, fit the halves together, let dry then size them and then accuracy wasn't all that great from all reports. Too much of a pain in the backside to make a mediocre boolit. They didn't sell then and now people ask an arm, leg and first born male child for them...I guess I should have bought a bunch as an investment.
I am fairly sure it was called " composite bullet mould "
Gary

[PS Paul]

More recently (around 1982), Lyman revived this idea with a series of 2-part revolver bullet mould designs that they called "composite bullets" (mould numbers 358624, 429625 and 452626) that were designed by Kenneth Ramage. These were variations on the SWC theme in which the soft nose was glued into a conical cup in the harder base. These moulds apparently didn't sell very well and were dropped from the Lyman line later in the 1980s.


Was included in the body of the article. Sorry, I did not post in original answer with the rest of the text.....

[roysha]

Ok then. I guess it is what it is. I thought I remembered that they had some sort of catchy name for them but obviously not.

Thank you all for the information.

[Maven]

There are photos and a full discussion of the composite CB's (came in >1 caliber) in Lyman's "Cast Bullet Handbook, 3rd. Ed." also edited by C.K. Ramage.

[gwpercle]

You might be thinking of thier " DEVASTATOR " bullets which have a cool hollow point on the large size...sounds a lot better than composite. I'm not sure if they still make those.
Seems like all the cool moulds are getting dropped...I'm starting to order more Lee moulds not because I need them but I'm afraid they will not make them any more. I can afford a $20.00 mould. Lyman doesn't make any moulds for 41 magnum any longer... but I got a Lee.

[beagle]

Yep, composites. I think Shuz went a round with the .44 version several years ago and found the concept lacking. I ran across some in a gun shop several years ago and passed because of his experiments. The halves tended to separate as I recall because of the epoxy used./beagle

[Mk42gunner]

I'm voting with gwpercle on this one, the first thing I thought of was "Devastator."

I also think it would be much easier to just cast a soft nose with BruceB's method then drill a hollow point.

Robert

[Walter Laich]

there is one for sale on ebay right now 10-25-13

[Bret4207]

My memory says "devastator" too.

[georgewxxx]

All 3 of my boxes say Composite pistol mould kit.

Great information but didn't really address my question. This "bullet"/mold set had a specific name that Lyman gave it when they were producing them in the, I believe, late 80s or very early 90s.

I really have no interest in casting them. I'm just curious as to the name. I have a totally different philosophy as regards cast bullets and hunting.

[dbosman]

Composite Cast
Pistol Bullet Kit

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?45437-Lyman-2-piece-epoxy-joined-bullets