How's Lyman's current quality control?

[Marlin Junky]

Midway has 314299's on sale and I've currently got one in my shopping cart.

Before I drop 65 clams + 5.50 for shipping I'd like to know what to expect. Sure, 'ol Larry P will accept my return but I'd rather avoid the cost of return shipping.

I would like to try the mold in my '06 with BHN 15 and softer alloys. I have an RCBS 30-165-SIL that I can get to cast .302+ on the nose which chambers easily at 3.215" COL (BHN 16 or less) but its bore riding section is obviously much shorter than 314299. I'd be happy if the 314299 casts .303/.313"... or even .302/.313". I'd be sizing the bands at .311-.312".

Thanks,
MJ

[cuzinbruce]

Lyman's quality has been OK in my recent experience. I did have a mold a couple years ago that wasn't right and Lyman replaced it without any hassle. It was weird, the two halves of the bullet weren't aligned perfectly. The pins went together fine but the bullet halves were slightly offset, just a bit. Made it very hard to get the bullets to drop out. Not to mention the bullets were worthless. I think they might have mixed up two sets of blocks. It was for .35 Rem. I sent it back to them with samples cast in it and they sent another mold. I just got in a .406 H&I sizing die and a .25/20 M die and both are fine. That's my experience.
Bruce

[rintinglen]

I have bought something like 7 of their molds since 2009, all have case at least nominal size when used with an appropriately tin rich alloy. The newer molds with the thicker sprue plates are better. However, there are several people who have reported problems with their molds casting smaller than advertised.

[doghawg]

I had one badly misaligned Lyman mold 3 years ago but the last few have been very good. The most recent has been this #452460 that drops round and uniform at .4525".
AND....the new Lyman manual is outstanding in my opinion.
http://www.myhostedpics.com/images/565apple/003_3.jpg

[detox]

I had one recent experience with a Lyman 158gr 38/357 Cowboy mould. It came installed with the wrong sprue plate (holes did not align with cavity).

[h8dirt]

My 429421 casts at 0.4295" which is about 0.0015" smaller than I wish it did, but, I am sure, they consider it within tolerance. So … I ordered a NOE. I've found that their molds cast true to size -- at least in my experience.

[Captain Capsize]

Last week I ordered a Lyman .22 cal 44 gr. mold # 2660438 from Amazon.com. It was casting seriously out of round boolits and with a deep scar along the lube grooves. I contacted them and they immediately shipped me a replacement. It is much better but also has the same scar in the same place. I am working on removing the burr but only have reduced it some so far. I am not happy with their quality control.

[Ben]

My 429421 casts at 0.4295" which is about 0.0015" smaller than I wish it did, but, I am sure, they consider it within tolerance. So … I ordered a NOE. I've found that their molds cast true to size -- at least in my experience.

Good move, Swede makes good molds that cast at the correct dia.


Ben

[Changeling]

Lyman, HaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaaaHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A!

[DeanWinchester]

The ole grey mare ….errr, uhhh…orange….Ain't what she used to be, ain't what she used to be……………….

[Longone]

I couldn't be happier with the three I recently purchased. They all cast very round and correct size.

Longone

[Clay M]

The 314299 is a .303 British mold isn't it? The 311299 is the .30 cal mold.

[TXGunNut]

I ordered a 375449 mould a several months back when Larry finally got some in so it's probably recent production. It's about .001" out of round and could possibly use a few tweaks but I'm very pleased with it. It began dropping good boolits a few minutes into it's first session. Hard to ask much more from a production mould, IMHO.

['74 sharps]

Have no issues with the Lyman molds I use, and they drop bullets just fine.

[Clay M]

Most of mine have been about .001 out of round,like most production molds these days.They work fine. The best production molds I have are Saeco.

[Rich/WIS]

Just purchased a 311284 and it casts fine, diameter with correct alloy is 311 and nose mikes at 300+. Dropped good bullets from the start.

[cbrick]

I ordered a NOE. I've found that their molds cast true to size --


Good move, Swede makes good molds that cast at the correct dia. Ben

I've often wondered how Swede, and Miha too for that matter, know exactly what my alloy is because they always drop from spot on to .0005" over stated diameter. :mrgreen:


Most of mine have been about .001 out of round,like most production molds these days.They work fine. The best production molds I have are Saeco.

Sounds like you may not have tried RCBS molds, I have over 20 of them and they don't cast out of round. Once you have several of each of the production mold brands (I also have 25+ SACEO molds) it doesn't take long to understand that hands down the best production mold is RCBS and for far less money than SAECO. Also for far less money than SAECO are the molds by NOE and MP that are true works of art though not regular production molds. The single advantage to SAECO molds is that you get to spend a whole lot more money. That doesn't sound like much of an advantage to me.

As of today at Midway - SACEO 2 cavity = $104.00 / RCBS 2 cavity = $79.00.

As for Lyman, it's been a couple of years since I got a new one but I've had no problems with anything from Lyman so can't speak to their customer service, just haven't needed it.

Rick

[cbrick]

Lyman, HaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaaaHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A!

Curious, was the purpose of that post to sway people to your way of thinking or did it have another purpose?

Rick

[Clay M]

I've often wondered how Swede, and Miha too for that matter, know exactly what my alloy is because they always drop from spot on to .0005" over stated diameter. :mrgreen:



Sounds like you may not have tried RCBS molds, I have over 20 of them and they don't cast out of round. Once you have several of each of the production mold brands (I also have 25+ SACEO molds) it doesn't take long to understand that hands down the best production mold is RCBS and for far less money than SAECO. Also for far less money than SAECO are the molds by NOE and MP that are true works of art though not regular production molds. The single advantage to SAECO molds is that you get to spend a whole lot more money. That doesn't sound like much of an advantage to me.

As of today at Midway - SACEO 2 cavity = $104.00 / RCBS 2 cavity = $79.00.

As for Lyman, it's been a couple of years since I got a new one but I've had no problems with anything from Lyman so can't speak to their customer service, just haven't needed it.

Rick

I also have close to twenty RCBS molds.I have had my share of problems with some of them.They are good molds but I would not say they are better than Saeco.I have several Saeco molds for BPCR that are extremely good mold for the money ,when you compare them to most of the custom mold with are twice as much.I have no problems overall with RCBS molds,I probably have more of them then anything else.
I have a Steve Brooks 45 cal 560 gr mold that is the best mold I own. It is also a $200 mold.

[longbow]

Larry Gibson has pointed out several times that Lyman moulds are designed around using their #2 alloy. If you are using straight wheelweights apparently it will tend to cast a thou or two smaller than #2 Alloy.

I have a Lyman 429421 that casts exactly on 0.429" using wheelweights. I have not tried Lyman #2 alloy to compare. I now have three Mihec .44 moulds and one Accurate .44 mould and they all cast to 0.433"/0.434" using wheelweights.

I can't argue against Lyman spec'ing #2 alloy so if we aren't using it we get "undersize" boolits. What I don't understand is why they don't make the moulds to cast a couple thou large so they might be a bit oversize using #2 alloy and right on using wheelweights. A boolit a thou or two oversize can easily be sized down.

Just saying.

I have several new Lyman round ball moulds and all cast about 0.002" to 0.003" oversize using wheelweights. Go figure.

Other than that, I have no complaints about Lyman and have several Lyman moulds. I tend to like the two cavity iron moulds. Not sure why, I just do. However, nowadays I lean towards Mihec, NOE and Accurate because I can get a mould to cast the diameter I want using something other than #2 alloy... and their moulds are all beautiful as well.

Longbow