ID Bullet Mold and Maker?

[MIEagle]

135978135979

Hello, I bought this bullet mold, among others, years ago at an antique store thinking I could use it in my '03 Springfield. It is a beautiful mold, measures 0.969 in length and 0.309 at the base. It is flat based. It has a cannelure and measures 0.299 at the top driving band, tapering to 0.300 on the 2nd, 0.303 on the 3rd and 0.307 on the 4th. It is marked with what appears to be an electric pencil "309Y301E" on one side. There are no other markings.
Who made the mold, what caliber is it and what rifle was it made for? Thank you!

[Yodogsandman]

Welcome to the forum! That's a head scratcher. No idea on the maker, the venting looks like Lyman or RCBS. Looks to be a plain base, Loverin design, 30 cal probably useable in just about any common .308 bore like 30-30, 30-40, 308 win, 30-06....

[frnkeore]

It's a well made custom mold. The bullet that it casts is a copy of the 311403.

Who ever made it, was a very good mold maker.

Frank

[Cowboy_Dan]

Weren't the Harry Pope designs tapered? I think they were made with particular calibers in mind (old ones of some sort, but the particulars escape me, maybe for breech seating?). No reason you couldn't use them in a more modern .30 cal, though.

[runfiverun]

it might be an ideal or older lyman mold that someone upgraded with venting and a new sprue plate, etc.

[bhn22]

At one point you could buy uncut Lyman blocks. I'm under the impression that this may be the case here too. The blocks appear to be Lyman, but the sprue plate doesn't match anything I've seen. Not much of a base band to speak of, so I don't think it was meant for use under high pressures.

[MIEagle]

I compared this mold with a Lyman .457193 and this mold is a little bit bigger in one dimension. The guide pins are bigger and have a fatter meplat than the Lyman. It also has a nicer finish than the Lyman. I figured that each mold maker had his "signature" sprue plate and one could say that was one of "ol' Bob ......" molds. I inserted one of the bullets nose first in the muzzle of my Springfield and it went half way in. Again, I don't recall what alloy I used to cast some up so a different alloy may make it bigger. I would think that it's too undersized to shoot in my rifle. By the condition it was in, I think I was the first to ever cast with it. Thanks.