Lyman mold 358477FW, do the letters mean anything?

[nitro-express]

I just bought a 2660477 mold and it is stamped 358477FW. I am wondering if the "FW" means anything. I haven't had a chance to cast any boolits, but the mold looks OK to me. It is a "pig in a poke" gunshow buy, used and covered in some sort of thin black tar that comes off with Kroil. No rust, a broken screw, and a few scratches. An rebuild kit is called for. If it works I win, if not :veryconfu.

I'm asking because the lube groove is rounded, not squarish like in the picture on the Lyman site ??????????

The broken part of the screw is missing, the threads in the mold look OK to me.

[GWM]

I think round or square grooves have varied for many designs over time.

There are many different suffix letters used, like A, AV, AW, BV, CV, D, DV, DW, FV, K, S, U, but I have not seen a list of what they imply.

[Nueces]

I know the 'U' suffix used to denote an undersized mould, likely from a twice sharpened cherry. The company used to entertain special orders for their moulds, such as reduced length cavities - "S" for short?

I've read that other suffixes (suffices?) identified a specific cherry. The two letter suffixes seem to be a later development. Here is a discussion I found:

http://ps-2.kev009.com/ohlandl/Cast_Bullet/Ideal-Lyman_Molds/Lyman_Mold_Reference.html

Says here that the second three numbers in a 6 digit Lyman ID are the "cherry number", but really that is the design number. The first three numbers are the nominal diameter. The original Lyman-Ideal 32-20 mould was denoted 3118, for 0.311" diameter and design number 8. When Lyman standardized on 6 digit IDs, the 8 became 008.

[nitro-express]

Thanks, a bit more info than I was able to find.

[Yodogsandman]

Sometimes the suffix denotes the vendor that made the cherry to make that mold.