mold quality

[tenx]

is there a difference in quality in molds of recent manufacture and the older molds? i'm asking primarily about lyman molds.
i have several older lymans and a couple of saeco molds and i'm pretty happy with them. i am looking for a 311041 style
30-30 mold and a 170-200 grain 30 cal for a 308 rifle. just wondering which road to go down, new or used. i haven't bought a new lyman in a lot of years and curious about their current quality. thanks...................

[Buckshot]

............I think the new Lymans are as good as the older ones. I wouldn't buy a used set of blocks of ANY make, from someone or a vendor that wouldn't take them back if there were issues. Lots of folks selling moulds know nothing about them. All too often it's "It looks good to me", type thing. If new, should you do a good inspection and find a problem, it's a simple matter of returning it for another one.

...............Buckshot

[tenx]

thanks, that's the road i'll take and buy new.

[ShooterAZ]

I just bought a new 311041 from NOE Molds. It's in brass, and it's a work of art. I'm going to cast with for the first time this weekend, can't wait to use it. I love all my NOE molds.

[Dragonheart]

I have a number of molds dating back 50 years. The Lyman's casts a good bullet, almost as good as my old Saeco Molds. But I haven't found any mold that casts a more consistent bullet with hardly a mold line that's better than the NOE Brass molds. My cons for brass molds are they are heavy and they like to run hot. The pros are brass casts the best bullets I can make. The bullets come out of a brass mold looking like they were polished and the uniformity of the bullets out of CNC machined molds is amazing.

[aap2]

+1 to what Buckshot says; know your vendor when you buy a new Lyman mold and deal with someone who will accept a return if necessary (this is not a criticism of Lyman molds-I have a bunch of them). If you want to get the best consider a NOE or Accurate 311041 style mold...they are just plain fantastic and worth every penny that they cost.

[Dschuttig]

Just two cents to an older thread, but after buying and selling a few hundred lyman molds here are my observations:

"ideal" marked - My favorite, for two reasons, A. if you have the original cast bullet manual, it has a "as cast" chart. If it says 266469 casts at .269, you can be 90% or better sure thats what you get. Very few are out of round.

Early Lyman (large orange box marked lyman not ideal) - Usually OK, especially if it isnt common, as it probably was cut from the same cherry as the ideal marked blocks. Sometimes undersize, sometimes out of round.

Lyman black and white striped boxes (during the time owned by the leisure group - 70's) Can be very problematic. A little less than half the time they are undersized, but more commonly out of round. I have had more out of round molds from that time period than any combined. Had a 454190 that was .008 out of round! I think they had a shortage of skilled makers during that time period.

Newer plastic orange box stuff - Quality is good, roundness is good, but they rarely cast large enough. If you size your bullets a thousandth or two over groove, be prepared to be disappointed! 9mm stuff barely hits .356. The old ideal 266469 cast .269, Newer mold of same design barely make .265, to small for many 6.5s.

Just my 2 cents

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have several Lyman molds from way back in the day and they have always done a good job although some of them are a bit oversize. I have not bought any since the eighties so can't really compare or comment on what Lyman has been producing/selling recently. There have been a lot of complaints about their molds casting undersize. I don't appreciate Lyman's attitude and recommendation to use their #2 alloy to compensate for their molds being undersize....not with what they charge for them. LLS

[Dragonheart]

Problem is, you can size an out of round bullet, but it is still going to be out of round, unless it's a wadcutter, and there goes your accuracy. Why bother with all the time and expense, just use a slingshot?