Lyman mold lettering

[abunaitoo]

I have two Lyman 311041AV and 311041BV.
Both look just like the old Lyman 31141 I have.
So what does the AV and BV stand for ?????

[mehavey]

See http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/Classics/Lyman%20Mold%20Number%20FAQ.pdf

[fragman]

Sorry to kinda hijack, but the title of the thread reignited something that I have wondered about.
Apologies if this is a DA question, but it relates to the Lyman ingot molds. Is the 'N' supposed to be reversed or not? I have a couple and they do not appear to be reversed, but I've seen them used in a couple of youtube videos and the 'N' does appear to be reversed. Pretty sure mine are 'genuine'.

[Bent Ramrod]

There was a batch of Lyman ingot moulds with the “N” reversed. Lyman changed the pattern, but sold the “flawed” ingot moulds anyway.

They’re the Lyman equivalent of that postage stamp with the airplane upside down, without, alas, the associated Collector Interest.

[Green Frog]

abunaitoo, I have read that as old cherries wore out, new ones were cut and mounds using these new cherries were marked with a 1 or 2 letter code to identify which cherry was used for which mold. I’m not sure how long this practice lasted or when it was in effect. They may also be found marked “U” or “O” for undersized or oversized.

fragman, the fact is, I’ve encountered far more Lyman ingot moulds with the “backwards N” than the correct one. This includes at least a half dozen I own or have owned as well as the more than a few ingots that I’ve “inherited” from other casters.
Several years ago well known fellow member beagle gave me a batch of “correctly” marked ingots. I posted here that obviously he figured out a way to “beagle” it to make it right! [smilie=l: IIRC, these are the only ingots from a Lyman mould with a “forward N” that I’ve ever encountered.

Froggie

[fragman]

Thanks for the answers! Had noticed they were different and just wondered why.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

abunaitoo, I have read that as old cherries wore out, new ones were cut and mounds using these new cherries were marked with a 1 or 2 letter code to identify which cherry was used for which mold. I’m not sure how long this practice lasted or when it was in effect. They may also be found marked “U” or “O” for undersized or oversized.

fragman, the fact is, I’ve encountered far more Lyman ingot moulds with the “backwards N” than the correct one. This includes at least a half dozen I own or have owned as well as the more than a few ingots that I’ve “inherited” from other casters.
Several years ago well known fellow member beagle gave me a batch of “correctly” marked ingots. I posted here that obviously he figured out a way to “beagle” it to make it right! [smilie=l: IIRC, these are the only ingots from a Lyman mould with a “forward N” that I’ve ever encountered.

Froggie

I had a Lyman ingot mold with forward N
But, I had a Saeco ingot mold with backward S

[Green Frog]

Right now on the ‘Bay somebody is offering two Lyman ingot moulds. The kicker is, one has the “backwards N” while the other has the correct one. Both are the old style mould with the small tab handle. Appropriate to see this offering now as we’re discussing these moulds! :coffeecom

“We now return you to your regularly scheduled question.” ;-)

Froggie

[Bent Ramrod]

In the 50s and 60s, Lyman, as a sour old gun-mag writer once grumbled, “fashions their cherries to the allowable maximum and uses and sharpens them down to the irreducible minimum.”

If they ever admitted to an oversized cavity by stamping an “O” on the blocks, I’ve never seen an example of the mark, though I notice that oversized cavities in older Lyman moulds are fairly rife. They did manage to eke out the “sharpened to an irreducible minimum” cherries by cutting a few more moulds, giving them a “U” stamp, for “undersize.” In my experience, the ”U”-marked “undersize” moulds of the era seem to be closer to the nominal diameter of the mould number than the same cavities (with the same number) presumably made by new cherries.

Legend hath it that before this application by Lyman, the minimum cherries were fished out of Lyman’s scrap heap by the agents of the Yankee Specialty Company, and used by that firm to cut cavities in their brass boolit moulds, which could do more cavities (using the same Lyman mould number) without further sharpening than the iron Lyman moulds.

I think it no coincidence that the Lyman Company dropped the light, nicely-fashioned No.45 lubrisizer and replaced it with the much heavier and stouter No. 450 to size the fat boolits from oversized cavities without breaking.

The new lettering after the mould number is the code for the shop where Lyman now outsources its cherries. Given the way the shapes of the same cavity designations drifted around over the years that Lyman made their cherries in-house, it was probably a prudent choice.

[abunaitoo]

See http://www.castpics.net/subsite2/Classics/Lyman%20Mold%20Number%20FAQ.pdf

That answers lots of questions.
I was told, wrong, that it had to do with the shape of the base.
All three look exactly the same to me.
Thanks