Identify Lyman Mould

[mikesdad]

Picked up a junk box and there was a set of lyman handles and a single cavity mould. The only ID I can find on the mould was "Lyman p 27", 45 Cal.

Nothing in the current Lyman or Midway catalog looks like the bullet. It has a truncated point / cone appearence. I am makin a cerro safe casting to get a good look.

Can anyone here identify it or correlate it to a current number?

Thanx

[HeavyMetal]

My only suggestion is to post a photo or two if you can.

Someone may recognize the boolit design.

Be aware this may be an old Lyman mold that someone has modified to suit some specific need and removed all the original markings.

really need more info.

[SierraWhiskeyMC]

Hi Mikesdad,
All the Lyman/Ideal molds I've ever seen have a 5 or 6 digit number.
The first three digits are (roughly) the diameter it's supposed to cast in 1/1000 of an inch.
The 2nd two or three digits differentiate between the various designs.
For example: Mold 452460 is a semi-wad cutter that casts a boolit about .454" in diameter. Really old Ideal molds may have a space between the two numbers.

There is also a number stamped on both halves of the mold, usually two or three digits. This is a sequence number just so that they don't mix up mold halves at the factory.

It would help a great deal in identifying it if you could cast some boolits using Lyman #2 alloy and weigh them, and post pics of the boolits.

[mikesdad]

I made a cerrosafe cast of the mould and it weighed 211.5 gr. A wheel weight cast of poor qauity. ( all I had was a propane torch and an old tuna can) weighed 225gr. I went tothe Lyman site and got diagram and it apears to be a .45 Cal Maxi-ball made for the TC Hawken with the 1/48 twist. I will try an post pix later. I had a difficult time getting close enough.

The Lyman number is 454616

[mooman76]

Is the mould made of aluminum, maybe anodized aluminum and are the lube grooves huge. If so it is probably a 45 cal. maxi. I have a couple that are T/C. I can't remmeber but either T/C made them and Lyman bought them out or Lyman made them for them or something like that. Alot of them were marked with just a 3 diggit number and that's all. I have also noticed the T/C ones only had vent lines on one of the 2 half mould blocks. The numbers don't seem to have any meaning other than a mould number.

[mikesdad]

This is a steel Lyman. Lyman is stamped on it and the 2 halves have the number 27 on them. ther is a "P" beside the number on one half. It is in excellent shape. I cast a couple of cerrosafe and got one that is acceptable. Now trying to post pix. Friend into blackpowder said it is a Maxi-ball. It is identical to his .54, just smaller.