Info please on Ideal 285120

[ndhole]

I picked up an Ideal 285120 mold and can't find any info on it and it's not listed on the Buffalo Bullet Mold chart. It's a 1 pc mold and handles, single cavity with 5 lube grooves. It looks similar to the the Lyman 287221 to me.

Also it looks like it could use some TLC and I'm very green about where to even start. It fits fairly flush where the halves meet on one side but the side facing the handles have a gap. Who on here would be good to contact to take a look at it and try to fix it if it needs it?

Thanks, Tony

[Bret4207]

www.antiquereloadingtools.com

Try that site. As a guy called Floodgate about the mould. He should be able to help.

Any of the moulds ending in single, double or low 100's tend to be older designs, but some numbers were reused. With out a pic it's hard to say what you have, but if it's a long plain base it could be an old 28-30 Stevens boolit.

As far as fixing it, I dunno. Buckshot maybe?

[crazy mark]

There should be a picture on WWW.castpics.net under research .

[georgewxxx]

One of two things seems to be going on here. Either your misreading the numbers or it's a mis marked mould. The numbers 120 were assigned by Ideal to a round nose .45 caliber cylindrical boolit. ...Geo

[Wayne Smith]

Buckshot is the guy to fix it if it needs fixing. I can vouch for him completely - he's done several jobs for me.

[ndhole]

georgewxxx,
I belive your right and I've been misreading it. It actually appears to be an Ideal 28512, the 0 on the end looks like a different stamp than the other ones. It's a flat point with an OAL of .815 and 5 lube grooves.

[ndhole]

The more I look at it I still believe that it's an Ideal 287221 which comes in 7 different weights. Could this be the grand daddy of that mold and instead of the numbers standing for the diameter & design they are for the diameter & weight? It looks like exactly the same boolit design and with 5 lube grooves compare to the 287221 pictured with 9 lube grooves 120gr should be the weight for it and this is marked 285120.

[georgewxxx]

The 12 in the 28512 was assigned to 30cal 30812. Are you reading the numbers from the sprue plate or the blocks? Ideal marked the caliber hyphen then weight on the sprue's in the beginning. Those moulds were usually very small in size compared to what was produced later. They also had a 285222 that came in multiple weights but it was a spire point. You indicated it needed some TLC so it's been abused somewhere in it's life time, and reading the numbers can be troublesome....Geo

[ndhole]

Here's some pics of the ideal mold, hopefully that will help.

[HORNET]

Looking real closely at the pictures, I'd say that the numbers stamped on the side actually read "28S 120" . This would indicate that it is a 120 grain (the standard factory weight) boolit intended for the 28-30 Stevens cartridge. These markings would pre-date the later diameter/cherry design numbering system. Note the New Haven address. Good design for an excellent caliber that's hard to get brass for but has a limited following in the ASSRA.
If nobody on the Antique Reloading Tools site has any better options, Buckshot could probably to restore it to useability. Heck, one of those collectors might want to buy it for enough to buy a new custom mold to replace it.....it's OLD.

[georgewxxx]

Before I'd worry about trying to fix it, I think I'd cast with it and see how it goes. From the looks of the thin grease grooves your going to need a lot of tin to get complete fill. I have several of those old square bottomed moulds and they take a little different technique and a lot of patience....Geo

[ndhole]

Thanks for everyones help and input figuring out what it is. I've got plenty of time to tinker with it, hopefully I'll get good results and some great looking boolits from it.

Tony

[Bret4207]

I've seen pics of similar moulds. Lyman, Ideal actually, used a different marking system way back in the dark ages. That could be a shortened version of another obsolete design. They used to do that back when Lyman actually gave a krap about casting.

As for the mould itself I'm with George. See how it casts. It may need a little scraping to get it to close right, but I've seen far worse looking moulds cast good boolits.