Ideal 30-30

[Benny]

Hi there,

I have a mold that was in some of the family firearms collection that I am curious about. It is an Ideal mold with the handles as part of the mold...They can't be removed...One piece. The markings on the side of the mold are 30-30 M125-FP. I interpret this to mean...a 30-30 bullet 125 gr, with a Flat point. I also suspect this was sold with the gun, or possibly furnished for the buyer when he bought the gun, probably back when it really used 30 grains of BP. Anybody have any ideas on this?

[floodgate]

Benny:

That is a NICE old mould to have! It was made by John Barlow's original Ideal Manufacturing Company in New Haven, some time between 1895 - when the .30-30 was introduced - and 1897 (give or take a year or so) when they went to the "modern" numbering system. The "M" indicates that it was to fit the tong tool cut for the Marlin version, with a relatively broad flat point (Marlin was "goosey" about magazine blowups, after some bad experiences with .45-70 RN's in the Army trials in the 1880's). These moulds were cherried to various depths/weights; the 125-gr. version was for short-range and varmint usage. The original load, though, was smokeless, not black powder. Marlin and Winchester were both neighbors in New Haven; Barlow had worked earlier for Winchester, and also made moulds for Marlin in the 1880s, though these are usually marked "M F. A. Co."

"W30WCF" may have some more specific info for you on this.

All the older Ideal moulds had the fixed blocks; the detachable blocks came in (copying Modern-Bond, Belding & Mull and others) after Lyman took over in late 1925

floodgate