mold

[adrians]

hi . what does the "M" in this old 32-40 ideal mold/ reloading tool mean and what # is it ,,,#4 #5 #6 ect ?
it drops a 155-160grn with a dia of .320 which is great for my 1888 commissioned gew which slugs at .318. thanks and have a great weekend ,.
adrians

[Bent Ramrod]

"M" is for Marlin, which first chambered the ,32-40 in their Ballard rifle and later in their lever action repeaters.

Your tool is a #6. The #4's were of the same sort, but for short calibers like the pistol rounds and the .44-40, etc. rifle shells.

Your loading tool looks to be in very good condition. You have the "nonadjustable chamber" version, which seated the standard bullet (cast from the mould in front) into the shell to a standard seating depth. If your tool has not been used a great deal, it should be able to crimp the shell on the bullet. The chamber would not resize necks.

[adrians]

:groner:thanks b.ramrod ,i thought the "M" was for medium (as in sm/med/lg, but i was only quessing ).
i,m sure glad you know what your talking about ,i,m glad i asked cos i would have been thinking med the rest of my life[smilie=w:

[Bent Ramrod]

The letter designations can change with circumstances and are best found by studying the Ideal Handbooks that came out during the time they sold the tools. Cornell Publications reprints a bunch of them for fairly nominal prices. You may in the future see a tool marked ".38 S&W M." I thought when I found mine that the .38 S&W was already a "midrange" load at best, and couldn't figure why they bothered with the letter. Floodgate gave me the info that in this case the "M" stood for "Military." Way back when, the .38 S&W Special aspired to be a military caliber and this hopeful designation found its way into the Ideal tool nomenclature for a while. When the military decided to stick with the .45 caliber, the "M" changed to "Spl."

Floodgate posts here rarely any more, but if you're at all interested in this kind of stuff, you ought to join the Antique Reloading Tool Collectors' Association. The membership has an amazing breadth of knowledge about all the antique and classic presses, tools, handles and moulds.