Modern-Bond mold and handles

Picked up a Master Caster and 24 sets of molds came with the machine, only one was a Magma. The Modern-Bond mold that was included is the first of these I have owned, maybe ever seen. B-358-742 double cavity is a 358 diameter cast 160 grain round nose from early 38 S&W days. The handles were over designed compared to Ideal/Lyman and will probably be a dream to use. The mold is not something I will need to cast, unless this bullet would work well in a lever 357 mag gun. Will these handles fit Ideal/lyman molds? The arms that go into the mold slots for the M-B and Lyman are both 0.312". The mold handle bolts appear to go completely thru the mold and are the sprue pivot and the sprue stop. It appears a long bolt from the end of the mold is used to lock the the two handle screws.

If these handles will not fit other molds, will probably leave together. Any one swapped these over?

Mike

No - But i have a Modern Bond Mold in need of a set of handles - My mold is a .456 wadcutter ( flying oil drum style )

I've had a few MB molds, the latest a DC for a 218 grain .30 cal. It's a good Krag bullet. As far as I know, no other moulds will fit the handles of MB and the converse is also true.

Modern-Bond mold handles are what all others strive to be. At least in my experience.

I only have one M-B mold, it casts a ~230 grain ball for the .45ACP (don't remember the numbers offhand) but since most of my shooting with a .45 ACP is with a 200 gr SWC, mine doesn't see much use.

Robert

I have a set of Modern Bond handles on an RCBS 2 cavity 45-300-FN gas check .45-70 mold. Never used them on other molds, but appear to be interchangeable with RCBS and Lyman molds (if incorrect, someone please say so). Very well made handles.

Many years ago I started searching for a .358 mold that would supplement my other SWC molds, most of which had a protruding nose section that tapered inward toward their top. I wanted a wider nose like a WC design, but not the deep seating of the traditional WC boolit to demand a reduced powder charge. Something like Square Butte said, the flying oil drum style. The day came when I saw a Modern-Bond mold for sale that fit my interests perfectly. It was their D-358582 pattern (150 gr.) with a protruding nose that is almost bore diameter. This gives the boolit wadcutter impact on the target but has less of the body inside the case to allow higher powder charges before getting into pressure problems. I bought that mold and not long later found a D-358627 mold (160 gr.) for sale, bought that one also. Between these two the 150 gr. groups tighter than the 160 gr. Next came an I-358755 SWC with a longer than normal tapered nose, later followed by a A-454550 (45 caliber 200 RN) mold. While doing all this searching for molds I bought a copy of Modern-Bond's catalog from Cornell Publications, just for the knowledge of all the molds this company offered. The catalog claims Modern-Bond was the first mold maker to offer removable mold blocks from their handles (at least that is their claim). They had some innovative patterns, some that I would not buy, yet these that I have now will be at my home after I leave it. With time passing I see fewer M-B molds offered for sale. Quite the shame, they are wonderful molds worth keeping.

Over decades of scrounging and accumulating boolit moulds, I see only very occasional Modern-Bond mould blocks without their handles, and only a couple times have I seen Modern-Bond handles without the blocks attached.

The only handles that otherwise fit the blocks would be modified Lee multicavity handles and occasionally the older SAECO handles with the long wooden grips. Sometimes these are (or have to be) redrilled to let the blocks swivel closed properly. (I think they are SAECO; no maker’s name on them.)

There is a subspecies of human simian that (into adulthood) always has to take things apart and scatter the pieces for no good reason whatsoever. There’s no other cause to separate M-B blocks from their handles.

They are excellent moulds; the only downside being that all the screw heads projecting out of the blocks can catch lead spatters and splashes. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance anyway.

Thanks for all the input. As I age, my reaction times are not as good as 40 years ago. Last casting session had more under/over pours than I wanted. I just received a small relay timer block off of Amazon, air cylinders are on the way. The plan is to use the timer(s) to repeat lead pours from my lee 4-20 and initially on my master caster. Will make up several hundred of the Modern. Shoot a few and and see if it's a keeper for my purposes.