Beginning to understand

.............Why I've read so much complaining about recently manufactured molds. I've come to accept up to .002 in out of round, bullet diameter and a host of other things we all know about here. Most of my molds have been purchased in the last ten years -- the steel ones that is, had mostly Lee Aluminum before that but I know how to make those work. Nothing wrong with my current production Lyman molds they're mostly good.

But..........I just got in the mail today an older 4-cav Lyman 358156 mold from a forum member. Cleaned it up, fired up the lead pot and proceeded to cast a bunch. Nice mold. Bullets drop from it with barely a thump.

Then I got out the micrometer and BOY, did I get an education. These bullets are not only nice and fat measuring a full .3595-.360, but they aren't out of round by even .0005 and the wieght difference can be measured in tenths of grains which, as far as I am concerned, compared to the dozen or so current production molds I have, is just about perfection.

If I had been casting for 50 years and had a supply of these old molds that had been made like this, then had to put up with what is being made today (NOT bad but certainly NOT this good..) I would be screaming bloody murder too.

Here's to custom molds and old manufacture molds. This was a real eye opener and I can't wait to shoot some of these!

Art

I'll second the notion for old molds!

I was prowling around a local gun show today and I found a Saeco #393 2 cavity (38 cal 162gr SWC GC). After cleaning it up and firing up the lead pot, it dropped wonderful, round .360" bullets, that fell from the mold without so much as a tap!

I spent $60 on the mold, and I'm definitely satisfied. For a mold that is likely older than I am (27), it sure has held up well. I guess the adage, "They don't make 'em like they used to" holds some weight.

The real steal of the day was a Lyman 358156 2 cavity, for the whopping sum of $32! :p
The best part was that is was brand-spanking new! All it needed was some TLC (and brake cleaner), now it's good as new. Hopefully once handles arrive from Midway it will be a good caster too.

Yeah it was a real eye opener, now I'm gonna have to prowl gunshows in search of "oldy moldy's" in addition to old .22 shells, antique reloading stuffies.........you get the picture..................!!!!

Art

Part of the "out of round" come from how the mould is cut and heat treated, etc. Maybe de-stressed would be a better word than heat treated. Each batch of metal is different and from what I gather the old timer/hands on guys could work with the properties of the metal and get them right. Nowadays most places just chuck the blank in the machine and the computer does the rest.

I have some old moulds from the 30's and 40's that are far better than our production moulds now.

I have a few Lyman's I bought from an estate that were made in the sixties and they cast better than the new one's by far. FB

The finest mould I own is an old H&G that was manufactured sometime before 1956

you also realize that time could be taken to make them and the machines were new.most operaters were experianced.at .50 cents an hr pay.and lyman molds were $5. also it would be interesting to find out how many were sold in a yr.as no where near the casters there are now.I do know as I lived in the early period.
lyman bought the company from marlin in 1925 the yr after I was born.