I' set to inherit my great-grandfather's 1892 Winchester in 25-20 (1907 production). As all of you are aware, used mold prices are pretty ridiculous right now, was looking for a 257420 or 257283.... I figured it might be neat to get a contemporary Ideal or Winchester mold, or a tong tool with the built-in molds, occasionally these seem to go for a more reasonable price. It seems I am limited to the 25720 pattern, the 86gr being by far the most common, and the many of them seem to be made before Ideal started using aligning pins, I can't find much on how well the Winchester molds perform. I figured I'd ask here if any of you have any experience with any of these molds, to that end....
1. Is the lack of aligning pins on the older ideal molds a major issue? This applies to the tong tools as well.
2. Does anyone have any experience with the Winchester molds?
3. Does anyone have any experience with the 25720 86gr in a 25-20? I see complaints about the the twist rate/bullet rate problems in Win 92 25-20s often but also plenty of accounts of 80ish grain bullets working fine...not much info specifically on the 25720
Thanks,
i