Lyman Mold Question

[DaveNC62]

Hello All

I’m new here, thanks for having me.

I found a Lyman mold in my Dad’s stuff that I can’t identify what the heck it is. It is marked LYMAN 813 that’s it.

Any light shed would be awesome.

Thanks,

Dave

[Bazoo]

Wow, that's interesting! Welcome to the forum, and thank you for sharing. 813 would be the block numbers. I'd guess it to be some sort of ballast weight for something like a model boat or duck decoy.

[DaveNC62]

Hey Bazoo that’s an interesting theory, because it doesn’t look like a bullet per se. I didn’t show in the pictures, but it has the standard wood handles.

[metricmonkeywrench]

How about a shop made plug gauge for the early small wood handles?

[M-Tecs]

At one time Lyman sold completed block with no cavities cut. The cavity looks homemade. The lack of concentricity on the largest diameter is interesting. Was it by design?

[country gent]

Couple things caught my eye here. the "blind" end on the small dia appears to be a drill point. The venting is a different pattern from whats normally seen. What im thinking is the small diameter is cut off and its a spindle lock for a machine or Pad that was used in 2 or 3 as a rest.

Out of curiosity what did your Dad do as a job? Might shed some light on it.

[Delkal]

Does this mold have a sprue plate or anyway to attach one? The casting hole where you pour the lead seems way off.

[Bazoo]

Some very intersting theories here. The vent lines look normal to me for a 4 cavity mould.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I see redneck drilling, I should know, I am a redneck machiner, I wouldn't dare call myself a machinist, LOL.
.
So, if I got my grubby hands on a set of blank blocks, and I was wanting to drill a cavity to cast a soft lead plug to swage into a rifle chamber and throat, That's about what I'd think it'd look like after I was done with it. What's the approximate diameter of the smallest drilled area? Is it around 0.270" or so? Maybe he had a old foreign 6.5mm rifle and wanted to measure the chamber?

[DaveNC62]

Interesting idea, but I’m clueless

How about a shop made plug gauge for the early small wood handles?

[DaveNC62]

I’m not sure what the purpose is.

At one time Lyman sold completed block with no cavities cut. The cavity looks homemade. The lack of concentricity on the largest diameter is interesting. Was it by design?

[DaveNC62]

I’ll put it back together and upload some more pictures

Does this mold have a sprue plate or anyway to attach one? The casting hole where you pour the lead seems way off.

[DaveNC62]

Dad was a machinist at RJ Reynolds, but he bought a bunch of stuff from a widow once and this was included, that was over 40+ years ago. The guy was a reloader and had a lot of stuff like .218 bee brass etc.

Couple things caught my eye here. the "blind" end on the small dia appears to be a drill point. The venting is a different pattern from whats normally seen. What im thinking is the small diameter is cut off and its a spindle lock for a machine or Pad that was used in 2 or 3 as a rest.

Out of curiosity what did your Dad do as a job? Might shed some light on it.

[DaveNC62]

The guy Dad got the stuff from did have a lot odd ball brass, so that might be the right answer.

I see redneck drilling, I should know, I am a redneck machiner, I wouldn't dare call myself a machinist, LOL.
.
So, if I got my grubby hands on a set of blank blocks, and I was wanting to drill a cavity to cast a soft lead plug to swage into a rifle chamber and throat, That's about what I'd think it'd look like after I was done with it. What's the approximate diameter of the smallest drilled area? Is it around 0.270" or so? Maybe he had a old foreign 6.5mm rifle and wanted to measure the chamber?

[DaveNC62]

Here are some more pictures

[DaveNC62]

Just did some rough measurements looks like the narrow end is .218 the next step down is .350 and the butt end is .370. SobIbthink Jon B got it, it might be a camber plug for a .218 Bee

[Bazoo]

Perhaps a various diameter chamber plug for filling the bore with solvent?

[DaveNC62]

Possibly, but how many would you need to dedicate a mold to it?

Perhaps a various diameter chamber plug for filling the bore with solvent?

[Rickf1985]

And a cork would work just as well. I think it has something to do with the bores no idea what.

[Bazoo]

The 2 largest sections of the hole seem to have a seamless transition on the bottom, and a pronounced step on the top. I bet that is intentional, as it's too clean to be a happy accident of sloppy drilling.

Why don't ya cast a few and see what they look like and take some pictures. That might help ID it.