venting lines?

Picked up a really nice Ideal SC 429421 with handles today. Square loob groove and no venting in the halves faces. When did the venting come into standard production?

I don't know when it came about, nor how it works, but I have an ancient Ideal 308291 that is ventless and is my best casting mould.

Lyman or Lyman-Ideal started to vent mold block halves some time before or by 1960...or maybe earlier. People casted perfectly good bullets before that with mold blocks that did not have vent lines. No special tricks or practices are/were involved. Blocks were also part of the handles so one could not swap them between handles as is the practice now. I have 2 molds for the 38-55 that are the old WRA type with no vent lines and no interchangeability of blocks and they cast perfect bullets either with a ladle or bottom pour. Individually used they are slow compared to multicavity blocks, but when used together in tandem they can produce a good number of bullets similar to when using a 2 cavity mold. LLS

I have the exact same mold ! It casts very nice bullets that drop easily !

Jerry

S&W .38/44 Outdoorsman Accumulator

I seem to remember Glen writing that the change came about 12-18 months after Lyman stopped stamping their molds Ideal and put Lyman on them. A Ly mold that is ventless is a rare thing to find.

[The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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