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Been trying to find an original HM Pope bullet mold for my Pope Ballard in .32-40 and happened to call a guy back East to ask another question and we got on the topic of old loading tools. Eventually I asked if he knew of a Pope .32-40 bullet mold for sale and darned if he didn't have one to sell! We discussed condition and price and I sent him off payment a couple weeks ago. Of course USPS took 9 days for my payment to get there, but his return box came in only a couple days!
The mold is in excellent shape, with cavities that look like new! Of course it's a nose pour as Pope molds always seem to be, and it has all the "WAX" markings Pope used to indicate where melted wax should be use to lubricate pivot points. A great addition to my collection!
"...and it has all the "WAX" markings Pope used to indicate where melted wax should be use to lubricate pivot points."
Sir, could you point out 'just where' those wax points are? I have read and have been 'TRYING' to use beeswax on the spots 'I' think are being referred to on molds. But I inevitably get some in the mold cavity.
I believe the Sprue plate screw and the mating pins. But are there other place on yours that are not obvious in your photos. I am only using standard design bottom pour molds, so different then your bottom base plate and sprue nose plate.
black river smith wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 7:00 pm
"...and it has all the "WAX" markings Pope used to indicate where melted wax should be use to lubricate pivot points."
Sir, could you point out 'just where' those wax points are? I have read and have been 'TRYING' to use beeswax on the spots 'I' think are being referred to on molds. But I inevitably get some in the mold cavity.
I believe the Sprue plate screw and the mating pins. But are there other place on yours that are not obvious in your photos. I am only using standard design bottom pour molds, so different then your bottom base plate and sprue nose plate.
Thanks.
Pope drilled holes in the Ideal blocks where the handles pivoted to make them open and close easily. He also drilled a hole where the screw for the sprue plate pivoted to lube the screw with wax too. At each hole he stamped "WAX" to indicate where to add melted wax.
I got out my old Pope .28 caliber mold to compare the two and was surprised how different these two are! Pope bought his blanks with handles from Ideal, so externally they are very similar. One difference is the early Ideal handles didn't have the brass caps over the ends of the handles where they slip over the mold tangs, so my .28 Pope doesn't have those.
The real differences are inside on the blocks! First the sprue cutoff plates are much alike, except for the stop pins. On the .32 the pin is on the right, but on the .28 the pin is on the left and the left mold block and sprue plate both have pins that come together when the sprue is closed.
The even larger difference are the blocks themselves. Same Pope style bullet design, but a huge amount of hand work to make gas venting on the .28 Pope mold! It appears early on Pope thought gas venting might be a real issue and went overboard with venting lines under the sprue plate, and down both halves of the mold blocks! Then absolutely no venting lines at all on the .32 mold. So guessing he decided it was a tedious task to do all the hand cutting, with no increase in quality of bullets cast?
Wow closest I ever had to that Pope was an adjustable Ideal Perfection also for 32 cals . I e always held Pope in highest regard slightly above Schoeyn who I also hold in high regard . Congratulations Christmas came early this year !
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
Here you go do you want another Pope mold in 32-40. I just accidentally found this while looking through the different mold listings. Thank you for your response to my questions.
6pt-sika wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2024 1:23 pm
Wow closest I ever had to that Pope was an adjustable Ideal Perfection also for 32 cals . I e always held Pope in highest regard slightly above Schoeyn who I also hold in high regard . Congratulations Christmas came early this year !
I'm just the opposite. I hold Schoyen in higher regard than Pope. I think they both made equally wonderful barrels, and both made numerous tools and molds to go with their barrels. The big difference is Schoyen was a master gun maker, not just a master barrel maker. Schoyen built complete guns, where Pope rarely built complete guns, and almost always only barreled customer's guns. Additionally Pope only did stock work on rare occasions, and they usually looked fairly plain or even crude. Where Schoyen's stocks were gorgeous, and his rifles likewise. Schoyen did eventually stop doing stocks and used Henry Simmons as his stock maker, but only because his business got far too busy to keep up doing all the work.
I have another neat antique tool coming from another guy soon! One I used to own, but somebody liked it more than me and it was stolen off my display some years back.
black river smith wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2024 2:53 pm
Here you go do you want another Pope mold in 32-40. I just accidentally found this while looking through the different mold listings. Thank you for your response to my questions.
PS. I can see the word WAX stamped on this mold. Pivot points on the sprue and bottom plate.
That seller wont sell that Pope mold anytime soon! I've seen them for half his price, and rarely seen them for more than maybe 2/3rds of his price. I paid a lot less than the average for mine.
Mentioned to a friend about my search for either a Pope or Ideal mold for my third barrel in .22WCF and the next day he sent me a note telling me of one for sale. I ended up buying a rare Ideal .22 mold and it's on it's way to me! I'm pretty sure a .22 Pope mold wont ever show up, so this Ideal will serve the purpose to be able to cast for the Pope barrel. The .22WCF bores are all larger than the usual .223"-.224" we see these days, so this one should fit great.
I only have bought a Lyman 358345 mold for 357 testing two weeks ago and then three days ago won an NEI 427-200 -- 4 cavity for crimped smokeless 44-40 loads. These are the 'types' and prices, I look to buy.
black river smith wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2024 2:53 pm
Here you go do you want another Pope mold in 32-40. I just accidentally found this while looking through the different mold listings. Thank you for your response to my questions.
PS. I can see the word WAX stamped on this mold. Pivot points on the sprue and bottom plate.
That seller wont sell that Pope mold anytime soon! I've seen them for half his price, and rarely seen them for more than maybe 2/3rds of his price. I paid a lot less than the average for mine.
I was wondering what that thing would cost , now I e got a rough idea .
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
I only have bought a Lyman 358345 mold for 357 testing two weeks ago and then three days ago won an NEI 427-200 -- 4 cavity for crimped smokeless 44-40 loads. These are the 'types' and prices, I look to buy.
I bought a couple single cavity Ideal/Lyman molds for the 44/40 that were the 42798 200 grain plain base . To be honest I worked up a load for the 444 and killed one deer with that bullet just to add it to the list of what I’d cast and killed with . Also used the 429434 220 grain GC mold in the 444 as well . I acquired a lot of molds compatible for the 44/40 , 44 MAG and 444 .
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
I only have bought a Lyman 358345 mold for 357 testing two weeks ago and then three days ago won an NEI 427-200 -- 4 cavity for crimped smokeless 44-40 loads. These are the 'types' and prices, I look to buy.
I bought a couple single cavity Ideal/Lyman molds for the 44/40 that were the 42798 200 grain plain base . To be honest I worked up a load for the 444 and killed one deer with that bullet just to add it to the list of what I’d cast and killed with . Also used the 429434 220 grain GC mold in the 444 as well . I acquired a lot of molds compatible for the 44/40 , 44 MAG and 444 .
I have a lot of early Lyman and late Ideal molds from after they became "Improved Molds" and mold blocks were separate from handles so a guy could use one handle for all the molds. I cast with them a lot and some are still the most accurate molds I own for several calibers I shoot.
I don't own but maybe 3-4 gas check molds out of maybe 60 molds I own and cast with. Just don't shoot much that's fast enough to need a gas check bullet.
I only have bought a Lyman 358345 mold for 357 testing two weeks ago and then three days ago won an NEI 427-200 -- 4 cavity for crimped smokeless 44-40 loads. These are the 'types' and prices, I look to buy.
I bought a couple single cavity Ideal/Lyman molds for the 44/40 that were the 42798 200 grain plain base . To be honest I worked up a load for the 444 and killed one deer with that bullet just to add it to the list of what I’d cast and killed with . Also used the 429434 220 grain GC mold in the 444 as well . I acquired a lot of molds compatible for the 44/40 , 44 MAG and 444 .
Ditto! Too many according to someone living in the same house. For the 44/40 I started with a new RCBS 200 FN, then a new Lyman 427098, then an original Win and BP. The last one took me through most all my CAS shooting for a good 10 years. Then I started up with smokeless again using the RCBS, works but do not like the profile of the cartridge. Then, I recently bought an Accurate 43-215-? that dropped out at 224 grains use my pure lead. That just was not right for me, so I accidentally came across this NEI mold on Ebay, searched out the shape on the internet and I believe it will look truer and much better than the RCBS bullet.
Really for the whole 44 series just totally lost count (never really counted). Started with 44Mag, then 44Colt, then 44Rus and finally had to have a 44Spec. Now, I like traditionally designed bullet shapes for almost all my reloaded cartridges but with the 44 there are just soooo many interesting shapes and designs. I have bought and tried several.
PS -- Most of my cartridges are the old west rounds loaded to factory velocities, rather than higher modern levels. The only GC molds I own are for the 30-30, if I want to go past the plinking level. I have modified Lee molds to solid bases to use for the plinking loads, also. Still have duplicate LEE GC molds for the high velocities plus the old standard Ideal/Lyman designed round nose molds.
My wife hasn't the slightest idea how many molds I own. Not the daily used nor the collectible molds. The daily used fill a milk crate stored under my loading bench, and any collectible are either in one of my safes, or in the case with cased guns I own.
She's more into trying to track old rifles than accessories, thank goodness!
marlinman93 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 14, 2024 12:02 pm
My wife hasn't the slightest idea how many molds I own. Not the daily used nor the collectible molds. The daily used fill a milk crate stored under my loading bench, and any collectible are either in one of my safes, or in the case with cased guns I own.
She's more into trying to track old rifles than accessories, thank goodness!
Luckily mines on the other side of the world so she can’t see the amount of gun stuff I’ve spent/wasted money on lols !
Parkers , Mannlicher Schoenauer’s , 6.5mm's and my family in the Philippines !
