Coincidentally, a couple of years ago, a friend had given me an old Ideal No. 321427 single-cavity bullet mold and handles; I cleaned it up and cast a few bullets that measured 0.324 inch. Being a gascheck design, I figured it was intended for the 8mm Mauser. That’s not something I shoot or reload, but never being one to dispose of a loading tool, I had stored it away for a possible future need.
After I acquired the vintage rifle, I recalled having that old mold and wondered if it might be suitable to cast bullets for loading the .32 Special. I was pleasantly surprised when I checked Ideal’s No. 38 reloading handbook, circa 1951, and discovered it was actually intended for the .32 Special.
Lyman Products acquired the Ideal reloading equipment product line many years ago, and this particular design is no longer offered, but I called Tom Griffin, Lyman’s technical service manager, to discuss casting bullets with the Ideal mold for my rifle. He sent a box of 8mm gaschecks and the appropriate top punch and die assembly for my Lyman 450 lubricator/sizer tool, and he suggested I size them to 0.323 inch.
I still occasionally cast bullets when I have a special need, like the current loading project, so I dropped a couple ingots of Lyman’s No. 2 lead alloy into the pot to get started. When the metal reached the desired temperature, I fluxed it with a generous pinch of Alox bullet lube to keep the tin and antimony in solution when skimming the impurities off the surface.
After sizing, I checked the first few, and they measured exactly 0.323 inch–a couple thousands larger than the .32 Special barrel’s nominal groove diameter–and weighed 137 grains with the gascheck.