Remington mold

[marlinman93]

How's this for a cool find? A first variation Remington mold for the .44-77 SBN. It's marked "44 S" on the side, and "25" on top where the sprue plate covers the number. Not sure what "25" means, unless these were serial numbered?
Needs a new sprue plate built, but I might have a source for repros I think. It's also had a round ball cavity added at some point in it's life, but it was cheap, so no big deal. I have an early Rolling Block in this caliber, so neat to have the mold too!







I'll cast up some bullets once I get a sprue plate, and see how they shoot in my Roller!

[marlinman93]

Spent a bit of time this morning and using some scrap steel, I cut out a close shape to what the sprue plate should be. Then filed, sanded, drilled the shape for the sprue plate. After a test fit I polished it up a bit, blued it, and gave it some patina to match the mold blocks.

[JimMill]

Great find. I've always wanted an original mold for my Remington 44s. Any idea if it was made by Remington? Nice work on the sprue plate.
Jim

[marlinman93]

Hard to say if Remington built them at this point Jim. But considering no other gun makers offered a similar mold, I'd say the odds are good that Remington made them.
Remington's later molds looked much like those offered by Marlin, BGI, and other companies, which tells me they were later made by BGI. (Bridgeport Gun Implement)
Dick Chamberlain and Tom Quigley's book on antique loading tools seems to indicate that early tools were Remington made, while later were BGI. BGI made tools for numerous makers, and bought all of Sharps Arms Co. mold equipment to take over their mold making. Since BGI was part of UMC, it makes sense that later Remington tools were also BGI.

[oldremguy]

Hello Marlinman93,

Very nice looking mold, good job on making the new sprue plate.
Have you had a chance to cast any bullets from the mold yet.
It will be interesting to see was what weight and diameter they are.

Have a Good Day,
Matt

[marlinman93]

Haven't cast with it yet Matt, but maybe after hunting season when things slow down here. I'm also very curious about size and weight. I'd guess it will come in around .451"-.452", but weight is tough to guesstimate.