I finally heard from Rich again. (Ideal guru)
He sent me these old file photo’s from his Ideal research material. He claims it came from an older gentlemen’s collection who has passed on and he has no further information except his notes in which he states;
No.5 Armory Ideal tool (late) for 45 Gov Pistol (Schofield revolver) One of two tools photo’d.
He can’t find the other photo’s but claims he remembers it was a twin of this tool except that the front feature was the typical muzzle resizer. Or case mouth resizer feature.
This one photo’d actually loads for both the ball in the front of the tool and the round nose in the threaded main die. Rich says the plungers were correct for each lead bullet. See old photo’s.
I think it’s legit and Rich does too. He spoke with the collector and he believed it was for a Militia outfit around the turn of the century. Makes perfect sense to me.
There was a 3rd sell off of Surplus Schofields in about 1898-1899 timeframe that I’ve documented in my research notes. It was the smallest lot of Schofield military revolvers that I estimate around 300-400 guns total. Many of the Ideal tools found today are from that exact timeframe for some reason. Between 1898-1902. So this rare bird does make sense.
It also supports the use of the multi-ball round in the Schofield revolver.
Oh, also Rich did measure the sizer on the tool and it came out to .450. So to me that’s a perfect fit for the 45 Schofield. The only other round that came close to that was the Sharps rifle. That doesn’t fit this tool. Not even close.
Murph
He sent me these old file photo’s from his Ideal research material. He claims it came from an older gentlemen’s collection who has passed on and he has no further information except his notes in which he states;
No.5 Armory Ideal tool (late) for 45 Gov Pistol (Schofield revolver) One of two tools photo’d.
He can’t find the other photo’s but claims he remembers it was a twin of this tool except that the front feature was the typical muzzle resizer. Or case mouth resizer feature.
This one photo’d actually loads for both the ball in the front of the tool and the round nose in the threaded main die. Rich says the plungers were correct for each lead bullet. See old photo’s.
I think it’s legit and Rich does too. He spoke with the collector and he believed it was for a Militia outfit around the turn of the century. Makes perfect sense to me.
There was a 3rd sell off of Surplus Schofields in about 1898-1899 timeframe that I’ve documented in my research notes. It was the smallest lot of Schofield military revolvers that I estimate around 300-400 guns total. Many of the Ideal tools found today are from that exact timeframe for some reason. Between 1898-1902. So this rare bird does make sense.
It also supports the use of the multi-ball round in the Schofield revolver.
Oh, also Rich did measure the sizer on the tool and it came out to .450. So to me that’s a perfect fit for the 45 Schofield. The only other round that came close to that was the Sharps rifle. That doesn’t fit this tool. Not even close.
Murph
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