James H. Bullard, along with H.H. Bigelow, organized the Bullard Repeating Arms Company in 1882-1883; by January 1891, less than a decade later, the company was gone. Not, however, before introducing a whole line of modern cartridges including the semi-rimmed, solid head 50-115-300 Bullard. Other Bullard calibers included the bottlenecked 32-40-150 and 40-90-300 as well as the 38-45 and 40-75. The high quality singleshot and repeating rifles manufactured by "The Bullard Repeating Arms Company" are eagerly sought by modern collectors who appreciate the quality workmanship and historical significance of them.
Because the company was in business such a short time, production of rifles was fairly limited. In addition, many Bullard rifles (especially single-shots) were made for non-Bullard calibers. Those factors combine to make Bullard tools and bullet molds difficult to locate. Most of the Bullard-associated tools one encounters were, in fact, made by the larger manufacturers of the day, but even those are rare. Winchester manufactured ammunition for Bullard calibers and it seems likely that they may have made a few loading tools or molds. Rare Ideal and Union Metallic Cartridge Company tools may be marked for Bullard calibers as well.
The image below shows an early variant Ideal mold with iron-tipped handles marked for the 38-45 Bullard caliber. Standard loading for the 38-45 was for 190 grain bullet; Winchester and UMC both made brass/cartridges for this caliber. Here is a companion tool for the same caliber; this one is a first variation Ideal #3 tool.
This UMC marked mold is typical of the "most common" variant of UMC molds. This one, however, is brought out of the ordinary by being marked for the "32 Bullard". That would correspond to the bottlenecked 32-40-150 cartridge. The bore diameter of the "32" Bullard was undersized and the cartridge really more of a 30 caliber. It was not considered as accurate as the 32-40 Ballard/Winchester and was soon obsolete. According to George Hoyem, it appeared in the Winchester catalogs from 1885 to about January 1913.
And here is another "common variant" UMC mold for a Bullard caliber. This one is for the historically significant 50 Bullard. The 50-115-300 Bullard Express is credited with being the first solid head, semi-rimmed cartridge in corporate production in America. This mold is set up to produce hollow-pointed bullets; however, the hollow-point attachment probably was a post-production alteration. That is suggested by the fact that part of the caliber marking was removed where the hollow-pointing pin inserted, and also by the lower standard of workmanship manifest by it. This mold also has the ends of the handles ground down to allow easy application of wooden handles during actual use. It is not surprising to find many brass or iron molds so modified. This mold was also illustrated in G. Scott Jamieson's book entitled Bullard Arms on page 152...he incorrectly suggests that the mold was "probably made by Ideal". The author recently noted on the message board that the second edition of his book, to be entitled Bullard Firearms, will be available shortly, has a much expanded chapter on loading tools co-written by Jim Zupan, and corrects that assertion.
Here is an interesting mold marked for 40-75-258. That stamping strongly suggests intended use for the Bullard cartridge bearing the same designation. The maker of this mold is not know for certain; it bears resemblance to some Maynard molds, but it is not clear if Maynard actually manufactured the mold or not.
