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[klw]

Were you the one recently who said that they were looking for a true Ideal Armory press? If so, I may have found you one.

Just got an e-mail from a fellow I don't know who must live in Albuquerque. He was at Ron Peterson Guns talking to Ron about buying an old, probably Hollywood, three position turret press. That has to be one of the presses I sold to Ron over ten years ago.

I know that Ron made a serious effort to sell my press collection after I sold it to him because I went down to his house a couple of time to help him catalogue it and write up the ads. But I don't think that he followed up and I suspect that much of this has been sitting in his basement ever since.

I sold him an Armory press or Armory lubricator/sizer. I don't now know which. But if you are interested you should call him.

[klw]

Incidentally the rarest of the presses I had and sold to Ron was a true Star Straightline. There were probably three of those total

When the Star plant closed down at least one of the employees gathered up old parts. Years later he reported getting enough parts for star straightlines to make, maybe 20 more units. Don't think that he ever did, however.

But this number of 20 is important. Ellord (if that is the proper spelling), the "inventor" of the Star machines told me that there were around 23 machines. That ads up. Three in collector hands and twenty sets of parts that were never assembled.

The Star straightline, pictured in Sharps old book, has to be one of the rarest presses ever. The only other one in that league was that 175 pound Ideal unit.

Finally I remember decades ago a fellow telling me that he had actually seen that Ideal unit. Was very clear about the details. Big gunstore somewhere when he was a kid. I had forgotten that. But his description was accurate and that would have been before he could have seen a picture in the Lyman Centennial Journal.

As I'm sure you know, Lyman still has copies of the Centennial Journal. That is probably the best source for information on their old products.

Ken

[floodgate]

Ken:

Thanks! I'm on the trail of a late, Lyman-made one, complete with dies and primer feed. If that falls through, I'll check with Ron Peterson. Glad to know that the original Ideal "monster" actually existed; it looks in the catalog cuts like the"batch loaders" the factories used for small production runs in the 1870's.

Yes, I DO have the "Lyman Centennial Journal", and refer to it almost daily! For the rest of you, that book is a quick but comprehensive overview of Lyman and Ideal history, issued in 1978 and packaged in a nice wooden case with the special, 'scope sighted deluxe Ruger No. 1 in .45-70, and a box of nickel-plated cartridges headstamped for Lyman. I'm kicking myself twice, once for deciding I really didn't need it when it first came out, and again - when five years or so back, I passed up a fine, unused set for a mere $1600. Today, I'd go that in a heartbeat!

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