I picked up a Lyman 450 today

[Miata Mike]

I think I should do some before and after pictures. Man does it look nasty! :evil: It came with a bunch of dies and punches and I have to clean the whole works up. Where should I start?

I am thinking of boiling out the dies that I figure I will use. Are these things marked to tell what they are?

Pictures to follow. :bigsmyl2:

[Miata Mike]

I think I am only going to do .44 magnum, .45acp, and maybe some sort of .38/.357 lubing. What might be a good semi hard lube to use in this sizer? Stuff looks to be orange right now. There will probably be no heater under it.

[462]

Disassemble it, and boil it and all the dies (remove any O-rings, first).

Dies and top punches should be factory marked.

My handgun lube preference is a 2:1 mix of Jake's purple ceresin and his 50/50. A clamp-on lamp and a 60-Watt bulb is my cold weather heater.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Boiling seems to be the fastest manner to de-lube. Be sure to have it in a container that will hold both the luber and the boiling water and yet allow you to skim the lube off. The heat gun and hair dryer method also will work well. The size dies are marked either on the top or on the side, remove the top "O" rings before melting them out. Dry as well as possible when done and put a light oiling on all surfaces that won`t be in lube contact. The top punches will be only number marked. You will have to either find a reference chart for what bullet you are sizeing or trial fit them to see if they will work. Good luck. Robert

[Miata Mike]

I took the top layers of grime off today after taking a few pictures. There is a nice looking slate blue sizer underneath the grime. Pictures to follow tomorrow.

[TXGunNut]

Slate blue? Wonder what that says about the vintage?

[Wayne Smith]

Each die will have a three digit number stamped on it somewhere. This is the diameter of the boolit after sizing.

[Miata Mike]

Each die will have a three digit number stamped on it somewhere. This is the diameter of the boolit after sizing.

I dug through the box of dies and see that it cam with 9 of them, and I would guess at least as many top punches. Looks like a lot of odd rifle dies. ;)

Here is a before picture.

[Miata Mike]

And here is an after cleaning picture. Now to boil out the does and insider of the Luber. Nice slate color. Wonder how far this dates back?

[theperfessor]

Looks like it cleaned up real nice. Good job! I love my old 450.

[Artful]

Looks good, now just remember not to Armstrong stuff on it, if your taking stuff down sized do it in stages.

looks like your dies are pretty common
.280 - 270 winchester rifle probably
.284 - 7mm rifle
.309 - 30 cal rifle
.323 - 8mm rifle
.357 - 9mm/38 pistol
.429 - 44 spl/44mag
.452 - 45 cal handgun
.457 - 45 cal rifle

you can always sell the ones you don't plan on using to help pay for the 450!

TOP PUNCH(s)
see page 34 and 35 for top punch number to match your lyman molds
http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/catalogue-download/pdf/Casting-Equipment.pdf

Chart here as well
http://www.castpics.net/subsite/TopPunches/Lyman.html

Reverend Recoil's covered a lot in his chart
http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=1552601&postcount=3

And of course theperfessor makes his univeral for flat or conformal for the lyman 450

[km101]

A good all around lube is Lars Carnauba Red. I use it with good results on all my pistol calibers.

[Dale53]

If your luber doesn't have a heater, you'll be happier with one of Lars somewhat softer lubes (I use Carnauba Red but if I didn't have a heater I would use one of his other lubes.

Read the descriptions on his web site.

FWIW
Dale53

[Miata Mike]

If your luber doesn't have a heater, you'll be happier with one of Lars somewhat softer lubes (I use Carnauba Red but if I didn't have a heater I would use one of his other lubes.

Read the descriptions on his web site.

FWIW
Dale53

I don't have a heater and probably never will. Wondering if a heat gun on the body of the sizer would be enough to soften the harder lube, or is that a pipe dream idea? I haven't used a lube sizer yet, so I don't have a good idea of what a good lube might act like in my 450.

I did have some blue lube 200 grain SWC .45acp's that the lube actually punched the targets at 15 yards! That can't be good with lube that brittle. :eek: I won't mention where I bought them, but they did shoot well.

[Dale53]

Others have used light bulbs and other devices to heat the luber. However, if I didn't have a heater I absolutely would use one of Lars White Label lubes that do NOT require a heater. I have a good friend just starting to reload and cast bullets and that is what I recommended that he do. Best practice when trying to heat a lube/sizer is to have a controllable heat source.

There is NOTHING wrong with Lars softer lubes. He describes them fully on his web site:

http://www.lsstuff.com/

Dale53

[MusicMan]

Found a link to a list of top punches that has a lot of older Lyman molds.
I used it to find the correct top punch for a old mold I couldn't find any where else.
http://www.darkcanyon.net/lymancastbulletinfo.html
This is the best list I have found.

[Miata Mike]

Last night I removed the die and punch and boiled them up along with the .452 that I plan on using when I get some lube. I used a heat gun to drain out all of the old lube and wiped every thing up nice. Looks like I also have a brass lube pusher with no O rings in my 450. Could also use a 7/8" flat wrench for removing the dies. Can't wait to size a few. :D

[Miata Mike]

Others have used light bulbs and other devices to heat the luber. However, if I didn't have a heater I absolutely would use one of Lars White Label lubes that do NOT require a heater. I have a good friend just starting to reload and cast bullets and that is what I recommended that he do. Best practice when trying to heat a lube/sizer is to have a controllable heat source.

There is NOTHING wrong with Lars softer lubes. He describes them fully on his web site:

http://www.lsstuff.com/

Dale53

I have some BAC Special blend coming. Thanks for the input and I am really stoked to lube size some 200 grain SWC now! :D

[UBER7MM]

Miata Mike,

Was your 450 turned out really nice. That lube can be a mess.

Happy sizing,

[Miata Mike]

Others have used light bulbs and other devices to heat the luber. However, if I didn't have a heater I absolutely would use one of Lars White Label lubes that do NOT require a heater. I have a good friend just starting to reload and cast bullets and that is what I recommended that he do. Best practice when trying to heat a lube/sizer is to have a controllable heat source.

There is NOTHING wrong with Lars softer lubes. He describes them fully on his web site:

http://www.lsstuff.com/

Dale53

I finally received my BAC Special blend lube. Things were a bit stiff tonight with the lube at room temperature and sizing in the garage. Looks like I need to warm this stuff a little bit to keep things moving.

[.22-10-45]

Looks like a nice early 450..I have a 450 I purchased in early 1970's..same color but piston seal has O rings. I have a couple of Lyman 45's that have the expanding brass seal as yours..they leak a bit aound seal..no biggie..when it accumulates ..just pull piston & stuff excess back in tube.