oldfart1956
02-09-2013, 08:26 AM
Fellers I've got both the Lyman M die and the Lyman Multi-Expanding dies. Both excellent tools but they have some limitations. I'm going to have someone make me up some custom sized expanders for these two dies and need some imput. What size would you make the custom expanders? Same size as the boolit? Oversize or slightly undersized? I know it depends on a few variables such as brass thickness and hard-vs-soft brass etc. so tell me what to look for. Some of the issues I'm having....the .44 expander for either die is too short when using the H&G boolits. The expanding part is only 1/4 inch + long and that's a really long boolit. Works dandy for the little short chubbies though. And it's not like ya can just run it further in the die....it won't go. Hope to get back loading the 45/70 Trapdoor and that Lee 405 h.b. boolit is humongous long. Even if the expanders were big enough (they're not...need one for a .460+ boolit) they won't expand anywhere close to long enough. The 405 h.b. is almost 5/8 inches long from base to where I need to set the o.a.l. and them expanders for the .45 run between 1/4 in. to 3/8 inch long. I can figger out the length easy enough or just have them made long and shorten if needed. So back to the original question.....what dia. over/under boolit diameter? If I order the expanders at boolit dia. can I count on brass spring-back to keep the neck tension? Many thanks in advance. Audie....the Oldfart..