Herters Waseca Lube Sizer

[Marc2]

Went to my local gun dealers today to get a pound of H-110. He was out of that power on the floor so he took me back to his storage room. I noticed a box of reloading equipment that he let me dig through and I found a lube sizer stamped Herters Waseca. The sizer looks old but in decent condition. The owner said he would sell it cheap but I don't know if you can find dies or top punches for this brand. Anyone here have any experience with this sizer? Are dies and punches still available? Can a heater be attached?

Thanks,

Marc

[Scrounger]

Went to my local gun dealers today to get a pound of H-110. He was out of that power on the floor so he took me back to his storage room. I noticed a box of reloading equipment that he let me dig through and I found a lube sizer stamped Herters Waseca. The sizer looks old but in decent condition. The owner said he would sell it cheap but I don't know if you can find dies or top punches for this brand. Anyone here have any experience with this sizer? Are dies and punches still available? Can a heater be attached?

Thanks,

Marc

Odds are that is a Lyman 45 with Herters name on it. Take a Lyman sizer die and see if it looks like it'll fit...

[Leftoverdj]

I have a Herter's of mid 70s vintage. Looks like a knockoff of the early Ideals. Mine takes Lyman/RCBS type sizers and top punches.

The couple of times I wanted a heater, I used a two pound coffee can cut to fit over it with a light bulb inside. Worked fine to get NRA formula to working consistency in a sub freezing garage.

[AZ Pete]

Odds are that is a Lyman 45 with Herters name on it. Take a Lyman sizer die and see if it looks like it'll fit...


Only one I have experience was in 1967. I didn't look like the Lyman 45 that I was using then (and still use). Looked more like a Saeco.

[Scrounger]

Stole this from another website:
Herter sold at least three models of lubricator-sizer; 47 is press-mounted, 49 is an Ideal copy, Bulletmaster is as 49 but with a spring-loaded reservoir. If yours resembles the latter two, Herter said that the dies were the same as the Lyman.
The RCBS is the same. That makes them about the easiest dies to find, both new and used.

[Bent Ramrod]

Marc,

The one I have is brown, and has the handle pivot on the left with the handle motion to the right of the operator, rather than pivot behind and motion toward the operator. It says "Herter's Waseca" on the top punch crossbeam. The device looks like a no-frills knockoff of the Saeco design. The top punch is different from Ideal and RCBS. It has a longer shank with a groove in it for the set screw to engage. The die has a flange at the top and threads on the bottom and is snugged into its place by a nut tightened on the bottom threads. I don't know how you'd get a Lyman/RCBS die to work in this one; it looks like it would drop clear through, and there's nothing to hold it in.

[Marc2]

Bent Ramrod,

That description is very close to what I saw this morning. The set screws had a single wing and held in the top punch and the die. The leaver was mounted so that the arm was across the face of the press much like a Saeco with right handed operation. If I look at it again I'll get more info or maybe a picture I can post here. Thanks for everyones reply.

Marc

[Leftoverdj]

At the same time I bought my lubrisizer, I bought a press from Herter's. Press took standard shellholders, rather than the notorious proprietory holders. The lubrisizer takes Lyman/RCBS type sizers and punches which are held in place by set screws.

May we speculate that Herters moved from its proprietory designs to more standard parts around 1970?

[Bent Ramrod]

Marc and LDJ,

Yes, the set screw is a wing or tab type screw. I bought this one because it was cheap, never actually used it, and haven't closely examined any others I've encountered. However, my Herter's Catalog #80 (1970) has pictures of the Perfection #49 and the Bulletmaster Lubricators and Sizers, and they both look like the same cross-lever design. Mine looks to be the #49.

The Bulletmaster looks a little larger (at least the picture does) than the #49, and in addition, the guide rods that hold the ejector plate at the bottom go through a second set of guides in the body casting, down where you adjust the depth the bullet goes in. There's extra metal to the sides there on the Bulletmaster whereas the rods on the #49 hang out in the air. I don't see the value of this extra guidance; the #49 is already plenty rugged and oversized.

Shipping weight was 21 lb for the #49; 22 lb for the Bulletmaster, so maybe the pictures aren't to scale.

The the note under the description of the #49 says that all bullet dies, bottom punches and top punches are same diameter as for Bullet Master. It also says that Lyman bullet dies as well as Herter's can be used in the New Model #49 lubricator and sizer, so it may be that the later issues came with a retaining nut of some sort that could be used with the Lyman dies.

There are also pictures of the Model 47 that attached to the loading press, and the 450, which is obviously the Lyman 450 although the catalog goes to some pains not to mention the name in the description.

[454PB]

I'm reviving this old thread because I found one of these at the local gunshow on Saturday. Today I dug all the old congealed lube out of the reservoir and cleaned it up some. I refilled it with BAC and sized 50 .452" boolits.

There is no model number I can find, the only markings are "Herters Waseca"

It came with a .4515" Herter die, and a .358" Saeco die. There is also an adapter to use the Saeco nose punches, which normally screw in. On the Herter, they are held in place by a thumbscrew. There are some dimensional differences between the Saeco die and the Herter die, including the threads on the bottom of the die that hold it in place. To use the Saeco die, you have to use the Saeco nut. The outside diameter is identical on both dies.

The Herter die has HUGE lube holes, about 1/4". The Saeco die has the smaller size like is seen on Lyman/RCBS sizer dies.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/eddard49/100_1206.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/eddard49/100_1208.jpg

[Pressman]

At the same time I bought my lubrisizer, I bought a press from Herter's. Press took standard shellholders, rather than the notorious proprietory holders. The lubrisizer takes Lyman/RCBS type sizers and punches which are held in place by set screws.

May we speculate that Herters moved from its proprietory designs to more standard parts around 1970?

NO. Herter's sold Lyman 45's under their name for a year. None have been i'd as specificaly as a Herter's. Probably they sold off surplus 45's bought from Lyman after the introduction of the 450.
The next Herter's 45 was a Saeco clone that takes Lyman dies and nose punches, that was followed by a another version that takes Saeco dies and nose punches. Then there is an odd ball unit that fits in the die station of a standard press and uses unique to that tool dies.

There are just two Herter's reloading presses that use snap in shellholders. Both were produced in 1978-80 time period. The Rifleman which looks like a JR2/3/RS press. The other press, see my avitar, is the Model 3 Improved. It looks like a Rockchucker.

I would like to hear from anyone who owns either of these presses.
Ken

[McKee Boykin]

I'm reviving this old thread because I found one of these at the local gunshow on Saturday. Today I dug all the old congealed lube out of the reservoir and cleaned it up some. I refilled it with BAC and sized 50 .452" boolits.

There is no model number I can find, the only markings are "Herters Waseca"

It came with a .4515" Herter die, and a .358" Saeco die. There is also an adapter to use the Saeco nose punches, which normally screw in. On the Herter, they are held in place by a thumbscrew. There are some dimensional differences between the Saeco die and the Herter die, including the threads on the bottom of the die that hold it in place. To use the Saeco die, you have to use the Saeco nut. The outside diameter is identical on both dies.

The Herter die has HUGE lube holes, about 1/4". The Saeco die has the smaller size like is seen on Lyman/RCBS sizer dies.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/eddard49/100_1206.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v16/eddard49/100_1208.jpg


Looks like the Cramer style lubrisizer to me.

[Bad Water Bill]

454 You have the twin to the one I got about 6 months ago. The Lyman dies work just like in the 45 sizer and the top punches work the same as a 45. On my sizer I had to put the spring on the left guide rod or the press would cock at an angle and lock up. On the bottom left side of the casting it reads KE154D1 and a #2 at 90 degree to the other #. This is getting interesting.

[454PB]

No, Bill. The Lyman or RCBS dies are bigger (.700" as opposed to .687" for the Herter/Saeco dies)), don't have a flange at the top (ala Star dies), and don't have threads at the bottom to secure them within the sizer casting. Also, the nose punch is twice the diameter of a Lyman punch. Look closely at the die and nose punch laying along side the sizer in the first picture.

It appears there are several different versions of the basic design. The one I have has characteristics of both Saeco and Star.

I plan to make my own sizer dies (as I do for my Lyman and Star), so I measured the dies while I had the sizer apart. Rather than the extra hassle of threads on the die bottom, I'm going to use a circlip.

[Pressman]

It would look like a Cramer as Saeco bought out Cramer.
Ken