Lyman 310 for 455... Anyone heard of this before?

Some time ago, a very good friend passed on a bag of .455 Webley loading gear to me when he found out I was starting to shoot that caliber. Among the grimy Bell cases and some tarnished original rounds was a Lyman 310 tool stamped 455 on the side with a worn nickel finish to it. From what elementary research I have been able to do, there seems to be very little record of these. Hopefully someone here can provide more info! I wish I had a pic however I'm a thousand km away and will be for a while. Thanks in advance.

Green frog or Pressman are the historians among us.
Perhaps they will chime in.
Leo

I assume the handle has the hole and pin for priming the case but does it also have either a pivoting hook or sliding spring steel piece to trap the case head to keep it from trying to go through the hole ? # 3 handles had neither one but #10's had one or the other with the hook being the earlier ones . I don't think the 310 handle was plated but could be wrong . The 310 handles I have are all blued with most turning a plumb color . The 38-44 set of 310 handles I just got shows that it was originally blue but half or more has turned plumb like the older Ruger flattop's . As far as caliber goes they pretty much made them for anything that went bang , would think the .455 would have been reasonably popular .

Eddie

According to my accumulated 310 die listing, there was a 310 die set for the 455 Mk II, labeled 154. I've never actually seen one, but I'm going to guess that might be what you have there. Perhaps someone more familiar than I with the various iterations of the British military rounds can tell you which Marks would work with this neck-size only set of dies.

Froggie

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Originally Posted by Eddie Southgate

I assume the handle has the hole and pin for priming the case but does it also have either a pivoting hook or sliding spring steel piece to trap the case head to keep it from trying to go through the hole ? # 3 handles had neither one but #10's had one or the other with the hook being the earlier ones . I don't think the 310 handle was plated but could be wrong . The 310 handles I have are all blued with most turning a plumb color . The 38-44 set of 310 handles I just got shows that it was originally blue but half or more has turned plumb like the older Ruger flattop's . As far as caliber goes they pretty much made them for anything that went bang , would think the .455 would have been reasonably popular .

Eddie

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You are correct, it does have the hole and pin. It uses a pivoting hook for retention. What time frame would that put this into?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Green Frog

According to my accumulated 310 die listing, there was a 310 die set for the 455 Mk II, labeled 154. I've never actually seen one, but I'm going to guess that might be what you have there. Perhaps someone more familiar than I with the various iterations of the British military rounds can tell you which Marks would work with this neck-size only set of dies.

Froggie

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Thank you both for the info!

I think I have a nickle plated tool somewhere in my stash of 310 stuff

455 Webley MkII was listed for the No.3 tool beginning in 1927. It remained in the list of available cartridges with the change to the 310 tool, but disappeared from lists after 1949.

Jim

Jim, thanks for looking that up.

What little I have been able to find is the nickel plating was replaced by the plum blue finish about 1936/7. Along about the time the #10 got the sliding latch case holder. Do you have any more information on that??

Ken

Pressman, what little I've been able to piece together runs something like this:

The No.10 tool with sliding plate priming was introduced in Handbook No.32 (1936), at which time No.3 and No.10 tools were still nickel finished, and No.4 and No.6 tools were still catalogued.

Handbook No.33 (1939) states No.4 and No.6 tools had been discontinued, with limited stock remaining. This appears to be the last appearance of these tool in handbook pages, although price lists dated 1941 continue to show these tools being available.

Adding to the above info that No.3 and No.10 tools exist in both nickel and plum finish, and not being aware of No.4 or No.6 tools with plum finish (does such a thing exist??), I have always associated... guessed, inferred, assumed... the change of finish from nickel to plum with the discontinuance of the No.4 and No.6 tools... sometime around 1938 or 1939.

Purely guesswork on my part, but it seems the best fit for the info I have.

Jim

Added the latch around 1900 according to what I can find , the hook . Changed to the sliding latch during or just after 1936 . Again this is what I have read and not something I know for an absolute certainty . I do not doubt the source . Click on #10 in his list for what you have but look at everything else while you are at it .

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