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Have been casting bullets for a while now but recently acquired a Lyman 4500 lubesizer and am in the market for dies suitable to the loads I use.
In looking at numerous dies on fleebay, I've noticed a variety of the arrangement of the holes for lube flow in the die body. Are there any pluses or minuses to these different arrangements of holes?
I've noticed that Lyman dies have 2 rows of holes, RCBS one row. Didn't use a heater for a long time, I thought I got better, faster, fill with two rows. Even using a heater now, I still buy Lyman sizer dies, more is better - right ?
newer will have an "O" ring around the top. I think you will foind the Lyman holes rows are stagered a bit. Sometimes you may want to plug one up. What sizes are you looking for?
I reload 38/357, .44, 9mm, 45 LC, .308 Win, 30-30 WCF, 30-06, 270 Win, 300 Wthby Mag. I have slugged some of my barrels but not all so I need to slug the ones I'm not sure about before I buy dies.
I use a lyman 45, I prefer the old style dies with no O-ring.
some of those old dies have 12 holes, some have 16 holes.
I usually plug the top row and plug the bottom row...but it depends on the boolit's lube grooves.
DickelDawg,
I have an old 450 and use both Lyman & RCBS dies in it,
I don't see any difference. I have even built some myself.
I do all my lubing at room temp, no heater.
AntiqueSledMan
Lyman marks their dies on the end so you can see what size you have in the sizer. RCBS is on the periphery of the die.
Memory test! Did I size 6.5 or 7mm last? Lyman is more convenient. If you can read the numbers ��
I can't be the only one with a magnifying glass on the bench.
I was wondering the same thing awhile back.
I have mostly Lyman sizing dies. They have 4 holes in a row that are bored straight thru.
My RCBS sizing dies are different. They have 4 holes at the same depth 90 degrees from each other and a groove cut inside the die connecting all the holes. This allows lube to surround the bullet.
I'm not sure which design is better. I usually buy Lyman dies because they are usually cheaper. I can see where the Lyman die could better for bullets with multiple lube grooves. Of course multiple lube grooves have gone out of favor for pistol bullets. The RCBS design should fill a single lube groove faster because there is more lube available at the one depth thru 4 holes.
Thank you for the info. I'm certainly on the beginning of the learning curve for lubesizers.
I like the Lyman dies with 2 or 4 rows of 4 holes for lubing the long 4 grease groove BPCR bullets.