.311 Lyman 310 expander puzzle

[Char-Gar]

In my strange and weird obsession with Lyman 310 tool, I have accumulated three .311 expanders, one screwed into a 303 Brit die body and the other two in 30-40 die bodies. However they are not the same.

Note how short the expander is in the middle plug and how the numbers are hand stamped one by one while the other two longer expanders have the numbers gang stamped.

Any guesses as to the difference. I have a theory, but it is just a theory with no facts to back it up.

[Ben]

Char-Gar


I feel you addiction.....I too like the 310 hand tools.

As to why, I certainly don't know other than to say that as we all know, Lyman wasn't the least bit shy about changing horses out in the middle of the stream ( in more than one category at Lyman ).

Just a question,....Could the middle one ( the shorter one ) be for the 32/20 or 32 S & W Long ?

Ben

[Char-Gar]

Ben...Lyman lists .311 as the cast bullet expander for both the 32-20 and 30 Luger. I suspect that shorter .311 plug got screwed into a Krag body at some point in time. It was an orphan die when it came to live with me. No telling what kind of trauma it suffered before finding respite here.

[Ben]

I've always wished things like this could talk, I'd like to sit and listen to their story. In a lot of cases, I'm betting it would be fairly interesting.

Ben

By the way, I'm looking for a nice set of 8 X 57 mm 310 dies right now ! !

[Wayne Smith]

Ben, I think BrassMagnet now has two sets! He sent me a list of what he had to trade and I had already sent him a set of 8x57 dies. Lo and behold, on his list separately was a full set of 8x57 dies listed by number. He should have two, if he can find them.

[Ben]

Wayne,

I've sent him a PM.

Thanks,
Ben

[Green Frog]

As has been opined previously, this is likely a function of date of manufacture rather than application... they seemed to make those kinds of changes at irregular intervals and with unpredictable reasons. JMHO, of course!

Froggie

[Pavogrande]

IMO the shorty is for the 32acp --
My 32 "pistol" set is the same length but .313 --

[Green Frog]

IMO the shorty is for the 32acp --
My 32 "pistol" set is the same length but .313 --

Yep, that could be as well, although the 3 expanders I have that were in factory boxes marked for 32 S&W & S&W L are (IIRC) all 3 slightly different. One of the sets is for a pre-War #3 tool, one for a boxed set of 310 dies, and one for a boxed set of TruLine Jr dies, so pick a theory and figure it out for yourself!

Froggie

[Char-Gar]

To be certain, Lyman has had different notions what 310 expanders should look like over the years. But the short reach of my expander in question vis-a-vi the longer reach of the others, forces me to think it was for a handgun round, where the longer expander would bottom out, before the second step of the expander was reached.

[jrmartin1964]

The shorter expander is virtually identical to the one in my set of .30 Luger dies. Just my opinion, but I would agree that the shorter expander would have originally been intended for pistol cartridges, with the longer ones being for rifle cartridges and their correspondingly longer necks.

[SSGOldfart]

[QUOTE=jrmartin1964;2677927]The shorter expander is virtually identical to the one in my set of .30 Luger dies. Just my opinion, but I would agree that the shorter expander would have originally been intended for pistol cartridges, with the longer ones being for rifle cartridges and their correspondingly longer necks.[/QUOTE
Hummm

yep I agree but I was wrong once back in '68 I think

[SSGOldfart]

So who is our 310 tool guru on the forum? BrassMagnet maybe??

[3006guns]

The shorter expanders are for handgun cartridges and won't always work on a long neck rifle case. I found this out after an Ebay purchase of a .311 expander and tried to use it for 7.7 Jap. It only expanded about 2/3 of the neck before bottoming out and that's when I realized that it was probably for a .32 auto round. At some point, I think Lyman decided to make all the expander plugs the same length so as to be interchangeable but there are still thousands of the short plugs out there.

[Ben]

So who is our 310 tool guru on the forum? BrassMagnet maybe??

I had a good talk with BrassMagnet recently, he is a " wizard " with his knowledge of 310 items.

Ben