Tru-Line Jr

[Pressman]

The holy grail of Tru-Lins Jr presses is to find one with a turret threaded for Lyman's large dies, the .652"x30 dies used for the 348 Win, 50-70 US and some 45-70 calibers.

I have heard rumors that they existed, though no one that I know of had ever seen one.

The nice lady from the post office dropped by today with a box that had a new old stock turret, still packed in its original mailing box from Lyman, with just such a turret.
To say I am happy is putting it mildly.
To the naked eye you cannot discern the difference in size between the .652" die and the .607" inch die, till you try to fit it to the press, then the smaller die just drops in the hole.

Ken

[Green Frog]

Congratulations, Ken! I have to admit that I had never heard of such a thing until you just mentioned it. Can you give us any kind of history, such as when it was made, early vs late presses, etc, etc? I'll have to say up front that this is probably not one I'll be seeking very vigorously, since I've never even owned any of the "oversized" dies for the 310/TL Jr lines of reloading equipment. I wonder if our friend the Brass Magnet knows about this turret?

BTW, just to round out the information here, I have a couple of sets of dies for the 45-70 that were made in the standard .607" size, one for the TL Jr and the other for a (standard) tong tool. There can't have been very many of these large hole turrets needed, so I can't imagine many of them would have been made.

Froggie

[Pressman]

Mr Frog Person Sir, I had heard rumors that they existed only. Considering the cartridges they were made for it was early. The postage label on the box is unreadable so I cannot date it exactly. But it is hand written. That indicates to me about 1947/50.

I have a message in to Tom at Lyman on the cutaway dies, I suppose I will have to ask about this also.

[Green Frog]

Thanks, Mr Pressman! When I first started acquiring 310/TL Jr stuff, I had no earthly idea of the complexity of their history. Now, after over 40 years of casually observing I’m just starting to see what I don’t know! I’d love to see a printed reference to these oddities and learn whether Lyman actually sold presses so equipped or just offered add-on turrets like yours. In the words of the great Sherlock Holmes, “Come Watson, the game is afoot!”

Froggie

[Pressman]

I just took pictures of it for the next Journal, Getting upclose and personal with a macro lens I can see the postage date is Jan 19, 1960. Making it much newer than I thought. However I also have a set of 348 Win dies from that same time period so it makes sense.

[Green Frog]

Of course having the extra “ooomph” of the later TL Jr’s Enhanced leverage wouldn’t have been a bad thing. Just sayin’ here...

Froggie

[too many things]

do you have the dies?

[Pressman]

I have a set of 348 dies from about 1960. I would like to find a set of 50-70 dies, with their box someday.

[Green Frog]

I have a set of 348 dies from about 1960. I would like to find a set of 50-70 dies, with their box someday.

And I’d like to find a unicorn, saddle broke for my nieces to ride. How many 50-70 die sets do you think were actually made? How about the 45-70s? Since we know the latter were also made in “standard” size, I’m guessing there wouldn’t have been very many of them...

Froggie

[smithnframe]

I had one that I inherited from my father that I sold to a guy in Houston a few years ago.

[maxreloader]

Well now... I have probably had 25-30 of them tru-lines pass through my hands in the last 10 years. Both straight linkage and compound. I will now pay more attention. Pressman, if you post a pic of the dies and/or original boxes I will keep one eye open at all times for them. I am guessing that the turret you speak of was on the later, compound linkage press?

[Pressman]

Maxrelaoder, it is new. There is a mark on it that shows it may have been on a press but never used. The dies are in a typical Lyman box from the early 60's. There is nothing marked on them that they won't fit a 310 or normal Tru-Line Jr.
The older catalogs and Handbooks don't have specific die/caliber lists. I found one in the 1970 catalog that shows the 348 Win as "special" with no other explanation.
Other than the 348 dies I have an older hand tool with 50 caliber dies, one die, the other is missing.

[Catshooter]

Huh! Never thought of that one.

Now I suppose you'll be needing a turret that takes the smallest size die!


Cat

[Green Frog]

Just to muddy the waters a little more, I’ve encountered a couple of old Ideal tools in 25-20 SS with smaller diameter dies. I wonder whether Lyman ever bored a TL Jr turret with undersized holes. That would be a gold plated flying unicorn sneezing rainbows!

Froggie

[Pressman]

Mr. Frog Person, those are the dies Catshooter was refering to. I would say no as those dies were used 100 years ago and never followed into the modern post war era. I would have to dig through the older handbooks to determine when the tools they were use in were dropped. I m going to say 1930 t the very latest.

[Pressman]

Digging around in the 310 collection I found 2 348 sets with handles, 1 45-70 set with aluminum handles and 50-110 set with steel handles along with 2 steel handles marked Special or Spec. They take the Special dies. Lyman listed the 348 and large dies a special in their catalog.

[SSGOldfart]

I had one that I inherited from my father that I sold to a guy in Houston a few years ago.

Yep I think I still have that one,I have a. Turret that's cut for standard 7/8x14 dies,biggest problem is shell holders.I was going to make a adaptor to use everyday shell holders,just one project that didn't get off the ground.

[maxreloader]

I was at a local cartridge collector show today and a guy walked up to me with a 25-20 hand tool... I said "ah, a 25-20" and before I could get it out he barked... "NO, that's a 25-20 SS" (single-shot). I was turned-off by his negative attitude so I didnt even ask the price. I also passed up on a set of 41 mag stubby dies in original box for $10. BUT... I did spend quite a few bucks on the plethora of other deals that were there. It was the 1st annual show. I'll be going next year for sure. If you are a local to NH, it was Scott's first cartridge / reloading show at the Bektash hall in Concord. Worth the price of admission... AND THEN SOME!

[Green Frog]

Digging around in the 310 collection I found 2 348 sets with handles, 1 45-70 set with aluminum handles and 50-110 set with steel handles along with 2 steel handles marked Special or Spec. They take the Special dies. Lyman listed the 348 and large dies a special in their catalog.

So they made aluminum handles for the larger diameter dies? Now I’m really confused. If you have a set of steel “Special” handles, I’m not too surprised, and 50-110 would make sense if they were going to load something that big. I’d be curious to know the date of a catalog having a listing for any such Special dies and handles.

Froggie

[Pressman]

Oops, I forgot to say the catalog is 1970. Lyman is real big on not providing a list of available calibers in their catalogs or Handbooks. The early 1950's catalog, not the Handbook, is focused on sights and scopes, reloading tool get a brief mention in two pages near the back page. In catalog marketing the most popular items always go up front, first seen.

1970 was the first reference I have found to Special dies. I need to keep digging in an attempt to determine the end date.