Lyman 55 redo

[cheese1566]

I recently bought this in a very good deal from Bcall a few weeks ago. Purchased at a very good price and intended for a new life. I have never owned or experienced a Lyman 55 and have only Hornady's and RCBS Uniflows. I kinda like the Lyman slide/rotor set up.

Everything was stripped down and sandblasted in my homemade blast cabinet using DuPont Starblast. If it didnt have paint, the parts were reblued using Bownells Oxy Paste. The parts were primed using RustOleum clean metal grey primer and later coated with RustOleum Implement and Machinery Allis Chalmers Orange. All the brass parts were polished up and the knocker cotter pin was replaced with brass. I added a few small washers in there to take some of the "wobble" out of the knocker play. The handle was a solid rivet, but now converted to spin with a brass screw. This a variation for me since I have always used RustOleum Hammered Finsih and never primed. It was a debate, but now happy with the orange. The only thing I couldnt touch was the hopper. This one screws in and is pretty useable, except for the staining. I tried soaking in OxyClean for days but nothing. I even tried Meguiar's Plastic Cleaner and Polish.


How did I do?

[seagiant]

Hi,
FANTASTIC Cheese! Looks better than when it left the factory! Something to be very proud of as you use it! I made a a new hopper and cap for my OLD 55! No knurls you have to move the slide by hand and then lock it down!

[cheese1566]

Where did you find the tubing?

I see MidwayUSA and Lyman sell new ones for about $10, but they are no longer threaded. I read that you have to heat up the tubing and make your own threads by screwing it on the body.

I did find this link in my research. Pretty cool info on dating your Lyman 55...
http://55project.com/

[Pressman]

Soe good news on the web site 55project.com The builder has been on sabbatical for some time. During that time he transferred operational control to the Antique Reloading Tools Collectors Assn. We have kept it going but have not added any additional information. When originally constructed the site was to be kept private and was designed not to show up in search engines. Well, that may be changing as the original author is returning to work on the early Ideal measures. I for one am looking forward to the additional information on the early Ideals.
Ken

[LUBEDUDE]

Ken - those black cast iron Ideal No 5's that read: patent 1892, that are on ebay. Just how old are they roughly? From the 40's, early 50's????

Some of those folks try to allude that they are indeed 1892.

Thanks

[seagiant]

Where did you find the tubing?

I see MidwayUSA and Lyman sell new ones for about $10, but they are no longer threaded. I read that you have to heat up the tubing and make your own threads by screwing it on the body.

I did find this link in my research. Pretty cool info on dating your Lyman 55...
http://55project.com/

Hi,
I dont thread them either its not worth the trouble. I get the tubing in 6' lengths and made a mandrel for my lathe to help support the tube. I have a split peice of PVC pipe to go over the tube to protect it from the chuck jaws. I then cut a rabbet around the end leaving it a few thou over size then keeping it straight up and down "screw" it in allowing it to make it's own threads.

I then unscrew and then apply a little household glue and screw it back on. Never had any problems and its good to go!

[44Vaquero]

Nice work cheese! She will be good to go for another 60 years!

[Pressman]

Lubedude, the #5 was made from 1903 till 1946/7 when it was replaced with the #55. The early ones are marked New Haven while those made after 1925 are marked Middlefield as are the eBay ones pictured above. Other than the address change there are no variations. A Micrometer slide model was introduced in 1935 but it was never real popular due to the design of the micrometer. Occasionally there will be a wood knob version show up. When and where it fits is still a mystery.
Ken

I just found this on eBay, it is NOT mine. I am posting it as a nice example of the #5 Micrometer measure.
Ken
http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-ANTI...item1e7d2e8e79

[cheese1566]

I forgot to mention...I didn't sandblast the internals of the body or the fitted areas of the rotor.

[Green Frog]

I've tried about everything from the Ideal #1 through the latest #55s and what I like the most by far is the old #5 with micrometer adjust like the one Ken showed us from flea-Bay. The early 55s had the same slide-type adjustment as the original #1 and #5 and were positive but a little slow to adjust. I never have gotten all that comfortable with the current style of 55 pseudo-micrometer adjust, but it's only been around for about 60 years, so I'm still willing to give it a chance. Of course the Culver conversion was developed for the 55 (although some have showed up on 5s) and it led to what many regard as the ultimate powder measure, the currently produced Harrell measures... but that's for another thread.

Froggie

[LUBEDUDE]

Thank you Ken, that was great information.

Those Powder Measures pictured are mine. When I wrote the text I was not going to post a pic. That's why I referenced ebay. Later, I added the pics. The one on the left is a New Haven.

Froggie, thank you for your information as well.

[LUBEDUDE]

Cheese, to get back to your Powder Measure; man, it looks great! My hat is off to you.

Thanks for sharing

[John Boy]

Cheese - it's real pretty and will drop accurate charges also. I reload black powder 22LR's with my #5. The convex cut at the bottom of the drop tube fits perfectly over the mouth of the case. Every time I crank the handle - 4.5gr of Swiss Null B drops exactly into the case. The #5 is more accurate than my B&M and O'haus when it comes to small powder charges

[BCall]

Very nice cheese! Buffalo arms has nice large brass hoppers that are threaded, but I think they might cost more than the measure did! But it would look good on it.

[Rod B]

Excellent work, that Lyman 55 should last for at least another life time.

[kd185]

nice work cheese
you should be proud of your finished product

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I had a chance to buy a #5 sometime in the late 1960s for five bucks. I didn't because it was missing the lid on the powder reservoir. I know, I was stupid. I looked for a #6 for a long time but never found one for sale. A friend had one but I don't know what happened to it when he passed. The # 6 had two powder chambers for duplex loading, that is to say a small charge of smokeless and a larger charge of black. I currently have six # 55s but rarely use one. They are too much trouble to adjust, at least for me.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

My bad manners are showing. I forgot to say chesse1566, you did a great job restoring the #55 you aquired. There is a store in San Bernardino that sells just about any size clear plastic tubing you might require and it is much thicker than is found on powder measures from the factory. I don't remember their name but they may even sell on line. When I had a lathe I made some out of copper tubing and I even did one using PVC pipe.

[ROGER4314]

Nice work! I repainted one of my old Lyman 55's but used gloss black. It came out pretty well. The 55 is my favorite powder measure!

Flash