New (to me) Lyman 45 - worth hanging on to?

[SlimTim]

Stopped at an estate sale on the way back from a fun show that had listed a reloading press in their estatesales.com listing. Turned out to be a lot consisting of a Lyman 55 powder measure, a Lyman Tru-Line JR. and a Lyman 45 Lubesizer. Had two 55's already, and a Tru-Line Jr., but no lubesizer of any kind. Offered $60 and the seller bit, so now I have a Lyman 45 Lubesizer (and three 55's, and 2 Tru-Line Jrs.)

I note that the Lyman 45 and 450 Lubesizers seem to have more press here, is there a thread that compares the 3 or notes the differences between them? Is the 45 lacking in features enough that I should keep looking for a newer model? TIA for any assistance.

SlimTim

[462]

I have a 45 and a 4500. The 4500 (and the 450) have a more robust linkage design, but the 45 has done everything asked of it. Right off, I replaced the original brass pressure nut with the type that the 4500 uses. It's a direct replacement, and available from Lyman.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I have owned a few of both. They are both good.
If they are functional and you don't abuse either, you'll be fine.
Now with that said....

The ergonomics of the handle could be improved on both of them, more so with the 45.
Although Lyman has an upgrade for the 450 to liken it to the new 4500, that should help alot.

Also, from my limited experience and the posts of other owners here,
the 45 seems to be better quality in the Iron casting and machining of the chassis. But has weaker weak points.

The Nut retention of the die is an improvement on the 450 over the 45's set screw...Sort of,
while it helps with allignment, it is a royal pain if you cross the threads, which is easy to do.
Jon

[Bret4207]

I prefer my 45 to my 450. It's a fine sizer as long as you don't horse it. It's great for those times you're only sizing half a thou or less. The handle will bust before anything else if you turn Hulk on it.

[SlimTim]

Thanks for the skinny on the 45, sounds like it's suitable to begin on, and possibly to use for a long time as well.

SlimTim

[Rrusse11]

I have a 45 and a 4500. The 4500 (and the 450) have a more robust linkage design, but the 45 has done everything asked of it. Right off, I replaced the original brass pressure nut with the type that the 4500 uses. It's a direct replacement, and available from Lyman.

462,
We're talking part #2? I've just ventured in to the world of lubrising,
and picked up 2 of the early Ideal sizers, and have a #45 on loan. The earlier Ideals have a slip fit brass washer which is allowing leakage back up the reservoir under pressure. The #45 pressure nut with 2 O rings fits the original, and is a big improvement. I'll order 2 of the "new & improved" nuts.
I've got a food warmer lamp as the heat unit, courtesy of Ebay, though for reasons I've yet to figure out, boolits seem to stick more in the die on the return/up stroke when the units gets warmed up.
Slowly picking up an assortment of dies, and scored a lot of a dozen nose punches which should keep me covered on that front.
Sizing with one of these is a lot quicker and cleaner than TL'ing or pan,
though the Lee push through dies certainly still have their place.
Lots of learning curve still going on, and getting the lube itself tuned
for ease of use will take some practice.
My biggest issue at the moment is the bottom of the pressure screw leaking, the Ideals and their inadequate mounting base is probelematical. I'm going to try an O ring or possibly some teflon tape and some kind of a plate on the bottom.
Do any of the members here make the dies? I see that the Saecos are well supplied, but no mention of the Lyman/RCBS type.
Cheers,
R*2

[largom]

I have a 45, several 450's and a 4500. They all work good when used as designed for. They are not swage presses! If you try to resize too much at one time something will break. My old 45 still works as well as my newer sizers.

Larry

[462]

Rrusse11,
I don't know the part number, but, yes, the pressure nut is the part with the brass ring (original) or the one with the two O-rings (improved and current version).

As long as the size is non-production, Buckshot makes excellent Lyman/RCBS dies.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

R*2,
I hope you haven't ordered your pressure nuts for your
Ideal/lyman #1 lubsizers yet, assuming that's what you're talking about.

If the pressure screw has a square top for the wrench to fit as opposed
to the Hex top of the 45...I believe they have a different thread pitch.
If you're set on replacing the pressure nut with brass sleeve, you'll also have
to also replace the pressure screw...AND I am only assuming that will
work, CUZ, I am not sure, I have never tried a modern "Hex" pressure
screw in either of the two Ideal/Lyman #1 sizers I have had.

Personally, I kind of like the brass sleeved pressure nut, it tells
me when I'm applying too much pressure and/or need to adjust the heat.
For me, they don't leak when everything is right.
Jon


462,
We're talking part #2? I've just ventured in to the world of lubrising,
and picked up 2 of the early Ideal sizers, and have a #45 on loan. The earlier Ideals have a slip fit brass washer which is allowing leakage back up the reservoir under pressure. The #45 pressure nut with 2 O rings fits the original, and is a big improvement. I'll order 2 of the "new & improved" nuts.
I've got a food warmer lamp as the heat unit, courtesy of Ebay, though for reasons I've yet to figure out, boolits seem to stick more in the die on the return/up stroke when the units gets warmed up.
Slowly picking up an assortment of dies, and scored a lot of a dozen nose punches which should keep me covered on that front.
Sizing with one of these is a lot quicker and cleaner than TL'ing or pan,
though the Lee push through dies certainly still have their place.
Lots of learning curve still going on, and getting the lube itself tuned
for ease of use will take some practice.
My biggest issue at the moment is the bottom of the pressure screw leaking, the Ideals and their inadequate mounting base is probelematical. I'm going to try an O ring or possibly some teflon tape and some kind of a plate on the bottom.
Do any of the members here make the dies? I see that the Saecos are well supplied, but no mention of the Lyman/RCBS type.
Cheers,
R*2

[Rrusse11]

Gentelemen,
Thanks for the responses, much appreciated. One of my Ideals has the square top, the other the hex. The pressure nut with 2 O rings from my Lyman 45 fits the pressure screw spindle of the hex Ideal, haven't tried it on the other yet.
Bubba the Brazer has had a go at one of the Ideals where the reservoir joins the base. Messy, but effective in that it doesn't leak there anyway. The other Ideal, under pressure, starts spitting a thin ribbon of lube out the sides of the tube,,,, someone musta' really wound it up to rupture the walls.
I supect my lube is a bit hard, and that I'm not getting the heat to the right place for best flow when the boolit is in the die. The overhead heat lamp is getting the reservoir warmed up, but not the base holding the die.
Good to hear that Buckshot is doing the dies, I've been managing to get
them on the usual online auction venues for $15-20 shipped, so I can't complain.
Gas checks are another adventure, I have managed to use a .406 die to install what I'm assuming is a 44 cal Ideal or Lyman thin gilded check on a .402-3" plain base boolit for a 38-40 USRA Model 92 TD. The die gets the check on the base, heel first, and then a nose first trip through a .401 Lee sizer die gets me a GC'ed boolit.
Using the Lee dies to get within a thou over with GC installed is something else to try, sizing my waterquenched hard alloy is hard work for these elderly machines. Nothing broke yet but.
Lots of experimenting still in store, but I'm liking the ability to get the lube I want where I want it, with it mostly in control.
Keep the suggestions coming please!
Cheers,
R*2

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I supect my lube is a bit hard, and that I'm not getting the heat to the right place for best flow when the boolit is in the die. The overhead heat lamp is getting the reservoir warmed up, but not the base holding the die.


R*2,
another little tip is to heat the boolits,
I mount my lubesizer on a steel plate,
then I heat the steel plate, currently with
a magnetic 200W engine block heater.
but I plan on using an old electric clothes Iron
with a built in thermostat.
Anyway, I made the steel plate over size
and that is where I pile the boolits to be sized,
they get warm to the touch. That helps
the lube, not only flow through the grooves
better, But I believe it helps lube adhesion to the boolit.
It also seems to help a somewhat tacky lube to be less tacky,
obviously not while the boolits are still warm, they are actually
more tacky then, but once the boolit cools, the lube seems to develop
a skin that is less tacky then lubing without heat.
Jon

PS, I'm not sure where you're located, but I am in Minnesota,
and the room where I use the lubesizer is 60º or colder during
8 months of the year. So the boolits are fairly cold. Now
if your farther south, you may not have a need to heat stuff
like I am doing...although you mention using a hard lube,
then heat may be your friend.

[Rrusse11]

Jon,
The base plate is on my list of further improvements. I was thinking along the lines of 1/4" aluminum if I can find a piece, steel if not. With the O ring pressure nut on one of the Ideals, it took minimal heat however to get a hunnert 44 cal boolits through the die. Adjusting the depth of stroke so that I'm sizing only just as far as the lube groove, and a .431 die just in, boolits are running ~.432-3", made the operation easier.
Juggling all the variables is simply going to be an evolving technique. I'm getting there! Thanks to all again.
Cheers,
R*2

[Ziptar]

YES! Hang onto it!

You can order the new style pressure nut with dual o rings here: http://www.lymanproducts.com/store/page151.html

You want part # 2) "Pressure Nut (with two o-rings) formerly 2990146"

When I ordered one for my Lyman 45 I ordered the pressure screw (Part #9) also as I was told the threads were different.

Turns out not only that I didn't need it but,it didn't fit the reservoir cap (too fat) and the threads just barely cleared the top of the reservoir.

Its been working just fine with the original pressure screw for me.

I mounted mine to a Midway Lube Heater. I drilled and tapped the aluminum baseplate with four 10-24 holes. Works great!

I also like using the single hole RCBS dies in mine instead of the Lyman multi hole dies, it's less messy. I did just read in another thread though that RCBS dies don't fit the 45.

[Rrusse11]

Zip,
I'm getting one of my Ideals tuned up, and the threads on the 3 spindles I have are all identical. I'm liking the sideways handle, and the alignment of top punch and die seems to be better than the Lyman 45. One trick/wrinkle I've come up with is the lube. No mould to create a hollow core tube, just heat in the microwave till liquid and pour in to the reservoir. Last time around I added ~10% mineral turps to the hot mix, shook vigorously in the jam jar I've got it in to disperse thoroughly, and then pour into the reservoir.
The lube is now soft enough for ez extrusion into the die without needing heat, yet after a couple of hours the solvent has flashed off leaving a relatively hard band of lube firmly in place. There is a bit of shrinkage, but it appears to be more than enough for shooting purposes and doesn't want to rub off when jumbled in the plastic bin. Overall more control and cleaner and neater. Hurrah!
The Ideal with the split tube may turn into the parts donor. There's one up for auction now with a broken handle, see if I can't get that cheap.
Cheers all!
R*2

[Chicken Thief]

@ SlimTim
If thet Tru-Line Junior is going to collect dust then i might shoot you an offer.
Rare as hens teeth this side of the pond.

[Reload3006]

I'm with Bret I prefer my 45 to my 4500

[EMC45]

462,
We're talking part #2? I've just ventured in to the world of lubrising,
and picked up 2 of the early Ideal sizers, and have a #45 on loan. The earlier Ideals have a slip fit brass washer which is allowing leakage back up the reservoir under pressure. The #45 pressure nut with 2 O rings fits the original, and is a big improvement. I'll order 2 of the "new & improved" nuts.
I've got a food warmer lamp as the heat unit, courtesy of Ebay, though for reasons I've yet to figure out, boolits seem to stick more in the die on the return/up stroke when the units gets warmed up.
Slowly picking up an assortment of dies, and scored a lot of a dozen nose punches which should keep me covered on that front.
Sizing with one of these is a lot quicker and cleaner than TL'ing or pan,
though the Lee push through dies certainly still have their place.
Lots of learning curve still going on, and getting the lube itself tuned
for ease of use will take some practice.
My biggest issue at the moment is the bottom of the pressure screw leaking, the Ideals and their inadequate mounting base is probelematical. I'm going to try an O ring or possibly some teflon tape and some kind of a plate on the bottom.
Do any of the members here make the dies? I see that the Saecos are well supplied, but no mention of the Lyman/RCBS type.
Cheers,
R*2



I have a 45 and have had this same problem. I tried a small o ring which twisted and would not stay put. I also tried a thin strip of calf skin. Both leaked badly. I then, as a last ditch effort tried the teflon tape (great minds think alike, as this is the first time reading this post). It leaked as well. I had filed the 2 lugs off the pressure nut to wrap the calfskin on, so the brass ring would not stay on any longer. Found out the hard way and had to disassemble the 45 and extract the ring out of the bottom of the lube reservior. I was at a total loss as to what to do, being that I didn't want to buy a new 4500 nut to make this work............Desperation got the best of me.......I took a bolt and cut the head off of it. I then jammed a nut all the way to the shoulder of the bolt. I took the pressure nut and dropped it onto the threaded portion of the bolt and ran another nut down on it to hold it in place (had to rob it from my press off the bench, but put it back). I then took the headless bolt, which has become my jig for the pressure nut, and chucked it in my drill. Cinched up the drill in the Wilton vice (gently) and grabbed my rat tail bastard file. I locked the trigger on the drill and got to work. I cut a circular groove right under the top ledge of the nut and just eye balled it for depth. Was careful to not stand in front of the file as, to not catch it in the guts if it grabbed. Once I felt it was to the "correct" depth I headed to ACE and got a #17 o ring. It was the first one I picked up too! It snapped on like a dream and 74 cents later I was in business. I got home and screwed it on and voila!! Works PERFECTLY!! I use a semi soft lube that I concoct from Moly grease and Beeswax/parrafin along with some broken crayons from the kids. Lubed a good bit of .38s this morning and not a hint of leakage. I keep a good bit of pressure on the nut when lubing, and still no leaking.

[Rrusse11]

EMC,
Ahhh, a man after my own heart. I've used a drill in lieu of a lathe more than once. Congrats on your successfull repair!
The go to Ideal sizer, with the addition of a spring, a little annealing at one end with the gas stove to create a hook, and I've got a power return.
It's actually enough snap when handle is realised at the bottom of the stroke, to start a boolit out of the die. A little more of a push and I've got
the ram still 1/4" below the top, perfect for dropping in the next candidate with minimal alignment issues.
I've still got leakage under the end of the pressure spindle in the base.
Haven't got a rountuit yet on a base plate, but the boolits are coming out nicely lubed and sized with my turps thinned lube. Overnight drying and no problems handling/loading.
Just back from the cornfield/range where I've been working up loads for a "new" Marlin 1894CB, (24" oct barrel) in 44Mag. Got 2 boolits starting to drive tacks, a plain base 240gr RF that with 11.6 gr of Herco is cutting cloverleafs at 40yds, and a Saeco checked RF over 23gr of LilGun is popping claybirds at 275yds, when I can walk them in a bit. I suspect that the "popgun" load is ~1200fps, very pleasant to shoot, the hunting load is prolly in the neighborhood of 1800fps.
The sizer is at .431, and today's efforts were both air cooled WW + some tin and a handfull of linotype. Both loaded loooong, the checked boolit is at 1.725" COAL and took some tweaking to get to feed, but well worth the effort with the way it's reaching out.
Who says 44Mag won't shoot in an 1894!
Cheers gents,
R*2