Notes: 45 ACP and 38 Spl. sizing in 310 tool die

[Char-Gar]

My most recent reloading toy is a boxed set of Lyman 310 handles and dies for the 45 ACP round. I take great pleasure in these old tools and now have them in 38 Special, 45 ACP and 30-40 Krag three of my favorite rounds. I will probably pickup a 30-06 set to round things out. These would be my all time favorite 2 handgun and 2 rifles rounds that make up 95% of my shooting.

These dies neck size only and I wondered if cases sized in this 45 ACP die would chamber in a number of autopistols and sixguns. I had a good collection of multiple fired and once fired cases. They are a mix of USGI and commercial brass of various makes that have been fired in a half dozen handguns. This also included some range pick up brass.

Long and short of it, all cases (with one exception) after a trip through the 310 die chambered flawlessly in four handguns (2 auto and 2 sixgun). Even some hot factory Super-Vel once fired cases.

The only exception was some USGI cases, that I fired in a full Auto Thompson SMG. These required a trip through the RCBS FL size die before they would chamber.

In the future, I most likely will size the cases in the said RCBS FL sizer, but it nice to know it is not necessary, should I want to size in the 310 tool.

The 38 Special cases and the 310 tool are a little different and whether or not you need to FL resize depends on the case and the load.

The 38 Special wadcutter brass has a thinner case toward the head. Target loads (2.7/BE don't need to be FL sized for use in any of my handguns. Bump the load up to 3.5/BE and they will chamber with just neck sizing in all but one of my dozen or so sixguns.

Regular 38 Special brass only need neck sizing with the above loads in any of my sixguns.

Boost the pressures up to 34/44 pressures and you had better FL size everything for every handgun.

One of the neat things about these old Lyman/Ideal 310 handgun dies is their brass expanding dies are just right for softer cast bullets at moderate. They are not like current production dies that only expand for hard jacketed bullets. The diamters are;

45 ACP - .452
45 Colt - .454
38 Spl. - .358
357 M. - .357
44 Spl. - .429

Probably not to many folks do these sort of things, but if case you are wondering, this is my experience to date.

[Green Frog]

Thanks for this posting, Char-Gar. It may be helpful to insert here that if you do find what appears to be a full length sizer for pistol caliber cartridges, it was meant for use not with the tong tool but with the old TruLine Jr press. If you wanted to full length size cases to load in the 310 tool, the original way was to use a push-through die (hammer the shell in, then punch it back out with the rod that was supplied.) These rifle caliber sizing dies show up often on flea-Bay, but the pistol calibers not so often.

Froggie

[Char-Gar]

I have some of the old push in Lyman Shell Resizers in a number of calibers, including 38 Special, 44 Special and 45 ACP.

I use a bench vise to push the shell in and punch it out again. It isn't not near as quick as a press mounted full length sizing die, but the results are the same.

[Green Frog]

I''m looking for the 32 S&W, 38 S&W, and 357 Mag push in sizers. I was taking a machine shop course at my local community college and made a small arbor press that was dedicated to these push through dies... works pretty good, too! ;)

Froggie