Lyman? What is it?

[Wayne Smith]

I have a hand sizing die (pound die) that appears to be unmarked. It is .796" in height and sizes a 9mmMak (9mm cut off) case to an internal mouth diameter of .319" - .3195" - yeah, my caliper shows more than it can measure.

It is a nice straight taper.

Might this be for the 32ACP?

[Mk42gunner]

That's about .010" too big for most of the commonly available American .32 cartridges.

Robert

[Wayne Smith]

My case did not go all the way to the end of the die. At that taper another .010 would be easy. Does the 32ACP have essentially the same base diameter as the 9mm?

[I'll Make Mine]

No, the .32 ACP is semi-rimmed and diameter ahead of the extraction groove is nominally .338" -- if that die accepts a 9 mm size case (.380 mouth) and sizes it down to .319 inside, it's probably made for case forming -- something along the lines of .35 down to 8 mm (or, if there's a little more taper, perhaps for making 7.65 Mauser from 9 mm Mauser or 9 mm Bergmann/Bayard).

[texassako]

Almost sounds like a 8mm Roth Steyr size, maybe to form cases from something else?

[Wayne Smith]

As I have none of those, if anyone has a use for it please PM me.

[I'll Make Mine]

Another possibility; it might be a push-through bullet sizer for something in the .35 (aka .38 Special) size range. That .319 inside would be around .35 outside (though .380 mouth seems a bit large for starting a bullet for sizing). What's the taper look like? Something like a cartridge shoulder, i.e. 15-40 degrees, or much longer?

[Wayne Smith]

Much longer, essentially a straight taper. Remember it is less than an inch long. I'll have to run a boolit through it this weekend, but all the bullet sizing dies I've seen were the 310 type. Did they make them like the hand dies?

[I'll Make Mine]

I don't know what Lyman has made for sizing dies over the past century, but it's also possible that the die you have was "recycled" from a Lyman commercial die into something else. You say "unmarked" -- I had missed the length; it's distinctly possible you have a sizing die from a Hammond Game Getter (or more likely a homemade imitation). If so, it would be designed to convert buckshot (typically #4 for .22 bores, #0 for 6 mm up to .30 cal rifles, and #00 -- nominal .330 -- for up to 8 mm, though your die is almost big enough to take #000, nominal .360, possibly for the heavier weight) into a sort-of bullet shape and controlled diameter for thumb loading over a tiny charge of powder, or over a rimfire power load (from a Hilti or Ramset type concrete nailer) mounted off center in a case so the center firing pin can strike the load's rim.

Every Game Getter cartridge set comes with a sizer to convert buckshot to the correct size, a dowel for knocking the spent loads out of the case and pushing/driving the shot through the sizer, and a converted case with the neck crimped to hold the bullet and the off center "chamber" for the power load. I don't know how those sizers are marked, but it seems pretty probable Mr. Hammond marks them in some manner. If someone were making one for their own use, especially if (like me) they owned only a single rifle suitable for this kind of adapter, they might well not mark it at all.