Lyman Hand dies

[cabezaverde]

I stumbled across a bunch of Lyman Hand Dies. Look like a pipe chambered for a particular caliber, with a rod for poking out the case after I'm guessing you have whacked it in with a hammer. Kind of like a Lee loader.

Any market for these things ?

[floodgate]

Cabeza:

Yeah, some of us collec... uh, accumulate them, along with the 310 tools, which can't do F/L sizing. Which ones do you have? Are they boxed? PM me for more info and/or negotiation.

floodgate

[cabezaverde]

All are in the original box, with a stripe of surface rust like where they have been laying against the box when the earth's crust cooled. So far I have found: 250 Savage, 270, 244/6mm, 7.65 mm.

I didn't mean for this to be a classified. In April, I stumbled into a gun shop in CT. They had 4 gun show size tables piled 2 feet high with fine junque, as well as the floor underneath the table. Barrels, brass, dies, 10 lbs powder, stocks, forearms, holsters. Bought it all after the boss made me an offer I couldn't refuse.

I have been ebaying it, but now my wife is starting to drop hints about putting the car in the garage this winter. So I have to get back to clearing this stuff out.

[45 2.1]

i would be interested in the 7.65mm one.

[TNsailorman]

I remember seeing a advertisement in the back of a gun magazine in the late 60's for re-sizing dies that were simply a steel tube chambered into your choice of cases. You started a case into the die and finished chambering/re-sizing it by putting it into a vise and slowly closing down until it was completely in the die. Then you removed the chamber from the vise and used a wooden dowel to knock the re-sized case out of the die. Simple but effective.

[floodgate]

TNsailorman:

That is what cabezaverde and the rest of us were talking about up above. Ideal and then Lyman made these for many years, and Randy Davis at <The310shop@aol.com> generally has most of the more popular sizes in stock (he's shut down over Xmas week until Jan. 2, though). They CAN be used with a hammer, but a vise or one of the little "el cheapo" 1-ton arbor presses from Harborious Fate is better; use a stack of 3/4" washers under the head end to press the case back out, a hammer beats the die and ejector rod up too badly. DON'T forget to lube the case lightly! The last one I tried, the case checked out perfect on my Wilson .30-'06 case gauge.

floodgate

[KCSO]

These were produced as early as 1890 according to the old catalog I have,Floodgate will know for sure. I have used these and they work just like a Lee loader but they require a good lube as you are pretty much full length resizing. I also am an Ideal accumulator so if Floodgate doesn't take them all???

[floodgate]

KCSO:

"they require a good lube as you are pretty much full length resizing."

...because you ARE full-length resizing; that's what they were designed for, as the short stroke of the tong tools is barely enough to neck size, and even the neck sizer accesory (they called it a "muzzle resizer") was an extra-cost accessory. And NO, I am not going to try to corner the market on them; I have all I need, and maybe a few more...

Merry Xmas to all!

Doug

[Le Loup Solitaire]

They work best in a vise and the trick with the washers in back of the head is a good idea if the knock/push out rod isn't to long for the vise. A small square piece of hardwood board with a hole large enough for the dia. of the casehead to pass through will work too. A steel hammer will definitely mess up the knock out rod and of course the case head if again a small piece of hardwood is not put in between. A wooden mallet will work for a while, but that too eventually takes a beating. I have used a plastic mallet and that works ok, but generally they don't weigh a whole lot and it takes a lot more whacks to do the job. The vise method and/or the arbor press (or even a jack...if you have something to get it under) seems to be the best way to go.

[Mk42gunner]

While I have no doubt that an arbor press would be best for this use; in Elmer Keith's book "Sixgun Cartridges and Loads", he said to use a heay enough hammer or mallet to drive the case in with one blow, otherwise the case would expand too much.

Robert

[vacek]

I am really taken an interest in "handloading" of late. Not just the Lee Loader that necksize as I have been doing this for >25 years. My current interest is in the Lyman and Wilson full-length handloading dies and I have started accumulating them when found. At this point, due to a shoulder operation, I anm not able to do much but am interested in:

1. Members who have experience with these dies
2. Any directions / literature regarding these dies.

[scrapcan]

vacek,

I sent you a pm.

[Green Frog]

Vacek,

I have used them in a limited variety of calibers and find that a small arbor press and Imperial Sizing Die Lube make the process about fool proof... at least I couldn't mess it up! :wink:

Froggie