Lyman 450 Press Need the Hulk

[ColColt]

I have an old Lyman 450 sizer that nearly takes an arm like the Hulk to raise the handle to push up the rod inside the die after sizing to bring the bullet back to the top. It shouldn't be that tight. The entire press wants to come out of the bolts it's tied down with. I use BAC lube and wouldn't think it would require heat like CR would. The die is adjusted properly to fill the one groove in a H&G #68 bullet and no lube under the base of the bullet. I have to end up taking a butane torch and move the flame around the bottom of the well where the die sits to get it to move easier. Any ideas?

I probably should have put this in Casing Equipment.

[Love Life]

The answer is in your post.

[ColColt]

Where?

[Love Life]

Heat. Hitting it with the torch made it move easier. IME if a sizer requires hulk size strength to operate, then you need to heat the lube. Either that or you have an alignment issue or some other mechanical issue.

[ColColt]

Everything appears to be in good alignment. Maybe I need to add a lamp with a 75 watt bulb trained on the lower section. I just didn't recall having that problem a while back. I did with Carnuba but not BAC.

[engineer401]

I used to have a 4500 and didn't have any problems using BAC. The ram moved freely. This makes me wonder if the die or ram have debris or hard lube on them. Have you disassembled them for cleaning or inspection?

[mt bwana]

i have a sizer die that the push rod was super tight. a few minutes with an electric drill and 400 grit loosed it up

[ColColt]

Cleaning? I never clean them. I take one die out to change calibers and that one goes into a plastic container for next time. Inside the well where the rod travels shouldn't be dirty...outside yep, gets lube on it but not so much inside.

[Love Life]

Did you try a little heat yet? I use Speed Green in a Lyman 45, and in the spring/summer no heat is needed. In the fall/winter I stick a heated ingot on it every 30 minutes to get it flow well.

[ColColt]

I haven't tried heating it lately. I plan on doing some sizing later today or tomorrow. Outside here lately it's run from 78-85 degrees. I have an attached double bay garage and keep one of the doors open when casting and usually sizing. That's warm enough that I wouldn't think should give problems. Apparently, the lube is just getting stiffer sitting in the well over the weeks/months.

[Hardcast416taylor]

If putting some heat on the sizer makes it work easier then the problem is either an overly snug ejector rod or a hard bullet lube. C-Red often needs heat to flow correctly, you may have a pocket of it in your sizer that hasn`t worked itself out yet.Robert