Problems with Lyman H&I dies

[Old 454]

You guys ever run into problems with the Lyman lube dies ?

I received from Lyman .358 lube die for my Lyman 45 press, and there is no way this is a .358 die. It completely jammed the die when I tried to lube a bullet. When I got the bullet out of the die it was sized to 354. I measured the bullets I was trying to size and they all measured .358 to .359. I ran them through my Lee sizing dies and there was no problem there, all went through and came out at .358.

This is my first experience with Lyman products. I hope this not something that happens often.

[Mk42gunner]

I have had mostly good luck concerning sizing dies and the marked diameter. Now that I admitted that, the very next one I buy will probably give me trouble.

Did you lube the first boolit with anything, so that it wasn't bare lead on steel causing possible galling?

Robert

[AggieEE]

Send it back to Lyman with one of the sized bullets. They should make it right. I've never had a problem with Lyman but........

[Old 454]

well after much fooling around I got it down to a sizing problem with my new 6 cavity 357 bullet mold they seem to be dropping some that are larger in size then normal. I forgot I was casting and dropped about 18 of them in a box full of bullets from a 2 bullet mold.

I kind of worked around it by presizing them in my lee sizing dies before they go into the Lyman. but I will say that the Lyman die is a very tight .358. And It also helped by getting some lube in the die also. So I just rubbed a very small amount of Hornady unique case lube on them till the lube hit the Lyman die.

[Ben]

Glad that you got your problem worked out.

[enfieldphile]

It's a funny thing....

Sizing dies are shipped w/ a "preservative", which is not Boolit lube! It's a petroleum-base gunk, designed and applied to keep the die from rusting.

The way I prep a new die is to push out the center rod (note its orientation to the die body). Wipe off the gunk. Now use some spray brake cleaner on a cloth to wipe the rod. Now it's clean & dry. Wipe a generous amount of boolit lube on the rod and set it aside.

Wipe the preservative off the die body. Push a cloth patch through the interior of the die body.

Use Spray brake cleaner to clean the interior & exterior of the die body, especially the holes in the sides of the die body.

Smear boolit lube through the holes in sides of the die body. Put a glob of lube in the bottom of the die body. Push the center rod in from bottom to top. Remove the glob of lube the rod pushed through.

Install the die. Bring up the pressure in the lubrrsizer.

Smear a boolit completely w/ lube and work it slowly in and out of the tool for a minute, done!

[Old 454]

ahh very good info ^^^ when my 356 and 452 dies come in I will do just that, makes good sense.

Hopefully this new mold will break in and drop correct size bullets, as is it is dropping very nice shaped bullets nice sharp edges on the bottoms and bands

[prs]

odd for this to show-up today. I installed a new .452" size die in my 450 last Sunday for my 45ACP fodder since I have switched over to NRA lube instead of LLA. My 450 had always had a .454" for my 45 Colt needs. Anyway, the Lyman 452460 boolits that dropped from mold at .452 to .452+ were all spot on .452" and very round when lube sized in that new die. I was thinking I was either way too lucky or Lyman was doing better at machining these dies than they were molds (based upon others complaints).

Glad you found the errant source.

prs