The Lyman M1 and M2 and "short" and "long" cases

[tacotime]

Loading lead (and swaged) bullets in .38 Special. Had an apparent bullet base compression issue with my standard expanding dies causing insane leading so I got a Lyman M1 with the 38P expander plug ("P" for pistol I believe).

Then I read the LASC page about the M dies that the M1 is the long die and M2 is the short and the long M1 will not work for "short" cases. But the plug shaft on my M1 seems plenty long to put the expander plug into the .38 case and in fact the first one I ran I had set too far in and it belled the case mouth out like a funnel.

I also saw a set of .38/.357 Lyman dies including an M die and it was also a M1 "long" with a 38P shaft.

So was the LASC page in error about the M1 being unable to expand "short" cases? Or maybe with early dies the shaft that came with the two dies were different. This 38P shaft in the long M1 dies sure seems to reach far enough...

Thanks.

[C.F.Plinker]

I have both the M1 and M2 bodies. They were ordered for rifle calibers and the plug shafts on both are 1.755 inches long excluding the plugs themselves. What is the length of the 38P shaft on your die?

[462]

The article's author is incorrect, M1 is the short body and M2 is the long body.

[tacotime]

I'll have to measure...

The Lyman website does not mention M1 or M2. I suspect later M die bodies were all the same size and the difference is only the plug shaft that goes in it.

Makes sense that the article was reversed. I think I saw on another thread here, the opposite info...

Thanks.

[C.F.Plinker]

There is a fleeting reference to the long and short (L & S) dies on page 35 of their catalog. But it is not understandable unless you know what you are looking for.