Ok Doug, whats is it?

[Bret4207]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Ideal-Reloading-Press-with-Wood-Handles_W0QQitemZ230193921481QQihZ013QQcategoryZ71 120QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Got me on this one.

[MtGun44]

no idea - maybe shotgun reloader???

Looks really heavy duty, maybe a bullet swage?

Inquiring minds want to know. :-D

Bill

[powderburnerr]

its Ideals asperly neck sizing die ..Dean

[floodgate]

Bret:

Wow! First one I've ever seen of these for sale - and Lyman-made (Middlefield address) to boot - ca. 1925 - 33! What it is, is the No. 2 Lube-sizer introduced shortly after 1900 as the mate to the old Ideal "Armory" press (of which I have just acquired an example - sadly, without dies). It takes the same "G-H-I" sizing die sets as the #45-#450-#4500 family. I'm going to watch it, and will likely bid, if it doesn't go too high. Thanks for spotting it.

floodgate

[RayinNH]

It looks very similar to the unit on page 26 of the "Lyman Reloading Handbook" 46th edition...Ray

[Bret4207]

Check his other auctions, he ha some other simialr stuff.

Is there a finders fee?

[floodgate]

Ray:

That's the Armory loading press that this one is the mate to. The same 'cat has one of those on eBay. I'm going for both of them.

floodgate

[scrapcan]

If the rest of us can refrain from owning the beast we need to let Doug pick them up. I am sure he will write them up and give us all the details in the ARTCA newsletter. Doug does good work on the history of these old tools.

[montana_charlie]

It looks like the handle on single-handled press, will also fit the double-handled luber.
So...does a guy lean his weight on the double handles to inject the lube into the bullet grooves?
CM

[floodgate]

montana charlie:

No; if you study his front and back photos, you'll see that the wood handles rotate to screw down a piston that pressurizes the lube reservoir - just like the No. 1 lube-sizer and its descendants, the No. 45, etc. There is a socket near the top, in front, that sticks straight out, for a (missing) handle (much more massive than the one on the current models, but like the one on the AA-Turret) that operates the machinery that carries the "G" top punch down and back up, and inserts and removes the bullet for sizing and lubing in the "H" die. It looks like it works exactly like the No. 45, but much sturdier. The little vertical plunger under the die that pushes the "I" ejector pin appears to be missing, but it should be just like the standard part on the current tools. They used the same G, H and I dies as the current tools (except for the improved, tapered lead-in to the sizing section of the "H" die). I'll know how well I did, guessing this all out, when (IF) I win this one; but I'm getting a pretty good "feel" now about how Ideal and Lyman applied mechanical principles and production techniques. They definitely did things "their own way"!

floodgate

[montana_charlie]

Amazing that they thought you needed two big, honkin' handles like those, just to squirt some lube through the channel. Musta been using parafin and asphalt without a heater.

Those handles look like the 'human interface area' on my manual post hole digger...
CM

[madcaster]

Dougie is going for'em guys!
Same fella has a lot of good ideal stuff,and it's some real history!

[Bent Ramrod]

I can't imagine a worthier recipient for such historical loading equipment than Floodgate. We'll all benefit if he has a chance to study this stuff in detail.

In the good old days of the industrial revolution, if a machine wasn't built like the Brooklyn Bridge, nobody thought it was a serious piece of equipment. I've looked at the woodcut of the Ideal lubricator and imagined two men, one pushing one handle and one the other, marching around in a circle to keep the pressure up. Who needs a lube warmer?:)

[Bret4207]

Hope you win it Doug. You'll appreciate more than anyone else I can think of.

[floodgate]

Well, I got sniped out on the Ideal No. 2 Lube-Sizer, $235 worth by "fredguns"!!! (I had gone to $125 or so). But that would have been "just to have one". I DID, however, get the Lyman-made Ideal "Armory" press, to compare with my older Ideal version, for $140, delivered, very close to the $150 I paid for the latter, to the widow of a good friend / collector. Neither is complete, but there are enough parts between them, plus some loose stuff I have, to check them out. So, that finishes the foundation for the study of these Lyman bench tools I will be working up over the next several months - Ideal Armory through Lyman Spartan and Spar-T, where they finally joined the Pacific / RCBS "mainstream".

Plus, "madcaster" posted a #308333 8-cavity Ideal "Armory" mould, and I grabbed it as a "Buy it Now" for $125, after missing out on an earlier one for quite a bit more. It would have been nice to have the Lube-Sizer, too to "complete the set" of Armory tools, but I think that ends the eBay "fever", for this year at least.

Many thanks to all here who helped spot these for me and encouraged me to go for them (and abstained from bidding against me). Best wishes to all for the upcoming Holidays.

Oh, and by the way, I DO still need some once-fired 20 ga. PAPER shotshells; I did get the 12's and 16's - again thanks to the good folks on the team.

floodgate

[madcaster]

Sir Doug,
By the way,what kind of lubrisizer do you use?

[floodgate]

madcaster:

A pair of fairly elderly Ideal #45's, with an old Ideal No. 1 also on the shelf as backup. I've got 40 +/- sizer dies (many of them the old style with the step), and about 100 top punches. I DO spend more time reading, scribbling, tinkering with the old tools and chasing down the "Today Show" here than I do actually casting, loading or shooting - gotta recheck my priorities!

Doug

[Bret4207]

Doug, I almost bought that Armory mould. Good sense and a healthy respect for for my lacks of funds prevented me. Glad you got it.

Have you considered emailing the winner of the luber, explaining about your project and asking for some photos? Who knows, the winner might be near you or be a collector who has a buncha other neato stuff too. I emailed the winner of an operators manual for a grain binder I own that I missed and offered $$ for a photo copy and explained I needed it to work the binder. They sent me the manual, no charge! I of course paid then their winning bid and shipping costs. Ya never know about people.

[floodgate]

Bret:

Good thought, but I've got a pretty good idea how it is laid out from the cuts in old Ideal Handbooks and other literature. Another collector has one and I can get photos from him, if and when. I've got more correspondence going on right now than I can keep up with as it is...

Another one will come by, sooner or later.

Doug