Manual for lyman 310 with bullet mold

[TreeKiller]

Looked through the sticky's and did a such the forums also Castpics then the internet for directions for the old 310 one piece tools with the mold on the end and can not find the the directions. Found lots of directions for the 310 with screw in dies.
Thank you
Dan

[jrmartin1964]

Although I don't doubt their existence, I have never seen printed instructions for the older "all-in-one" tools. However, I found this video which gives a pretty good explanation of how they were used:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_rQNj1V1YY

Hope this helps you.

[catskinner]

Interesting video. I,ve done the same thing but I did not cast many bullets before I put on leather gloves and pretty soon I wrapped the handles with leather. Those handles get HOT. mine is no. 6 for 32-40. Those older Ideal tools origanally came with a dipper or as it was called a charge cup for powder charging. Bullets were pan lubed before sizing. The tapered end of the seating station can be used for belling the case mouth before seating the bullet.

[John Boy]

Manual for lyman 310 with bullet mold Go to Cornell Publications and buy the reprint of the Ideal Handbook No 37. Step by step instructions
As far as the one with the mold - well, if you don't know how to cast ... that's a different issue because a mold on the 310 is the same as any Ideal mold without handles
BTW - what caliber mold on your 310 tool?

[TreeKiller]

Go to Cornell Publications and buy the reprint of the Ideal Handbook No 37. Step by step instructions
As far as the one with the mold - well, if you don't know how to cast ... that's a different issue because a mold on the 310 is the same as any Ideal mold without handles
BTW - what caliber mold on your 310 tool?
32-20
No problem casting just don't know what all the holes are for some are self explaining but others are not.
Thanks for all the information.
Dan

[TreeKiller]

Just watched the video. Could not figure out where to re size the case and what the long rod on the tool was for. Saw it was to size the Boolits.

Thanks again

[Ickisrulz]

Here:

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/dies/pdf/310ToolInstr.pdf

Sorry, wrong item.

[Char-Gar]

There were two types of ideal tong tools that contained bullet molds. The early type was pictured in the video and didn't have removable dies. The latter type had a screw in "double adjustable" seating die, that could be adjusted for bullet length and crimp. These dies have the same threads as the 310 dies which can be used with them.

The early black powder tong tools had no provision for case sizing which was not used at the time. The latter 310 dies contained a muzzle resizing die which only sized the case neck.

You will have to look at your tool to determine if it takes removable dies or not.

[TreeKiller]

There were two types of ideal tong tools that contained bullet molds. The early type was pictured in the video and didn't have removable dies. The latter type had a screw in "double adjustable" seating die, that could be adjusted for bullet length and crimp. These dies have the same threads as the 310 dies which can be used with them.

The early black powder tong tools had no provision for case sizing which was not used at the time. The latter 310 dies contained a muzzle resizing die which only sized the case neck.

You will have to look at your tool to determine if it takes removable dies or not.
It is an early style non adjustable
Dan

[Bent Ramrod]

The #4 Ideal tool has a "nonadjustable chamber," which does not resize the shell, but only crimps the mouth of the shell over the standard boolt cast by the mould. The tool should have a hole in the handle with a long punch on the opposite handle to size the boolit you cast in the mould, another hole in the handle with a shorter punch on the other side to push a new primer into the shell, and a loading chamber which simply pushes the loaded, primed shell over the boolit and crimps the end of the shell when you squeeze the handles together. The long rod with the little pin is the depriming rod. That goes into the loading chamber, followed by a fired case. A squeeze of the handles pops the old primer out. As mentioned, the remains of the previous crimp on the fired case is ironed away and belled out by twisting the mouth of the case against the conical end of the nonadjustable chamber.

A worn example of the tool will have the crimp shoulder reduced or missing, so it may not work as it did when new. The .32-20 is also problematic in that modern shells are frequently shorter than they were back in the good old days, so the shell doesn't go to the crimp shoulder and no adjustment can be made. You'll have to see for yourself if this is a problem.

The person who loaded shells with the Ideal #4 typically had one rifle or pistol and needed a means to keep a supply of cartridges on hand at minimum cost. If they were real "cranks" or experimental shooters, they would have bought a #3 or a #10 tool, which had double adjustable chambers and muzzle resizers as accessories. Reloaders of the era were also assumed by the tool manufacturer to be more or less mechanically inclined, so there were not a lot of detailed instructions available. The description of the tool and its function in the Ideal Handbooks was deemed to be enough back then.

[Green Frog]

+1 to Bent Ramrod. I would only add that you may need to "bell" the case mouth after decapping, which can be accomplished by pushing the mouth firmly onto the tapered end of the projection for the bullet seating.

Froggie

[TreeKiller]

Bent Ramrod.
Thanks for the directions. Mine did not come with the long rod with the little pin for depriming. Cast some with it to nite and was surprised how nice they looked. Weighed 110 gr + or - .02 just fell out on the mold. Cast 105 and had 98 keepers. After every thing had cooled most of them dropped through the sizer hole. Will pan lube and see how they shoot. Will also try to post a picture of the tool and Boolits
Thanks to all for the help.
Dan

[Bent Ramrod]

Glad to help, Treekiller. The decapping pin is frequently missing with those old tools. You can make a perfectly good replacement from a piece of round stock rounded and tapered (bullet shaped) on one end with a hole drilled in the other. Solder in a RCBS decapping pin or the shank of the drill you made the hole with, and you're good to go.

105 casts with a Number 4 is impressive! By the time I'm up to 60 or so, the heat is getting uncomfortable, even through my gloves. But some of those cavities do cast nicely.

I'll be interested in seeing your pictures.

[KCSO]

That's NOT a 310 it is the older deal tool if it's got the mould on the end. The instructions for these are in the OLD catalogs from the 1890's. I would have to dig to see if I could find them now. The holes are for bullet sizing and for priming. The priming hole is opposite the priming post.

[TreeKiller]

Pictures as promised
With Win brass the boolits seat good but with Starline brass they will not crimp Win brass is 1.280 and Starline is 1.266. So will have to use the Lee Dies on the Starline brass.
Boolits drop 110g from Lyman # 2.

90288902899029090291

Thanks to all for the Help
Dan

[Bent Ramrod]

That's a pretty good specimen, Treekiller, and the .32-20 is a fun cartridge to shoot and reload. Depending on your chamber and the pressures you load to, eventually the cases will start getting a little tight. In that case, the Lee FLS die will need to be used to bring things back to size for another series of loadings. However, you might keep an eye open for one of the old drive-in-and-out Ideal full length resizers in .32-20 if you want to get am idea of what reloading was really like back in the pioneer days.

KCSO is right. The Lyman 310 tool was a morphing of the Ideal #3 and #10 tools. These were handles without moulds on the end, which were threaded and fitted with separate decapping chambers, shell mouth sizers and double adjustable loading chambers in order to allow any style of boolit to be seated to any depth in the shell,with or without crimping. The #3 was for rimmed shells and the #10 for rimless, and each handle set was reamed for the cartridge to be loaded. The 310 handles both types of shells, and has adaptors for any cartridge size and has additional chambers to size boolits and prime shells.

[Green Frog]

Now this is what this forum is for! I'll add that with the 310 tool, there is a "Small" with a short spigot (the projection the die threads into) and a "Large" with a longer one. As you would expect, small is for handgun rounds and the shortest rifle rounds, and large is for everything else. Unfortunately, Lyman quit marking them about the time they went to aluminum tong tools and you have to pay attention to what you are getting. If you want to do a lot of varied reloading, of course, you will want a set of each size and you're good to go. :mrgreen:

Froggie

[TreeKiller]

Thank you all. When I posted the original question I thought at all hand tools that Lyman made was called 310. Along with getting it to work I received an education. That is why I read a lot and not post very often. This site and it's MEMBERS are the best.
Dan

[.22-10-45]

Hello, Treekiller. If you decide to cast with that old Ideal...better get some VERY heavy welders gloves. I tried out an old Ideal integeral mould tool years ago..a .22-20-H...this was for the FIRST Hornet..the Harwood Hornet of the 1890's..a bit of a rare bird..anyway, even with heavy welders gloves that thing got HOT! Those old timers must have been a tough lot.

[AlaskanGuy]

I found this online....

90370

Sorry.. it was all I could get... But its a start