Lyman Neck Expanding die (M Die) body lengths M-1 and M-2

[ohland]

This is a little factoid, of no particular use. Each M die that I have is clearly marked either M-1 or M-2.

M-1 die body length: 2.875"
M-2 die body length: 3.35"

Got tired of seeing pictures of the M-1 and M-2 die bodies side by side, but without a quantifiable difference....

O.C.D. is the way to be!

:coffeecom

[462]

Hmmm . . .

My M-1 bodies measure 2.690", 2.697", 2.881", 2.865", and two 2.700". These are used for both handgun and rifles cartridges.

I have only one M-2 body, it measures 3.348" and is used with multiple expander plugs for a for a number of rifle cartridges.

Most of these date back to when Lyman was chrome plating their dies.

[ohland]

My shell pink ears are burning with shame! How could Lyman ever change dimensions? I'm happy with being within .100" of the dimensions... :coffeecom

[462]

You ought to see all the many different stem lengths!

Oh, let's not forget changing their mould numbering system and product colors.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Lyman,

While having a few products that are very useful, but were designed by people long gone from their current organization, don't seem to have a care if anything they do serves their customers or not. So they do all kinds of oddball things.

One big reason the name Lyman is seldom seen on my reloading bench - their lack of caring about their customers.

[ohland]

Not much Lyman on my bench, there is some, but I do have some P-A dies, shellholders, some dies, powder trickler, small stuff. Love my Redding Powder Trickler (will not move in high wind), my RCBS bench Primer Tool (not APS, one at a time), K&M uniformers, Satern funnels, Uniflows, B&M, RCBS competition die (and plugs, guides, extended shellholders), Lube-A-Matic 2, RCBS precision mics (love the headspace, hate the OAL), Hornady New Dimensions with MicroJust, a few Wilsons with Sinclair mic tops, Hornady LnL OAL gage (love it, except if I can't get the modified case), Forster case trimmer.....

Lyman moulds are OK. But other than that, I can't think of any high-value Lyman stuff that I use or want. Lyman stuff is OK, just that it is crowded out.

:coffeecom

[brassrat]

I can get no answers on why my 3 die bodies in both, so-called lengths, won't work on anything but a full size rifle. The stems are too short. I still use tiny washers, sometimes, but hacked 1 body down, with a sawzall. Thanks Lyman for all the info.

[ohland]

I can get no answers on why my 3 die bodies in both, so-called lengths, won't work on anything but a full size rifle. The stems are too short. I still use tiny washers, sometimes, but hacked 1 body down, with a sawzall. Thanks Lyman for all the info.

With was cartridge does the Lyman M die fail?

http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_LymanMDies.htm

"I bought a 7MM "M" die, that came with a long or M1 expander body. When I tried to expand 7MM TCU cases, I found that even after screwing the top thing all the way down, I couldn't get the case far enough into the die to expand it. This led to confusion. A call to Lyman cleared the whole thing up. I needed a SPECIAL 7MM TCU "M" DIE. I bought it, and could then expand the 7MM TCU cases. You can expand long cases in the short M2 expander body."