Buckshot Bowman
08-14-2014, 07:30 PM
Hello lads,
I bought a Pedersoli 50-90 some months back and finally got all the stuff together to start loading these big howitzer shells. I settled on Lyman for the dies, as I have had good luck with them on my 45-110 and 45-90.
Not so good luck this time. I resized a 100 new starline shells and went on to expand the mouths. Setting up the M die the same as all my other Lyman dies, I ran the die down to the raised shell plate and locked it in place and backed the expander way back fom the die.
My surprise when I ran the first case up through the die I met some resistance but didn't think much of it and started the expander bolt down to meet the case. I lowered the ram to advance the expander only to be greeted with the crushed case mouth seen in photo one.
What the hell? So I backed the expander bolt out completely removing it to inspect it to be sure it hadn't unscrewed, but it was tight on the bolt.
So I ran another case up the die and met the same resistance. I thought it was my press ram needing grease, but out came another crushed case mouth.
I pulled the die and visually checked it then dropped a case into it to find that the case stopped a half inch short of bottoming out in the die. I found that the case was hitting the threaded portion of the die for the expander bolt. So, I thought to myself, Self! it is a half inch short of going in, this must be a 50-70 die.
So off to Lyman it goes for two full weeks and returns with a letter saying it works as designed. Huh? So get on the phone to a real *** named Joe, that could not understand what the deal was, as he did the inspection. I tried to explain to him that this was for a 50-90 and if the die is used per instructions, it will crush the case. I was told to back the die off till it didn't crush cases and use it that way. So I argue that I tried that and is tough to do with a heavy press, and that if you do this you run out of expander stem before you get a decent bell to the mouth. See photo. I tell him that I tried this recommendation already, and it was a fail and that I wanted a 50-90 M die Then he starts getting pissed at me, telling me that Lyman can't make dies to fit all presses and the user needs to make adjustment in their use. I again remind him of the length of the 50-90, and that a 50-70 shell fits this die perfectly so what I got ain't a 50-90. So he tells me basically, tough **** get used to it, as he ain't doing nothing about it.
So here I am, I can get just enough expansion to slip a bullet about a 1/16" into the case but no further without a seater die, as thumb pressure sure won't work, and I have a feeling that I am going to get more crushed or bulged cases using this die.
So do I call someone higher up at Lyman and plead my case and ask them to drill out my die another half inch or is there a machinist online here that could do it at a reasonable price? as is I have a half inch of unsupported case and a just barely opened case mouth now.
The last photo is one expanded case and one not with this die. Care to guess which one is belled?
Anybody else have this kind of problem with the Lyman M die?
Thanks,
Buckshot
Donald Bowman
I bought a Pedersoli 50-90 some months back and finally got all the stuff together to start loading these big howitzer shells. I settled on Lyman for the dies, as I have had good luck with them on my 45-110 and 45-90.
Not so good luck this time. I resized a 100 new starline shells and went on to expand the mouths. Setting up the M die the same as all my other Lyman dies, I ran the die down to the raised shell plate and locked it in place and backed the expander way back fom the die.
My surprise when I ran the first case up through the die I met some resistance but didn't think much of it and started the expander bolt down to meet the case. I lowered the ram to advance the expander only to be greeted with the crushed case mouth seen in photo one.
What the hell? So I backed the expander bolt out completely removing it to inspect it to be sure it hadn't unscrewed, but it was tight on the bolt.
So I ran another case up the die and met the same resistance. I thought it was my press ram needing grease, but out came another crushed case mouth.
I pulled the die and visually checked it then dropped a case into it to find that the case stopped a half inch short of bottoming out in the die. I found that the case was hitting the threaded portion of the die for the expander bolt. So, I thought to myself, Self! it is a half inch short of going in, this must be a 50-70 die.
So off to Lyman it goes for two full weeks and returns with a letter saying it works as designed. Huh? So get on the phone to a real *** named Joe, that could not understand what the deal was, as he did the inspection. I tried to explain to him that this was for a 50-90 and if the die is used per instructions, it will crush the case. I was told to back the die off till it didn't crush cases and use it that way. So I argue that I tried that and is tough to do with a heavy press, and that if you do this you run out of expander stem before you get a decent bell to the mouth. See photo. I tell him that I tried this recommendation already, and it was a fail and that I wanted a 50-90 M die Then he starts getting pissed at me, telling me that Lyman can't make dies to fit all presses and the user needs to make adjustment in their use. I again remind him of the length of the 50-90, and that a 50-70 shell fits this die perfectly so what I got ain't a 50-90. So he tells me basically, tough **** get used to it, as he ain't doing nothing about it.
So here I am, I can get just enough expansion to slip a bullet about a 1/16" into the case but no further without a seater die, as thumb pressure sure won't work, and I have a feeling that I am going to get more crushed or bulged cases using this die.
So do I call someone higher up at Lyman and plead my case and ask them to drill out my die another half inch or is there a machinist online here that could do it at a reasonable price? as is I have a half inch of unsupported case and a just barely opened case mouth now.
The last photo is one expanded case and one not with this die. Care to guess which one is belled?
Anybody else have this kind of problem with the Lyman M die?
Thanks,
Buckshot
Donald Bowman