Lube-A-Matic II Lube Air Feed

[zipdog]

Has anyone ever tried to rig up an air feed the the LAM II? I ordered a lube reservoir top cap/nut from RCBS and an air cylinder from Air Cylinders Direct to try to cobble something together. The top nut/cap has a 0.5" hole and plenty of meat to cut threads, and the air cylinder mount has 5/8-18 threads, so it should be pretty simple. I'll have someone cut the threads and see how it works out.

....to be continued.

[Lloyd Smale]

no i havent but on a different note. Gussy from this fourm (castingstuff.com) (cabintree) sells a lube resivour pressure assembly that is spring powered that works more like the star system and I did alot of testing on his prototypes for him and the thing really works. Its especially a nice set up if you have one of the solid bottom lymans that dont have the oring that blows out. I did have a little problem with orings but to be fair i size in a barn that is below zero in the winter and had problem with orings before i put it on my presses. If your sizing where its warm or use a lube heater and use it right it ran trouble free. When testing i could size 50 bullets .50 caliber without touching the crank and thats much better then even a star will do. Its a big time saver with the lymans. Anyone that knows gussy knows that he doesnt make anything that isnt top shelf!! the only reason im still not using it is i went to stars exclusivly now. This had to have been at least 5 years ago and these units are still going strong on the two presses i had and sold.

[trickyasafox]

Lloyd I thought the cabin trees didn't work with the LAM's? if they do i'm saving my pennies!

[Lloyd Smale]

not sure send gussy a pm and ask him
Lloyd I thought the cabin trees didn't work with the LAM's? if they do i'm saving my pennies!

[jahela]

Has anyone ever tried to rig up an air feed the the LAM II?

Yes, I made it.

The cylinder has 50 mm diameter )2"), the air-pump is usually for air-suspended bike-forks,
it works with a pressure abeou 10 bar (?? psi). The rest is visible on the pictures I think. The blue part at the top of the cylinder is a "pushing-valve" for aerating the system.
The hole under the LAM in the table is for installing a light-bulb, it works well for heating.
Into the original piston of the LAM I cut the thread of the piston-stick (M10x1,5mm) from the pneumatic-cylinder. Advantage: Lube-sticks can used without hole.
For refilling ihe prenn, the two wingnuts must be opened, then the cylinder is removable.

I'm writing from germany as a new member in this forum.
I currently look for informations about casted rifle-bullets for my Steyr SSG 69 in 308WIN with 10" twist (comparable to a Remington 700). The bullets should be good for 300 meters.

Dirk
6506

6507

6508

6509

[kodiak1]

Gussy's work for sure on 450 and 4500 Lymans and I love them they make sizing go a lot faster and cleaner once you learn how to use them.
Now if he would just come up with a gizmo that would shake that handle and change the lubed bulletsout....................................
Ken.

[HORNET]

Hi jehala. Welcome to our addiction. Look around , kick the tires, read the stickies, ask lots of questions and enjoy yourself. Probably about the best clean site on the 'net.
For that .308, you might want to try the RCBS 30-165-SIL or the RCBS 30-180-SP. Both very popular in benchrest matches. Besides, they go with your LAM II.

[jahela]

Hi Rick, thanks for your "welcome"!
We also have internet-forums in germany, but concerning the bullet-casting, they are ending at the handgun-bullets or slow 45/70 bullets. To get informations about fast rifle-bullets is nearly impossible, so I have to login in a US forum.

I think, the RCBS 30-180-SP would be better because of the two lube-rings?!
Is it right that the faster the twist, the longer (=heavier) the bullet has to be for accuracy?
When is a bore rider-design better than a "constant-diameter"-design?
Ist lhe Lyman 311332 comparable to the RCBS 30-180-SP?
Also intereting seems to be the LYMAN 311679, they write:
"A new 30 caliber 195 grain gas check mould designed by John Ardito. Features a bore riding nose which tapers up to meet the driving bands"

Is anybody experienced with the new Lyman 311644-design? It looks interesting.

I try to avoid buying three or four mouls to find the right one...

Dirk

[HORNET]

jahela,
I don't have any experience with cast in the .308 so you might want to check down in the casting for military a ways down the list for recommendations. I believe that there's also some info on CastPics.
One consideration that you have is that .308's usually combine a short case neck with a short 'ball seat' throat that limits how much boolit you can have out of the case. The RCBS 30-165-SIL was designed with this in mind and to keep the base of the gas check inside the case neck. You might want to do a chamber slug ( see http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=26351 ) to see what your chamber looks like and get some dimensions. The dimensions are vital for initial setup and troubleshooting.
The issue of bore-riders vs. constant-diameter (Loverin design) cause almost as many heated discussions on here as bottom-pour vs. ladle for casting. Bore riders seem to do very well under specific conditions and are favored by several cast match shooters. They do well as long as the bore-riding nose is well supported by the rifling until load conditions cause the nose to deform unevenly at which point things go downhill fast. Loverin styles leave little space for the boolit to deform and will frequently handle high pressures better and hold more lube to withstand high velociyies better. They are sometimes not quite as accurate in the mid-ranges where some people prefer to shoot cast boolits.
The Lyman 311332 that I have seems to show great promise but I haven't had much chance to play with it. Too many other things that I'm working on at once.
You might want to check with Bullshop (PM him or use the link at the bottom of the main page) and see what mold designs he has and if he can put together a "Sample Pack" for you of the designs that seem likely to work best. He casts commercially, has experience with the international shipping requirements, and is very well recommended by the tough crowd on here. Sometimes you just got to shoot 'em and see what they like.
Watch it, this stuff can get addicting.:drinks:

[jason f]

Has anyone ever tried to rig up an air feed the the LAM II? I ordered a lube reservoir top cap/nut from RCBS and an air cylinder from Air Cylinders Direct to try to cobble something together. The top nut/cap has a 0.5" hole and plenty of meat to cut threads, and the air cylinder mount has 5/8-18 threads, so it should be pretty simple. I'll have someone cut the threads and see how it works out.

....to be continued.

has anyone ever made an air feed for their rcbs lam2?

[dragon813gt]

While this thread originated in 2008 it mentions the A.L.F. I have one and attempted to use it on two different RCBS LAM1s. It did not work at all. Lube leaked out of the bottom no matter what I did. I can't recommend it.

I thought about adding air to the LAM. But decided to buy a Star instead. Not worth the time and effort to rig it up. It's not like pressure is hard to regulate.