Help!! Press ID

[tward]

Bought on ebay. I'm guessing a Lyman or Ideal 12 gauge press from 50's or 60's. Any help would be appreciated. What have I got, what is it missing any pictures or instructions. Thanks in advance. Tim127023127024127025127026127027

[LUBEDUDE]

Well I'll tell Ya up front that I'm not familiar with this Lyman. However, I do load Shotshells on old presses. Maybe someone will correct me, but I will have a crack at it.

It appears that the #1 station for depriming is on the left front, where the slot is in the plate. Directly above, underneath the tool head should be threads for a decapping die or Rod. Obviously the spent primers fall through the slot.

I believe #2 is on the far right BACK for priming. A primer cup assembly consisting of a priming Rod, spring, and thick washer plate drops into that hole.

#3 is in back on the far left. You place the moveable die over the hull after powder has been charged, set you wad inside on top of the wad fingers and pull the handle. The die on top is adjusting wad pressure.

#4 is front dead center. There should be a precrimp die in the tool head, after charging with shot, pull handle.

#5 is to the far right front where that little hole in the plate is. Set your shell over that hole. A crimp die should be in the tool head, pull handle.

Note - I may have stations 4 and 5 backwards.

So it seems that you are missing the decapper/sizer die, or Rod; the primer cup assembly, the precrimp die, and the crimp die.

[Bent Ramrod]

I think you have a Lyman "Vandalia" shotshell press. It was my first press, bought used for ten bucks. Mine had all the appurtenances needed to load 12, 16 and 20 gauge, which meant I could load for my 16 gauge Ithaca shotgun.

You should have a separate pound in and out die to resize your shell. The parts that stayed on the press were the depriming punch, the repriming station, the wad ram and the crimper. IIRC, the powder and shot were dipped into the shell outside the press. I think that tower thing on the left was the spring loaded wad ram, which would ensure the proper compression of the wads over the powder. (They made a big deal of this in the old days.) I can't recall for sure, but it seemed that the crimper was the old turnover type, that used a card wad, rather than the folded crimp used nowadays. The wad guide may have also been a separate part that was put over the shell at the proper stage; can't remember. It's all getting dim in my old age:veryconfu.

I used it for several years before selling it to some guy who advertised in Shotgun News that he just had to have it. I got enough out of it to buy a Lee shotshell press in 16 gauge, which was easier to use. The Vandalia worked best with paper shells, which I could still occasionally find back then, but it did OK with plastic ones. One thing I remember was that the leverage on the press was pretty bad. Where it was most needed, down towards the bottom of the stroke, it was at its lowest.

I wrote in to the American Rifleman advice department and they referred me to a review of the press in the 1950's wherein the low leverage was also mentioned. Still, I only loaded a box or two of shells at a time, and it was fine for that level of production.

[tward]

Thanks lubedude and bent ramrod! With the actual name of the press I located some photos. Knew I could count on you fellas! I'll try to get it up and running with homemade parts. Thanks again, Tim

[HGS]

These old Lyman shotshell presses are great for adapting to other uses like compressing black powder loads, or whatever else you can think of.

HGS