Lyman Turret Press

[oliversasha]

Friend gave me a orange turret press a few weeks ago---he never used---good condition---probably 10 to 15 years old---cast iron frame------why did they leave a casting ridge down the center of the bottom of the base ----would be fine if you were mounting to cardboard----not to hardwood or metal---will have to machine off to make it flat---these left the factory like this?

[chsparkman]

What if you were to mount it with a soft pine or fir "shim" between the press and your bench?

[Le Loup Solitaire]

It sounds like you are talking about the "T-Mag". They left a ridge down the enter of the bottom because of sloppy quality control. it will have to be removed with a bit of grinding...a stone in a Dremel will do the job. It should then sit flat on your bench top. I once had one of those that came to me new and the turret would not line up with the shell holder. I wrote Lyman and got a replacement turret that still did not line up....the indexing ball was out of sync so I sent the whole unit back for a refund and got something better. LLS

[s1120]

Not knowing how big it is, but in most cases with a casting ridge like that you can clean it up pretty quick with a quick draw filing. Being its just a mounting point, and doesn't need to be perfect, that should get you up and going in short order.

[trapper9260]

The T press i have, I got back in the mid 80's and did not have any problems like stated.Still use it today.I have no problem.

[firebrick43]

I bought a t mag in 99 or so and it what hammer toned black so if it was orange it even had a few more years than that.

It was the only press I have owned that I was happy to see go down the road. Lyman presses in my experience where cast and machined by monkeys. I haven't seen 1 made in the past decade that didn't have some flaw or many. Some older ones that friends have it's hard to tell as is the miss positioned die/ram alignment due to crappy machining or wear?

the ram was slightly sloppy new, the turrent heads flexed a lot and if you adjusted the back support rod higher would drag at one spot due to runout in the heads(had two and both did it) and the primer arm would launch the spring and cup after 50~rounds or so no matter how tight you tightened the retaining screw.

[Bullwolf]

Maybe I just got lucky with my Lyman T-mags turrets, as I have read a lot of dissatisfaction regarding them. I've really enjoyed both of mine, and I use them more than my old RCBS Rockchucker press, or the Dillon square deal B. In my defense though I really prefer to take my time, and load slowly single stage. The joys of progressive loading were sort of beaten out of me after working for a commercial ammunition manufacturer for years.

I have an older T-mag (previously orange, repainted black to match) that was purchased in the early 90's.

You can see the bottom casting of my older orange to black T-mag press, and it appears that someone at some point has cleaned it up, though I purchased it brand new.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=132567&d=1425285689

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=132568&d=1425285701

I've seen some pretty rough castings on T-mags, but not quite as rough as what you describe.

My old T-mag has yielded me a great deal of satisfaction. I liked it so much that I went and bought another one. A newer style T-mag black hammer tone finished turret press, 10-15 years later.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=132569&d=1388216329

I'm one of those odd single stage re-loaders that likes to have all of the dies set up and locked down tight in the press. It allows me to make a single test cartridge just by rotating the turret head, or to just simply load 50-100 rounds regular old single stage style in batches.

I'll admit I have flirted with the thought of the larger RCBS or Redding turrets a time or two.

http://www.realguns.com/images/rcbscomreddingpressm.jpg

In the end though, I've been happy with my newer T-mag and it's somewhat smaller footprint

My old orange T-mag did have a little turret flex, but it never kept me from loading anything from 44 Magnum, 30 Carbine, 300 Winchester Magnum, 223, or a whole slew of other pistol and rifle cartridges. I mean you don't turn the turret head while leaning on the press handle after all. For many years that old orange T-mag was my dedicated ranch reloading press.

The T-mag is not a super heavy duty press, and I wouldn't try anything foolish like swaging on it, (I've got my Rock chucker press for that if I ever do any swaging) but the T-mag never gave me a problem reloading any cartridge that I can recall.

I've heard the horror stories about them breaking, and Lyman's touch and go customer service, but the only parts I ever needed to order from Lyman, a spare primer catcher, and 2 extra on the press primer arms to make it quicker and easier to swap between large and small primers - I had no problems getting hold of. I've since heard that they no longer have many of the parts for the older T-mag presses sadly.

The ram is still tight on my first T-mag press to this day. I do clean the spent primer residue off the ram however, and occasionally lube it with Mobil 1 syn oil, and or/grease.

My newer style small black hammer tone finished T-mag does have less turret flex than my older press. The turret head on the new press has yet to experience any flex contact.

I mount my T-mag, and other reloading presses on a wooden block "jigs" with counter sunk bolts, and I swap the jigs around on my bench - Thereby keeping the same bolt hole pattern on my bench for all my different presses.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=539&pictureid=4087

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=539&pictureid=3830

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/picture.php?albumid=539&pictureid=3829

If you don't feel like cleaning up the casting on the bottom of the T-mag, that may be an easy way to mount yours.



- Bullwolf

[osteodoc08]

I've got one like BullWolf. Works fine. I use it for all my rifle and also processing military brass. No issues.