Seeking advice/tips/tricks/secrets regarding use of lyman 450 lube-sizer

[michiganmike]

Tumble lubing has served me admirably for years, and with the advent of Ben's Liquid Lube I have no real need for a lube-sizer. But I was on EBay yesterday and there was a nice, used Lyman Lube-Sizer for sale. On a lark, I put in a bid, sure I would be out bid. I wasn't. I am now the owner of said tool.

I don't feel all that bad about it - another toy for my toy chest. I am starting out with the top punch and sizing die for one of my 7mm bullets. And I have watched several YouTube videos that detail the use of the Lyman 450.

It appears to be a pretty simple tool to use. But I have long ago learned that nothing is ever as simple as it appears. And no job will ever get done as fast as one anticipates. Are there any spare parts I should keep on hand? Are there any common mistakes to avoid? Etc.

I will be using Ben's Red which I had made and used for pan lubing. I will melt and pour it into the reservoir as Ben suggested in one of his posts.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it. What sayest thou?

Thank you in advance for your comments,

MichiganMike

[Duckiller]

Two suggestions. First ask Lyman Customer Service for an instruction manual. I believe they will give you one for free. Second cast some boolits that you aren't going to shoot and don't care what they look like. Play with them in your 450. Move the adjustments, figure out how to do lots and little lube. There are thread(s) here about how to mold hollow sticks of lube. Not sure where to tell you to look, its been quite some time since I have seen them. I have never used Ben's Red so I don't know how hard it is or how it reacts to heat. Javalina is a soft lube that doesn't need any heat to use but is real sticky, especially if you are in So. Mich. Lars' Carnuba Red or Bullshop's Speed Green are two lubes that require some heat to use but don't get sticky in the summer and work very well in rifles. Use your 450. It is not a complicated machine but if you use it and play with the adjustments you should soon figure it out. Remelt boolits that you don't like. A final caution, if it is hard to operate STOP. It shouldn't be hard to operate so something is jammed and needs to be cleared. Having warned you about possible breakage you are going to feel some resistance when you size boolits. The more you size the more the resistance. This is ok. Hard resistance can lead to breakages. If you have major problems call Lyman Customer Service. In my experience they are very helpful ,just won't send you free stuff like RCBS. Enjoy you new tool.

[Beagle333]

If you are casting really hard stuff or sizing down more than a thou or so, I'd recommend shoving them through a Lee push thru sizer first. That makes the Lyman just a luber then and it goes very very smoothly.

[upnorthwis]

The lube wrench takes just a touch of torque. When I first started, I thought it had to be crushed with gorilla strength. I had lube squirting all over the place. Start with the depth adjustment too high. Then adjust it down only until grooves are filled and boolit completely sized.

[Janoosh]

If you have any older dies, make sure the mouth of the die is beveled. I have some older dies that aren't. I bevel the mouth with a cartridge tool.
You can heat the lubrisizer with a light bulb placed close. Just to make the lube flow easier.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You will learn quickly, that there is a fine dance between the amount of pressure you put on the lube (via the pressure screw), and the viscosity of the Lube, and the ambient temperature and the heat you apply to the Lube sizer (if you have a heater).

The TRICK, imho, is to apply only enough pressure to lube the one boolit you put in the die...So you adjust the pressure "just enough" for each boolit. It seems like more work to crank on the pressure screw for each boolit, but the headaches and mess you avoid, makes it well worth it.

[mold maker]

Too much force will result in the handle toggle breaking.(not serviced anymore) The remedy is to upgrade to a 4500 toggle and a few other parts in an upgrade kit. When I got mine it was $17. and change, but thats been several years.
Other than that it's a pretty fool proof system. Use care when installing the sizing die, to assure straight threading of the nut. The Professor (here on CB) makes a tool that simplifies that.

[Wayne Smith]

If your Ben's Red is like mine you will need to add about 50% more beeswax to it. Mine is so slippery that it seeps between the O rings and the side of the sizer as much as it gets into the boolit! I need to add a little more to mine, but I got some candle scent blocks and I'm gonna try two of them first. That stuff does stink.

[MT Chambers]

Someone else mentioned it but, be careful threading in the nut that holds the dies!!! The only other thing to watch is the centering of the bullet in the die which is usually tied into the proper nose punch, but there are tricks to make sure the bullet is completely centered in the die and not sized more on one side then the other.

[michiganmike]

Thank you all for the helpful advice.

MichiganMike

[oldfart1956]

I've been using nothing but Bens Red in mine for quite some time now. Excellent lube! It seems too hard to work without heat...but it does. Not much pressure on the wrench required. Get one of The Perfessors nut wrenches. Do it now before you damage the threads. It was so much of a pain to change dies I almost chucked mine. Then I bought the tool. It works perfectly. Audie...the Oldfart..

[Wayne Smith]

As soon as Keith is up and running back in production I'm on the list for one of his wrenches, too.

[725]

The fine threaded die fixture is tough to get straight and not cross-thread. Go slow here. When I change the die, I take the collar screw that hold the die down and fit it to the die first and them push both into the female section of the 450 and tighten slowly while pushing on two sides of the collar screw. Keeps it straight and prevents cross threading every time.