Are RCBS, Lee,Lyman & Hornady Shell all Interchangable?

[terryt]

Are RCBS, Lee, Lyman & Hornady Shell all Interchangeable?
I have Pacific O-Frame press and was wondering if areshell holders will fit in it?

If not is there a universal Ram/Shell holder that will work?

Thanks,

Terryt

[Yodogsandman]

http://www.handloads.com/misc/shellholders.asp

[runfiverun]

they are.
occasionally you'll find one that just don't wanna go.
you might have to do a little grinding in that case.

now you might find some shell-holders don't work with some cases, and some won't let the primer seating tool through the hole in the center.

[Smoke4320]

Hornady she'll holders have a larger center hole. To use the hornady priming tool you need hornady she'll holders
Also different mfg will use different # for fit
Ie: hornady #2 and RCBS #2 will fit different cartridges
Lyman shell holders (at least some of the ones I have run into) tend to be thicker and harder to fit into most modern rams

[zuke]

Yep, if you get the LEE red box full of shell holder's you'll most likely wont have to ever buy another

[lightman]

I have an RCBS press and mostly use RCBS shellholders. I have a few others, but the RCBS ones fit better and I like just using the one number system. Lee, Lyman and Redding will fit it.

[Artful]

Yep, if you get the LEE red box full of shell holder's you'll most likely wont have to ever buy another
Ah, my red box is for the primer tool - does not contain universal shell holders
My Green box has the universal shell holders.

[mdi]

I really hope they are! I have Lee, Lyman, RCBS, and I'm sure a few more manufacturers of shell holders and since they don't have trade names on them, I have no idea what's what. I have been using my variety, interchangeably, for mebbe 20 years...

[ascast]

Yep, if you get the LEE red box full of shell holder's you'll most likely wont have to ever buy another

until they break then you will get RCBS cause they are more sizes than other, so they are a better fit, and they wont break

[Litl Red 3991]

Are they the same size? Not the pairs that I've gotten over time.

I just went down in the shop and measured one pair that was near to hand.

Brand1 = .246" / .121"
Brand2 = .251" / .125"

That first number is the height of the part the mouth of your sizing die gets stopped by.
The second number is how far the base of your case is held up into that first part.

Two different brands, two differences where it might matter. OK, so what actually "matters"? If you've set your die lock rings for your press, you set them relative to the first number, the thickness of the holder. And with that pair I show, the sizing die for example will move .005" more or less depending which is in your press. I noticed one night that a sizing die that was supposed to cause the press lever to go over center wasn't going over center. How was that possible? Different brand of shell holder was used to set the lock rings of the dies. Different brand of shell holder was being used later to reload and the lock ring settings were .005" off.

However, did that screw up the reload shoulders? Not as much as you'd guess. Subtract the 2nd number from the 1st for those two shell holders above and you'll see why.

I really want to set my dies and forget them. Having a dedicated shell holder in the box with 'em is worth it to me.

[zuke]

until they break then you will get RCBS cause they are more sizes than other, so they are a better fit, and they wont break

I wouldn't know. I bought both the red and green box's when I was 18 and have used them ever since. I just turned 49

[Freischütz]

Sometimes one brand of shellholder can be wider than the ram of another brand's press. For example my RCBS 348 Win and 45/70 shellholders are wider than my Lyman Spartan's ram. They touch the press before being fully seated in the ram.

[Tackleberry41]

Its a bit surprising that they did go with a universal design with shell holders.

I have not found any difference in fit between the RCBS and Lee I have. Only difference seems to be that RCBS costs 2x. And that you have to buy a shell holder with RCBS dies and Lee gives you one. Some RCBS may fit some cases better than LEE as there are more RCBS holders than Lee, but have not found any to be an issue.

[r1kk1]

Anyone making autoprime shellholders besides Lee? Not happy with #5 for the 475 Linebaugh. It either works or doesn't. I use a K&M priming tool.

take care

r1kk1

[yman]

I have a pacific O press, I have used rcbs, lee and lyman shell holders and they all fit. I have not used the the press mounted primer with the lee or lyman but have used it with the rcbs and it worked fine. I bought an rcbs hand primer and I use it for almost all my priming now. I like the old pacific for rifle cases because it is sturdy and true. I have a lyman turret press I use for pistol rounds.

[Hawks Feather]

Yodogsandman, thanks for the link. I hadn't seen that one before.

[EDG]

There are a few shellholders that are not quite the same between the brands.

For 43 Spanish, .348 and .45-70 RCBS made one inch diameter shell holders. The .43 Spanish shell holder is much tougher than the Lee.

Hornady makes a Carcano shell holder that is a much better fit than the other brands. This is important because the Carcano rim is thin and needs all the help it can get.

[JM7.7x58]

Hornady she'll holders have a larger center hole. To use the hornady priming tool you need hornady she'll holders
Also different mfg will use different # for fit
Ie: hornady #2 and RCBS #2 will fit different cartridges
Lyman shell holders (at least some of the ones I have run into) tend to be thicker and harder to fit into most modern rams

Public Service Announcement:
Hornady Shell Holder Center Holes Are Bigger. They will not correctly align the priming arm on the Lee Classic Cast Press.

My reloading for today is shut down. Going to get a new shell holder ordered.

Side Note: RCBS shell holders have worked just fine for priming on this press, in other calibers. RCBS I.D. Is .265” . Hornady I.D. is .299”.

JM

P.s Yes, I know this thread is from 2015.

[onelight]

until they break then you will get RCBS cause they are more sizes than other, so they are a better fit, and they wont break

I have never broken a shell holder in 45 years . What were you doing ? 8-)

[Pressman]

Its a bit surprising that they did go with a universal design with shell holders.

I have not found any difference in fit between the RCBS and Lee I have. Only difference seems to be that RCBS costs 2x. And that you have to buy a shell holder with RCBS dies and Lee gives you one. Some RCBS may fit some cases better than LEE as there are more RCBS holders than Lee, but have not found any to be an issue.

RCBS came out with the shellholder as we know it in 1955 along with the Model A and Model B press and the Uniflow powder measure. Their thinking was the shellholder was no big deal, after all it was just a scaled down version of the Lachmiller & Herter's shellholder. So, they never filed for a patent application on the shellholder.
As that turned out it was a wise move as everyone picked up the design and it quickly became the standard of the industry. As late as the mid 1960's there were still gun writers who referred to it as the RCBS type shellholder.

And the rest is history.

[JM7.7x58]

Thank You Pressman for the history lesson. I now feel foolish for “switching” to a new die brand. I assumed that the hornady shell holder would work with the Lee on press priming system because my RCBS shell holders have in the past. From your history it would seem that Lee closely copied RCBS, and that is why the RCBS work so well with Lee’s priming system. It turns out Mr. Lee wasn’t just a good innovator, he was also a good copier.
JM

[BMW Rider]

Are they the same size? Not the pairs that I've gotten over time.



This ^^ If I use my Hornady #1 shell holder in my hand primer, the primers don't seat as deeply (i.e. - not deep enough) as they do when I use my Lyman #1 shell holder.

[Walks]

I have broken a Lee shellholder, when forming .40-82 brass from that blasted rock hard starline .45 2.4 brass. Tore the top of the shellholder right off. Extracted the case from the Redding die and stuck a Lyman shellholder in and went back to case forming. Lubed with Imperial Sizing Lube. lee shellholders are junk.
When they came out with the auto prime with the slip in shellholders, the .44Spl/Mag cases would always slip out unless you held them centered.

[onelight]

I had a reloading friend that kept forgetting to lube his 308s and pulled the rim off them with his Lee shell holders. Correction he would pull the rim off.
You must have had some bad ones cause I have quite a few along with rcbs mine all work

[1hole]

Lee's shell holders are "junk"? Goodness! Thank you, I didn't know that.

Since 1965, I've been happily interchanging/mixing shell holders of most brands in RCBS, Lee, Herter's, Pacific and Lyman presses with no problems at all (including Lee's junk shell holders); what have I been doing wrong?

Best I know (or can remember), it was Pacific who first made simple toggle presses as we know them and designed today's 7/8"x14 dies, including the actual working dimension (1/8" deep) for standardised shell holders.

Think it was Fred Huntington who changed Pacific's original press ram (fixed) shell holders to the present "slip-in" design. ??

In my youthful inexperience it seemed good to set sizers exactly "right" and then lock down the ring once and for all.

But ... I finally got a precision case headspace gage and quickly found that brass spring-back between brands AND the number of times they have been reloaded varied much more than I had realised. I've not locked a rifle sizer ring in place since, not for the last 30 years or so.

[lightman]

My first press was a Herters and the shell holders were not the universal type. I also have a few older RCBS shell holders that have a larger hole in the center than the newer ones do. I traded a few of those to a member here that needed the larger hole.

[Green Frog]

RCBS came out with the shellholder as we know it in 1955 along with the Model A and Model B press and the Uniflow powder measure. Their thinking was the shellholder was no big deal, after all it was just a scaled down version of the Lachmiller & Herter's shellholder. So, they never filed for a patent application on the shellholder.
As that turned out it was a wise move as everyone picked up the design and it quickly became the standard of the industry. As late as the mid 1960's there were still gun writers who referred to it as the RCBS type shellholder.

And the rest is history.

I must be getting old... I still think of them as “RCBS type” shell holders to distinguish from Herters and Lyman (“J-type”) shell holders. Of course now I’m trying to track down Lachmiller style shell holders as well. [smilie=b:

Froggie

[str8wal]

until they break

You've broken a shell holder? How, praytell?

[Pressman]

Lachmiller shellholders are easy to spot Mr. Frog person, sir. That is once you learn them differences. They will always have a smaller center hole as the Lachmiller priming system does not use a cup to hold the primer. Mostly they have a 180 degree cut across the face, they are marked for caliber by stamping or scribing, they may be checkered, or not, usually they have a small "C" notch in the rear of the top. But then some do not have the 180 degree cut and look normal except for the above characteristics. If in doubt, look at the center hole, it will always be smaller. For that reason you cannot use them on a Herter's press if you want to prime on the press, and using a Herter's in the Lachmiller primer tool can sort of be done, with mixed levels of frustration.

See, that was easy.

[EDG]

Lee shell holders are really hard. Some are not well engineered such as the .43 Spanish which has a very thick case rim. With the usual 1/8" deep shell holder and thick case rim the rim of the shell holder is really thin. FL sizing a case may pull the rim right off of the shell holder.
in comparison the RCBS shell holder for the .43 Spanish is deeper and the RCBS .43 Spanish loading dies are not reamed as deep to make up the difference.
You would think Lee would know enough to avoid that problem. They could at least buy a RCBS shell holder to copy. They would need to make their dies different for the .43 Spanish too.



You've broken a shell holder? How, praytell?