Lyman T-Mag II

[larry h]

Is anyone out there using one of these presses? Are there any complaints ?
What are your opinions about these presses? R/Larry

[crowbuster]

I,ve loaded several thousand rounds over 10-11 yrs with mine and love it. I put 3 sets of neck dies on one head and have 9 heads to hold all dies. Love every thing but the priming. Went to a lee auto prime after cast arm broke early on and never looked back, much better feel with it. I have had a hornady l-n-l ap for a couple yrs and still do most rifle rounds on the t-mag. May want to add felt washers at ram pivot to take up slack and tighten up a bit. Good luck and enjoy.


C.B.

[jimkim]

I used a T-mag ten years ago. It was at our gun shop. I have often thought of buying one. I dont need it. It wont do anything that my press cant do. But I still think about it. Does that tell you anything? That is a good press.

[quietmike]

I agree with crowbuster. Great, solid press except for the priming.

[dromia]

Ditto whats been said, don't have one on my bench at present but wouldn't turn one down if one came my way again.

Its the true classic turret press.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Before the Lee Classic Turret came out, the Lyman Tmag was an ok press and I've owned one at one time. But since the Lee classic Turret will do everything the Lyman will do, but does it at a significantly faster rater, I wouldn't buy one unless I got it at nearly a steal. It is a very dated design and the turret head tends to tilt, thereby affecting runout on rifle cartridges.

Just my .02,

Dave

[remy3424]

Better for handgun than rifle, use mine for both, I have 4 turrets to leave the dies in. I'm not sure I would buy again, but it is handy for multi-stations w/handgun dies. I added a old A2 RCBS for rifle cartidges now, no spring i that unit. Never got the priming system set to where it worked flawlessly, just go 1 by 1 until I grab a Prime-All.

[1hole]

The Lyman turret is pretty much a standard tool, does good work but...I don't use mine anymore. Well, except for some special tasks and occassional pistol loading. I found the turret to add nothing to my loading, nor did it save time in the final analysis, so I just use my RockChucker 2 for everthing.

That said, the RC leaves a lot to be desired too. If I had to replace it tomorrow I'd get a Lee Classic Cast single stage instead; much better handling of spent primers for one thing.

[johnp]

The only thing I don't like about mine is the slop in the handle but that does not take away from the function of the press.

[Swagerman]

Put your money into a Lee Classic single stage press, or the turret model...you won't be disapointed.

Don't care for the loose slop in the Lyman linkage, they made a better press in their older AA model, The All American.

Jim

[rugerdude]

I have used a T-Mag at a friends, but it doesn't do anything for me that my old Spar-T won't handle. And even with the Spar-T, I mainly use it to load .38's. I have 2 sets of .38 dies in the head to load either 148gr. wadcutters or 170gr. Keiths. The rest of my reloading is done on my Lee Classic single stage. I added the Hornady Lock-N-Load conversion and it is a blessing! Twist in-twist out and you don't have to worry about the die settings being off.

[walltube]

Being this is my first turret press I have no experience with other manufacturers offerings to compare, good, bad or indifferent. On the other hand, I am in agreement with others here that the priming system is from an earlier era and not as efficient as Lee's. That is no biggie for me, I was weaned on a Rock Chucker.

The sloppy lateral link tolerances do not present any percieved problems thus far. But still..that just bothers the bejeebers out of me. Something thin gauge nylon washers ought to cure.

IMHO, I do not think you can go wrong with the T-Mag II. Certainly sturdy enough to handle pistol reloading chores.

That said, I suggest you invest in a case activated powder dipenser linkage thingy, such as pictured below. A big help in speeding production for all those gadzillion pistol rounds I think you wanna load up. :)




http://i310.photobucket.com/albums/kk401/AuntJanie/Picture019.jpg

[dragonrider]

My T-Mag seemed to have a lot of looseness in the turret by that I mean it would tip towards the back when stuffing a case into a die, didn't like that, there was .010" between the turret and that post in the back, I remove the turret and machined .009" from the bottom side couterbore and made a thicker spacer for the top. Problem solved. Still don't use it much like Swagerman I like the AA better.

[copdills]

I don't have one but its looks strong enough, nice press

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Looks can be deceiving. The turret is mounted by a single screw going down through the middle. I found that with rifle cartridges, especially larger ones like 30.06 and above, it can tilt a bit, causing runout. The Lee Classic Turret design is much stronger and doesn't tilt.

Speedwise, I was never able to get above about 50 cartridges produced and hour with my Lyman T-mag. I'm getting an easy 200/hour with my Lee Classic Turret and if I work at it real hard, I can get that up to 300 (but is a lot of work to do so) and these cartridges are better than the ones I made on my T-mag.

There are better, less expensive presses out there nowadays if you're buying new. Now if you can get one for cheap used, that's a different story if one can get by with 50 cartridges an hour tops.

Regards,

Dave

[Swagerman]

Man, if you gotta buy an old timer Lyman, make it an AA. It's my main loader for work up loads.

It also has a tilt stanchon in the back side under the turret...no dip there.

However, finding one would be tough to do and probably pricey, buy a Lee Classic SS or Turret. :drinks:

Jim

[Handgunr]

I've had the previous Lyman T-Mag for years.

It's loaded thousands of rounds for me without a hitch. Never had a problem with runout to speak of. If it was present to any degree, don't tell me, because the on paper results have always been spectacular using a given load, in comparison to my other presses. All presses have runout to one degree or another, and to buy something that has a zero runout (if it were made) would cost you more than you could afford for a hobby. Then on the other hand, the dies themselves would come under consideration as well.

I've always liked the Lyman presses in past years, but if I were going to get another "turret" press, I'd probably opt for the Redding.


Take care,
Bob

[hyoder]

I use a T-Mag for low volume loading, 100 rounds or less, and a Dillon 550B for lager volume loading.
I leave my dies set up in the 6 or 7 heads that I have. Never had any problems.
All of my priming for this press is done with a Hornady priming tool.
Used to use a Lee Hand Primer. Gave it up after about the third broken handle.

[Handgunr]

hyoder,

I'm pretty much in the same boat.......a T-Mag, an Orange Crusher, 2 Dillon 550B's and a Square Deal B for large quantities of target rounds.

I still have the Lee Auto Prime......yeah, I snapped a couple of those links too. The last one I got though, is still working. Good idea, just poor "pot metal" links. Maybe they finally changed the material.
First chance I have to get something like the Hornday or RCBS I'll probably grab one. You don't have to buy a different style shellholder like with the Lee's, as some will take the regular standard ram shellholders.

Bob

[kingstrider]

I have one and like it for most duties. I used to have a bunch of heads to keep my different dies loaded but found it a pain to store them. I wound up selling all but one and just swap dies out as needed. If I were going to buy another turret press though, I'd probably spend the extra bucks and get the Redding T7 which is built better IMO.

[klw]

I really like mine.

[Echo]

I have an older Spar-T that I use mainly for .38/.357 preliminary work. Carbide sizer, two expander/bellers (one for .38., one for .357), and then storage on the other stations. Tumble, size, x/b, then move to the RCBS auto primer, and so on to the Rock Chucker. Prosaic use of the Spar-T, but - works for me.

[RANGER RICK]

I have one with three heads.
I load for many revolvers and a few rifle and have never had a hitch .
I run 338 win mag,30-06,45-70,500 Cyrus and 45-120 .
I do not know if the primer is a pain I have nevr used it .
I use a hand primer for all applications .
It is a very good press over all .

RR

[joedapro]

i have the rcbs turret. i use it to size my rifle cases before trimming, then they go into the dillon. i have not noticed run out issues. my woa service rifles get <1/2 moa when using the 10 power scope benched. wish i could do that with irons and offhand.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I had a short and negative experience with one of these. It doesn't mean that all of them produced are not good and I'm sure that many users are very happy with them. I bought it new and the turret would not index precisely or completely in any of the stations. The shell being worked had to pull the turret and die back into alignment to get the job done. I sent the turret back to Lyman and they sent me a new one. Same thing. I swapped it of/away at a gun show. Subsequently I bought a Redding T(yranosaurus Rex )-7 which is solidly built and precise monster with more stations, a better priming setup and good primer disposal system. It and the Lee single stage and/or turret press are superior in quality and strength. The engineering and workmanship are certainly worth the extra dollars LLS