Any comments on the new Lyman presses?

[flashhole]

A lot of head turning early on but things seem to have gone silent. Anyone care to express an opinion?

[Tom W.]

I know one of the fellows that bought some dies from me has a new Lyman C press and said that he likes it just fine. If I can find one locally I may get one. Dunno why, just because it looks like a good sturdy press I guess.

[zymguy]

I've no complaints with my american 8. I haven't set up the primer because i do that infront of the computer (off the press)

[CamoWhamo]

I have the American 8 and i'm reasonably happy with it. I'd rate it 3.5*
The press itself is sturdy and slop free. The handle is longer than a Redding T7 and swings over more of an arc so if you're loading a lot of pistol ammo the long throw becomes tiresome. The Ram clearance and travel is 4" compared to 3.5" on the Redding.
The automatic primer system is junk and there is no alternative way to prime on-press.
The primer catch system drops about 20% unless you put a straw in the ram to keep them contained.
The only other small gripe i have is that Redding and Lee shell holders are a loose fit in the ram and rotate all the time. RCBS and Lyman shellholders work ok.

[sigep1764]

TomW was referring to me in the above post. There are a couple of threads about it, but here goes.
Lyman Brassmith Ideal C Press. Single stage, primer catch bin, center drilled ram, compound linkage but short handle(have to lean on it when swaging primer pockets), smooth like butter, no movement in the ram to frame fit, very thick casting with small footprint on your bench, sturdy(it weighs 12 or 13lbs). There are a couple things I wish Lyman had done, like split ram ala RCBS and a longer handle. I will prolly just order a longer handle from another press. But all in all, it was money well spent and I have processed at least a thousand 270 Winchester cases and more than two thousand 223 Remington cases on it. Its gonna stay mounted to the bench for sure.

[CamoWhamo]

I was asked via PM for clarification of my comments above.

The lyman comes with the auto priming system and that is the only way to prime on the press as there is no alternative single priming bar like there is on a Redding or Rockchucker.

The Lyman priming system is very poor quality compared to the similar optional primer feed on the Redding.
I had to do a lot of deburring to get the primers to feed through the tubes and mechanism and is still suffers from feeding issues. When the primer tube is full it's not too bad but as it empties out it starts missing or mis-feeding primers. A solution is to add some weight on top of the primer stack. I found an appropriate sized drill bit placed, not dropped, blank end first on top the primer stack really helps.
Even then 1 in 10 still tries to jam into the case sideways. I found this was worse using Redding or Lee shellholders and using a Lyman shell holder helps because it has a smaller center hole, but the issue still happens far to often.

Eventually I gave up messing with the priming system and pulled it off. Now and i use a Lee challenger press mounted close by with the old AutoPrime 2 on top which i find works great for me.

FWIW, i had similar feeding issues with the Redding Auto primer feed so it seems to be a common problem with that style of system. The gravity assist fixed the Redding issues completely.

On the plus side, taking the priming system off has opened up the frontal area and it's a joy to work with the easy access to the shell holder.

When you consider that the Lyman is 2/3rd the cost of the Redding T7 it's actually great value.