Rough Tru-Line Jr. Dies

[iuvenal]

Hi all,

For the past year or so I've been slowly acquiring the equipment necessary to make a portable reloading setup for the "civilized" part of the house....so I can have something to do with my hands when the family is watching TV, etc. I found a really nice lot of reloading stuff on craigslist that, amongst other things, contained a really nice Lyman 55 (it also came with a set of "Cook's Old Timer" dies...made by Schissel, but thats another thread). I found a really mint set of 45 ACP Tru-Line Jr dies, boxes and all, for a song. And crowned the ensemble with a Tru-Line Jr. from ebay. Previously I had set up the sizer in one of my steel tong tools, successfully closing and opening it (it was hard to open, but the 310 isn't meant to FL size anything). Tonight I screwed the press into a 2x8 and clamped it to my bench as a "portable" test set-up and put the dies in. Long story short, I could not get the brass more than halfway in the die...not with that setup. It was bad enough that I felt I was going to break something if I persisted, I know the Tru-line isn't exactly a paragon of mechanical advantage. I then put on the adaptor and screwed the die into my Lachmiller 100 and...same result. Keep in mind I tried both lanolin and the spray on Lyman lube in both presses. I sized a case in a set of carbide dies, and they actually sized the case MORE than the Lyman dies with buttery smoothness, as I would expect from a modern carbide. Next I checked the inside of the die with a bore light, and wow, it is machined poorly. I guess I know why they were so pristine...no one else ever really used them.

I've heard it mentioned that the Lyman 5/8x30 dies can leave something to be desired, especially compared to a contemporary Redhead set of dies, but I guess I wasn't expecting THAT. Anyway I guess I will have to decide weather it is worth trying to lap the current die or find something else....anybody else had this experience?

-I

[Green Frog]

I’ve had a couple of extra tight Lyman dies show up, but none quite so rough as you describe... I’d be tempted to lap them out with a split rod and emory paper in an electric drill. 45 brass is cheap and abundant enough that I’d probably sacrifice a few pieces helping get everything right. My personal strategy would be to FL size a few shells to serve as templates (using a “full size” carbide die) then use them to help determine when my TL Jr die was getting right.

Note that this is not what I would expect from Lyman, but those dies were discontinued something like 40 years ago, so what you have is what you get! I’m obstinate enough to want to get it working right.

By way of total disclosure, I have to admit that although I like my little TL Jr for loading 32 S&W Long, I tend to let a big bunch of brass accumulate and batch process it (decapping and FL sizing) on my old All American press with a carbide die. Then I can do the rest of my loading steps on the smaller press at a leisurely pace. My 45 doesn’t get shot enough these days to establish a specific protocol, but I see a likelihood of using my Dillon Progressive if I go back to shooting that caliber much.

Froggie

[country gent]

I don't think Id go with emery, or sand paper for a light polish in the dies. I would try the split dowel with flannel wrapped snug then flitz, simi chrome, diamond compound, tooth paste or green buffing rouge on the flannel. You don't want to remove a lot of material just polish the surface up. With out seeing the dies its hard to make a real recommendation. when doing this you want a low rpm high back and forth feed so the polish lines cross over each other in a figure 8 pattern. You also want to stay in the die coming in and out of the die will round edges. It may not take a lot. A good start for this project would be to use a bore scope to look inside for rust and the finish.

[iuvenal]

Froggie-

Not what I'd expect from Lyman either...I've always had pretty good luck with their products old and new. If I can't get the sizing dies smoothed out satisfactorily I can do something like you've described. I can also stick to rifle loading with the 310 and other tru-line dies I have. But I will give it a shot.

Gent-

Wish I had a camera that could actually do this justice...its bad. You can feel the swails if you run a nailhead up and down inside it. I will start with a lighter touch, but this might require more than a light polish. Will let you know how it goes.

[44magLeo]

While you are doing the die work, keep an eye out for another die. Ebay sells a lot of 310 dies and parts. May find a good die to replace your bad die.
Leo

[Char-Gar]

More than likely your have a MR (muzzle resizing) die. These are intended for the low leverage 310 tool and Gen 1, simple leverage TLJ press. Lyman did make a FL (full length) resizing die for the Tru-Line Jr. Press. Note: the original TLJ press with the simple leverage could only handle the MR die, but when the compound TLJ press came along, Lyman introduced the FL die. So you can find TLJ dies with either MR or FL dies depending on when they were made.