Ohaus

[cwlongshot]

Anyone know real story??

Did RCBS buy line or rights or what? Was Lyman in the mix at all??

Much rumor just curious.

CW

[CastingFool]

My reloading scale is labeled Lyman Ohaus D-5. I've got it used from a friend, sometime around 1981. No other info on it, but at least it shows some kind of connection between Lyman and Ohaus.

[1hole]

Ohaus is an old maker of precision balance beam scales for science and industry. Few reloading makers (except Lee) want to mess with making a lot of their things so they contract with sources who make their living that way.

A large part of what reloaders buy isn't "made" by the brand. Like RCBS' presses, a lot of large parts get made somewhere else, then sent to the buyer for final machining, painting and assembly. For reasons of economy, many common smallish things like dies, plastic loading trays and case trimmers may not be made entirely in house.

By contract, Ohaus made powder scales (i.e., common scales but calibrated in grains) and labeled for anyone who wanted them. Lyman wanted the world to know they were selling the best made scales of their type at that time so they laid Ohaus name on their scales. Later, Ohaus became suppliers for RCBS; same scales with different colors (and higher prices) but still Ohaus' products.

My first powder scale (in '65) was a Lyman/Ohaus M-5; I still have it and and it still reads dead on. Other seller's beam scales - like Redding, Dillon, etc. - are also excellent but I wouldn't trade my old M-5 for any other scale ever made. (Especially no Chinese digital powder scales of any color!)

[cwlongshot]

Thats good info on SCALES...

What about the Molds?

CW

[blackthorn]

I had an Ohaus scale I got at a yard sale several years ago. It was identical (except for color) to my RCBS 10-10. Worked as well too. My son now has it and uses it.

[dannyd]

If you look at the adds in old Handloader Magazine they change from Ohaus to RCBS in early 70's. Same molds RCBS just discontinued the 4 cavity ones.

[MT Gianni]

Kind of a shame as Ohaus had a lot of 3 cavity molds. I believe that RCBS acquired them.

[skeettx]

Omark Industries had many companies
RCBS, Ohaus, CCI and others
Ohaus reloading slid into RCBS

https://www.rcbs.com/rcbs-learn/rcbs-about-us.html

The Leisure Group got Lyman and Sierra and High Standard, Ben Pearson, and more

Mike

[John Boy]

Ohaus molds are still out there for sale ... NO eBay links, EVER!!!!!!!

They made great powder chargers - bought one never used

[Walks]

If I remember right Ohaus had a line of Bullet molds back in the early 1960's. 1 & 2 cavity designs that used the same 1 & 2 cavity handle size/style as Lyman.
They were absorbed by Lachmiller who made beautiful 2-3 cavity molds the same size as RCBS 2 cavity molds today.
Lachmiller also made reloading dies.
Ohaus also made the same great ingot molds as Saeco & Lyman.
Sometime in the early to mid 1970'S, RCBS bought Lachmiller. The small block molds were discontinued somewhere along the way.
The Lachmiller Molds were reduced to 2 cavity only and the handle "fingers" were increased in thickness. You can use the thinner Lachmiller handles on a RCBS mold, they'll be loose. So not the best idea.
The current made RCBS handles will NOT fit on Lachmiller molds. But you can "thin down" a set of Lee handles.

Don't recall ever seeing a Lachmiller Press or Powder Measure.
I've seen Lachmiller catalogs/brochures offered for sale on fleabay. But never seen one in "person" myself.

That's as much as I can remember.

Sorry for the ramble. Too many concussions in my younger days.

[NyFirefighter357]

https://i.imgur.com/u8wa60q.jpg

[Pressman]

These are Ohaus moulds. They are packaged as a gunwriters sample, not a sale sample, gun writers. To be clear. These were sent to Jim Carmichael of Outdoor Life for testing and evaluation. I got these from Jim personally. The case has a plaque with his name on it. He never used them as they are a standard Lyman mould with the Ohaud name. How long they sold moulds, I do not know.

Best known for their scales Ohaus did dabble in other reloading tools that were mostly carried under their name and by RCBS. The Duo powder measure and plastic caliper come to mind.

Lachmiller is a seperate story. RCBS bought the company outright to primarily get their line of moulds and the lubesizer. They dropped most everything else except excellent the bench priming tool. It was sold in RCBS green, then the body redesigned to a square profile before going away.



267299

267300

267301

[rayh]

I have probably all of the Handloader and Rifle Mag for the first 40 years. In the early days of Wolf, Jim wrote a lot of good cast bullet articles.

[richhodg66]

I have a Lachmiller press and one of those bench priming tools and haven't used either one yet. I need to get them set up and fix that.

[Walks]

Now that you mention it, My Dad had one of those Lachmiller Bench priming tools. I bought a RCBS one in the late 1970'S and lost one of the priming posts.
When I called RCBS about getting a replacement, they asked If it was round and blue(Lachmiller) or Green and squarish(RCBS).

I also seem to remember a Blue single stage shotgun presswe used to put a taper on loaded 12ga shells.
Can anyone tell me about that.
50+yrs and 4 concussions is a long time.

[cwlongshot]

Lachmiller was my next question!! Hahaha

Thanks guys

CW

[leadhead]

My buddy has a Lachmiller bullet lub sizer. I never saw another one.
Denny