Lyman Mag T

[shotman]

anyone have one they broke and want to part with? rick

[BHLUA]

i have and use two of the one old Orange one and one new Black one and I dont think you can break one of these!!!!!!!! I love it and use them at least twice a week a piece. Good luck on finding a broke one and I would question how it got that way.

[Spector]

Yes, I still have an old T-Mag press. I bought it new in a Lyman reloading kit and had owned it less that 2 years when I broke the threaded post that the turret turns on. The replacement part that Lyman kept sending me was the wrong one over and over again. I finally sent them both pieces of the broken part. Then they told me they no longer stocked the threaded post I needed and suggested I have a machinist make a new on. They mailed me back the broken part. I paid to have a new post machined and heat treated. It broke too.

The old T-Mag presses did not have a support in the rear of the press to support the turret. It was a design flaw. Lyman changed that design, increased the diameter of the threaded portion of the threaded post......plus they added a much needed adjustable support in the back of the press for the turret. I origionally bought the press because it was made of cast iron and thought I was buying quality. I thought about just installing the parts in an Orange Crusher press frame and settling for a single stage press, but since Lyman did not want to stand behind their press I no longer spend any of my money on Lyman products. Maybe I just got unlucky and talked to a bad customer service rep, but it sure soured me on Lyman. I've thought several times about turning it into a bench mounted nut cracker.

I bought a low cost light weight Lee turret press just to get me by and have never looked back. Then when Lee introduced the Lee Classic Turret Press I purchased one of those and love it. Much better design and support for the turrets than Lyman.......plus substantially lower cost turrets.

Shotman, email me at _________________ if you are interested in my crappy old Lyman T-Mag press. I sold the two turrets I had last year so all I have left is the press. I'd be happy to sell it because right now it's just a potential boat anchor with movable parts. ha ha.......Mike

[shotman]

Mike will do . Lyman makes good products for the most part The problem I have with them they drop a line and drop replacement parts. What if the car companies did that? The bolt in center started out as a 1/2 thread. They had so many break the went up to a 5/8in The one I picked up the 1/2in hole was not tapped straight and it snapped the bolt. I found a source that has a replacement bolt It is not the same as Lyman used but seems to work better. rick

[Spector]

Shotman.........see my corrected email address in my above post........Mike

[shotman]

mike I tried that too and didnt work I think shipping would be too much Pm me rick

[6bg6ga]

I just had the primer arm break when installing Tula small pistol primers in 38 cal non-military cases on my NEW Lyman T-Mag press. I hope they will do something about it.

[jmorris]

The problem I have with them they drop a line and drop replacement parts. What if the car companies did that?

They do that all the time, there are entire industries from carpet, lines, wiring, engine, body chassis and driveline that create obsolete parts.

Its also not just Lyman. RCBS, Hornady and Dillon have all built presses that one can no longer get some of the parts for them.

[too many things]

wow that is long time back. didn't know they kept them that long
was the most worthless press Lyman made

[6bg6ga]

I've had both the "orange" model and the "Black" model. Never experienced any turret bolt problems with either. I will clarify a little here.... I did use a feeler gauge between the main frame of the unit and the turret to remove the .012 air space between them. This insured a nice tight fit and no chance for the turret to try to distort the bolt in the "orange" one. Never busted anything in the "orange" one. So having said this it might just be necessary to be smart when operating any machine or you can simply stay stupid and cry because you didn't think to remove that play that was there and after time and thousands of cycles you broke the thing. One the "Black one Lyman got smart and installed a threaded bolt that can be adjusted so it touches the botton of the turret so there isn't any play. Don't adjust the threaded bolt/stand and you will flex the turret and the bolt that runs thru it and the bolt will break. To be blunt here......simply remove and tendency for the turret to flex and the T-mag will probably last longer than you or I.As to the worthless press comment.................. before a person comments he should probably have some experience on the subject..

[Spector]

I have experience on this subject.

That is why I bought a Lee Classic Cast with fully supported turrets that can be removed easily and cost a fraction of what a Lyman turret costs and has automatic advancement of the turret when desired.

True.....my T-mag has lasted....though still broken and it now shows the most potential as a boat anchor. I thought about a nut cracker, but their tong tool shows the most promise in that area.

My old orange T-mag press had the smaller diameter threaded portion. Realizing they had a design problem they first increased the threaded diameter. Then the geniuses finally added a threaded adjuster at the rear of their next attempt at a decent turret press to make up for the weak design.

The heavy materials in it looked hell for stout so I just bought a cheap (low cost) Lee 3 hole turret press to get me by until there was a resolution to my Lyman problem.

As it turned out Lee was the resolution to my Lyman problem. Lee added a 4 hole turret press next. That made life better. Finally Lee really got with the program with the Classic Cast turret press.

I'm glad you anticipated the design flaw in your Lyman T-mag press and made it strong enough to be useful. Unfortunately I did not and when mine broke I simply had a machinist make another pivot bolt that again broke. This is the fix that Lyman customer service recommended to me.....except for the breaking a 2nd time part.

Two solutions to the same problem. Your solution made for less stress because you anticipated what would happen.

I still remember when I went press shopping for the first time how the gun shop owner ran down Lee products and touted Lyman as the superior choice. You may have seen this guy on TV. Anyway I went with his recommendation.....unfortunately.

At least I finally wound up with a press I really love. It's just red instead of orange.

Mike

[roots911]

Contact Ed Sager 816-628-0020. He repairs the bolts. Had one done for my orange press a few years ago and it is still going strong. I also ground the top of the support at the rear, drilled and tapped it band added an adjustable bolt that I could snug aginst the bottom of the turret. Good luck.

[6bg6ga]

I mentioned the fix which keeps the Orange press from breaking and it cost no more than a set of feeler gauges. I use my T-mag when I'm loading rifle ammunition and small runs of pistol ammunition. When I really want to crank out rounds I use the Dillon 650 with plans to purchase the big Dillon press. One must be able to look at equipment and assess any problems which might arise.

[Spector]

I only used my T-mag to reload 45 ACP and 35 REM.

I believe your fix for a problem that plagued me is a good low cost one if utilized before the bolt breaks.

I was just not at all impressed with Lyman's suggestion to me to have a machinist make me a new bolt when they obviously knew they had an issue because the only replacement bolt they offered had the larger threaded shank. In fact they twice shipped me this wrong part. And I do understand customer service could not ship a part that Lyman no longer made. Since I had bought the press new just 2 to 3 years earlier I felt Lyman should have still had that older part at least available. Or had they offered to ship me a new frame with the increased diameter bolt I would have considered that a step in customer satisfaction.

The description of your preventative fix should be useful for owners of the older T-mag presses and wouldn't be a bad addition even for the newer T-mags with the adjustable turret support.

Since my T-mag is already broken my best solution is to just let it sit and continue to happily reload with my Lee Classic Cast turret press.

Mike

[6bg6ga]

I only used my T-mag to reload 45 ACP and 35 REM.I believe your fix for a problem that plagued me is a good low cost one if utilized before the bolt breaks. I was just not at all impressed with Lyman's suggestion to me to have a machinist make me a new bolt when they obviously knew they had an issue because the only replacement bolt they offered had the larger threaded shank. In fact they twice shipped me this wrong part. And I do understand customer service could not ship a part that Lyman no longer made. Since I had bought the press new just 2 to 3 years earlier I felt Lyman should have still had that older part at least available. Or had they offered to ship me a new frame with the increased diameter bolt I would have considered that a step in customer satisfaction.The description of your preventative fix should be useful for owners of the older T-mag presses and wouldn't be a bad addition even for the newer T-mags with the adjustable turret support. Since my T-mag is already broken my best solution is to just let it sit and continue to happily reload with my Lee Classic Cast turret press.MikeMy preventative fix isn't needed on the newer Lyman T-mag presses with the adjustable stop. What is needed is simply rotate the turret to the desired position and then raise the adjuster until it touches the bottom of the turret which is in essence the same as inserting a feeler gauge between the frame and the bottom of the turret. I tend to think that anyone with an ounce of mechanical skill would look over a product prior to operation and would have seen the small gap and thought that will flex and I had better put something in there to keep it from flexing. Thus a no break situation at the cost of a cheap set of feeler gauges @$5.00 I'm sorry that everybody seems to think that companies selling these products should be liable for 20 or 30 years after the sale or the 2nd hand sale. The other side of the coin is that the engineers should be slapped along side of the head for not figuring there needed to be an adjustment to keep the turret from stressing the bolt.