Lyman M die question........

[3006guns]

I purchased my first Lyman M die a few months back, to use for 7.7 Japanese and .303 Brit. It works fairly well and seems to make life easier for the brass. Now I'm playing with 8 x 57 Mauser and cast. Can you just buy the threaded expander and change it as needed, thus only needing one die body? Does Lyman sell them that way or are you forced to buy another complete die?

[kbstenberg]

3006guns
I have recently talked to Lyman on the same subject. Yes you can depending on the cartriges you are loading. Just call they are frendly an helpfull. There # is 1 860 632 2020

[3006guns]

Thanks! I'll call right away......well, tomorrow anyway.:D

[462]

3006guns,

I had the same question and sent them an e-mail. From what I could make of their short and not too informative response, they have two body sizes, large and small. I reckon small is .30-30 size and large is .30-'06 size. After reading the answer, I realized a phone call would have been more productive.

Let us know what you find out.

[grumpy one]

They have short and long bodies, as 462 said, and plugs for various calibers, sold separately. You can just buy the plug itself, or the plug plus the screw with the knurled aluminium knob on top. I accidentally bought just the plug. I had a spare screw plus knob assembly, but now one of my 30 caliber M dies has '22' stamped on its aluminium knob, which irritates me slightly. I think if you buy the screw plus knob and the plug as a single item, it will probably have the correct caliber stamped on top.

[GabbyM]

Be careful or you'll spend more $ on a plug than a full die cost at the catalog stores.

M dies work great and are one of the best products Lyman puts out.

[SilverBow]

What's been said up to now is correct. There are two body lengths (short and long) for the M dies.

I recently purchased a 30-06 M die (long body, 30 cal expander) and a 35 Rem M die (short body, 35 cal expander). By combining the short body from the 35 Rem die and the 30 cal expander from the 30-06 die I can make my own 30-30 die.

Here's an excellent article on the M dies, which lists the various expanders and the bodies:

http://www.lasc.us/Brennan_LymanMDies.htm

[Calamity Jake]

You only need one die body, the short and a long alum or steel threaded depth adjusting screw. This combo can be used for just about all calibers loaded today(with the exception of the extreamly big calibers) buy just changing the expander.

Although I have several die bodys, I use only one, the short. When not in use I keep it in its box along with all the different expanders and a note card with the last caliber loaded on it, that way I know what it was used for last.

[3006guns]

Silverbow, that's a great little chart......I saved to my favorites. Thanks!