450 lubrisizer stuck

[D.Mack]

I had an interesting problem last night. I was going to change sizing dies in my 450, and the die was stuck tight, at first I thought it was hard lube holding it in, so Iheated it up, and it was still stuck. Long story short, I ended up partily disassembling it and driving it out from the bottom. Now the inrtesting part, every other die (12) would drop right in, and out except one, the first dies twin brother, a 357,RCBS. and every one would drop in and out of my RCBS sizer. Now I,m wondering how I got it in, as it sticks about 1/4 inch short of going all the way in, or if it went in to begin with why it didn"t want to come out. Any way it appears these two dies are slightly larger in diameter, but not enough for me to measure. Has anyone else experienced this? DM

[Bucks Owin]

No, I haven't had one "that" tight although when using hard lube it's easier to change dies after the heater has warmed up my 450...

If you have the Lyman wrench, or something similar, you can insert it between the bottom punch and the "loop link" at the bottom and use the 450's handle for leverage to pop the die up out of the casting....

(Hope you can savvy that explanantion!)

Dennis

BTW, if your other dies seem smaller than the "problem child", maybe you could just dress it down slightly with a little emery cloth "shoeshine treatment"?

[D.Mack]

Yeah that made sense, did that, used a wrench,a 40 cal bullet, and a small nut, it was stuck tighter than I wanted to stress the handle and linkage. It was like maybe the lubersizer was warm, and the die was cold , so the hole was just a little larger, and the die was just a little smaller, so when the were the same temp. they were locked tight, but why just those two dies, everything else fit, and those two fit my RCBS.

[454PB]

I make my own sizing dies, and I don't machine the O-ring slots. I learned that they are not needed if the die is precisely fit to the body of the sizer. I've never seen a Lyman manufactured die that was oversize. Are you sure the O-ring wasn't hanging up on the inside of the body?

[kodiak1]

D.Mack is the die an older RCBS? Look at the taper cut on the bottom. My one die I use for 357 is that way and the other is a Lyman and it works Okay. That is the only difference I can see is the taper, it also sticks in my 4500 Sizer so it has to be the Die.
Ken.

[Buckshot]

................The die body fit's in a fairly precise hole down inside the lube cavity. It's only about .705" in diameter and dies seem to average about .703". Very possibly something (like a piece of walnut tumbleing media?) could have gotten down in there. That would have tied it up well!

................Buckshot

[D.Mack]

I could not get a measurement on the lubrisizer, but the die that stuck measured .703, another .358, measured .702 (it also wont go in) and one I had in storage, a .284 measured .708. None would fit, all were RCBS, but all drop into my RCBS lubrisizer. obviously the lyman has a tighter hole, but I still dont know how I got it in the first place. No, no walnut shell media, as it was cleaned and examined for foriegn matter. So I guess now the question is are Kodiak and myself the only ones with LYMAN sizers that not all RCBS dies won't fit into.

[grumpy one]

I could not get a measurement on the lubrisizer, but the die that stuck measured .703, another .358, measured .702 (it also wont go in) and one I had in storage, a .284 measured .708. None would fit, all were RCBS, but all drop into my RCBS lubrisizer. obviously the lyman has a tighter hole, but I still dont know how I got it in the first place. No, no walnut shell media, as it was cleaned and examined for foriegn matter. So I guess now the question is are Kodiak and myself the only ones with LYMAN sizers that not all RCBS dies won't fit into.

No, you're not the only ones to notice that RCBS sizing dies seem to be a bit bigger diameter than Lyman. I run an old Lyman 45 lube sizer and have varying degrees of difficulty getting RCBS dies into it. The Lyman ones just slip in and out (and blow their O rings out if you crank up the pressure). The RCBS dies take a bit of pushing to get them in and out, but stand all the pressure I care to apply without even leaking, let alone blowing O rings. I've noticed that the RCBS dies have the size and brand rolled onto the outside diameter, while Lyman dies have the size stamped onto the top - where you can see it, and where it doesn't mess up the diameter by raising bumps around the rolled-in numbers and letters.

I've only had one RCBS die so far that was outrageously difficult to get in and out (especially out) of the lube sizer. I improved that one quite a bit by running a file gently over the rolled lettering on the outside, so it didn't stand up above the outside diameter.

Personally I have a horror of putting abrasive anywhere near these things because it is much easier to embed grit in a lapped surface than it is to remove it later, and it has disastrous effects. Hence I don't suggest that anyone use emery cloth or whatever to reduce the outside diameter of RCBS dies. However gentle use of a fine file shouldn't cause any major problems, if you wipe the filings off properly when you finish. Of course if a filing goes through a lube hole it will make a considerable mess of the inside of the die and the I punch.

Geoff