310 decappers (again)

[jschluter]

Checking thru the various 310 sets I use, I've found at least 3 variations in the stems. The chambers are all the same, straight bore. I saw a thread somewhere that spoke of a separate rifle and pistol cartridge decapper. The top stem is from a CMR die, I believe, and the second from the top has room for an expander button but the two lower ones do not. What are each of the four stems?

[Green Frog]

I think for the dies to “decap only” they would just put in the rod that would be appropriate to the bullet diameter. The ones with a muzzle expander were (supposedly) only found in the TruLine Jr sets and had the odd design of pulling the neck open from the bottom on the upstroke (after neck sizing). Of course it couldn’t put a flare on the case mouth, so worked best with jacketed bullets. Not one of Lyman’s better ideas!
Froggie

[jschluter]

Would it be fair to assume that the lower one would be for a pistol caliber, while the third from the top would be for a rifle caliber? And any idea why the top two have room for an expander button, but differ in the adjustment thread?

[Green Frog]

The ones that will accept an expander button were probably intended for use with a TL Jr.
Without measuring the shanks I’d just be guessing about rifle vs pistol applications. The key concern is whether the shaft will fit into the case/case neck of the cartridge.

Froggie

[dsh1106]

IIRC - the original de-capping died from the 5 piece 310 sets came in 3 sizes.
- large rifle 30 caliber and up - 4th one in your pic
- small rifle 270 caliber and down - 3rd in your pic
- pistol calibers
- TL Jr - 1st in your pic
The 2nd pic looks to be a cross between the two, an original shaft with a TL Jr end cap.

These original de-cappers also had different size (length) chambers.

The TL Jr sets had a few other variations including both pistol and rifle neck sizing balls.


Scott