Lyman in the 50's?

[Mark Daiute]

What did Lyman offer for presses in the 50's Images would be appreciated.

[KenT7021]

Tru-Line Jr turret press and the Eze Loader press that used 310 style dies and the Comet press and All American turret press that used 7/8x14 dies.The Eze Loader held three dies at once.

[Mark Daiute]

Tru-Line Jr turret press and the Eze Loader press that used 310 style dies and the Comet press and All American turret press that used 7/8x14 dies.The Eze Loader held three dies at once.

thanks for the response. TBH it's nearly all greek to me.

[ascast]

I think add the Vandala shotgun press and I think the Tru-line, aka Tru-line senior, not the small turret press. And the inline shotgun kits.

[Green Frog]

I would suggest you purchase a copy of the Lyman Centennial Journal, 1878-1978. They were still available new from Lyman until just a few years ago and can still be readily found used or NOS. Average price is $10-15. This is the best illustrated guide to the early years of Lyman and covers the ‘50s and ‘60s products quite well.
Froggie

[Mark Daiute]

I would suggest you purchase a copy of the Lyman Centennial Journal, 1878-1978. They were still available new from Lyman until just a few years ago and can still be readily found used or NOS. Average price is $10-15. This is the best illustrated guide to the early years of Lyman and covers the ‘50s and ‘60s products quite well.
Froggie

Great, thank you!

[Green Frog]

I think add the Vandala shotgun press and I think the Tru-line, aka Tru-line senior, not the small turret press. And the inline shotgun kits.

Back in those days Lyman made both the Vandalia, which was their “higher grade” press and another, more basic press at a lower price point. Neither was what I would really call a very advanced product. Their presses for Metallic cartridges were far better thought out and developed. JMHO, YMMV.
Froggie

[Bent Ramrod]

I started my shotshell reloading with a Vandalia press. It had the attachments for all three gauges but I only used the 16 gauge. I wrote the American Rifleman asking about it and the reply mentioned that the review back then wasn’t exactly laudatory. I found out that was accurate; the leverage was weak and it was very slow and “fiddly” to use, although usable ammunition could be made on it.

I scrounged for years for paper shells, and once they disappeared, the Vandalia was done as a practical reloading proposition, so I sold it to a collector and bought a Lee Load-All, which processed the plastic shells much better, and much faster.

I still wonder who thought plastic shotshells were such a technological advance. Certainly you could drop them into the bilgewater in your duck boat with no untoward results, but that was all I could see as a point of superiority. The most blatant disadvantage was that a paper shell would announce its retirement when you pulled it out of the chamber after firing and noted the burnt-doily pattern in the paper. Plastic shells wouldn’t check out until after you had reloaded them again, and found that the crimps had torn at the last step, which meant you had to break them down, toss the shell and start over.

Also, a paper shell dropped on the ground would quickly return to the earth, naturally and organically, whereas a plastic shell would lie there forever. But after a day or so, the UV from the sunlight would weaken the plastic, making it useless for recycling.

A Lyman Handbook in the 39-43 number range should have all the data on their reloading equipment in the postwar time period. Some early Handloader’s Digests of the same time period should also have the data, and occasionally reviews as well.

[dsh1106]

Lyman also sold about 1200 Grand American shotshell presses in the early 60's

- If you do a search on Grand American you should find a few pics. - https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...Grand-American

[Green Frog]

Did you ever finish the full rebuild on that press, Scott? Although the powder coating on the red parts is certainly not original, it’s a great idea. I’d call it what the auto folks call some of their builds, “resto-mod”. I’d love to see pics of the finished product.
Your Phriend the Phrog

[Pavogrande]

if I recall correctly the ez third die was a 7/8 thread full length sizer - it was different from other 7/8 dies as it threaded in from the bottom - so "top" of die was threaded -- 5/8 ez dies only neck sized -

[ascast]

yes true that still see those for sale in a box of unknown dies. usually marked with cartridge numbers, like 222 for rem 222

I think they offed the STRAIGHT LINE shot gun kits which had several variations of the same tools either all together or one or two tools at a time. It was seveal table top tools, like decap/recap,inline stuffer, a differnt stuffer etc etc.

They also ran the AMMO MASTER which was a kit containing a 310 tool with dies, a lead pot and a mold all for one caliber. Packed in styrofoam so maybe 60's