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Thread: Change from steel to Aluminum

  1. #21
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Yes Gunther, I definitely care! I have the Lyman Centennial Handbook but didn’t find anything on this topic there. I don’t believe I have the 14th edition of Handloaders Digest and could use a scan or PDF. Let me know if you need my email. Thanks.
    Froggie
    "It aint easy being green!"

  2. #22
    Boolit Buddy
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    OOps! The lyman Centennial Journal doesn't have much info. The Handloader's Digest article states that the 310 was first offered in 1947. It was steel with a non-adjustable extractor hook. the next one was steel with the adjustable hook. Next came aluminum painted black and marked " Ideal, Middlefield, Conn, in two lines. The last variation was marked "Lyman" on both handles. No dates for the upgrades/changes.

  3. #23
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunther View Post
    OOps! The lyman Centennial Journal doesn't have much info. The Handloader's Digest article states that the 310 was first offered in 1947. It was steel with a non-adjustable extractor hook. the next one was steel with the adjustable hook. Next came aluminum painted black and marked " Ideal, Middlefield, Conn, in two lines. The last variation was marked "Lyman" on both handles. No dates for the upgrades/changes.
    Thanks for checking that for me, Gunther. Your last sentence is what I’ve been running up against as well. The change to numbered handle sets (non-adjustable) was likely a transition, apparently very brief, between caliber specific and steel handled universals. I’m looking for the time frames for the numbered and steel universals, and like you, I’m coming up blank on it.

    I have owned 3 different sets of the blued steel caliber specific handles for 32-40, one set like the universals, another with the hole and stud for priming, and IIRC, the other showing signs that the casting was meant to include bullet sizing. The changes that took place from the end of WW II until about 1960 or so were many and varied, and don’t seem to be very well documented. I’ll go out on a limb and posit that they were 1) using up all the random stuff laying around that they could, and 2) experimenting with what worked and sold best while still being profitable to produce. I may be tilting windmills to think I can really find a better explanation at this point.

    Thanks again to Gunther and others who have contributed to this thread,
    Green Frog
    Last edited by Green Frog; 02-04-2025 at 01:56 PM.
    "It aint easy being green!"

  4. #24
    Boolit Buddy kootne's Avatar
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    I noticed today that there are apparent generations in the aluminum handles as well. I was sizing some .44 Special brass and it didn't feel right. Looking at a case, the case didn't look right either. Like it was going in crooked. So I looked over my dies and handles and lo, the little forked steel plate that presses the case in had one side broke off. Grumbling about that, I went out to the garage and grabbed another one out of my "overflow" stash and swapped the pieces. The set I had been using had a lot of paint wore off and the other one looked brand new. I decided to save the nice one and continue with the well used one. I thought I better get a piece of masking tape on the new one and write on it to make or find another one of those plates. While doing that, I noticed it felt much better in my hand than the one I had been using. Just like the old steel ones actually. It was also marked "LYMAN" instead of "IDEAL" like the rough one. So that got me digging through other stashes and I came up with several to compare. Most are the rough ones, marked "IDEAL", and when I say rough I mean it looks like castings we made in Jr. Hi metal shop. Poorly sanded with about a 20 grit belt. Sharp edges. No apparent pride to be seen. There was another smoother, more petite one like the one that first caught my attention. It was marked "Lyman" with the letters looking recessed as if they had been stamped, but were obviously cast in. The first spare I grabbed is the nicest. Wonderful casting from a well made mold. No sharp edges, the "LYMAN" logo is positive relief in a rectangular recessed panel.
    I am thinking when I have a minute, I will take a file and sand paper to the "IDEAL" handles and re-work them to the standards my old shop teacher would approve of instead of something that would get my hand slapped with a ruler. Then hit them with some nice black epoxy appliance paint.

  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Yes kootne, I have noticed some variation in the finish on aluminum tongs as well, but I had not thought the difference was that significant. Also, I would have expected them to go from older (Ideal) being nicer to newer (Lyman) being less carefully finished instead of the other way around, as you observed. I expected thicker layers of paint to cover up rough castings. I’ll be interested to hear what your study turns up.

    Froggie
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  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by kootne
    . . . the little forked steel plate that presses the case in had one side broke off . . . I thought I better get a piece of masking tape on the new one and write on it to make or find another one of those plates.
    kootne: I have a spare fork plate salvaged from a just-scrapped small boss aluminum handle; PM me your mailing addy; it's yours, gratis.

    Noah
    Last edited by Noah Zark; 02-10-2025 at 05:08 PM.

  7. #27
    Boolit Buddy kootne's Avatar
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    Sent pm

  8. #28
    Boolit Buddy kootne's Avatar
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    Here is photo of the various aluminum handles I have.
    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	variations of Lyman 310.jpg 
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  9. #29
    Boolit Man
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    I have a fairly comprehensive set of Shooters Bibles from about mid-WWII-ish with a skip then late 40s to early 50s onward. When I get brave enough to go find them in the shed (was 10 below this morning) Ill see what shows on the 310 stuff.

    It may be slightly off, I noticed the S&W model 19 didnt show up in the Shooters Bible for a year after it actually was released. Same for something else. I forget what, perhaps the Colt 357 model. It may be good within a year anyways for dates on the loading tools.

    BTW, I just bought a set of nickel 38 spl handles with priming and bullet sizing hole in the handle, and threaded for dies. Any idea what period? They will go nicely with the 1873 357 cal for a loader setup for travel.
    "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt-


    The best way to predict the future is to create it.

  10. #30
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Thanks Malamute. I’ve got all the issues of Gun Digest from the beginning, but for the time when Lyman made this transition, these books were getting pretty sparse with their treatment of reloading equipment. By the time Handloaders Digest appeared (I have the first issue here somewhere) I believe the change had been completed. I tried collecting Shooters Bible issues as well, but was running out of space, so I chose GD over SB. You just can’t have it all!

    I wonder whether Tom Quigley’s interests go that late. I was in touch with him several years ago through ARTCA, but haven’t had a response from him on that about it website. Maybe I can try to reach him by PM or email.

    Froggie
    "It aint easy being green!"

  11. #31
    Boolit Man
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    Quote Originally Posted by Green Frog View Post
    Thanks Malamute. I’ve got all the issues of Gun Digest from the beginning, but for the time when Lyman made this transition, these books were getting pretty sparse with their treatment of reloading equipment. By the time Handloaders Digest appeared (I have the first issue here somewhere) I believe the change had been completed. I tried collecting Shooters Bible issues as well, but was running out of space, so I chose GD over SB. You just can’t have it all!

    I wonder whether Tom Quigley’s interests go that late. I was in touch with him several years ago through ARTCA, but haven’t had a response from him on that about it website. Maybe I can try to reach him by PM or email.

    Froggie
    These were a gift, I gave more books away, but kept the Shooters Bibles, as dad had them when I was a kid and I kept getting them when I was a young enthusiast. The gifted pile predates the ones dad had with some overlap.

    Someone mentioned a guy that had a lot of steel handles, I ran into a guy in the late 80s I believe in Montana or Wy at a gun show that had many and offered to modify them for $5 to any other caliber one desired. I believe he was just boring out the hole, not modifying to take the adapters.

    Is anyone modifying steel handles to accept the adapters and adding the adjustable hook? Id love to have a set each of large and small steel handles that would work with all the various calibers I use, it would simplify my portable loading setup I like to have for travel.
    "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." -Theodore Roosevelt-


    The best way to predict the future is to create it.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check