Old Lyman steped sizers

[Johnch]

Well this afternoon I hit a barn sale on the way home from hunting
I picked up a Lyman 450 in need of a lot of TLC
A box of sizers all caked in the old black lube
And a pair of Lee single cavity 30 cal moulds
All for $30


Most of the sizers are the old style with the step

My question

How hard are they ?

I was thinking of chucking them up in the lathe and turning the step into a taper
So I could use them

John

[RayinNH]

John, just use carbide to turn them...Ray

[462]

jhnch,

I used a dowel wrapped with oiled 400 and 600 grit wet/dry paper and chucked in a drill press...no lathe. No more lead shaving.

[Bob Maerdian]

I have had a couple of the old Lyman sizing dies tapered and they work fine. An outfit named Stilwell used to do it. An outfit around Detroit used to to it also, I think they were called MHK, or something like that.

Bob

[madcaster]

The old black lube,a soft touch with a propane torch will take care of that.

[Bent Ramrod]

I've never seen a Lyman or Ideal boolit sizing die that was hardened, especially the old ones, which frequently show the mark of the setscrew on the periphery. I've tapered the step out of several of them with the die held in the lathe chuck, a Sears hand taper reamer held by hand against the tailstock center (back gear speed here) and then a dowel with emery and crocus cloth at normal speed. Doesn't take much to remove the step.

That was some find!

[Johnch]

Thanks
If I have time Monday after work I will chuck up one and put a taper on it

I have most of the sizers soaking in White gas to get rid of the old black lube right now
As I couldn't even read what size they were suposed to be

It looks like the guy never cleaned anything ....ever


Thanks
John

[matrics631]

Are these the type of resizers you bought?

[Johnch]

Are these the type of resizers you bought?

No
The ones I bought , looked like standard Lyman sizer dies for a 450

But instead of a taper at the end
There was a 90 degree step

I believe it took longer to do the set up that it took to turn a taper where the step was

John