Lyman AA

[dragonrider]

Incredible as it may seem the Lyman AA press I won on ebay on friday and sent payment for on saturday arrived today. In 20 minutes I had it unpacked clamped to the bench and set up to run 357 Max. I will only run that caliber on it.


This is one solid press, the action is silky smooth with no detectable slop at all. I think I am gonna like it. It's a shame they stopped making them.

[BruceB]

DR, pard;

NICE looking press!

I note from your photo that you've mounted it a bit too close to the edge of the bench. My long-lost instructions for the A-A called for mounting it in a position far enough back from the edge to BARELY allow the ram to travel high enough to just come back past top-dead-center. On my bench, the forward face of the machine's base is exactly 2.75" from the bench edge.

This means that the driving arms will come up to absolutely straight up-and-down, and then just PAST that point so the linkages "break" slightly out of line toward the operator. The only mechanical stop possessed by the All-American is the the contact of the operating handle with the bench edge, so positioning is fairly critical.

I've used mine continuously and frequently for almost forty years, and it's still going strong as my most-used press. Enjoy!

[Swagerman]

Paul, you are one lucky gent to find one that nice, thought I was only one in near new condition.

You have said everything I've said praising these great old Lyman presses, and why don't they still make them like that...ask the dummies that make that product with their now loose slop linkage crapola with the weak link toggle pin.

Sorry to be so blunt, but it don't make sense to go backwards in making a product that was once as good as this one is.

It could be built again with a few improvments, like a handle stop, a quick change primer catcher like I devised, and a modern shellholder set up.

Jim

[dragonrider]

Bruce B.
Thanks for that info as I lack instructions also. I'll get on that as soon as I am through talkin at you.

Swagerman
You are right of course, it's just such a damn shame they were discontinued.
Tell me more about that primer catcher. By the pic I'd say you can't prime with it in place. Correct?

[Swagerman]

See that knurled knob in the middle, just turn that a few turns counter clock wise, remove and dump the spent primers.

Leave it off if you want to prime, put it back on if you want to remove primers...what could be easier than that for 50 year old design.

Paul, did the seller give you the two primer punches?

Jim

[dragonrider]

Yes what could be easier.
There were no primer punches, but I had one for small primers from my tru line jr. and a shell holder for 357.
Can you tell me what the hole is for that is on the left side of the casting between the two posts???
Went down and mounted it with bolts and set it back the 2.75 that you mentioned, much better, thank you.

[BruceB]

DR;

That hole on the left was a mounting position for a two-diameter rod. The swinging primer feed pivoted on the smaller-diameter part of the rod, and used a push-button to feed the primers into the priming post. The primer feed assembly was spring-loaded with a straight wire spring to automatically move it back out of the way of the platform carrying the shellholder.

I stopped using the primer feed when I realized that the thin brass primer tubes offer just about zero protection in case of a feed explosion.

I now just catch the expelled primer in my open hand and drop it into the trash barrel in front of me, under the bench. There's plenty of room under the shell platform even for my size-12 hands. It's also quite easy to place a new primer in the punch by hand, either when the press handle is down, exposing the whole priming post below the shell platform, or when the handle is up and the priming post protrudes through the shell-holder.

Note that when I use this press, I generally load each case COMPLETELY without taking it out of the press. The dies are installed in the order of the needed steps , with sizing/repriming in the first station, neck-flaring or expanding in the second station (if needed), the powder measure (RCBS Uniflow) in the third, and seating in the fourth position. I rotate the turret to each station in succession for each round.

NO primer pocket cleaning, no comparing of load levels in a whole block of cases, no weighing charges for each round, no extra messing-about of any sort. The powder measure's adjusting stem is locked TIGHTLY with either a wrench or slip-joint pliers, and even so I do check the charge occasionally. The very minute I start a production run, I have LOADED AMMO coming off the press, and it's pretty good ammo, too!

Used in this manner, production runs about 150-plus rounds per hour. Note too that even with the higher-sitting adaptor for RCBS-type shell-holders, there's enough height available to load my .416 Rigby and .404 Jeffery ammo without difficulty. Those are LONG cartridges!

[Swagerman]

Here is an AA press forsale on the ebay under Lyman stuff.

Bidding starts at $50, no bids yet.

Has unique draw-string bag primer catcher, held on by a set screw. slightly better than catching spent primers in your hand.

Also has RCBS bushing tapped for standard size dies on old shotgun station die hole.

A little paint job and this would be a keeper.

Jim

[Swagerman]

The above picture of the beater AA press with the primer bag went for a final bid of $61.20 late last night. Then figure in around $15 or $18 to ship to buyer and you get something for around $80.

Hope the guy who got it gets a decent press when he cleans it up and paints it.

The turret support shaft looked really dark, don't know from the bad pictures if its pitted or painted.

If its just cosmetics, he still might have a good press there.

Never did figure out what the extra bump was on the top knob? Looked like something was tack welded on.


Jim

[dragonrider]

Mine does not have the larger holes for the shotgun dies, does this make it an older or newer model??????? And the paint isn't the Lyman orange but a kind of red but appears to be original.

[45nut]

Ditto here,,and mine was set for std shellholders from the get-go.
Neverminding that I pulled it out of a dusty damp box of stuff that was 50 bucks for the whole kit.
I have been using mine for nearly 15 years now and have loaded any aand every round I have dies for at least once using that machine,even 500A Squares.
Now with a P-W and the dillon 550 and a rockchucker sharing duty is amazing how often the AA gets the fun time loading ammo.
Mine will not be for sale until I am on the other side of the dirt.

[Swagerman]

The original paint on the AA press is probably supposed to be that red color. Some individuals don't like that shade of red and paint it Lyman orange color.

I believe the ones sold with the shotgun large die hole was of a limited run, there are more models of AA without the blasted big hole and they are the luckey ones who don't have to find a machinest to bore and tap it out for a reducer bushing like Lee or RCBS sells today.

The only red press on my desks are the Lee Classic and I'm not painting it orange.

45 nut, I'm with you. Keeping the AA press until they throw dirt in my face...then it will probably get sold for $15 to some sharpy ebay seller who will get $150 out of it.

Jim

[floodgate]

Dragonrider:

All the AA-Turrets I have seen so far (I have two of my own) do have one oversize die hole threaded for the Lyman shotshell die; both of mine have the 7/8" x 14tpi insets. Just lucky, I guess. Lyman does still offer both the "J to X Shellholder Adapter" (Catalog #7095762, $10.95) and the matching "Special-T Priming Punch" (Cat. #7095763, $7.75) - which covers both primer sizes. This combination lets you use the standard RCBS-type shellholders (though they are held in with a set-screw, rather than a "snap-in" spring. (These also work with the little Tru-Line Jr.). Bruce B. advises (above) that even though they rob you of a little ram travel, there is still plenty of room in the AA-T for standard and magnum cartridges. This saves you having to hunt down those pesky little Lyman "J" shellholders, not all of which are fully interchangeable, and the "T" priming punches. And yes, for some unknown reason, Lyman went to red paint for the All-American Turret and single station "Comet" presses - and a lousy grade of paint at that. That "Allis-Chalmers Orange" someone showed us the other day is a heckuva lot prettier.

floodgate

[Swagerman]

Floodgate, please tell us the tpi thread size on that Lyman shotgun hole reducer bushing.

I looked for a year trying to find one, Lyman doesn't know what size it is either, no one knows except maybe a guy who has not one, but two of them...please tell us if you can. It was some weird really small size thread.

Finally had to give up on it, and Kenjuddo, (Jim) aultered my turret to take a Lee reducer bushing. Now I can use all four die station holes for 7/8X14 dies. Thanks again, Jim.

I'm keeping my eyes open for another AA in good or restorable condition...but the price would have to be right like the ebay seller who will probably get mine some day.

Jim

[dragonrider]

I agree the paint is unlovely to say the least, I will perhaps repaint it in the future. As far as shellholders are concerned I will make any that I need. The larger die hole I don't need and am perfectly happy that my press does not have it. I could use a primer pin for large primers, at that point I will have all I need for this press. And I do like this press it is the smoothest I have ever used. I have 8 or 9 others of all makers, Dillon, Lyman, Lee, RCBS, CH. Aside from some scratches in the paint it is in like new condition.

[Swagerman]

Paul, what do you mean by needing a primer pin?

Do you require the whole large pistol or rifle primer punch, or just the internal pin in the head of it.

May be able to help you on it. If you don't mind, take it to email and I can more easily make pictures there.

Jim

[dragonrider]

Swagerman
Check you PM's

[floodgate]

Swagerman (and other interested parties):

Not wishing to rely on my increasingly shaky memory, I went out and measured the AA-T Shotshell bushing. It mikes 1.096" and the thread checks out at 28 tpi; allowing a 10% clipping of the thread crest. this makes oit 1.100" x 28 tpi nominal thread. At least - unlike that damnable 30 tpi Lyman inherited from Ideal (who seems to have gotten it from the old Winchester tools from the 1880's, when John Barlow worked there - this is one that can be cut on most lathes.

The "T" primer punches used in the AA-T, the Comet and the Tru-line Jr. were pinned together permanently, and were different for the large and small primers; some had flat and some had concave pins, so it takes a full set of four, to make a "correct" set. The conversion punches offered as replacements by Lyman are longer - to match the added depth of the "J to X" adapters with "standard" shellholders when installed, but have replaceable pins of both sizes like the RCBS type, so one set fits all modern flat-faced primers. Unless you are a "bug" for authenticity (as I am with my spare boxed examples), the replacement set is the way to go, with any of these three presses. Lyman just hadda persist in doing it "their way", long after all the other makers had standardized.

floodgate

[floodgate]

Dragonrider:

If you just gotta be authentic, I MAY be able to dig out a spare large "T" primer punch, but it will be a bit beat-up, as they did not align reliably with the "J" shellholders, and used ones show considerable abrasion. PM me with s-mail address if you want to follow up.

Doug Elliott / floodgate

[BruceB]

Floodgate says, " Bruce B. advises (above) that even though they rob you of a little ram travel, there is still plenty of room in the AA-T for standard and magnum cartridges. "

Yep! Just this morning I loaded some more .404s with an overall length of 3.40", and it was no problem with the A-A and its shellholder adaptor.

My A-A press was bought new in '67 and did not have the larger hole with the bushing...all 4 stations are 7/8x14 tpi. I bought another well-used A-A for Der Schuetzenwagen, and it did have the one large hole and the bushing installed in it
It was so cruddy-looking that I painted it black (which will cover a mutitude of sins). This black A-A can be seen in the Schuetzenwagen "Special Projects" photos on Castpics, but it didn't last long before being replaced with a Spar-T (new-condition from Ebay, $50) due to low headroom in the van. An awful lot of red paint has been worn off my original press by my own hands.