Lachmiller 12GA die..need press info

[omgb]

OK, so I did something impulsive and maybe tossed some money away. i bought a brand-spanken new set of 12 GA Lachmiller reloading dies off of that place we won't mention. Any way, I took the center bushing out of my Rockchucker and surprise! The die is the right diameter but the threads on the die are too fine. While I don't know the exact pitch, they are considerably finer and tighter than the threads on the bushing. Any way, here's my question. Is there an older model press that uses a finer thread in its head? Or, is it possible to cut coarser threads over the finer ones or is it possible to bore out the main hole in the press and re-thread it for a finer bushing? Or could I buy a Redding T7 tool head and have one of the holes bored and re-threaded to the larger size? Or should I just drop this as being a waste of time? Hmm, I guess the last one is really my decision because nothing here in this whole project is really practical so it comes down to is it entertaining and if so, is it too costly for the fun I get back? Jeez, I love this sport.

The paperwork that came with the dies includes a Lachmiller instruction sheet that was typed up in march of 1956. It references an RCBS A press as being suitable once the bushing is removed. Has anyone ever heard of such a beast?

[omgb]

Hmm, I failed to add, these are VERY well made dies. Excellent examples of the post war machine work being done in the San Fernando Valley

[Bret4207]

Get thee to a machine shop and determine the thread. Then choose what press you want to use and either have a bushing made or another type of adaptor. Maybe one of the $19.00 Lee presses could be altered.

The RCBS A2 had a big, like 1", hole with a reducer in it. One of the guys may come up with the specs and another option.

[Four Fingers of Death]

Lachmiller and Hollywood, old brands, but the ones that I have seen (not many) were excellent quality. I always used to read the Texan shotshell press ads as a young'un and one day (I was 40 by this stage, I should have known better) I was cashed up and walked into a gunshop and ran smack dab into a Texan press! I paid a heap of dollars for it and it has turned out some nice reloads ( save me about 20 cents a box, so I don't use it much.) Real smart buy, can't get bushes or anything for it). Ah well, can't be super smart all of the time. The moment I got a shotshell press, they started selling shotshells real cheap. I'm very fond of the Texan, sorta in the Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, John Monk (aussie gunwriter) era stuff. Mick.

[omgb]

I grew up not more than 5 miles from the Lachmiller shop. They were on San Fernando Rd in Glendale and I was raised about a mile north and 4 miles west of there. Had I only known... the same is true of SAECO, Santa Anna Engineering Company. They were 25 miles from my hose as a kid until they moved to Santa Barbara, about 70 miels up the coast. WWII saw all kinds of engineering firms move to the San Fernando Valley. It seems now as if there were little machine shops all over the place but especially on San Fernando Rd and they all made acft parts or stuff for the aerospace industry. Lockheed, McDonald Douglas, Rockwell, North American, Hughes, and a host of others were all here. That meant lots of highly trained machinests, tool and die men and mechanical engineers. They left their mark all over SoCal. Even when home shopping, one can see the skill these men had in the way in which they built barbeques, patios, shops etc on their cookie-cutter ranch style homes. Tons of innovation and skill can be seen in their "custom" work. It was a hell of a time and place to grow up.

[felix]

Yep, very few engineers do that to their homes anymore. They tend to take what is delivered up front. Pure apathy, to say the least. The throw away economy is definitely here. But, there still is some hope. New gadgets are just getting started in the "energy" arena. Same ol' themes, but new ideas in the final products to make them more efficient by a factor of 3, and a cost reversal of 3 times, making a total realizable factor of 6. ... felix

[omgb]

http://s56.photobucket.com/albums/g181/ReeceTalley/

Here's a link to pics of the dies and the T7 tool-head. your comments are appreciated.

Here's a cool feature of the seating die. It has a couple of springs in there that look like valve lifter springs from a 60s Ford .... very cool. You can adjust the die up and down to increase the wad pressure. The seating rod is marked at the top and as pressure increases, the rod is pushed farther and farther up revealing the next mark on the rod. Markings are at 20,40,60 and 80 lbs. You can see and feel the quality in these dies. I have the original shop instructions and a private letter dated March 1956 that came with these dies. Shoot, even the old phone number, Citrus 8, 5749 is there. FWIW, my number as a kid was THornwall 5-2107. You guys remember those days?

[only1asterisk]

Talk to Dave at CH4D and chances are he'll know the thread you need. My guess is 1.25x18. The only press currently made that I'm sure is large enough to bush down is the RCBS Ammomaster 2. Hornady makes a .50 BMG press that would probably work. I'd look for an old press to come up on the same place where you bought the dies.

Do you have a shellholder?

David

[omgb]

I can try CH4D but, there's no way those are 18 to the inch. That thread pitch has got to be more like 26 or 28.

[Ross]

I can try CH4D but, there's no way those are 18 to the inch. That thread pitch has got to be more like 26 or 28.

Mine, in hand, are 1.25 x 18 vtpi.
Older RCBS A presses have a larger die station, with a 1.6" bushing that will bush down for the Lachmiller die.
The older Lachmiller presses will take the die directly.
Cheers from Darkest California,
Ross

[Buckshot]

...............omgb, as Ross stated your die is threaded 1-1/4-18. They just look finer because the die is so large.

Sometime back I bought a carbide insert threading tool that takes triangle standup inserts. It's VERY sharp. Just for fun I chucked up a piece of 1.5" black gas pipe and cut 42 TPI on it. On that OD the thread is so fine you cut it full depth in one pass. Even though it was crappy steel the threads turned out really nice. I was temped to make a nut for it, but decided not to waste a piece of 1/2x4" plate just for fun. The threads looked like file teeth.

..............Buckshot

[toecutter]

I'm rather in agreement, it seems that the closest standard thread pitch that meets the description is a 1-1/4 x 18TPI.

If you were really set on using them, I would bore out the top of your RCBS press to a larger diameter, have an insert for that made that would be 1-1/4 x 12, and another in 1-1/4 x 18. Definately not a job for the squeemish.

The other option would be taking something like the RCBS ammo master press which has interchangeable parts and getting another top plate made for it. (this is what I would do).

I need to wake up early tomorrow and head over to the surplus tool place, I'll dig around in the bins for a while and see if they have a 1-1/4 x 18. For some reason I remember them having a lot of strange sizes. I think the strangest one I've ever seen was a 2"x56 TPI the threads were almost imperceptably small.

If I remember correctly, I think there are a number of other manufacturers out there who make presses with interchangeable heads.

[omgb]

I thank you for your input. What i did was send the tool head from my T7 press to Buckshot and have him bore and rethread one of the die holes. He should have it done later this week. The basic threads in a Rockchucker, by that I mean the threads that the reducing bushing screw into must be exceedingly coarse then if these die thread are 11/4X18. Still, you guys seem to know what you're talking about so I'll take it as true unless Buckshot says otherwise.