RCBS LAMII Question

[novalty]

Well I picked up a bunch of used casting equipment that was in really good shape, and my father-in-law was gracious enough to start showing me casting and try out his Lyman 45 lubrisizer to give me a good walk through. He also cast me a couple hundred 225gr. RN boolits for my 1911, and gave them to me to get practice on my RCBS LAM II. Well I put in my new Lyman .451 sizing die, and the correct 374 top punch. Ran the first boolit down through the sizer and applied pressure to the grease lever, and got grease all over the bullet, not just in the grease groove. So I adjust the stop bolt on the bottom of the LAM II all the way to the top thinking it will stop the bullet from going to deep in the sizer and keep the grease in the grease groove--wrong. Next thing I notice is that the nut that holds the sizing die isn't flush against the LAMII, so I unscrew it take out the sizing die, and try to clean up the threads and put the sizing die back in, start screwing the nut back down, and it just will not go flush--about an 1/8 of an inch shy and I didn't want to break anything trying to overtighten. So my next thought was lowering the top punch, and found out that doesn't work, as I can't get the boolit in between the punch and the sizing die. Ended up having to short stroke the ram to keep the grease from going above the grease groove and smearing over the top portion of the bullet. Is there a way to correct this, or am I just going to have to live with it?

Thanks in advance!

[M4bushy]

For some reason the lyman dies have less of a taper ground on the bottom of the die. This causes it not to seat fully in the press. What i did is add a 1/4-20 nut to the top of the rod under the die. This let me bottom out the ram.

[C.F.Plinker]

It is not at all unusual to not have the die lock nut NOT bottom out against the main body casting. In fact, if it did bottom out and the die was a little bit short it wouldn't be held in place and there would be lube coming out the bottom of the sizer.

Many of us have relocated the ejector adjusting screw so that the lock nut is on the top of the ledge the adjusting screw goes through. This gives more adjustment in the upward direction and makes it easier to lube the shorter boolits. Is your adjusting screw on the top or the bottom of the casting?

[novalty]

Thanks C.F.Plinker for the reply. This is the best pic I could find on the web of the LAM II as I don't have a pic of mine set up. My adjustment screw is set up like the one below, with the stop nut underneath the bottom of the LAM casting.

Close up pic.

[RobS]

Others have given good information regards to the die housing nut. One of two things regards to the lube going up the boolit; one too much pressure from the lube reservior screw or the drive band above the lube groove is smaller than the die's diameter. If too much pressure is being applied that's not a big deal just adjust accordingly which is nothing more than a learning curve but if the boolit is a smaller diameter than the die it will be more difficult to keep the lube from oozing up the side of the boolit toward the nose. You have already learned that working the boolit quick off the bottom of the stroke helps and there in lies the learning curve.

[RobS]

You can also move the guide rod lock nut and put it on top of cast part of the press. Doing this can limit travel should you be lubing longer boolits however if you are not lubing long boolits it would not be a big deal.

[novalty]

Will try moving that stop nut to the above the casting tonight and see if it helps correct some of the issue. Definitely a learning curve. Thanks again to all of you for the assistance!

[saint_iverson]

Good morning! Regarding the nut, I bought mine used and it has never been bottomed out, this does not impact the qty or location of the lube.

Regarding the over lubrication of the boolit, 2 things: 1. amount of pressure you used to force lube... don't be excessive; 2. along the sizing die, there are holes ported for lube to flow, some of these dies will have more holes than others, it could be that you have more lube ports in your die. One way of preventing flow in the upper ports is to put a piece of appropriately sized shot to close off the hole during the lube process.

Hope this helps a little!

Clint

[tomme boy]

I just take the nut off.

[novalty]

Regarding the over lubrication of the boolit, 2 things: 1. amount of pressure you used to force lube... don't be excessive; 2. along the sizing die, there are holes ported for lube to flow, some of these dies will have more holes than others, it could be that you have more lube ports in your die. One way of preventing flow in the upper ports is to put a piece of appropriately sized shot to close off the hole during the lube process.

Hope this helps a little!

Clint

Clint for the lubing pressure, I start out light and run the bullet down into the sizing die, most times it doesn't put any or an incomplete amount into the lube groove. I then increase the pressure a little and run the boolit back down until the groove has been filled. Hopefully changing the nut tonight will adjust the stop so I can just run the lever a complete stroke, instead of watching how far the top punch pushes the boolit into the sizing die and stop before it bottoms out.

[saint_iverson]

Note that the adjuster bolt on the bottom of the press will determine what level the boolit/press will bottom out, not the large nut retaining the size die.