Good Job!
We are encouraging as many as possible to give older tools a clean up and repaint and gain some more satisfaction out of this Hobby.
None of this stuff is worn out so a cosmetic redo revitalizes your love for the tool and makes it good to go for another 50 years,,, or so.
Then the new owners can do it again!
Randy
Last edited by W.R.Buchanan; 01-31-2016 at 06:02 PM.
"It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
www.buchananprecisionmachine.com
I have tools in my reloading room that are older than I am old. I turn 63 this year. They are as good today as they were the day they were made.
,,, stupidity comes to some people very easily. 8/22/2017 Pat Lengyel (my wife) in a discussion about Liberals.
I also have a Lyman Spartan and use it to load from small pistol to magnum Rifle rounds it's plenty strong and it being the only pres I own I use it exclusively. To fix the ram falling issue I installed a wavy washer and it now stays in place.
Proud to serve, U.S. Army Infantry
It's been 4 years since I refurbed my Spartan. So I thought I'd give a report on how it has been after a lot of use. In a word- Great!
I'm very pleased with how it works, honestly I wouldn't change a thing. The counterweight works perfectly and the light really helps my aging eyes. It really is a great little press, and much more user friendly now.
The Lyman Spartan has to be one of the all time classic best presses to ever hit the market. I purchased mine in the winter of 69-70 from a mail order Gander Mountain sale flyer with one set of dies. Its done a lot of work, still looks like new and I still have the box it came in. Lyman should have continued its production and just painted it different colors along the way.
My first press was a Spar-T. I'd never even seen a single shell being reloaded but knew I wanted to do it. and chose the Spar-T because it just had to be "faster" than the Spartan, right? Wrong.
I soon wanted to get away from the springy turret so I locked the center bolt down hard and converted it to a funny looking single stage with die storage.
I still have the Lyman auto-primer tube feed and it works great, it's still better than any other auto feed I've yet seen. I used it that way from '65 to '95 when I finally swallowed the green Kool-Aid and got an RC-II. Both presses are still in great condition. But, about '98, I got an over powering hankering to modify the old Lyman from simple toggle action to compound so it wouldn't take Popeye to do the hard stuff.
Played around with several sketches until I had something I liked the looks of. Disassembled everything and cleaned it like a medical tool. Got out the high speed grinder and cut off a couple inches from the bottom of the casting. Bought a 3 ft bar of steel, 1/4" by 1 1/2 " from Lowe's and laid out twin swinging toggle bars with a cross link like Lee uses. Welded the old toggle link into the bottom of the ran, pointing straight down, to effectively lengthen the ram. Then I bored a 1/2" hole through the body, just behind the ram and just below the C's bottom flat. Welded the toggle links and bored pivot holes for a long grade 8 bolt to anchor the ram in the proper position and then bored the link lower ends to receive another G. 8 bolt to serve as a toggle pivot pin. Think I put about $7 in bolts and the bar stock; probably sounds harder to do than it was. Thing is, my klunged compound toggle system really works!
Painted it with Walmart sprays. Gray primer for the body and a whatever red for the links and turret; looks pretty good.
There's a good quality golf ball knob on the lever (I always thought there must be some good way to use those things!). And I also lathe cut a simple ram groove for a standard shell holder spring, works great. I enjoy using my Spar-T far more now than I used to. It's a LOT easier to FL size surplus .30-06 with it now and also easier to reform old military match -06 cases into .243 and .22-250 ... but most of that kind of work goes into the green beast these days. Ah, the good ol' days would be now if only my beat-up body worked as good as my gear!
Anyway, my final thought is to say that old iron is still a lot more effective and useful that most of today's loaders realise.
An interesting discussion. Thanks.
I've been tinkering on my spartan for a while now. I made a wooden wedge to make the ram vertical.
To help with the handle falling I tried a few things. First I released some material from the toggle block where the lever goes so the ram would go a little lower in the press. This hides the opening for the shell holder but helped some. I just lower the handle a bit to change shell holders. Then I drilled a 5/16 hole as deep as it would go in the end of the handle. This helped some. I also cut about an inch from the handle length.
I'm thinking about cutting the priming parts ears off as I use a ram prime. Then I could make a primer catch that won't be in the way I think. Still pondering it.
Bought mine in 1971 and used it for 30+ years. Replaced it with a T-mag for pistol and a RCBS RC for rifle. Sits in its original factory box on the shelf in my reloading room. If I were to ever put it back into service would make the ball handle mod. The single linkage was a big negative for me when FL sizing rifle brass and the primary reason I moved away from it. For pistol rounds it was great, lots of hand room.
I started with one and it's still mounted to it's plywood base board. (After bolting it down to my first couple of benches, I got wise and made a base board of thick plywood, recessed carriage bolts from underneath. I just use a couple of big C clamps when I need it.) They are good presses and still do the job.
NRA Life Member
member South County Rod & Gun Club
Dadgummit, you guys did it to me again! I had planned on backing off from buying more presses (and other reloading equipment) and even thinning the herd a little. Now you guys have me thinking of buying my brother's surplus-to-him Spartan that he picked up at a local thrift shop for about nothing. Of course this will mean I can sell off my Lyman Comet and Herters #3 presses in the same configuration. I'll still hold on to the Herters Super U as my heavy duty single stage press, and of course my Lyman All American as my "token turret." Are you sure you guys aren't pulling my chain about how wonderful this Spartan press is? The Model 3 looks pretty good by comparison, and I really can't justify bench space for both. Inquiring minds...
Froggie
"It aint easy being green!"
After the refurb and mods I did, I really like my Spartan. The only other thing I'd like to do is cut the ram for a spring clip to hold the shell holder. While the set screw works fine, it's just a little slower to change.
As a matter of fact, I used it last night to load some .32 long colt with heel bullets. The added light really helps my aging eyes.
I bought one at an antique show last summer for $15. Looks like new and even came with the original red plastic spent primer catcher. Didn’t need it, as I have 2 RCBS( a Rockchucker and RS2) , but couldn’t pass it up. You now got me excited to try it.
I've heard of at least one instance when someone made a solid connector bar to go between the priming ears that converted the spartan into an O press. If I recall, they were swaging with it. Anyone else ever hear of this?
I still have my original primer catcher and one that a co-worker made for me on his 3D printer. I have seen originals sell for 50 bucks on the auction sites. Way more than the 20 or so dollars I paid for my Spartan kit in the mid 60s. I also have the primer arm and the repriming kit. The brass primer tubes are way better than the tubes that came with my RCBS bench primer and work in the bench primer. My Spartan gets used for much of my depriming and the occasional small batch pistol resizing project. I was still in High School when I got mine and if I could find away, I would take it with me when I am done here.
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 |