Willy Snyder
PO Box 2732
Pocatello, ID 83206
I was browsing a Lyman Ideal Handbook # 38, everytime I do so, I see something that has slipped my mind over time and it is good to relearn it. This time, I found three mint Ideal price lists tucked into it. These are dated March 1951, a 310 set complete in one caliber listed for $11.50, handles only were 3.50. The Tru-line Jr was a shocking $22.00! I asked my friendly AI to adjust that for inflation and the die set was $140-145 ! The TLJ was a shocking $274! We are having it pretty good guys!
Yeah often times things are way way cheaper now when accounting for inflation. For example, surplus ammo in the 80s wasn't actually as good of a deal and ammo in cowboy times was in the many dollar range. Some quick research and the average cowboy made $1 a day and a box of 50 rounds of 44-40 was $1-2. In today's money that $1 is $32.... for a days wages. That's 3.3/6.7% of your average monthly earnings
Of course in 1951 you could buy gas for about $,20/gal, and bread was about $.10/loaf. If you were making more than about $25-30 a week, that was good money. Even when I got my first job flipping burgers about 15 years later, minimum wage was just a little over a buck an hour, and it was worth changing jobs for ten or fifteen cents an hour. In those terms, that $11.50 three ten tool set was a pretty significant expense.
Froggie
"It aint easy being green!"
I just wish Lyman could see that they are still worth making , even on a limited bacis. Keep the bodies in stock and finish them as they are ordered. I'd pay them more for the 5/8" set , for a brand new custom set of dies made for cartridges they already make dies for and already have the tooling for so that it could be profitable. I really miss the 310 Shop when it was a good source for original and custom dies and parts. Hunting this stuff down is fun ( sort of ) but having to wait months and sometimes years to find a piece to complete a set is not fun or convenient when you really want ( or need ) to use the set.
PS : Another L boxed steel handle set sold on ebay for $71 yesterday evening. Anyone here get it ? I watched but didn't bid since I had no need for any more L sets. Also a set of .348 dies sold cheap this last week , hope the buyer has handles .
Grumpy Old Man With A Gun....... Do Not Touch !!
I think Lyman lost it's way at least 15 years ago - maybe 20. There was a guy near me who had a casting business ( He's been gone 6 or 7 years deceased ) who had a connection with someone who worked for Lyman - Mike used to tell me stories from the inside, of the CRAZY decisions Lyman was making regarding products. The 310 Shop was good , but I lost money on stuff I had ordered at least 2 years before he closed. I could say he stiffed me for what i prepaid for - My Bad for pre paying him
Being human is not for sissies.
A couple of bidders on our favorite auction site got carried away on a set of .30-30 dies, no handle, ran it up to $85 and there was another set being ignored for 65.
Prices really aren’t that bad! Adjusted for inflation, new equipment is cheaper than it was, and there’s so much used equipment going for even cheaper.
Too much focus!Originally Posted by trooperdan
Noah
The lure of competition plus the desire to have a desired thing immediately cause some of this craziness. Also, certain predatory types see in popular interest an opportunity for quick profit. The resulting pressures on the marketplace cause prices to rise.
The good news is, new interest and rising prices tend to bring things out of hiding. If you balance these factors together, in many ways, these may be “the good old days!”
"It aint easy being green!"
"These times, like all times, are very good times, if we just know what to do with them"
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The problem is the couple of TV shows that pushed prepping and survivalists . They featured the 310 as a tool of the prepper and the prices shot up immediately because people who previously had zero interest in 310 tools now had to have them to complete their bug out bag. My bug out plan was always just to bug out at home where I had access to everything I need . If any such event had ever come about the number of mines and trash can lid claymores that I would have installed around my house would have kept me safe from any hordes of looters or zombies I could ever imagine. Did anyone on here get the L marked steel universal handle set hiding in the box with several .35 Rem dies ? It went for cheap . I sent the auction info to several who I thought might be interested because it had sat until the last few days at the opening bid of $49.95 with no bids on it . I don't think it sold for a lot more than that . $75 for a set now days is a bargain even though the Frog bought a set for $39.95 and I bought a S marked set from the same seller for the same price . Usually you are lucky to find a set for $100.
Grumpy Old Man With A Gun....... Do Not Touch !!
Wasn't me ...
Being human is not for sissies.
I was in until 77.50, sold to someone that was either their 1st or 2nd purchase at 78.50. I couldn't tell for sure that it was a universal steel.
I assure you it absolutely was a steel universal . No , zero doubt about it . The price still was good at that .
Grumpy Old Man With A Gun....... Do Not Touch !!
Further thoughts on this matter… the real blow to Lyman came much earlier. It was when they were bought out by “Leisure Group” somewhere in the ‘70s. Quality became secondary to profit and whatever would sell the most at the highest profit margin took priority. There were some good new items brought out, and some of the older, classic items had too good a market share to be disregarded. But the pattern was set and the decline was steep. They still make some very good items now, under new ownership, but truthfully they just “ain’t what they used to be”!
If you follow my posts you’ve seen me talk about old Lyman and Ideal products I have found. Have you ever seen me rave over something newly introduced, at least in the last 25+ years? And I consider myself one of the greatest defenders… of the name. The current company bears virtually no resemblance to the Lyman I grew up with. More’s the pity!
Froggie
"It aint easy being green!"
In the early '50's, Lyman would send you a free sample of a particular mold if you just asked them! And they certainly entertained many requests for custom work at little or no extra charge. I should have been embarrassed to ask for free samples of a mold I could never afford to purchase!
In around 1954? I had a paper route and was making .01 on every paper I delivered. I walked a route that cover over 5 miles each day delivering papers. A neighbor had a really nice gunsmith sporterized 98K that he didn't need anymore as he had bought himself a brand-new Savage 99 in .300 sav.. He sold the 98K to me for $8.00 in 1956?. james
About 15mths ago I finally found a mint Truline Jnr for $NZD125, roughly $USD75 at the time. I'd been looking here in NZ a few years. As happens, about 3 mths later another one appeared priced at $NZD80 and the guy couldn't sell it.
I sprung for rhe Lyman conversion kit so it would take standard shell holders and I load my 357mag hunting rounds on it with 310 dies exclusively. Just because I can and because I love the 310 Expander die which really is a precursor in what it does of the currrent Lyman M Die. Which costs a small fortune here down under, if you can source one. Anyway, while slow its a real pleasure to use and the setup turns out great ammo. For hunting rounds I am happy to take extra care with each round. For plinking or CAS range shooting I just bang them out on a Dillon 550B (38sp) or a Lee 4 Hole Turret with auto index (357mag). Yes, I can and do also make the hunting rounds even more slowly, and carefully, with the 310 Tongs. But I need a campfire for those lol.
Hey Jhon! I see you are continuing your 310 journey! Good for you, let me know if you are looking for anything else.
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