Lyman Tru-Line Jr

[kopcicle]

I recently got inundated with odd, old, weird, and curiously effective reloading tools.
Remember the Ideal Lyman 310 combo and nutcracker tools?
How about the Lyman Tru-Line Jr? It came with multiple die plates milled, drilled, threaded, for 5/8"-30TPI as well as standard 7/8"-14TPI. This gave me some ideas as I have a mill and a lathe.
Then a brother from another mother shows up with a second Tru-Line Jr and a bag of dies.
This just hours after I found another Tru-Line Jr on a local gun board for $40.
I'm beginning to wonder if these things breed in shipping or just come in bunches.
I now a combo tool for brother's 32-20, original, 1884 pat date.
A 30 U.S. (30-40 Krag) tool that now has .303 dies living in it for her custom Martini-Enfield
A .270 win nutcracker for neck sizing adventures at the range.
Die sets for 32-20, .303, .270, 45ACP, 38-357, 6.5x55, and I still have to go through a bag of jellybeans.

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[kopcicle]

This thread is worthless without pics.

 

[kopcicle]

30 US otherwise known as 30-40 Krag, Nutcracker, Combo tool for 32-20, Bag_O_Dies and decapper pins for the Combo tool (.357-38)

 

[P7M13]

I've seen those nutcrackers many times, never knew what they were.

 

[kopcicle]

Winchester and others also made them.
The 32-20 with integral mold is caliber and cartridge specific.
The 30 US above is enough like the .303 British that with the proper dies they are interchangeable.

Later the Alloy handles could be configured for multiple calibers within pistol (short) and rifle (long).

All of the 310 series other than the smaller straight wall pistol calibers are neck size only. With regular annealing some cartridges will last a very long time. Others like the 32-20 were very thin at the case mouth and didn't last as long.

My first use of a nutcracker was for feeding a Gen II SAA/and a 73 Winchester.

Curiously I didn't see another one util years later when a couple of old greybeards were neck sizing .270 for load development at a local range. Imagine child like grins on their faces as a node appeared and 140gr bullets started going through the same hole.

Some years passed and I own that .270 and the reloading gear. I've had some sort of "nutcracker" for over thirty years and I'm still learning the ins and outs of the tools.

 

[kopcicle]

Stay tuned for updates as they happen, film at 11:00, and continuing coverage of a mad machinist at work attempting to force these little presses into acts of brass mangling debauchery.

5 hole turret.
4 hole 7/8"-14 turret.
Adding bushings and bearings to "Junior".
A re-think on the #55 measure.
expelling hammer wielding monkeys from the workspace.

And so much more.

 

[kopcicle]

@P7M13 and whomever cares.

All of us that fondle the little dies with sad intent refer (mistakenly) to the threads being 5/8"-30 TPI.
This isn't entirely correct.
Measured across the threads it's .609-.610", just shy of 33/64s, not .625".
Although the correct tap has occasionally available it's much more likely that a creative machinist would chuck up a piece of 0-1 tool steel and make a correct tap.

I saw a lube and sizing press on ....

nevermind

 

[PommyB]

The Lyman Tru-Line Jr. was the inspiration behind the Australian-produced Super Simplex presses that came on the market down there in the late 1950s. They use 5/8" dies that look identical to the old Lyman dies, but they have a different thread pitch (26 tpi), likely due to the 5/8"x26tpi British Brass tooling that would have been more commonly available in Australia in those days. The presses & dies are still being produced, along with 7/8x14 O-Ring press that (coincidentally!) resembles the RCBS RockChucker, & a turret press.



Super Simplex Turret Press

 

[kopcicle]

I did know this and thank you so much for including the 26 TPI thread detail. If you're going there I'll add that the Tru-Line Jr isn't exactly 5/8" it's more like .608 - 609" instead of the full .625".

Since I have a lathe and mill I'll be making additional turret plates. I did find one important part just mucking about in the box, AA-1049-3 .752 X 1.0025 X 1in Pwdr Mtl Bronze Sleeve Bearing.

I'll be making the taps for the 5/8" x 30 tpi. I'll be cutting the first 50-60% and knurling the rest. Because of a lack of Zed and no quill I'm putting a pilot on the cutting tap. The idea is to drill and ream the die holes to fit the pilot since I don't have anything but a drill press to run the tap in.

I'm already dealing with a cadre of motion control geeks I worked with for years. "Automate it!" they say.
I've barely got a place to put it let alone servos and actuators. Now think of the issues involved with a stationary shell holder and a moving die plate. I counter with there is probably a Dillon in my future. They counter with another beer and "come on, it'll be fun!".

Honestly this/these will be more for short runs of our household oddities such as the 270AI, .303 British, 32-20, and specialty .45ACP.