Lyman 4500 Back In Service
Posted: 19 Feb 2017 15:51
In that I'm moving all my pistol reloading to the Load-Masters, I decided to put my Lyman 4500 back on the bench. In that I'm using the bullet feeders, I want to keep the nose of the bullets as clean as possible, and I also want to prevent as little lube build up as possible in the bullet seating die.
My main objection to the 4500 though previously use was that short pistol bullets were hard to retrieve from the die. With the Push Out Rod adjusted so that the Adjusting Screw & Lockout would allow the short bullet to be pushed low enough in the die so that the bands were lubed, the Bullet Knockout Link did not have the authority to pop the bullet out of the die. I had left the luber with a "nut" tie wrapped inside the link, my temporary non-adjustable fix, to close the gap (left side of above picture).
I've had a couple of years to think about the fix and it is simple. I drilled and threaded the Bullet Knockout Link to accept a ΒΌ"x20 bolt. That is all that is needed, the bolt is simply adjusted to eliminate any gap between the Link and the Push Out Rod.
My 4500 has the Lyman heater, a temperature controller, and the Buffalo Arms lube feeder. I have a real good assortment of dies, most are custom sizes to fit all my rifle and pistol diameters. Buffalo Arms has just about any custom size not covered by Lyman or RCBS. I was using White Label Lube's 2500+ for both rifle and pistol and will continue to do so.
My main objection to the 4500 though previously use was that short pistol bullets were hard to retrieve from the die. With the Push Out Rod adjusted so that the Adjusting Screw & Lockout would allow the short bullet to be pushed low enough in the die so that the bands were lubed, the Bullet Knockout Link did not have the authority to pop the bullet out of the die. I had left the luber with a "nut" tie wrapped inside the link, my temporary non-adjustable fix, to close the gap (left side of above picture).
I've had a couple of years to think about the fix and it is simple. I drilled and threaded the Bullet Knockout Link to accept a ΒΌ"x20 bolt. That is all that is needed, the bolt is simply adjusted to eliminate any gap between the Link and the Push Out Rod.
My 4500 has the Lyman heater, a temperature controller, and the Buffalo Arms lube feeder. I have a real good assortment of dies, most are custom sizes to fit all my rifle and pistol diameters. Buffalo Arms has just about any custom size not covered by Lyman or RCBS. I was using White Label Lube's 2500+ for both rifle and pistol and will continue to do so.