Lyman Case Trimmer losing settings?

[Milt1]

I have a new Lyman Universal Case Trimmer that I used for the 1st time today. I was trimming .38 special cases. I had everything set and had trimmed approximately 30 cases when the pilot was stuck in a case. I had to turn the handle and pull back at the same time to get it to release. The pilot holder came back and hit the pressed in bushing. That was an expected happening because it took a little bit of force to free the pilot from the case. What wasn't expected was this moved my settings back by about 4 or 5 thousands.

I reset everything and was going along good when the same thing happened and again I lost 4 or 5 thousands? Now I wondering is the pressed in bushing being moved? I know the setting wheels are not hitting anything that would cause them to move and besides they are tightened down well? I'm going to call Lyman tomorrow but in the meantime have any of my fellow HR's had this problem with the Universal?

 

[rcmodel]

No.

But it sounds like your pilot might be a little too big for some brands of cases you are trimming.

Either figure out what head-stamp cases are too tight and sort them out?

Or take the pilot out and sand it down .001" or so with emery paper & a drill.

They are not supposed to be so tight they get stuck in the cases.

rc

 

[243winxb]

the pressed in bushing being moved?

Not sure of what bushing you speak of? Opps, no that bushing should not move. The pilot gets stuck because of a burr made from to much force applied to the cutter head. Or in other words, the feed rate is to high. A dull cutter head will do the same, but yours is new? My old one has a nut on the back.

 

[txwingnut]

I had something similar and noticed that when I pulled the trimmer back if it let it hit the base it pushed the bushing out and the stop was registering on it and not the base and it resulted in cases getting longer and longer...

 

[witchhunter]

Chuck it in a drill and smooth it out with emery cloth to make it fit without sticking. I dip case necks in mica to make it smoother if they are too tight. Buy another pilot first, in case you sand it too much.....

 

[Milt1]

I've been trying to get a response from Lyman as the what the pilots should mike out to. A Lyman person is supposed to call me today with that info. In the meantime I checked the pilots that I'm going to be using with a micrometer and these are the readings that I got:

The 9mm pilot miked at a little over .348 (midway between .348 and .349).
The 35 pilot (for .38/.357) miked at .352
The 44 pilot (for .44 special) miked at a little over .424 (midway between .424 and .425).
The 45 pilot (for .45 ACP) miked at a little over .456 (midway between .456 and .457).

Do your pilots read the same?

 

[rg1]

I have one of Lyman's Universal Trimmers. The cheap aluminum sleeve with a fiber bushing pressed in the aluminum then pressed into the housing isn't up to the task. It's possible you loosened the press fits but not likely. My complaint is the steel stop collars rub against the aluminum and fiber bushings and wear or gall quickly the face of the thin aluminum bushing. Could be you're simply wearing down the bushing that the stop collar runs against? Could be an irregular surface and you're polishing the bushing face making your trim length get shorter? Seems it's worse when new and slows down and stops after some use. You need a bit of grease on the stop collar where it rubs against the bushing. Or the stop collar is slipping on the cutter shaft. Degrease the shaft and make sure the set screws are tight. I like the fast case holder chuck but my chuck fingers wore and wouldn't hold a case after less than 1000 rounds trimmed. Lyman was quick to replace for free and the new fingers are not wearing after a lot of trimming. Things I don't like are the aluminum sleeve with fiber bushing. I had to sand a couple of my pilots because they too were hanging in the case neck.

 

[rg1]

Miked my Lyman pilots to compare to your measurements with an accurate 0-1 micrometer. You want the pilots to fit without hanging or badly marking or scraping the inside of the necks but you don't want them to be too small either.
9MM pilot--- 0.349.6"
45A----------.445.5
44------------.425
30------------.303.3 (may have polished this pilot)
24------------.239.5
35------------.352
27------------.273
28------------.279.5
22------------Definitely sanded and polished this pilot. My final size after polishing is---.218.4
A lot depends on your sizing die and expander ball or expander punch for pistols plus case walls vary, plus new brass is softer in the neck while multi-fired cases would work harden effecting spring back of the brass in the neck. I can't see how any manufacturer could make an exact sized pilot for all situations. Polishing or sanding to reduce diameters is quite common. Possibly you made a mistake measuring or typing the .45 pilot as 45 ACP bullets typically are .451 to .452" and wouldn't even enter the case at .456". That pilot is probably meant for rifle calibers such as 45-70,, 450 Marlin, .458 Winchester Magnum and others. I've only used my Lyman Universal for .223 Rem and 30-06 trimming. Haven't used any of the other pilots. I use a Forster Original case trimmer for most everything else and almost nobody trims 9MM, 45 ACP, or 40SW cases. I do trim .38, .357 Magnum, and 44 Magnum cases as I want the crimp to be more uniform.

 

[Milt1]

RG1, thanks for your response. I just received an e-mail from Lyman and my pilots are within spec. Their print measurements are: 9MM = .349, 35 is .352, 44 is .425 and 45A is .446. All of these have a -.001 tolerance.

I actually put down the wrong tolerance on my 45A pilot and when I checked it again it measured .446 (right on the money). So this means that my .38 special cases are too tight and my question now is can they be used as they are very old? I resized them and then tried the trimming and when they couldn't be trimmed I set them aside.

Any suggestions?