LYMAN 56-50 SPENCER DIES

[Tuolumne Lawman]

I was thinking about the problem of bullets spinning in the case after loading in the Taylor's 56-50 when sized .512.  I mentioned this to an old time loader, and he mentioned the same thing addressed here about a week ago... Lyman is probably selling a .515 case expander from 50-70 dies.  Ones, I sized the cases, but manually belled the case mouth without the expanding plug (using a very large flat head screwdriver that was .5 at the tip and sides tapered to .6.  The bullet did not spin, but held tight.  Seems that if you size to .512 with a LEE sizer, the plug should be .511 or .510.

On the . 56-50 Taylor Lyman dies I had before I got the 56-56, I used their roll crimp die, though I ground it down to increase the crimp.

[Two Flints]

Two Flints

If the .515 case expander from 50-70 dies is too large, can you special order the correct size case expander from Lyman that will fit in the existing die?

Two Flints

[Gimpy Gus]

Two Flints and Tuolumne Lawman,

I'm not sure if this is on point or not, since I use CH-dies, but here it goes.  Early on, I had lots of problems with loose bullets when using a .512 bullet and a .512 expander plug.  When I switched to .515 sized bullet, I ordered a .515 expander plug, but unbeknownst to me they sent a .517 plug.  Didn't work too well!  However, once I used the .517 plug only to barely flare the case mouth, so as not to shave lead, and annealed my much used Starline brass, I now have good tight bullets that seat into the  brass smoothly with no swaging or shaving of lead.

I also found that with only using the full length resizing die and no expander plug, a .512 bullet could be finger-seated.  It was too loose.  Hopefully, that is not the case with your Lyman dies.  I sometimes wonder if I wasn't send 56-50 dies for the original round and not the Taylor's.  GG

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[Tuolumne Lawman]

The Taylor's Lyman set is supposed to have a .512 expander from the factory.  Check it with a micrometer and see.  They should make it right.

Two Flints

If the .515 case expander from 50-70 dies is too large, can you special order the correct size case expander from Lyman that will fit in the existing die?

Two Flints

[Hell-Er High Water]

If you have bullets that are loose in the case after expanding you should definitely check the diameter of your expander plug.  Both my 50-70 dies and 56-50 dies are Lyman and both expander plugs measure 0.509" diameter on the body of the plugs.  The short section that bells the case mouth is 0.514" diameter and is only about 1/16" long.  The portion of the plug above the mouth expanding portion is 0.517" diameter.  My 50-70 dies are from 2002 and my 56-50 dies are from 2004.

Also, if you are running the expander plug too far into the case you will be over expanding the case and getting a loose bulllet fit with 0.512" diameter bullets.

HHW