[Uncle Alvah]

On ebay and other places I see Lyman 310 tools for sale.

I don't understand why the handles themselves are marked by caliber. The ones I saw most recently were stamped for .222 for instance. I know the handles came in large and small but why the caliber designation?

[steveno]

are they referring to the dies that are with the handles or are these handles only? I don't know either why the handles would be marked for a certain caliber

[Uncle Alvah]

This is from one auction description, maybe the caliber stamp just designates a "family".

Here is a pre war Lyman 310 tool made from blued STEEL from about the 1050's onward these tools wer made from aluminum, but this set of handles is made from solid hardened steel.Marked for the 30-06 cartridge, these handles will acept any Lyman 310 dies sets made for 30-06 based cartridges- .270,- 25-06, .308 etc etc.

[Jet22]

The No. 3 was marked for calibers and came with replaceable dies. It could be converted to most cases that used the same shell head as the one stamped on the handle. Some calibers are quite collectable. This tool pre-dated the more modern universal (Small & Large) tong tools. Pick up an old Ideal Hand Book to read up on these. I looked in a #26 Ideal Handbook for quick information on this subject.

[jondar]

I have one of these tools marked .30-06. It's an old one, shiny polished steel and accepts a variety of dies. I use it sometimes just for kicks and have loaded .30-06, .303 British, 7.7 Jap, .220 Swift, etc. Use two expander plugs for the .30 calibers, .308 and .311. It has a built in primer seater that works as good as my Lyman bench press. When I first got into reloading I loaded some excellent ammo with this old tool. Takes a little longer but I just chalk it up to recreation.

[Jet22]

I loaded some excellent ammo with this old tool



Since it neck sizes only, you will get GREAT ammo out of one of these tools!:)