Lyman Carbide Expander - Review

Jesse Heywood said:

Case shoulder was collapsed.
. . .
Since the ball is carbide coated, it cannot be sanded to reduce the diameter.

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- case sticking is all-but-universally a lube problem. Spray lubes other than alcohol/lanolin are notoriously sensitive to application technique.
- that sizing was hard is another pointer to lube. Start there.
- I don't see a collapsed shoulder, but it does look a bit undersized. That would indicate a die problem, but I'm not convinced.
- the carbide ball is solid, not coated. You could reduce it's size, but it's almost certainly not the problem.

edwardware said:

case sticking is all-but-universally a lube problem.

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Agree. My experience with spray lubes and rifle cases has been dismal. You need a better lube, try RCBS water soluble or Imperial sizing wax. Kiwi mink oil has the same texture as Imperial sizing wax and sizes equally well. It might be the same stuff, it is not an oil, it is a grease.


You have to feel sorry for all the little minks they put in a hydraulic press and crush to harvest the oil. LOL!

I stumbled on Mink Oil Cream (yeah, poor minks) about 30 years ago. IIRC I read about using it for case lube in a magazine and when cruising through a Walgreens, I saw some and picked it up. I have used it exclusively for sizing my 44 Magnum brass up to 303 British and all the rifle cartridges in between, Never had a stuck case nor any "lube dents" on my brass...

mdi said:

I stumbled on Mink Oil Cream (yeah, poor minks) about 30 years ago. IIRC I read about using it for case lube in a magazine and when cruising through a Walgreens, I saw some and picked it up. I have used it exclusively for sizing my 44 Magnum brass up to 303 British and all the rifle cartridges in between, Never had a stuck case nor any "lube dents" on my brass...

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You're sizing 44 mag brass to 303 British? How exactly does that work?

Texas10mm said:

You're sizing 44 mag brass to 303 British? How exactly does that work?

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First ya gotta anneal it very soft. Then a lengthening die is used to stretch the case to 2.300", I use my Smart Reloader lengthening die. (brass choice and a good lube are very important here). Sometimes it is necessary to run the case through the rim expanding die increase the rim diameter to .540", but mostly for use in a pre 1930 rifle which uses a .00157" larger rim, I still have a Herters rim die. Then the neck die, trimming, and a filler loaded over 29.7 grains of Bullseye for fire forming. Yep, it is easier to just buy 303 British brass, but what's the fun in that? (my last count was around 2,343 cases done on my Lee hand press).

Jesse Heywood said:

The only change was that the case didn't stick.

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I used to feel guilty about all the mink's that had to die to make a can of Mink Oil, but I got over it.

Glad it worked.