Armi Sport 56-50 Spencer Owner Lyman Dies Needs Reloading Help, help!!!!

[Wolf Killer]

Dakota,
Thanks, that's the guy. I will get ahold of him and see if he can rush me out one, I need to find out the lube groove distances from two other mould makers so I hopefully can get one die to cover most bullets, and not just the Lyman.

DB.

[PJ Hardtack]

My Lyman 50-70 dies were not giving me a proper grip on my .510 Lyman 515141 bullets. Solution - a Meacham die that came with a couple of collets that gave the cases a slight bottle neck configuration. End of problem.

Might work on the 56-50 Spencer cases as well.

I just came from a 10 stage match where a guy in our possee shot his Spencer. Save for one instance, it shot flawlessly. Wish I had picked his brain for his reloading process.

[Wolf Killer]

nts,
Finally my dilemma is solved. I ordered a set of RCBS dies, and all problems solved, and I am amazed at the difference.
With the cases resized on both the RCBS and Lyman, I found that the RCBS dies had reduced the case diameter of the center of case to mouth a full .100 smaller, and the Lyman die was only sizing the mouth of the case.  

The Expander on the RCBS is .510 vs a fat .512 for the Lyman, so .512 bullets are a now tight fit when seated.
The thing that stands out is the length of the expander plug see photo. The RCBS expands the mouth for the bell and only enters the case by .400 before the bell and the lyman enters the case .500 before the bell. The lyman is so long, that it is into the body of the case at a point before the taper of the case starts, which is what caused the bullets to drop in. Again, this is a 50-70 plug for the much longer bullet
See the photo of the expander plugs, the RCBS is black.

I believe what we have here, is that Lyman just took their 50-70 dies, and shortened the sizing die and marked it Spencer, without changing the expanding plug or addressing the crimp either. I was up and loading spencer rounds with .512 bullets in less than 30 minutes.

Lyman has been going to hell for years now across the entire product line, and that truly saddens me I reloaded my first ammo on all Lyman gear, but I will not bother with anything except some of their Sharps dies, and I have been buying used older moulds after having to return new moulds that were cut wrong, off center, burred and other problems. I only bought the Spencer dies as they were advertised as Armi Sport Spencer dies, which they ain't

Thanks to everyone to helped, and if anyone knows the correct cartridge length for the .515139 bullet please share, I have been all over the place trying to find a length that performs with 7 rounds in the mag or just refuses to load for no apparent reason.

Thanks,

Wolf Killer

[Coal Creek Griff]

Thanks for the update.  I have found my Lyman dies to be less-than perfect, but they still create functional ammo.  Now I wish I had gone with RCBS instead...

CC Griff

[Crazeyiven]

What is the difference between the RCBS $52 set and the $268 set?

Thanks,

David