Mike W1
Active Member
Think I'm about as organized as I'll get with what I have. Don't cast for rifles anymore but go thru a few 45s and 9mm's a year. Long ago settled on LBT Blue for my needs and haven't had the inclination to use anything else there so hope Veral doesn't retire and take my supply of it with him!
Not too much to change on the LAM II other than got rid of that sliding ball assembly up top replacing it with a slotted socket and 1/4" drive ratchet. Replaced the grip with a wooden ball and my brother-in-law made a new bullet ejector screw for me that is 1/2" longer which makes adjustments for shorter bullets easier. Added a counter for my own info. (Wife still says I'm anal)
Already had the old Midway heater but it's now fitted with a thermocouple and controlled with a PID unit. It let me fiddle with some heat settings and ended up using 125° as seemingly best for me. 120° a little stiff and 130° a little looser than I liked. Another toy I have is a TC to measure surface temperature with my VOM. The other TC is mounted as close as I could get to the LAM and once things are warmed up (20+ minutes) the surface TC shows 125° there and abut 104° down front where the sizing die is. If it's on long enough that has risen to 107-108° and that was several hours later. Had it on all day once and that was tops then.
I'm somewhat challenged with feeling in my fingers but a number of runs from 400-700 bullets indicates it's a easily sustained pace to do 10 bullets a minute with this setup now. I suspect maybe the 9's would be a little slower with my mitts.
The thing I've never really come to grips with on the LAM is it's obvious when the lube is starting to get low in the reservoir as you need to apply more pressure. As of yet I've never managed to gauge just the right time to add more lube. If it's too soon you play hell trying to get a whole stick in there. Last couple fills I decided I'll just add 1/2 sticks and make life simpler. It's not that big a chore to run the lube plunger up and down with a cordless drill. Long ago made a wrench for the threaded reservoir cap and that starts easily by hand if it ain't too full! No way I can justify a Star I guess!
Not too much to change on the LAM II other than got rid of that sliding ball assembly up top replacing it with a slotted socket and 1/4" drive ratchet. Replaced the grip with a wooden ball and my brother-in-law made a new bullet ejector screw for me that is 1/2" longer which makes adjustments for shorter bullets easier. Added a counter for my own info. (Wife still says I'm anal)
Already had the old Midway heater but it's now fitted with a thermocouple and controlled with a PID unit. It let me fiddle with some heat settings and ended up using 125° as seemingly best for me. 120° a little stiff and 130° a little looser than I liked. Another toy I have is a TC to measure surface temperature with my VOM. The other TC is mounted as close as I could get to the LAM and once things are warmed up (20+ minutes) the surface TC shows 125° there and abut 104° down front where the sizing die is. If it's on long enough that has risen to 107-108° and that was several hours later. Had it on all day once and that was tops then.
I'm somewhat challenged with feeling in my fingers but a number of runs from 400-700 bullets indicates it's a easily sustained pace to do 10 bullets a minute with this setup now. I suspect maybe the 9's would be a little slower with my mitts.
The thing I've never really come to grips with on the LAM is it's obvious when the lube is starting to get low in the reservoir as you need to apply more pressure. As of yet I've never managed to gauge just the right time to add more lube. If it's too soon you play hell trying to get a whole stick in there. Last couple fills I decided I'll just add 1/2 sticks and make life simpler. It's not that big a chore to run the lube plunger up and down with a cordless drill. Long ago made a wrench for the threaded reservoir cap and that starts easily by hand if it ain't too full! No way I can justify a Star I guess!
