I have beeen wanting to start casting my own bullets as well as experiment with the different lubes.I just bought an old Lyman #45 at the local gun show for $7.00.It also came with three dies, two with a top punch. I need to get an old instruction manual.Also, the old lube has harden over the years .Any suggestions on how to remove the old lube.
Many thans from a newbe.

Swifty,

For the manual, get the current Lyman Handbook of Cast Bullets.

The best way to clean the sizer is to dis-assemble it down to the base casting and the tube. Once this is done, turn the sizer upside-down in a 1 or 2 lb. coffee can and put this into your oven on warm. The old lube will melt out and be caught by the can without making a mess anywhere. So long as you keep the temperature below 250deg. there isn't any concern with fire.

When re-assembling the sizer, leave the nuts loose on the guide rods until everything is assembled, then tighten them doing both top nuts, then the bottom ones. Have the punch holder down when tightening the top nuts, then raise it fully anddo the lowers, this will help to avoid binding.

Another way to get the lube out of the unit is to boil it once the press is dissasembled. You can do this outdoors on a camp stove, where the lube stink won't exorcite your wife when you stink up her oven. You can also just hold it upside down outside and play a propane torch over it sparingly until the lube comes out, but be sure not to over do it.

As far as experimenting with different lubes: I would go find some more $7 sizers, as this will be much less of a headache than tryng to clean the lube out of your sizer regularly. It's not that big a deal if you really want to do it, but it is kind of a pain once you've got every thing set up.

Lyman can generally furnish instruction sheets for their older products. Call them and most likely they will send it to you at no cost. If that fails, e-mail me and I can scan you a copy. ljr@281.com

__________________
JONAH