25-30 year old Lyman "Spartan" press

My first press bought at Jaeger's in Bellingham was a Spartan. That was in 1963 or 64. It was a package deal with a set of dies, shellholder and scale for less than 25.00. I used it for about 35 years and finally gave it to another fellow. It still functioned fine and had loaded tens of thousands of revolver and rifle rounds. It did not have a lot of leverage or camming power and was a grunt to re-form some cases with although fine for normal resizing. An economy press that went on like the Energizer bunny. Not sure when Lyman quit making them. At that time (63/64) you could also get surplus 4831 from the same dealer either in paper bags by the pound or in larger gallon paint thinner cans and gas drum sizes . Price was under a dollar a pound when bought in drums. I think the bags were 1.29 but memory fades.
 
Solid, old single-stage press. This was my first (~ $25 CAN, ~1970) I used this for reloading for many, many years before finally latching onto a used RCBS Rockchucker (still my current press). The Spartan does an excellent job. The only negative for me was that the press is tipped back about 20 degrees and this occasionally caused difficulties in keeping a bullet in place on the mouth of the case during the seating operation.
40-82
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom