16ga.com ~ View topic - Lachmiller for the WIN! Thanks SkeetTX and Charles Hammack!

Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 249

Hey Guys,

So sorry - I was away from the forum quite a bit over the last year, and missed the news that SKEETEX (Mike Lowery) had passed. Sorry that I missed that before posting the message below. May he rest in Eternal Peace. I do remember that he was a friendly and knowledgeable member here. Just did not realize he was gone. My apologies if my post below seemed insensitive or opened old wounds.

Sincerely,

8mmFan

So, in searching for a solution in my post below about my 20 gauge Superposed having a tight chamber, relative to today’s shotguns, Charles pretty adamantly said that the problem was that my 20 ga Mec 9000 isn’t resizing the case head all the way, on the hulls with steel heads.

He suggested a Lachmiller resizer/deprimer press. Initially, I didn’t want to buy a whole new press for one shotgun, and figured I’d just find a source for old brass-only case-head hulls.

But I looked on eBay, and there was a guy selling a 12 gauge, 20 gauge, and a 12 gauge-for-parts-only. All three, and I got it for about $140 + shipping. They came Friday.

I quickly mounted the 20 gauge Lachmiller to a board, clamped that to a bench in my garage, ran 5 shells through, and, then took those to my 9000 and loaded them.

WHAMMO!!!! THEY DROP RIGHT IN!!! I went out in the back yard and fired those, and then, just to double-check, I did the same thing again.

The Ol’ Lachmiller, it does the trick!!! Fantastic little re-sizer/de-primer. The only thing wrong with it is that the hull sticks up in the top housing (de-priming die, I guess it is), and you have to knock it back out with a hammer. I’m not sure why it does that, but it’s probably just full of grime or something. I’ll have to look up an old manual from somewhere, take it apart, clean it, and put it back together.

Anyhow, thanks to all who helped, and especially thanks to you, Charles, and to SkeetTX who apparently pointed you in the right direction. AWESOME!

8mmFan

Take the unit apart , clean chuck in drill or lath spin with 600+ or finer paper clean well reassemble and use finger to work into the sizing ring IMPERIAL SIZING WAX .

Still keep a wooden mallet handy for some brands of steel case heads still want to stick , simply give them a tap on the top , WHILE KEEPING PRESSURE ON THE HANDLE ON THE UPWARD STROKE , ease the handle down slowly.

You will figure it out but if you don't the spring collet will get broken if you don't do as instructed , ask me how I know, 😁.

Use it correctly and it will last a lifetime.

Regards Nick

Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 249

Thanks, Nick! I was going to take it apart and try to clean it, but was afraid to because I haven't been able to find a manual for it anywhere and wasn't sure if I'd be able to put it back together once I took it apart.

Is it pretty intuitive to take apart and put back together? From the looks of it, you just start by loosening the nut at the very top? Sound about right? Any crazy steps involved in putting it back together?

8mmFan

The deprimer is threaded onto the bolt that runs through the top , unscrew this and put back the same way it came apart.

The sizing ring is screwed into the press and simply screws out.

Not a hard one very simple.

Best regards Nick

Joined: 17 Mar 2007 Posts: 249

Thanks, Nick. Took it apart, cleaned it, and it does seem to work better. Only thing is that the only lube I had on hand that seemed appropriate is Hornady One Shot. Seems to work ok.

Thanks again.

8mmFan