doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com val scott shot shell dies

anyone know anything about these dies.they are very large 3 die set. also a tool called a thompsons jim dandy i have a 12 and 20 ga.also any one know the vintage of a lyman ideal straightline reloading set.20 ga.in the info sheet it talks about the new star crimp (it has the roll and star crimp.thanks mc

The Ideal Straighline shotshell reloading set was a long running item, which preceded the purchase of the Ideal Co by Lyman in 1925. It was still listed in Lyman catalogs at least through the late 50's, I do not know the actual extent in either direction. The Star/fold Crimp was not introduced by the industry untill the late 30's, just prior to WWII. I do not know how long it was before Lyman added the Star/fold Crimper to their line which was confusing as their old delux model of roll crimper had been known as the "Star Crimper" for many years. I have a Lyman handbook #37 (dated 2-50) & the star/fold crimper is shown for use with the Straightline loader in it. I expect it had already been listed for several years by then.
No help on the other dies. I have an old set of Herter Shotshell dies wich fit either their #3 or the Lachmiller presses having 1¼" threads. It was very slow in operation as the parts were interchanged in one body, though extra bodies were available for use in their turrent press.

thank you.the val scott are 1.250 thread 3 dies like a pistol set just very large.it is a roll crimp but it folds the roll crimp down.the other tool (thompson)is a decapper, crimper,no resizing and modern in its look (made out of aluminium)are the large presses still being made? thanks again mc

MC;
The Herter dies had a 1¼-18 thread. Their #3, #81 & #234 presses would accomadate them. The #3 was a C-press, the #81 A C-type put with two rams & stations. I am not certain if the stations were located far enough apart to handle two of the big shotshell dies or not. The #234 was a six station turrent & normally came with only one station having the large thread. It could be had on special order with alternate holes (3) threaded for the shotshell dies. I do not recall the models of the Lachmiller presses with this thread but neither has been available for some time now. RCBS did, & may still offer a press having a large thread but it was different than this one. The Herter presses show up on E-Bay quite often & the single station #3 often sells rather cheap, but shipping is high, they are heavy presses of all cast iron. That #3 would resize a GI .30-06 brass into a 7x57 Mauser case with one stroke & not break a sweat.