Mini Review - Lyman Case Prep Centre

[Dangermouse]

This morning I managed to give my new Lyman Case Prep Centre a go with 40 x .308 cases. I bought this from Sinclair's and all in cost £135. to get it to my door.
Unpacking the centre from the box I was not surprised to see another 2 pin plug despite this being the 230volt version. As the sales info says you get tools for both small and large primer pockets as well as the neck chamfering tools and a variety of brushes.

After choosing which tools I was going to use I started to screw the spare tools into the spare holes at the side, only to find the first one was not tooled correctly and would not accept the thread. Although annoying it will not affect the performance of the machine and I will keep the spare tools in another safe place.

The machine is a good weight and does not move around the bench, with the motor running it makes less noise than my battery drill but is certainly not quiet. The motor does not turn as fast as I expected, I roughly counted 2 turns a second. Certainly when compared to the battery drill it hardly moves.

Even before I picked up my first case I could see that the tools that I had selected were wobbling slightly in their mounts, this became more obvious and annoying when trying to use the primer pocket cleaner and depth uniformer. This is my biggest whinge and would prevent me from recommending this to anyone who is trying to get 100% from each case they work on.
Ironically you can see this in the Video at around the 2.07 on wards, so I do not think my machine is faulty.
All the mess was confined to the top plate which was easily cleaned with the brush provided, again much better than the old drill system. The bin popping out is a nice touch, although it is just as easy to hold the whole thing over a bin.

Each case was taking me roughly 30 seconds and I was surprised to get through my 40 cases so quickly. With my old system I had to run the same case through the drill and hand tools a number of times which was all very time consuming.


A fair price for what I got, the tools alone would be worth £20+ (I am aware of the replacing worn tools issue). The product is let down by the wobbling and takes my score down from 9/10 to 5/10.



DM

[Sim G]

Even before I picked up my first case I could see that the tools that I had selected were wobbling slightly in their mounts, this became more obvious and annoying when trying to use the primer pocket cleaner and depth uniformer.

Now that would annoy me!! That said, even though there is wobble, how confident are you that the depth uniformer did indeed uniform the depth, despite the wobble?

[dromia]

I've been using one for a while and really rate it, I haven't noticed any wobble on the tools. I don't use it for primer pocket cleaning as I use the brush on my Lyman power trimmer which i use in conjunction with the case prep xpress. Iut do use it for primer pocket uniforming and would definitely have noticed any off centre on that. I also use it for flash hole deburring and it does that fine too, the long length of the FH deburr tool would certainly magnify any off centredness and it worked just fine, also. I'd shoot Lyman and email and get there take on it.

How much was the shipping on it?

You should get them a bit cheaper from UK dealers.

[Dangermouse]

Dromia,
As I respect your word, and you have a machine that does not have any wobble, I will send Lyman an email and see what they say. The thought of having to send it back to the USA is not appealing.
I was happy with my price, the only UK dealer I found selling was Midway at £189.78 without postage. I know they are not the cheapest but I was not expecting to find anyone over £50 cheaper.

Sim,
I do not have confidence in the depth trimmer hence I would not recommend this machine to a friend,

DM

[dromia]

Well I could and have put them out at £120 before postage, unless the wholesale price has gone up. I haven't checked with the wholesaler since I sold my last one just before xmas.

I found the case depth uniformer to work well on mine, I can't remember the measurements as I just checked them from a sample when first used it and the difference was negligible except on the odd bit of brass whose pockets were deeper than the uniformer. :shock:

How much were yours out?

[dromia]

Upon reflection I'd also PM Sinclair as well as they have a reputation for accuracy tools.

[Dangermouse]

You are selling them at a very good price, good on you.
I have not measured the seating depth, I just have no confidence as it is not possible to hold the case square to the tools, hence an irregular cut.

Have sent email now, will see what transpires,

DM

[dromia]

Yes it will be interesting to hear Lyman's response. Obviously as dealer I don't wish to be selling sub standard or defective goods. I have no complaints so far but if it doesn't do as advertised then it will have no place in my inventory, nor recommendation to my customers.