Arbor press

adamsgt

adamsgt

Jerry Adams
With all the recent thrashing around about bullet seating, I decided to look into upgrading my arbor press. Looked at a few and decided to get a Hart. The pictures on their web site weren't all that impressive so I was hoping it would be worth almost double the price of a Sinclair arbor press.

Well, here they are side-by-side. In case you can't figure it out, the Hart is the one on the left. I think I'll keep it. Don't know if I'll take it to matches, but it's definitely got a place on my bench. I'll make the room.

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Ultimately, you'll be the one to decide whether or not it was worth the price. But when the dust clears, we all like nice tools and as Snap On Tools (I think) says, "the quality is still there when the price has been forgotten".

Rick
 
adamsgt you made the right choice, I've had mine for years and its never screwed up, I think I got mine a little cheaper back then. I also have the K&M with the gage that tells my when I change bushing if it really made a difference.

Joe Salt
 
Joe Salt said:
adamsgt you made the right choice, I've had mine for years and its never screwed up, I think I got mine a little cheaper back then. I also have the K&M with the gage that tells my when I change bushing if it really made a difference.

Joe Salt
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Thanks Joe. It's always good to get validation
 
Adam, have you looked at or considered the 21st Century Hydraulic press? They work pretty darn slick...
 
I have the impression that the OP is simply looking for approval of his purchase. To that end, you have my approval, I use a Hart arbor press too, and it’s an excellent piece of reloading equipment.

HartArborPress1.jpg
 
And if you decide to bring your Hart press to the match, Bill has just the right bag for you.
 
That's a bummer

Well, I managed to break the Hart press on the first bullet I tried to seat. I'd had some bullets that were a little hard to seat so I wasn't surprised when the bullet didn't seat immediately. I applied a few more cheerios and then heard a "SNAP" and it was all over. Don't see any broken teeth. I wasn't leaning on the press that hard. Just from my normal seated position. I'm not that strong that I should have been able to break it. Good thing I had the Sinclair. I don't know if I want to try to take the Hart apart as I really don't know how it goes together. Have to give them a call Monday and see what they suggest.
 
Talked to Bob Hart today. He said that they added a shear pin design to keep ham handed guys like me from stripping the gears and ruining the head. Seems, in the past, people had used too much force and ruined the gears in the head. So, I get to send it back and they'll fix it. I've been using the brass that came with the gun and didn't check the necks for doughnuts. Bob thinks that was what happened. He also said that the press was designed for use with PPC cartridges. After I broke the Hart press, I used the Sinclair press to finish my bullet seating. I discovered that on many pieces of brass the Wilson die did not completely close. The brass that couldn't seat had anywhere from .005 to .012 protrusion of the bullets. I could not finish the seating with the press and had to resort to using a rawhide mallet to finish the job. I need to retrieve some pin gauges from my shop to check the rest of the brass for the dreaded doughnut. If I can get through the Tomball match with this brass it's going into the trash bin after.
 
adamsgt said:
Talked to Bob Hart today. He said that they added a shear pin design to keep ham handed guys like me from stripping the gears and ruining the head. Seems, in the past, people had used too much force and ruined the gears in the head. So, I get to send it back and they'll fix it. I've been using the brass that came with the gun and didn't check the necks for doughnuts. Bob thinks that was what happened. He also said that the press was designed for use with PPC cartridges. After I broke the Hart press, I used the Sinclair press to finish my bullet seating. I discovered that on many pieces of brass the Wilson die did not completely close. The brass that couldn't seat had anywhere from .005 to .012 protrusion of the bullets. I could not finish the seating with the press and had to resort to using a rawhide mallet to finish the job. I need to retrieve some pin gauges from my shop to check the rest of the brass for the dreaded doughnut. If I can get through the Tomball match with this brass it's going into the trash bin after.
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Jerry,

if it takes that much force to seat a bullet, something is very wrong.

first possibility: it's possible you are into a donut and firing those rounds will be a bad idea.

second: you have so much powder in the case the bullet won't seat any further.

either way, the bullets you seated probably have a nice indented ring at the top from the seater stem and won't fly worth a damn.

you need to figure out what is going on before you fire these.
 
afrench said:
Jerry,

if it takes that much force to seat a bullet, something is very wrong.

first possibility: it's possible you are into a donut and firing those rounds will be a bad idea.

second: you have so much powder in the case the bullet won't seat any further.

either way, the bullets you seated probably have a nice indented ring at the top from the seater stem and won't fly worth a damn.

you need to figure out what is going on before you fire these.
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I know the powder charge is OK. I dispensed from a Chargemaster and verified on an A&D FX120i. I'll check the bullet noses tomorrow morning. I've just been trying to get something ready to shoot at Tomball this weekend and it's one hiccup after another. I don't have enough 6PPC brass prepped to go preloaded and I'm taking several boxes of stuff to my daughter in The Woodlands so I won't have enough room in the car to take all my reloading gear. Well, I've still got a few more days to try to figure something out. I've decided to scrap the 30BR loads and see how much 6 PPC brass I can scavenge. Still got about three days of decent weather to get something done. Got to swap some scopes and other stuff. Think I can make it.
 
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Joe Salt said:
adamsgt you made the right choice, I've had mine for years and its never screwed up, I think I got mine a little cheaper back then. I also have the K&M with the gage that tells my when I change bushing if it really made a difference.

Joe Salt
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Hello,

I use together the K&M Arbor Press for the 6PPC-USA :

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I recently buy some BERGER 65 gr BT but the seating deph with my new BERGER 65 gr BT in order to touch the land! And I was surprised because I have only .055’’ into the case neck whit this BT, certainly less than I normally use with my 68 gr FB…

I use this N133, but this powder need more neck tension (over .002''!) and I wonder if the solution is to increase the neck tension with using à Bushing more tightening?

My outside neck diameter (NORMA Case) of a loaded round (Berger 65 gr BT) is exactly .264 17’’
Can I use a Bushing .260’’ to increase more neck tension for figth this little engagement in my case neck?

On the dial indicator the Neck tension is increase to 13 from more 45 gradations... I don't sure to use my .261'' Bushing made a good and regular neck tension???

Or so is necessary to sort the cartridges according to the neck tension read on the dial indicator...

Can you help me? Thank you for your answers.

Laurent.
 
Lee Martin said:
Yep, if you want more neck tension, go down on the button.

-Lee
www.singleactions.com
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I agree with you but "go down on the button" increase the neck tension (more length of Bearing Surface in the Neck!) But the accuracy will be decrease because the bullet don't touch the land...

I don't know these two solutions is the best? (Have you a Retex with this BERGER 65 gr BT and N133?)

A+
Laurent.
 
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