Reloading press question.

I load at home and not at matches but take my Co-Ax to the range for load development. I agree with everyone who's said that straight ammo is the product of dies and process not press type and I also agree that a Co-Ax is a big, heavy hunk to schlepp around. If I loaded at matches I'd use something else.

I don't agree that the handle arch is a limitation preventing its application to tall dies. I load 40-90 Straight Sharps, 416 Rigby and with long cartridge Redding Comp dies that will not fit into a die box.

What I like about the Co-Ax is the closed spent primer collection (no grit down the ram bore), the sliding shellholder system (you can disengage the casehead vertically from the press if needed) and the snap-in die design (which allows more convenient die exchange and adjustment). It will make ammo as well as any including inline dies and arbor press.

Greg
 
I bought a new Forster Co-Ax about fifteen years ago. I still have it and a few others - Partner, Harrels, Dillon AT500, etc. Yes, the Forster does not work with my competition style seating dies that have the micrometer tops. The yoke that holds the handle interferes with the top of the die. I see on their website that they appear to offer a newer style yoke that is more elongated to provide more clearance. It's a good press for many common reloading chores, but as have many others stated here, I wouldn't want to lug it around all the time to load at the range.
 
While working with students in the tunnel during the past few years, I have had the opportunity to evaluate just about every reloading press on the market. Some are great, others are a POS that I wouldn't have.

Without a doubt, the best press for at-the-range benchrest use with PPC, BR, Beggs cartridges etc., is the little RCBS Partner. It's well made, inexpensive and has the smoothest compound leverage you've ever seen. I love 'em!! :)

Mike Conry came up with a nice, convenient bench-clamp system for the Partner press. I've been using mine for over twenty years and it still works perfectly. The ram is worn and loose but it still loads as good of ammunition as it did when it was new. :)

My favorite press for shop use is the RCBS Rock Chucker. And, if you don't mind lugging the extra weight around, the Forster CoAx is a pleasure to use, but for range use, I'll stay with the RCBS Partner. They are inexpensive and you can afford to dedicate a press to each specific rifle. Once the sizing die is set for a chamber, you don't have to mess it up each time you change rifles.

FWIW

Gene Beggs
 
I ordered the Forster co=ax from Cabela's today. 284.00. They insisted that it was the latest model that would clear micrometer dies. The Forster website list that press at 400 bucks so I feel well bought.
 
I use the pardner press and I load for matches with it 300 WSM it works fine . I had a problem with runout in loaded ammo but found it to be the dies and not the press. Made my own dies up and the problem went away.
The Rifler
 
A little press and sizing report:

I have several presses, and picked up another because I have been wanting to try the Lock-n-Load feature. I got such a deal on a Hornady Classic that I picked it up, figuring that I could always get my money out of it.

It sat around for a couple of weeks till i finally bolted it to a double thickness of 3/4" plywood ( I wanted to keep it compact, so I had it cut 5" x 9') and C clamped that to my old desk to give it a try. It works just fine. A sixteenth turn is all that it takes to change dies, and with the primer seater in place, the spent primers all end up in a plastic box that clips to the frame, behind the ram; no more primers on the floor.

The next part of this is about a multiple sizing process that I have to do for some of my brass in one caliber.

Because I have a good quantity of .220 Swift brass that started its life as premium factory ammunition, and because that brass has thicker than average necks, I had CH/4D ream out the neck of one of there FL dies, after having the shoulder and base diameters measured to determine that the die was not going to move fired brass very much in the body. (such service!) Anyway, all was good, except that this made the neck of the die slightly too large to size brass having more ordinary neck thickness. All was not lost however. I have a Collet die, and I don't load so much for this caliber that two step sizing process will be a problem. OK, so whats the big deal? The big deal is that in comparing the concentricity produced by using the dies in different orders I found a surprise or two. the best results came when I brushed out the necks, put them through the Collet die, lubed them, put them through the FL die, where I could barely feel the expander ball. Brass done this way was noticeably straighter than brass that was FL sized and then neck sized with the Collet Die. Runout done with the FL sizing done first ran around .002 at the end of the neck. Using the Collet first gave me .001, this with unturned necks, it will be interesting to see what this gives on a seated bullet.

Next, I plan on playing with some once fired .22-250 brass using a Redding Body die, and a Collet Die.
 
Boyd Allen said:
A little press and sizing report:

I have several presses, and picked up another because I have been wanting to try the Lock-n-Load feature. I got such a deal on a Hornady Classic that I picked it up, figuring that I could always get my money out of it.

It sat around for a couple of weeks till i finally bolted it to a double thickness of 3/4" plywood ( I wanted to keep it compact, so I had it cut 5" x 9') and C clamped that to my old desk to give it a try. It works just fine. A sixteenth turn is all that it takes to change dies, and with the primer seater in place, the spent primers all end up in a plastic box that clips to the frame, behind the ram; no more primers on the floor.

The next part of this is about a multiple sizing process that I have to do for some of my brass in one caliber.

Because I have a good quantity of .220 Swift brass that started its life as premium factory ammunition, and because that brass has thicker than average necks, I had CH/4D ream out the neck of one of there FL dies, after having the shoulder and base diameters measured to determine that the die was not going to move fired brass very much in the body. (such service!) Anyway, all was good, except that this made the neck of the die slightly too large to size brass having more ordinary neck thickness. All was not lost however. I have a Collet die, and I don't load so much for this caliber that two step sizing process will be a problem. OK, so whats the big deal? The big deal is that in comparing the concentricity produced by using the dies in different orders I found a surprise or two. the best results came when I brushed out the necks, put them through the Collet die, lubed them, put them through the FL die, where I could barely feel the expander ball. Brass done this way was noticeably straighter than brass that was FL sized and then neck sized with the Collet Die. Runout done with the FL sizing done first ran around .002 at the end of the neck. Using the Collet first gave me .001, this with unturned necks, it will be interesting to see what this gives on a seated bullet.

Next, I plan on playing with some once fired .22-250 brass using a Redding Body die, and a Collet Die.
Click to expand...

Could it be that the unsized brass is better supported during the neck sizing operation effected by the collet die? "Held in place, held to center" as it were?

al
 
Presses

What Gene said! I use a rockchucker on my bench at the house and I have 6 RCBS Partners for either bench use or for taking to a match. 4 of them are currently set up for 4 different calibers and 2 are spares. They are a nice press and cheap enough that you can dedicate 1 to each caliber. I also have 2 Redding Big Bosses (for bullet making), an RL-550 Dillion progressive and thanks to this "reloading press thread" I am staring at a new Lee Classic Cast Press that arrived yesterday. It's a nice looking press and will probably go on the bullet making bench. It sure is expensive to read this "free" website. :D

Best,
Dan Batko

"Where are we going and why am I in this basket?"
 
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