What do you think is the best press for me?

S

stagpanther

New member
I've been through 4 different presses over the years and my current Lyman turret press is going out of alignment, both the ram and the turret platter are worn to the point they have play in them--I've taken it apart and replaced parts before, but short of sending it out to be blueprinted I'd like to explore options for my "dream press." So here are my expectations/requirements:

1. I don't care about volume/ multi-stage production.
2. Consistent concentricity is of primary importance.
3. Prefer to use conventional dies from multiple manufacturers if at all possible, but will adapt to a superior system if necessary.
4. I prefer simplicity over complex whizbangery.
5. I load from 9mm pistol up to 338 lapua magnum (which uses a larger die, but I have a separate press I use for it).

I know a lot of this is predicated on good case prep. I also have a K&M arbor press for seating, but dies are hard to come by for the cartridges I use.

Your suggestions--and why--greatly appreciated. Fire away!
 
1. I don't care about volume/ multi-stage production.
2. Consistent concentricity is of primary importance.
3. Prefer to use conventional dies from multiple manufacturers if at all possible, but will adapt to a superior system if necessary.
4. I prefer simplicity over complex whizbangery.
5. I load from 9mm pistol up to 338 lapua magnum (which uses a larger die, but I have a separate press I use for it).
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I am down to 2 presses now, a Lee Classic turret that I use as a single stage press and a RCBS Rockchucker. The RCBS has not been mounted in two years. The Lee gets used for everything, I keep the RC just in case I ever decide to get a .338.

With the Lee I have nine or ten turrets set up now from 9mm to .308 with one turret dedicated to a universal deprimer and a Sinclair Gen II expander die and a collet bullet puller. Caliber changeouts are a no brainer this way, sizing dies only need to be adjusted once, swap turrets and you are done. Turrets are less than $15 dollars each

I have posted a lot of my targets showing the accuracy I get from my ammo, the press just works.Tons of play in the turrets, does not matter at all. Maybe if you are trying to go from .1 MOA to .05 MOA it would matter but I doubt if I ever will have that need.

On the Lee I have formed 7.62 x 39 and 6.5 Grendel into 6mm ARC , .308 Win into .260 Rem, and 6.5 Grendel into .30 Major so it has a surprising amount of versatility.

When I built the 6ARC the only dies available were Lee's, I pulled the depinning rod and expander ball, sized the cases, ran a .240 expander mandrel into the throat, seated the bullet with the Lee seater and got .001 or less runout. Hard to complain about that

Fit and finish is typical Lee but the value for the dollar is unsurpassed. Edit - the best thing is that I did not need to buy a aftermarket primer catcher off EBay to get the spent primers into the tube like you need to do with a rockchucker
 
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Redding T7, Forster Co-ax, Dillon 550, in that order.

The Redding is awesome, and makes better ammo than the Rockchucker. The Turret functionality keeps you from having to reset the dies every time, and for pistol, you will enjoy the time savings.

The Forster lacks the time saving of the turret, but again, no resetting of dies every time. Nothing better for making precision ammo.

The Dillon 550 is, for some, a little better when loading pistol ammo and there is time saving there, marginally, over the Redding.

I have a Dillon 650XL on one side of the bench and a Redding T7 on the other. I have the little Lee APP (which every serious reloader should have for decapping rifle rounds if nothing else) on a plate that goes in my press as well.

Last year, I finally sold my Rockchucker and a few other old presses I had laying around. If I could only have one, it would be the Redding T7 for sure.
 
Thank you for the responses. I already have a couple Lee's--and the Redding T7 is virtually identical to the Lyman turret press I'm seeking to replace. I thought I saw a new press announced a month or two ago that looked like it functioned from top down stroke and had a double handle, made of aluminum but I can't for the life of me remember who makes it.
 
I have a Rockchucker and it loads good ammo, but if buying new, I would look for something with better fired primer handling. Redding brags on their Spent Primer Collection System, used on T7, Big Boss II, and Ultramag.
 
Forster Co-ax is what I went with.

I have two of the RCBS Rock Chucker (80s) and no issues.

But the self alignment and ease of dies doing in and out of the Co-ax sold me. Happy camper.

My only regret is my brother failed to secure a garage sale one for me and I had to pay full price, which much latter I found for much more reasonable, sigh.
 
Take a look at the presses sold by CH4D .
The CH4D Champion Press is a heavy duty O , built like a tank and very precise . It makes the Rockchucker look like a lightweight .
They have others ... www.ch4d.com
Gary
 
stagpanther said:
I thought I saw a new press announced a month or two ago that looked like it functioned from top down stroke and had a double handle, made of aluminum but I can't for the life of me remember who makes it.
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There are two new to the market...the Area 419...hold-on to your kidneys...and one from Frankford Aresnal. Both look impressive, but I have not used either.

Understood that the T7 is basically a replacement of the Lyman in function, but it is much better.
 
I sold all of my single presses a while back. I use a Dillon 550 for most of my rifle loads plus working up all new loads. I keep a 550 toolhead around with a Dillon powder measure attached, but I rarely use it. I use my 550 with an Area 419 powder funnel and drop the charge manually after the charge is thrown by a A&D Fx120i scale with an Auto Trickler/Throw attached. The system is really fast and accurate. It will usually throw the charge in 10-15 seconds. Pulling a press handle 400 times to make 100 rounds in not my cup of tea. Hearing a round drop in the bin with every pull of the handle is music to my ears. And the ammo produced on my 550 is just as accurate as every single stage press I've owned. I use my Dillon 650 for high volume loads, like .223/5.56, 45 ACP, and .40.
 
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When buying a press something to keep in mind. The only job of a press is to provide mechanical assistance in the form of leverage to move a case into and out of the dies. Second thing is every press will allow either the case or the die to float so that the case can self align to the die. I assure you that even the most worn out Lee will have less slop in the ram than what the case head will havein the shellholder.

Any press from a used aluminum Lee single stage to a gorgeous hand machined work of metal art from Prazi in Germany or the high tech Area 451 zero float can make a accurate round of ammo. Accuracy is achieved by the skills and methods of the user not how pretty his or her press is or how much it cost. Look for capacity and convenience of use, those are the things that will matter
 
Forester Co-ax is a popular press ( I use it for all my "precision loads) and everyone who gets one seems to agree its money well spent
RCBS is old reliable...
Dillon's are a little more pricey but damn good and you will become a convert

Several companies are making Forester Co-ax like presses that all seem to be garnering solid praise. I think my only hesitation would be if there are any proprietary pieces that would make it a more expensive up front cost.

I have 3 presses in use at the moment: Co-ax for all my rifle/precision loads
Hornady LnL single stage: For my larger caliber loads ( magnums )
Hornady LnL Progressive: AR ammo and Pistol ammo plink loads

Dillon ammo production press with all bells and whistle is my next gift to replace my Hornady Progressive for pistol and keep it making the AR ammo while Dillon makes pistol
 
So far the Prazi looks closest to what I want. Unfortunately it's not imported into the US--basically you have to import it your self (or more specifically, the company in Germany needs to legally export it). I'm done with turret presses--anything that has movement between the die holder platter and the press body is going to be prone to going out of tolerance eventually IMO. A lever operated ram is much like a engine's camshaft IMO--if the press body cylinder wears then the ram will go out of tolerance (though might not as seize as quickly). I appreciate all the advice and am not ignoring it or trying to be argumentative, just trying to zero in on the best option for me.;)
 
one brand that I don't think anyone mentioned that are really nicely made are the Harrels

http://harrellsprec.com/index.php/categories/reloading-presses

not quite as pretty as the Prazi's but darn nice

edit -
the Prazi's may be a bit on the expensive side but just think of the bragging rights you buy with that down at the range and here on the net ;)

I am not sure how the importing works but I know they do sell them to US citizens. To me it would be well worth the effort if I wanted to be able to say I owned the Mercedes S class of presses
 
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one brand that I don't think anyone mentioned that are really nicely made are the Harrels

http://harrellsprec.com/index.php/ca...oading-presses

not quite as pretty as the Prazi's but darn nice

edit -
the Prazi's may be a bit on the expensive side but just think of the bragging rights you buy with that down at the range and here on the net

I am not sure how the importing works but I know they do sell them to US citizens. To me it would be well worth the effort if I wanted to be able to say I owned the Mercedes S class of presses
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I did take a close look at Harrels--they do look nice and appear to be "close cousins" of arbor style presses. While expensive--if something like the prazi holds closer tolerances over the long haul--I view that as a wash in terms of expense on load development compared to cheaper presses over time. The foster co-ax looks very good as well.
 
if something like the prazi holds closer tolerances over the long haul
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what is the tolerance on the Prazi shellholder ? Do they use a collet chuck or something similar that holds the case tight and in exact alignment to the die?
 
I've been using the Co-ax since about 1993 and find I use it not only for rifle match loads but go to it all the time for small numbers of test loads because of the die quick-change feature. I also use it for priming floating firing pin gas gun loads because, despite it being a one-primer-at-a-timer, its priming ram forces primers a fixed depth below flush with the case head, which is good for mitigating slamfires. I have also used it to finish-seat primers I had started by hand in front of the TV. As opposed to the tools made with no slop, it is designed so loose-fitting dies and cases work to your advantage by floating into self-alignment. This overcomes the potential disadvantage of super-tight and rigid alignment, which is that you could buy a die whose threads were less perfectly coaxial with the portion that acts on the case than the press is. With an imperfectly coaxial tool, floating lets the misalignment self-correct.

That said, there are advantages to other presses. I have Lee Classic Cast press I got on a Midway special for $57 when they first came out with it. It has the 1¼" press thread for Lee's 50 BMG dies with an adapter for standard dies. The throat is large, so I used it originally for tall cartridges. Later I moved it to a new bench where more scientific stuff gets done, and I fitted it with a strain gauge so I could measure seating and pulling forces, though I can't say that's been super useful. Just an experiment, really.

The Dillon 550s are good presses for a couple of less common reasons. One is that because they index manually instead of automatically and have retainer buttons you can pull out to load or remove cases at any station any place in the process, you can run it as a single-stage press or as a two, three, or four-station progressive. Another factor is that there are many aftermarket add-ons available for it. UniqueTek has a shell plate index roller bearing upgrade, Inline Fabrication and a couple of others have better mounts and handles and, of course, there are super precision CNC-machined tool holders, powder measure operating rod/funnels with the Lyman M-style contour, illumination system add-ons that let you see powder level easily, and etc.

Finally, Hounddawg is correct about the technique. That and the die choices. Eric Cortina says he loads all his ammo on a 550, and it obviously hasn't hurt his scores.
 
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