Single stage press upgrade

rayporter

WKR
Joined
Jul 3, 2014
Messages
4,408
Location
arkansas or ohio
I use a Jr to decap, a RC to size and another Jr to seat.....
1564298d-c70f-459e-b614-8c499282803c.jpeg
a fellow shooter has a board with three of these presses mounted on it and he can clamp the board on any table to load at the range.

the dies do the work, a press just pushes the case into the die.
 

Wrench

WKR
Joined
Aug 23, 2018
Messages
6,365
Location
WA
While I support a good upgrade of things, I'm still not sure why you want to change. You've been loading on the Jr press successfully, it handles your needs, and there's nothing broken. If you want to get a different press to split operations (decapping on one, seating on the other) that's fine. I've considered upgrading my RCBS RS5 press at times, but I've been able to load very accurate ammo from 38 Spl to 416 Remington Mag on it for more than 10 years. All my dies are adjusted for that press, and I don't feel like adjusting things for a new press.

If it's efficiency you're after, others have mentioned the Hornady Lock-n-Load adapters, which can make die changes very fast at minimal cost. I think Forster and maybe Lee make something similar.
I have a rockchucker 2 set up with hornady qc adapters. I spent half as much on them and shell holders as the price of my coax press and they simply are not as good. I machined a spacer for my rockchucker so i could pull dies from my hornady ammo plant and drop them into my forster....that part was cool.....but the beauty of the coax is it's leverage. I threw the handle away because it's unnecessary for even the toughest case forming. The die swap takes no time....and I can go from seater to bullet puller and back to seater faster than I can pull 1 screw in die.....and when I measure the results after a die swap.....they'll be perfect.

Another neat thing is going from 223 to 308 to 300rum can be done just as fast. 99% of the time I just leave my shell plate on large and it's fine. If I have to pull 223 cases do have to flip my shell plate.

The coax primer seater is lame for production, but if you're an accuracy junky, you can hand prime and finish in the coax to set primer crush to whatever you choose. It's not like rcbs where the primer is just pushed in mid stroke....it's actually brilliant.

I had fully intended to buy a 419 zero press when I had a friend suggest I put hands on his coax. There's nothing to move or flex. I can swap dies just as fast and faster if I needed to swap turrets.

I bought my rockchucker 2 new in 1994 and I got 30 years of service out of it with minimal need for parts. I did start wearing out the main bushing and the cross pin has had to be reswedged a few times....but I load A LOT and it is an easy fix. Sadly rcbs is no longer American made products.
 
OP
allstajacket
Joined
Dec 2, 2022
Messages
382
Location
Southest Michigan
While I support a good upgrade of things, I'm still not sure why you want to change. You've been loading on the Jr press successfully, it handles your needs, and there's nothing broken. If you want to get a different press to split operations (decapping on one, seating on the other) that's fine. I've considered upgrading my RCBS RS5 press at times, but I've been able to load very accurate ammo from 38 Spl to 416 Remington Mag on it for more than 10 years. All my dies are adjusted for that press, and I don't feel like adjusting things for a new press.

If it's efficiency you're after, others have mentioned the Hornady Lock-n-Load adapters, which can make die changes very fast at minimal cost. I think Forster and maybe Lee make something similar.

I was thinking having a bit of extra space in the press plus it might be smoother operation, which could make the whole process better/easier?

I loaded some 6.5cm last night and for that, the Jr. did just fine. But the FL sizing was easy because it was new brass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Feb 8, 2024
Messages
7
Been happy with the rock chucker, close to 20 years on it and still going. Have an inline fab primer catch which is nice. Ultimate reloader did a big review of presses a few years ago, the rock chucker had good results, when factoring in price it seems like a solid value. Would be cool to see test results on some of the new high end presses like the zero press or the nexus. I think the nexus is cool, open in the front with lots of room, can switch dies quickly like the co-ax. Friends have co-ax, others have redding t7's. They all seem to make good ammo. Just depends what your goals are and how much you're wanting to spend
 
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