Looking to upgrade my press and looking at several options: Rockchucker, lock-n-load, Redding Boss and the Co-Ax. Unfortunately do not know anyone loading on the Co-ax so first hand info. is nonexistant for me so turning to the experts here. They seem to have an entirely different set up for securing the shell, ie. no individual shell holders. This must work OK or there would be postings that it doesn't. Just so different from everyone elses system. Come to think of it I rarely see any postings on the Forster press. Tell me the good the bad and ugly. I don't mind paying for quality. That is why I am upgrading in the first place. Bought cheap to see if I liked it and now ready to upgrade. Thanks, as always. JOHN

The Good: 1) It will allow you to load the most repeatably concentric ammo you've ever dreamed of. 2) No shellholders. 3) Excellent spent primer catching system (closed). 4) Set dies once and just slip 'em in and out to change them. 5) High leverage.

The Bad: Not really "bad" but, collet pullers won't work in the Co-Ax. So, keep a standard press around for such duties.

The Ugly: No such thing.

RSY

I've got a 20 year old Co-Ax press, it's worth every nickle I paid for it. I use it for 308, 30-06, 25-06, 45-70 and 405 Winchester. The only down side is it is a bit short for the long cartridges.
If push came to shove I could get one of the newer Co-Ax machines, that is a bit longer, I could start loading for 375 H&H.
I cannot recommend the Co-Ax more highly.
Jim

Put my Hornady 007 single stage in the shop to do secondary duties as required.

Mounted a Co-Ax a couple years ago as the primary press. The collet shell holder is a wonderous thing that can be flipped over as needed to adjust for rimmed or rimless cases. An optional collet is available to take care of those cases not included with the standard set. Problem - tiny springs that are underneath the collets to make them spring adjustable are sorta hard to keep corraled and back in place when changing the plates out. Also, there is an optional plate that will accept all standard shell holders. Have to use this plate when loading big rimmed cases such as 45-70.

RSY - I cussed the press trying to use a collet bullet puller until I learned to have the puller collet handle adjusted to near squeeze set for the bullet, then hold die with a set of water pump pliers, pull up on the ram handle, finish turning the collet handle to firmly grip bullet, then pull down on ram and pull the bullet. Have to continue hold on die while releasing collet handle, then use pliers to tap bullet to get collet to release it. System works even better if you have three hands! :D

Kdub
I've been using the Co-Ax shell holder for 45-70, makes life easier. I've also got the plate for using standard RCBS, etc. shell holders, but never found the need.
Jim

kdub:

Thanks for the tip. Sounds like quite a physical feat.

The way I solved it was by buying an old Bonanza 68 press off eBay last year, solely for pulling and de-capping. Nice little press, in and of itself. got my own little Bonanza/Forster museum going here. :D

RSY

Don't overlook the Lee Classic Cast (and don't let other Lee presses influence your perception of the Classic Cast -- there's no comparison).

The Forster is a beast unto itself, but among the other presses the Lee Classic Cast wins everywhere that counts -- ram diameter, yoke pin diameter, press opening size, adjustable arm, etc. If you want to pay more -- go for it -- but know that the Lee Classic Cast is going to be stronger than the Hornady or Redding, and will match or beat the Rockchucker. If you go for the Lee, RCBS, or Redding I highly suggest you get a Hornady Lock-N-Load conversion bushing and LnL bushings for your dies -- they're really handy.

For the convenience, quality, and certainely for the most accurate (concentric) ammo go with the Forster Coax. This is also the same press utilized by the USMC sniper school in Quantico, Va. for develeoping the most accurate ammo.

Looking to upgrade my press and looking at several options: Rockchucker, lock-n-load, Redding Boss and the Co-Ax. Unfortunately do not know anyone loading on the Co-ax so first hand info. is nonexistant for me so turning to the experts here. They seem to have an entirely different set up for securing the shell, ie. no individual shell holders. This must work OK or there would be postings that it doesn't. Just so different from everyone elses system. Come to think of it I rarely see any postings on the Forster press. Tell me the good the bad and ugly. I don't mind paying for quality. That is why I am upgrading in the first place. Bought cheap to see if I liked it and now ready to upgrade. Thanks, as always. JOHN

Had my Co-ax for thirty years. Love it, wouldn't use any other single stage press.

Only drawback is you can't use it for the more unusual applications like swaging, etc. No big deal.

The ONLY :rolleyes: drawback to a Bonanza/Forester Co-Ax press is that to use RCBS, Lyman, Lee, etc dies in it is, you have to but Bonanza lock rings. But they are only $3 apiece. ;) I've been around the green ones, red ones and grey ones and in my personal opinion the Co-Ax is the best. This press has loaded many thousands of rounds and is still in like new condition. I clean it often and use a good quality lube like Zep 45 on the rams and shell plates.

The first picture is of a ______________ press. Name that press and win a seegar :D

The second is a picture of my Co-Ax press that Dad bought in 1973. It's got a 300 RUM to sort of show it's capacity.

Yeah I know the reloading bench is a mess :( BUT it's my mess and I know where everything is :p Now where did I put that 5 gallon bucket of wheel wieghts?? :confused:

I have had my Co-Ax for more than 25 years and never had a problem. For loading only it it the favorite of my five presses.

Don't bother with its post type primer seater. Get a Lee or RCBS hand priming tool. Once you get the hang of them they are the fastest and easiest way to prime. I have gotten to where I can prime enough cases cases while watching a TV program or visiting friends to keep me busy for at least an hour's reloading. It gets to be as automatic as a woman's knitting.

I have also found the best tool for chamfering case necks is a variable speed electric hand drill set on low speed with a carpenter's countersink as a reamer. It becomes so automatic that one can do hundreds in a hour by feel alone. I sit on the couch or in my easy chair with the drill in my lap, set on apprpriate speed. I keep two plastic pails at hand. One for unchamfered cases and one for chamfered cases. The entire operation can be done by feel.

Recently replaced a 35 year old Lyman press with a Co-ax. Wished I had done that 34 years ago.

The Bonanza had a Lock-n-Load of its own from day one.

The ONLY :rolleyes: drawback to a Bonanza/Forester Co-Ax press is that to use RCBS, Lyman, Lee, etc dies in it is, you have to but Bonanza lock rings. But they are only $3 apiece. ;) I've been around the green ones, red ones and grey ones and in my personal opinion the Co-Ax is the best. This press has loaded many thousands of rounds and is still in like new condition. I clean it often and use a good quality lube like Zep 45 on the rams and shell plates.

The first picture is of a ---------------. Name that press and win a seegar :D



The second is a picture of my Co-Ax press that Dad bought in 1973. It's got a 300 RUM to sort of show it's capacity.

Yeah I know the reloading bench is a mess :( BUT it's my mess and I know where everything is :p Now where did I put that 5 gallon bucket of wheel wieghts?? :confused:


Junky,

It is a Herter's 321 turret press.

For my seegar, I want a Habanos, Montecristo.

Carbon13

Get the C0-Ax; it's the best designed, best built, and fastest single stage press on the market IMHO. Ditto to every positive thing said about it!

carbon13

How bout a Swisher Sweet instead. :D I 've just found out what I didn't know about the old Herters. :) I didn't know what model it was. An old friend gave it to me several years ago when his health started to fail and he was getting out of reloading. :( I don't use it alot but it comes in handy now and again.

I think the best thing other than the ease of die changing is the amount of torque you can get out of a Co-Ax press compared to other brands.

Looking to upgrade my press and looking at several options: Rockchucker, lock-n-load, Redding Boss and the Co-Ax. Unfortunately do not know anyone loading on the Co-ax so first hand info. is nonexistant for me so turning to the experts here. They seem to have an entirely different set up for securing the shell, ie. no individual shell holders. This must work OK or there would be postings that it doesn't. Just so different from everyone elses system. Come to think of it I rarely see any postings on the Forster press. Tell me the good the bad and ugly. I don't mind paying for quality. That is why I am upgrading in the first place. Bought cheap to see if I liked it and now ready to upgrade. Thanks, as always. JOHN

The Forster is an excellent press if your going to upgrade. Problem is your only moving from a single stage press to a single stage press. You may be moving up in quality, but not in effenciancy.

You might consider a system like Dillon or one of the multi stage presses that you can keep your dies on a holder and slip in the whole set at one time.

My hunting buddy has one of the Lee four hole presses and his dies are in round blocks that are all set up for each calibre. He just slips the block in and is loading. I've been doing the single stage thing for 45 years and this system does look appealing to me. There are several companies making presses like that.

carbon13

How bout a Swisher Sweet instead. :D I 've just found out what I didn't know about the old Herters. :) I didn't know what model it was. An old friend gave it to me several years ago when his health started to fail and he was getting out of reloading. :( I don't use it alot but it comes in handy now and again.

Junky,

Ahhh, Swisher Sweets. Works for me but you don't owe me anything. I was answering your query from memory and that memory was wrong. The correct model # is 234 and not 321 if it is a Herter's.

On my press, the model # is cast on the side of the press base. Herter's was only the mass marketer. The press was actually made by a now defunct company from WI for Herter's. However, I understand that they also sold the same press under their own name. I don't remember the name of the company at the moment but you may have one of theirs and not one from Herter's.

I got my Herter's Turret at an auction for 5 bucks. I use it for handloading 44 Mag, 45-70 and 9mm Mak and it works pretty well for those. I have found that because the turret head is not supported like the Redding, there is a bit of slop when I lean on the handle so I don't use it for bottle neck brass.

Don't overlook the Lee Classic Cast (and don't let other Lee presses influence your perception of the Classic Cast -- there's no comparison).

The Forster is a beast unto itself, but among the other presses the Lee Classic Cast wins everywhere that counts -- ram diameter, yoke pin diameter, press opening size, adjustable arm, etc. If you want to pay more -- go for it -- but know that the Lee Classic Cast is going to be stronger than the Hornady or Redding, and will match or beat the Rockchucker. If you go for the Lee, RCBS, or Redding I highly suggest you get a Hornady Lock-N-Load conversion bushing and LnL bushings for your dies -- they're really handy.

Hi there Cortland

I've been using a Lee O frame press (one of the other Lee Presses) for a number of years now and have had no problems with it, so I don't quite know why one would have a "perception" that it might be bad equipment.

I used the Rockchucker for a number of years and eventually sold it in favor of the Lee. couldn't see anything that the rockchucker did that the Lee wouldn't do. It seems to do my 8mm Rem mag very well and just as easy as the RCBS.

Lots of folks develop perceptions because of price thinking that price equates to quality. Perhaps that is true to some extent, but I've found quite the opposite with Lee's equipment.

In fact some of their equipment does things so well that no other makers even come close, such as the handheld primer tool and thier case trimmers. I've also found that the powder measure and scale are the most accurate I've ever used.

I have two scales on my bench, an RCBS and the Lee and three powder measures, a Redding, an RCBS with both metering spools and the Lee. Guess which get used most of the time, the most accurate which is the Lee's.

I'll apologize now if I pulled your chain, but I wouldn't want folks to pre-judge equipment that they havn't tried, and your right the new cast press from Lee is one heavy duty son of a gun as exampled by their use of it with the 50 calibre machine gun kit that includes this press.

The ONLY :rolleyes: drawback to a Bonanza/Forester Co-Ax press is that to use RCBS, Lyman, Lee, etc dies in it is, you have to but Bonanza lock rings. But they are only $3 apiece. ;) I've been around the green ones, red ones and grey ones and in my personal opinion the Co-Ax is the best. This press has loaded many thousands of rounds and is still in like new condition. I clean it often and use a good quality lube like Zep 45 on the rams and shell plates.

The first picture is of a ______________ press. Name that press and win a seegar :D

The second is a picture of my Co-Ax press that Dad bought in 1973. It's got a 300 RUM to sort of show it's capacity.

Yeah I know the reloading bench is a mess :( BUT it's my mess and I know where everything is :p Now where did I put that 5 gallon bucket of wheel wieghts?? :confused:


I have had a Co--Ax press since the mid 1970's and can only say it's the best. You are very wrong about needing to use Forester lock rings on your dies. The only problem with thin lockrings like current RCBS is that the stroke of the ram and the cartridge case push the die to the top of the press's slot. Just the evening I loaded up 50 rounds of 4429244 using a set of newer RCBS carbide dies with the hex lock rings. no problem at all! Hornady lock rings fit just the same as Foresters, and when I replace the lock rings on my Lee dies they are what I use.

carbon13

I'll have to look it over real close to see just what the # is.I use mine to load 44's too. I put my collet bullet puller in also as the puller doesn't work that well in the Co-Ax.


Imcollins
I stand corrected about the lock rings. :o I didn't know anybody else made rings that thick. Are they less expensive than the Foresters ?

I had a Co-Ax......nice press but I got tired of pinching my fingers and trying to get the bullet started properly in long cartridges like the 300 WM. Sold it and bought Redding Ultramag......liked the Ultramag so much I added a second one to the bench.

I love my Co-ax. I also have a Dillon 550B and they make a perfect pair. You can buy the co-ax thick lock rings in bulk and save money. I keep a Lee challenger on the bench with a universal de-capping die installed. The newer Co-ax more redily accepts the longer magnum rounds and they are priced less than they were a year ago. The Lee Classic is likely the best dollar for dollar value on the market and the Redding T-7 is another very fine machine. All in all the Co-ax is my favorite in a single stage but if I could only have one press it would be a T-7 or a 550B, depending on available funds. My advice is to buy the best you can afford. Few people are ever dis-satisified with a quality piece of equipment and the sting of a few extra bucks up front is soon forgoten ;)