Has anyone here heard of the Hollywood press? My wifes' father had one and I think her older brother might still have it but does not use it. Wife thinks it used a different die size and can not be used with standard dies? Is that right?

Hollywood reloading tools date back to the 1950's or so. They do use different dies and shellholders. It was excellent heavy equipment, fully equal to the best currently single stage tools.

I will try to verify, but I had understood that Hollywood Reloading was recently revived and some parts and accessories are available. Some of their machines even have a following as collector items, especially the large turret press. A better description of style or model would be interesting to some of us. More info may be available at the Starr reloading forum.

Has anyone here heard of the Hollywood press? My wifes' father had one and I think her older brother might still have it but does not use it. Wife thinks it used a different die size and can not be used with standard dies? Is that right?
I use one. I really don't know how old it is. I got it 20 years ago from a friend. He said it was his Dad's.
Mine uses the standard 7/8x14 threads for it's dies.
It used screw in shell holders when I got it.
I was able to buy an adapter for standard shell holders.
I parked my other presses or gave them away after using this powerhouse for awhile.
I haven't seen any Hollywood's that used a different thread for the dies. Get ahold of it and see for yourself if you can.

I don’t know much about the Hollywood press, other than it is a large steel-gray turret press with a wood handle. I think it had a few dies that were not standard (RCBS) size in 30-06 and other rifle calibers. I’m not sure about much else.

My wife has been going through some trepidation these last few days and when I think the time is right, I will ask her to call her brother about the press.

I took little interest in it when I saw it, but it was an industrial quality machine. The press is quite old, I would say 40s more likely the 50s. Actually, my wife knows more about it and I think handloaded with it when she was a kid.

Here is a picture of an old Hollywood single stage press. There were heavy and expensive for the time.

Frank

http://www.antiquereloadingtools.com/discus/messages/8/294.jpg

That tool looks strong enough to resize a .50 BMG shell casing down to .22 LR! Bet very few of them were ever returned for repairs!

Here is a picture of an old Hollywood single stage press. There were heavy and expensive for the time.

Frank

http://www.antiquereloadingtools.com/discus/messages/8/294.jpg
Thanks for posting the photo;
That's the press I use today, and tommorrow and till I can't pull the handle anymore.
Then youngest son will carry on with it.

If you think Frank's single stage is heavy, you won't believe the Hollywood Super Turret!

Go here for an exchange on some the Hollywood machines and a couple of photos of the Super Turrets. http://www.antiquereloadingtools.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?tpc=8&post=280

Here's a pic of my Hollywood turret press:
Man-Sized Turret Press

You can see it has several 7/8x14 dies in place.

.

The Hollywood press my wife's brother has looks like the Bond D with the handle turret that is pictured on the website at the top. When I looked at it (that was 13 years ago) it seemed that it would not work easy with 7/8 dies and might be used with an O-ring adapter. It has a big base and the bolted headpiece.

My thinking is that it is more valuable as a collector item, rather than a practical loading tool. When she calls him this weekend, she will ask him if he still has it and if so, what he plans to do with it.

BTW: the small single stage on this page seems like a good tool and more practical

I bought a whole bunch of guns and equipment from an estate of a former (deceased) California Highway Patrolman in 1995. Among the affects was a Hollywood Turret Sr. press. I used it for several years with great results. It is massive and consistantly turns out an abundance of completed work. Recently I got it out; remounted it on my bench right next to my Dillon 550 I find I get more enjoyment from the Hollywood press than my Dillon.

If you read the numerous articles and research e-bay, you will find this press valued at approximately $1,000. Hollywood quoted $1,000 to buy a new one probably without shell holderss. By the way, it will take standard RCBS dies, but needs Hollywood shell holders. I am now looking for the primer stem which will only round out the collection and probably won't be used as I use a hand primer for most of my reloading.

As a side note, for some reason, one of the swivel pins was missing and two of the Turrit handles. Placed an order with Hollywood Engineering which required sending a check. I did this after reading some of the horror stories about the new Hollywood Engineering that they are very slow. Will report back here if the order get completed as they promised.

Tom

Hollywood Machine Shop made some excellant reloading tools. I have ONE set of their dies, wish I had more.

The ony difference in die threads I know of were the shotshell dies which were larger diameter of course. I think the same bushing used in the RCBS Rock Chuckers is the same thread and will allow standard 7/8x14 dies to be used in their presses.

Shell holders are a whole nother problem but any mechanist should be able make and adaptor or modify the ram to take modern shell holders.