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Looking for Loading press

3594 Views 59 Replies 31 Participants Last post by  Pudfark
I'm looking for a good loading press
Whats out there
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Ebay seems to be full of them. I've bought Rock Chuckers for as little as $80.
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Two things are needed for handloading most calibers-- Strength and leverage. Block O frame of cast iron takes care of the strength. The compound leverage system patented by RCBS in the A-2 takes care of leverage. My Rock Chucker has been working since January '68. I've bought three more since then and sold or given them to friends. They are a multi-generational tool.
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Fred Hunnington of RCBS lobbied the gunsmithing students a LOT. He gave us half jobber price and delivered our stuff in his long Caddy. My Rockchucker, set of 25-06 dies and #3 shell holder came to $26.00.
I set up reloading centers in two gunshops. Want to guess what gear was stocked?
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I'd like to know where the 'more leverage' comes from. I've NEVER seen a modern Co-ax press (only the old Hollywood). Is there a picture or drawing that shows how 'more' leverage was accomplished?
Some very early dies were made of mild steel and hard chrome plated for a heat-treat substitute (It works well for hydraulic rams). Those dies are prone to cracking the plating under re-sizing stress and then scars the brass enough to ruin cases. Those old dies, made by or sold by C-H, Western, Lyman, Weatherby and Union, are mostly gone now.
Dies with no heat-treat or plating work as long as cases are lubed but rust badly if not cared for. Old Lyman dies are mild steel but blued. Most dies today will rust but heat-treating delays rusting.
My dad, in the '60s, set up his loading room in the same room where pool chlorine was kept. It rusted dies and his press in short order. Cheap, chromed dies would have been better than RCBS in that case.
I don't know of any 'bad' dies made today. I like and own a bunch of Redding dies, a couple sets of Lyman and stacks of RCBS.
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No, you're doing it right, it just takes four times the effort of a compound leverage press.
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gunpa--- Nobody says the RCBS Jr. is not a fine press. It certainly is. Fred Hunnington just made it easier to use by compounding the leverage. RCBS was originally a bullet making tool company. Rock Chuck Bullet Swage. Fred was a renowned rockchuck shooter along with Joyce Hornaday, Fred Barnes, Vernon Speer and others.
His story of how the A-2 press was finally patented is worth repeating, as told by Fred in 1968.
The patent had been submitted and quite a bit of money spent but the patent was denied as not being 'unique'. Fred went to Washington after securing a hearing in person at the patent office. He showed up with a wheel barrow with every reloading press available at the time and his A-2 with a handful of 30-06 empties to re-size.
He resized a case with the A-2 sitting in his lap and then challenged everyone present to duplicate it with any other tool.
He got his patent.
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I still load four calibers by the Lee method but with Wilson/Sinclair tools and Lyman decapper stand and punch. An old round Lee hand primer does that duty and a Redding BR measure has the settings for each gun on the side.
Wilson neck dies and straightline seaters are on ebay all the time.
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Here's where the A-2/A-3/Rockchucker and copies shine. This is heavy case forming. Swaging bullets takes as much. When you start wishing for a longer handle, the Rockchucker still works. It took two students on a six foot handle to stretch but not break an A-2 (supplied by Fred).
Remember, most case forming at that time was done by arbor press with at best 100 to one leverage. The A-2/Rockchucker was a boon to those making cases and bullets.

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When did the Hollywood switch from the big central column to the twin column design? I remember one in the back of the gunshop in the late '60s.
That's not the press I was thinking of. I'll go through some old Am Riflemans and find an add. It had a center column that could have been a section of hydraulic shafting about 2 1/2" in dia. The base and top were cast iron. It seems the base had four positions for shell holders.
It was a long time ago and the owner of the press was a thief that was run off and left his stuff.
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