Need a new Single Stage Press

beltfed

beltfed

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A few years ago I gave away my Rock Chucker to get my brother into hand loading as I was concentrating on pistol and three gun - ammo that was easily made on my 550 and 650.

I'm thinking of now replacing it and seeing them out of stock everywhere. I know of a couple that are sort of local...but the price is a bit rich.
So with that in mind, I'm thinking of what else is out there.

The MEC Marksman and new RCBS Summit model have piqued my interest....so, any first hand experiences with these two?
Should I go back to the old stand-by Rock Chucker?
If you were in the market for a new single stage, what would you get?
 
Have a look at the Franklin M Press; available from Amazon. The others are premium grade as well; but I do like the Franklin design; all are stronger and stiffer than the rock-chucker, and may require less effort as well.

I'm still using a Lyman Turret Press from about 1974 that I bought new. I would love to upgrade at some point now that I am back into centerfire bigger than .223.
 
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Is the Forster CoAx still considered the bees knees? Pricey, but if its the best around....

Mind you I use a RCBC Partner Press, because I'm a broke ass.
 
I’m on the fence with the Frankford press. I’m just not sure it would be an upgrade from my lee classic cast. I deprime on my press, so the rc is out for me. The primer recovery system drove me nuts!
Coax is probably the best bet for all out accuracy. They are big money though.
 
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I have the big red lee press.
It really works good.
I had the rock chucker, liked it but not as much as my big lee press.
This is the single stage one.
I had the smaller lee press and the toggle broke when i was making 223's
lee would not come good for a toggle.
Keep away from the cheap lee press.
I bought a new toggle and i immediatly sold the press.
 
You did ask for "personal experience" so I'll keep it to that, somewhat. The Summit is a finely built press, it is innovative and the control it has are impressive. I had, and used one for a few years. It is best described as a niche press, IOW it does some things really well. It doesn't do everything well, but it can do everything. I needed room on my bench and sold it. Recently I began a project to set up a compact, lower production reloading station, something that could fit in a closet. And of all the presses that I've used or looked at, it would probably be a good press as it can be worked at easily while standing at a small bench. So, in a way I regret selling it.

The RCBS RC that I owned had serious alignment issues from new. After 20 years I had enough, I called RCBS and at their request, my expense, sent it into RCBS, they sent it back saying it still was within spec. It also has a quirky way of working. The compound linkage puts about as much force into the bench it's mounted on as it puts up into the ram. I have a Dillon 550, you need an alignment tool to set it up if you take it apart for service or such. I found a conventional shellholder with a hole of the correct diameter and checked the alignment on some of my other presses. I was surprised to find out how bad some of my presses were.

If you were asking for a press that I'd recommend, I would recommend you look at something Redding makes. I have a LEE Classic cast, I'd not recommend it because of it's alignment issues. The linkage can be fiddled with to make it work, but the alignment issue is a challenge. The two piece ram lets you do some file work to cant the upper ram into position, but if you are at all fussy, you wont be happy.

I have a Redding Ultra-mag, and the only feature that I find annoying is that you have to insert cases from the front. I prefer to slide the cases in and out with my left hand, from the side. It's alignment is spot on and it has fantastic mechanical advantage and does not strain the mounting or the bench.

My old, and very used and somewhat abused by it's former owner, Lyman T-Mag II has no serious issues with alignment. Lyman designs fantastic equipment, unfortunately whoever does the manufacturing has little regard for tolerances.

Which leads me to recommend a bit of a dark horse. The Dillon 550 is very versatile, I bought a kit to convert it to a single stage and it has incredible power. I personally am not a fan of spending time setting up to reload a few shells, so for now I'll keep the half dozen or so I have mounted on my benches.

Nitro
 
YouTube - 14 press shootout had the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme a close second to the CNC Präzipress for quality of ammo produced.
 
About 30 yrs ago I bought a then new Lyman Orange Crusher. It had a longer throat opening than the Rockchucker of the day and I found that to be a good thing for H&H or Wby length cases. Never had a problem with it. If I had to buy another press I would get another Lyman Crusher
 
Mec Marksman. It has a floating shellholder. I have a Hornady progressive and Redding Ultramag - the Mec press will be my third.

I spoke with Dan at Inline Fabrication yesterday. He said they are decent presses. At $220 USD - they are quite affordable. I will wait until they are back in stock in Canada.
 
hosel said:
YouTube - 14 press shootout had the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme a close second to the CNC Präzipress for quality of ammo produced.
Click to expand...

CNC Präzipress, those Germans. Thanks for mentioning it, never heard of that one.

Years ago I compared ammo from a LEE Loader, 310 Lyman dies in a Tru-Line Jr press, and conventionally loaded on my main press. To my surprise, the LEE Loader won. The point is that if you load carefully, you can make decent ammo. Even with my RCBS RC, I'd point the shell holder in a certain direction so it allowed the case to be centered in the die.

Much the same as building a race engine, two mechanics with the exact same tools and the same parts can build two identical engines, and one will make 50 HP more than the other one. Sometimes it's not the parts, or the tools.

Choosing a press is one of those times when a decision matrix helps make the correct choice. https://asana.com/resources/decision-matrix-examples

For me the factors to choose a new single stage press were:

Cost, but with a low factor
On press priming, very low factor as I never prime on the press
Side access, med to high factor
Mechanical advantage, toggle design, med to high factor.
Spent primer out the bottom, high factor
Toggle over (cam over) linkage, must have
Lubrication, nice to have zerks or orifices
Alignment precision, this one is hard to factor as testing before you buy is not usually possible.
Adequate opening, I have loaded some longer ones like the H&H Mags and 338 Lapua, and if the opening is a bit crowded it gets awkward.

I bought a Classic Cast LEE, it was on sale. I probably failed to follow my matrix and got sucked in on price.

But how did the LEE CC perform.

- the toggle stop linkage was not to my liking, but I modified the linkage. Unfortunately the linkage now interferes with the spent primer tube, so I had to shorten that, it still works, just has to be emptied more often.
- The slot in the ram for the priming tool still lets the odd spent primer pop out onto the floor. I JB welded a cover in place. Good fix.
- The top link pins have holes, these allow for lubrication, works well.
- Disassembly a bit of a process, to drop the ram the linkage needs to be completely taken apart, a negative IMO.
- Alignment, this was an issue, LEE sent me a replacement top half to the ram. Alignment was still an issue so I did a bit of rework.

*** Caveat: Cast iron moves, it will stabilize, but it takes time, and several heat/cooling cycles, or it needs to be cryogenic treated before final machining. Redding presses have good alignment, they must be doing something differently, or are using a different material, IMO. That is why the design of the German Präzipress looks appealing.

My first choice was a Redding Big Boss II, and when I consider my matrix, it will beat the LEE CC on every point, except for price.

Yep, I think it's time to open the wallet again.

Anyone want to buy a heavily reworked LEE CC? Not as good as a Big Boss II, but cheaper.
 
beltfed said:
If you were in the market for a new single stage, what would you get?
Click to expand...

The Bonanza Co-Ax I bought at The White Elephant in Spokane in the early 70's is still going strong, and I have not managed to either wear it out or break it in the last 50 years. I have yet to see anybody who owns a Co-Ax say something like "that thing sucked". So if mine were stolen, burned in a fire, etc - I'd go buy another one.

They are a little more spendy then the other run of the mill presses out there, but unless you plan on reloading for only a couple of years, the difference amortized over years amounts to nothing. If you don't like it for some reason or other, they sell pretty much instantly when put up for sale.

The ability to instantly switch back and forth between dies is a feature I love. Ditto the universal shellholder feature - if you don't like that, you can buy an accessory that allows you to use conventional shellholders.

Some of the leading F Class competitors think the Co-Ax is good enough to load their competition ammunition for their spendy competition rifles, versus using an arbor press, so I don't see any evidence that they take a back seat to any single stage press in the ability to produce precision ammunition. Producing ammunition that wins at that level of competition beats theoretical opinion on performance any day. And now there's all kinds of gadgets made for them as well; some are pretty useful, depending on what you're doing.
 
Forster Co-Ax, Redding Big Boss II or the new Lyman Brass Smith Victory (I own all 3, among others) get my votes. RCBS supreme was my first press and wouldn't buy another. Frankford Arsenal has a new single stage coming out called the F1, and it looks like an interesting and possibly decent entry level option if and when it actually becomes available.
 
I'm one that sold my Bonanza/Forster Co-Ax with no regrets.
It was an older model with the shorter yoke.
You could not put micrometer seating dies in it and operate the press, the yoke would hit them.(you can send the press in to get the taller yoke installed $$)
It was also a pain changing between .308,.223 and 45-70 as it involved taking the shellholder apart and risking loss of the tiny springs.(I know there are captured springs available)
I now have a R/C Supreme and a Summit.(also a Lee bushing cast press for depriming)
Happy now.
 
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