Two presses - one a bit less prcise - do I resize or seat with it?

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Northman999

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So, I've got a nice, tight RC2 press, but I also inherited an old Pacific single stage press as well. I'd like to have my resizing dies in one and my seating dies in the other and use both for the same loading sessions to save time. I have not done a bunch of quallity assurance regarding checking loaded ammo from each press to compare differences, but I'm pretty sure the Pacific has a bit sloppier movement than the RC2. Right now I'm resizing with the RC2, as my gut was telling me I wanted my brass resized just so, and also it has much more leverage for those small base resizing jobs.

But, I figured it might be wiser to check with you fellows than just run with my gut...so, do you think I should use the older press to resize brass or seat bullets?
 
I think you need to load a number of your rifle rounds in each presss and compare average runout at every stage. Then shoot and compare groups. I use a Lee breech lock press. I somehow manage to get very little runout with the press and Lee dies. I have also Redding and RCBS dies but my point is that I had to measure to find that my Lees were giving me slightly better results.
 
I would also measure/test the results. If I had an old tool that didn't work so well I would retire it and keep as a collector and look into another spare. If it works good I'd keep using it.
 
OK, I'll risk my dubious reputation :D.

Why would a less than rigid ram be inferior to say, a rigid but untrue one, when it comes to seating, or anything else really :confused:. Isn't it a feature of the renowned Forster press, that it allows the cartridge to settle naturally within the die by allowing such movement? The business is all done at the top of the stroke with the shell case well inside the die is it not ?

I'm being purely intuitive and talking a load of #### but I'm really curious to know how this turns out. Obviously, my bet is that the Pacific is gonna work :rolleyes:. I should also imagine that if you've got the tools/gages to measure runout the verdict will come at the bench, no pun intended.
 
As long as the dies are tight, the press doesn't matter much. I'd still be inclined to size in the older press. It's a less precise operation.
It use the same dies? 7/8-14 wasn't always the standard. Just curious.
 
I've used some pretty sloppy presses. They will make some very accurate ammunition. A good example of this are well used Lee presses. There is usually a bit of clearance in the shell head holder to allow the cartridge case to feed smoothly and true into the die.

The big thing you need to worry about is how true your dies are internally. I've had sets of dies that were reamed off center and even at a slight angle. One set of RCBS was even slightly out of round. All the companies very graciously replaced the faulty products, without question.
 
sunray said:
As long as the dies are tight, the press doesn't matter much. I'd still be inclined to size in the older press. It's a less precise operation.
It use the same dies? 7/8-14 wasn't always the standard. Just curious.
Click to expand...

Yes, they use the same dies. I can pull out a die set and resize in one press and seat in the other with modern 7/8-14 dies.

I think, the next time I reload for a high-volume rifle, I'll do up some loads with each press and I'll do some more extensive measuring of runout etc on, cartridges put together with each press and see what I get.

Thanks for all your replies, as usual.
 
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