what are the best presses on the market today?

Last night i picked up a Pacific "Super Deluxe" C frame cast iron press from a local gunsmith.This thing is built like a tank! very heavy cast iron the ram has ZERO wobble and you can set it to load on the up or downswing.
It takes regular shell holders and regular dies now i realise this model has long been discontinued and its not new by anymeans but for a single stage press its rock solid.
Oh and did i mention it was only 50 bucks.
 
I'd take a Lee Classic Cast over any RCBS single stage product any day. (I would strongly AVOID the cheaper Lee presses, though!!) Even back in the 'mad in america' days, I never really understood the popularity of the RCBS. It's adequate, but hardly outstanding; especially for the price paid. There are better presses for the same money, and even a few (like the classic cast) which are better presses all around, for substantially less money! That and the Co-Ax would be my recommendations for single stage pressses, depending on your budget. Or, get both! I think I've got (or have had) a dozen different presses - possibly more - each for a specific use.

I've also been quite impressed by Lyman presses, but I haven't used any more recent than several decades old.
 
I have had the lee single stage and reloaded thousands of rifle rounds in the last 20 years no trouble at all!! than i bought a lee turret 4 hole with auto index for pistol man what a huge improvement and you can also quick change the turret for different rounds and i have loaded 308 rifle with it and 7.5X55 no sweat but now i am setting up a lee loadmaster and it looks pretty good as of yet! so the unfortunate thing about presses nowadays is there are as many opinions as there are presses but i will always own a lee because they have always worked to provide safe shootable ammo and they are very affordable and very easy to find parts for when you need them!!! just my 2 cents!!!
 
ben hunchak said:
Certainly unbiased, he sells them.
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Jerry's Post:
I have access to all brands of presses including the arbor ones.

I use the Lee Breech Lock challenger press. Yes, my toggle link has cracked but has functioned this way for several years and thousands of rds.

I love the inserts for quick change and the press does exactly what I want.

For heavy duty sizing, the new Classic Cast with inserts would be my choice.

I sell a fair number of Coax too.

Jerry
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Yes, definitely, he is unbiased and quite knowledgeable as well. Well maybe he doesn't cast and load as many as yourself....but I don't know anybody who does. Probably, the big difference between Jerry and yourself is his longer and better experience with Lee presses.
 
ben hunchak said:
My co-ax also has the easiest, precise priming features, again, no shellholders, bushings, etc.
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Sure it has no shellholders, but it is a royal pain in the azz to change the shell-plates to go from 223 to 45-70 for instance.
I know this since I have to do it all the time.
As for less bullet run-out on a loaded round, my other presses will turn equally as good a loaded round as the Forster.
The Forster is an excellent press but there are others that are just as good...
 
ben hunchak said:
My co-ax also has the easiest, precise priming features, again, no shellholders, bushings, etc.
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The Classic Cast (if you buy the primer feed kit) has possibly the most elegant and fastest single-stage priming setup I've ever seen. That, and the ability to take 1 1/4" dies, as well as the ability to deal with 338 Lapua/378 Weatherby sized cases easily and with plenty of clearance means it's got a place on my bench.

The Co-Ax isn't *quite* as versatile; It's main advantage to me is that it *is* a generally nicer tool to use. I don't really believe that it makes 'better' ammo, but it's always a pleasure to use a thoughtfully-engineered and well-crafted tool.

As to the theoretical accuracy edge; I've never seen any runout measurements comparing these two presses; I do know that my Classic Cast with collet or bushing dies usually produces loaded ammo with a runout of ~0.001", or less (i.e. below measurement threshold of my dial). I also know that this level of runout is so fantastically small that simply rattling around in the ammo box on the way to the range can produce runout to this degree.
 
I've loaded the longest of them all, the .50/140 on my Co-ax, no problem, after you've lost a few springs it gets real easy and quick to change from .223 to the Mags. I also have to adap. to reg. shell holders, and a set for the .50/.22 Hornet extreme.
 
ben hunchak said:
I also have to adap. to reg. shell holders,
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I use the adapter as well. Not because of caliber changes, but because I use Redding Comp shell holders to control headspace. If not for that, would have stayed with the built-in self-adjusting holder (and never needed to flip it, as I don't load any large calibres).

My runout numbers (lapua .223 brass) look like this: 0.0013" average, SD .0005"

This is slightly better than I got on my previous press (same dies / brass mfg), the Redding Ultramag. May or may not be within the error bars, since I have forgotten, long ago, how to carry error through calculations. But it is better.

Does this matter? Only to some people. Certainly not to hunters or plinkers.

Ben and I disagree on Lee - I would like a chance to try a Classic Cast - but are completely aligned (as it were) on the Co Ax. And I don't sell either.
 
ben hunchak said:
I've loaded the longest of them all, the .50/140 on my Co-ax, no problem, after you've lost a few springs it gets real easy and quick to change from .223 to the Mags. I also have to adap. to reg. shell holders, and a set for the .50/.22 Hornet extreme.
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Really? My 500 a-square (approximately the size of the 50-140) takes 1-1/4" dies
 
roseau river rat said:
Last night i picked up a Pacific "Super Deluxe" C frame cast iron press from a local gunsmith.This thing is built like a tank! very heavy cast iron the ram has ZERO wobble and you can set it to load on the up or downswing.
It takes regular shell holders and regular dies now i realise this model has long been discontinued and its not new by anymeans but for a single stage press its rock solid.
Oh and did i mention it was only 50 bucks.
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$50 only? Nice catch I wouldn't sell mine for a $100! and yes they are that strong (at 14lbs total weight). IMO only Hollywood preses were stronger.
 
Eagleye said:
I have owned many different presses over the years while I have had my Co-Ax.
That has convinced me that I cannot agree with the last part of your statement.
Eagleye.
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As I've said many times , the Forster is an excellent press and I use mine almost daily, just finished loading a bunch of 308 Norma test loads before lunch.
I just fail to see where it produces better loaded rounds than my other presses and I check them with a Sinclair guage.... Mr. Sinclair doesn't lie for anybody.
I check my loaded ammo for run-out and length like a buzzard picking on a carcass and seriously if it made that much better rounds I'd use it exclusively.
Just my findings.... to each their own... :)
 
Kevan said:
As I've said many times , the Forster is an excellent press and I use mine almost daily, just finished loading a bunch of 308 Norma test loads before lunch.
I just fail to see where it produces better loaded rounds than my other presses and I check them with a Sinclair guage.... Mr. Sinclair doesn't lie for anybody.
I check my loaded ammo for run-out and length like a buzzard picking on a carcass and seriously if it made that much better rounds I'd use it exclusively.
Just my findings.... to each their own... :)
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Yes, Kevan, differences are what makes this world such an interesting place!! It would be pretty boring if we were all exactly the same in our perceptions.
Take care, Eagleye
 
Thanks to everyone for the replies.

My loading bench will never again see anything that says Lee on the side of it. All the power to the people who enjoy their stuff, you obviously have far more patience with your gear than I do. That being said I'm not sure I'm all in on the co-ax either. Maybe if I could actually see one in the flesh it would change my mind. I do like the looks of the Redding ultra mag but again I think I have to find one, pull it out of the package and check it out. I bought a redding beam scale last year after seeing an old one a friend had but the new model isn't the same quality. I had to shave material off the bottom to get it to 0 out and its bearing is a bit sticky. The co-ax has had a lot of good reviews here though, I just don't know.
 
prosper said:
Really? My 500 a-square (approximately the size of the 50-140) takes 1-1/4" dies
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The 450/577 and .57 snider also use 1 1/4" dies, I was referring to clearance and the .50/140(as well as the 40/90, .45/120) is much longer then the 500 a square.
 
kombayotch said:
The new Rockchuckers are junk, sorry. They're now made in China and half of the ones I have seen have terrible play in the ram. Here are some videos I took of one:

That's find if your goal is just to make a round that goes "bang!", but the press in those videos is useless for any kind of precision work. Follow Ben's advice and get the CO-AX if you want the best.
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my Rockchucker is just over 2 years old and doesn't do that.
 
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