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Which Press

Kmccord

Kmccord

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2016
Messages
1,673
Location
Reilly Springs, TX
I have been thinking of purchasing another Press, I had an old Lyman turret press, built in the 70's, I retired it when I could not keep the turret from changing my COAL. I wanted a CO-AX, but this was in 2020 and COVID BS running rampant, I guess Forester shut down there plant, I waited several months and they were never in stock and went with the FA M Press. It works good, but sometimes I run into issues with runout. I watched UR videos on his press review and noticed RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme and Summit press had the least amount of runout. Before I pull the trigger on another one, I wanted to hear what others have experienced with the two RCBS presses, is bullet runout a non issue? The Summit has my eye, but would like to hear more of others that have used them, the good, bad and ugly
 
I have the Summit press. I have broken twice sizing PRC brass. Once the handle sheared off, the second time the top yoke between the cradle arms broke in half. RCBS was great replacing both parts immediately. The top yoke was a known problem. Apparently RCBS had a problem with a vendor that used the wrong elixir when casting the part. Other than that the press works well with good results. The downside is the power you can generate with the press is not the greatest. If you are going to be resizing PRC brass that is running through a SAAMI chamber that needs a tight sizer (think Cortina sizing mandrel) I would advise a different press. I just added this to my bench;

IMG_3318.jpeg


It's worth every penny.
 
quandary said:
I have the Summit press. I have broken twice sizing PRC brass. Once the handle sheared off, the second time the top yoke between the cradle arms broke in half. RCBS was great replacing both parts immediately. The top yoke was a known problem. Apparently RCBS had a problem with a vendor that used the wrong elixir when casting the part. Other than that the press works well with good results. The downside is the power you can generate with the press is not the greatest. If you are going to be resizing PRC brass that is running through a SAAMI chamber that needs a tight sizer (think Cortina sizing mandrel) I would advise a different press. I just added this to my bench;

View attachment 615534

It's worth every penny.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that information, I am not 100% sold on it, just looking for one that doesn't have issues with runout. Yes, I will be reloading PRC brass.
 
I have a RCBS Rockchucker that I bought in the early 1970's and it has been great but I too have looked at a turret press by Redding I think.
Tired of changing dies.
Will watch this thread
I had to edit this post as I mixed up the Summit press with a Redding press I like.
One of the members on this site had continueing problems with a Summit press so I dropped them from my hunt.
 
Last edited:
I think you would do well to consider the Redding T-7 press as a lower cost alternative to the Area 419 press. A turret press cuts incredible amounts of time from my reloading process for the PRCs. My process is Forster sizing die/Cortina mandrel die/Forster sizing die. It my sound silly but I have yet to get the infamous clickers. The 3 sizings are necessary for the correct shoulder bump as the shoulder grows in the Cortina die. A turret press makes this process so much faster.
 
Redding big boss ii
Redding turret
Mec marksman

I did my own tests... sized and loaded 100... measured all 100 for headspace and coal

Big boss ii and t7 turret were exact same, none over .002 variation and almost all under 0.001

Mec marksman was was very very very slightly worse than the reddings.

All awesome. I advise adding an inlireadings. To whichever you get.

With prc cases you need to be sure there is lube all the way down to the case head.

I do have a zero press but it doesn't do anything the reddings won't do.

The mec is super smooth with lots of leverage as well and the open front is very nice.

Redding big boss ii will be the stoutest no b.s. one you can get. Redding t7 has zero issues and is very stout. Redding is Made in USA too.
 
Ol' Red said:
I went from an old Lyman turret press t a Redding turret press and could not be happier. That Area 419 sure looks impressive, but I will have to stick with my Redding.
Click to expand...

I look at it as the cost of Proof/Bartlien/Benchmark carbon barrel. On top of that it is used more than any one barrel. Put in that perspective it doesn't seem to expensive. At least thats what I tell myself......
 
nwmnbowhunter said:
Redding big boss ii
Redding turret
Mec marksman

I did my own tests... sized and loaded 100... measured all 100 for headspace and coal

Big boss ii and t7 turret were exact same, none over .002 variation and almost all under 0.001

Mec marksman was was very very very slightly worse than the reddings.

All awesome. I advise adding an inlireadings. To whichever you get.

With prc cases you need to be sure there is lube all the way down to the case head.

I do have a zero press but it doesn't do anything the reddings won't do.

The mec is super smooth with lots of leverage as well and the open front is very nice.

Redding big boss ii will be the stoutest no b.s. one you can get. Redding t7 has zero issues and is very stout. Redding is Made in USA too.
Click to expand...
What about bullet runout? That has been my dilemma, I can size my cases without the neck sizer in my FL die and will run from .0001 to .0000 on runout on case neck, then every now and then, boom one or two will kick out a .002 to .003. I have to wonder if the floating die is causing it the majority of the time and another reason of getting off of that system. I watched UR doing his tests using the Sinclair gauge like I have and he measured bullet runout on presses and I noticed the floating die system seems to have the most runout versus the stationary die holder. I had thought of the MEC Marksman, then noticed he was measuring .002 on his, that has the floating shell holder. I may be reading way too much into this, ever since I got the runout gauge, all it has done was create more questions than answers it seems. Sort of like a bore scope....
 
Kmccord said:
What about bullet runout? That has been my dilemma, I can size my cases without the neck sizer in my FL die and will run from .0001 to .0000 on runout on case neck, then every now and then, boom one or two will kick out a .002 to .003. I have to wonder if the floating die is causing it the majority of the time and another reason of getting off of that system. I watched UR doing his tests using the Sinclair gauge like I have and he measured bullet runout on presses and I noticed the floating die system seems to have the most runout versus the stationary die holder. I had thought of the MEC Marksman, then noticed he was measuring .002 on his, that has the floating shell holder. I may be reading way too much into this, ever since I got the runout gauge, all it has done was create more questions than answers it seems. Sort of like a bore scope....
Click to expand...
The type of bullet, die, seating stem all come into play with bullet runout.

I use vld style bullets mainly and have matching stems.

You can try loading a1/3 depth and rotate and continue until seated.

If your cases are sized and have good neck runout... bullet runout is affected by die and seating stem.
 
The most consistent presses in our testing ended up like this...

Hood press...super consistent and the click die adjuster is nice. Big cartridges could be an issue with leverage.
SAC Nexus....super consistent (as consistent as the Hood IMO) handle has a lot of leverage. Nice press.
RCBS Rock Chucker....great do it all press, been around for years and proven. Doesn't do anything great doesn't do anything terrible.
Redding T7...nice press especially with the Creedmoor Sports head upgrade.
Area419...not designed to cam over....IMO this leads to inconsistencies in shoulder bump. Very nice well machined piece of kit as you would expect from Area419. Overpriced IMO

Keep in mind these were pretty much one off tests with one off presses. The exception would be the Hood and SAC presses. Multiples of those were tested. YMMV.
 
Kmccord said:
What about bullet runout?... ... I may be reading way too much into this, ever since I got the runout gauge, all it has done was create more questions than answers it seems. Sort of like a bore scope....
Click to expand...

This!! ☝️

🤣👍👍

I don't worry about +/-.002 runout in reloads, then again I am happy with groups in the .2's and .3's...

I think measuring is a great way to dial in your process, just like a bore scope can help a guy optimize their cleaning process,

Hard to beat a Rock Chucker for value! Offers really good leverage too - that's something I notice when comparing presses side by side.
 
Kmccord said:
I have been thinking of purchasing another Press, I had an old Lyman turret press, built in the 70's, I retired it when I could not keep the turret from changing my COAL. I wanted a CO-AX, but this was in 2020 and COVID BS running rampant, I guess Forester shut down there plant, I waited several months and they were never in stock and went with the FA M Press. It works good, but sometimes I run into issues with runout. I watched UR videos on his press review and noticed RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme and Summit press had the least amount of runout. Before I pull the trigger on another one, I wanted to hear what others have experienced with the two RCBS presses, is bullet runout a non issue? The Summit has my eye, but would like to hear more of others that have used them, the good, bad and ugly
Click to expand...
There is always the brand loyalty people naturally gravitate to, which is not a bad thing at all; in fact, I think it is great. I have an early 1970s RCBS press that still works today. Regarding your concern about the runout, here is a video for what it is worth.



My GS got me into the Hornady concentricity tool a few years ago. I did an experiment similar to the above video, but the runout was not as extreme (probably between .005" - .015"), and I got a similar result with manufactured ammo. Correcting the runout made a difference.

 

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