I have a Bananza B2 which predates the Forster buy out of Bananza. Pretty much identical otherwise. Bought it the summer of 1978, if memory is correct (a couple weeks after the NRA convention). It's just s square and tight this morning as it was the day I took it out of the shipping box. Frieds rode me pretty hard about spending $83 for a reloading press! But I've sat back and watched each of them buy four or five presses in that same length of time that I've owned this press. Have seen no press that does heavy cae forming as well as this press, but it dosn't do everythig as well as some others do. It's somewhat of a pain to pull bullets with (there are new and better bullet pulling dies than the Forster). Also a pain to cut off cases after forming them in a die. Otherwise it's near perfect. But I do have a small RCBS press sitting right next to it for these ops.
When I went the convention, they had a row of presses setup to do .308 brass. There must have been 20 to 25 presses. All sorta felt similar, but one. I kept going back to the one that was different. It was the Bananza. There were no sales folks there, and you were literally on your own. While sizing some .308 brass a little guy walks over to me and says "buy that one!" That wa Bob Milek (wrote for years in Shooting Times), nd was the father of long range hand gun hunting. Milek introduced me to Skeeter Skelton and John Wooters. Then I met Bill Jordan and spoke with Elmer Keith. I was in seventh heaven! Milek said he had two Co-Ax presses setting side by side, and there were times he wish he had a third one!
When I got home, I told my brother I was ordering one. He said I was nuts for spending tht kinda money on a press. The following Monday I spoke with a dealer that I regularly bought firearms from. Had him order me one, and he said I was nuts! Two weeks later he tells me he has the press, but asked me if he could use it a couple three days to see how it works. He brings it in to work, and tells me he's ordered in five of them as he's never seen anything like it. Sold all of them in a week, and orders in ten more. He set one up in his store, and was selling two or three a week.
gary
