Whats yalls opinions on reloading presses.

I have several presses, and the longer i load, going on 18 yrs, the more i think its the dies and not really the press. I have a lee "o", forester co-ax, handed down lyman 5 hole turret, older model rock chucker, and have used a dillon 550 and 650. Until recently all match grade loads were done on the forester. Lately been using the good ol lee press and buddy's dillon with match dies a lot and have gotten same accuracy?

I agree as long as the press is strudy enough to handle the the particular job not much difference in end result with quality dies.
I use my presses by cartridge just for convenience. The Forster gets 6.8 size cases and down when doing smaller quantities and the Hornady progressive gets the larger numbers.
I still use my Rockchucker from 1973 for larger cartridges except .308 which I leave those dies set-up in an C-H Press that holds 4 dies if needed.
Pistol stuff gets the Dillon 650.

I don't think the type of press really matters. As long is it holds the die straight and true. I want a co ax because I never have to deal with shell holders and I like the quick change set up.

I use an old rcbs chucker for rifle and Hornady lnl ap for pistol and brass processing.
if I had my way I would have 1050s for 45, 223, and 308 always set up

The Co-Ax is the best press for rifle rounds in the history of the world.

All make straight ammo, but the ability to swap dies at will and none of then lose the thousandths specific setting they had.

+1 on the Co-Ax. If you load for several cartridges, the fast die swap is very nice. And I believe that the die's ability to slightly "float" in the press results in a bit straighter ammo. I don't particularly care for the primer seating station on the Co-Ax, so I use hand primers from Lee and RCBS.

And of course, the Co-Ax isn't a progressive press, so it wouldn't be the first choice for high volume loading of pistol rounds.

I've seen the Co-Ax in stock at several places...tempting

After researching for a while I received my co-ax last week as my first press for precision loading.

I completely the co-ax is a precision piece of equipment far tighter than the tolerances than the others mentioned. I just cant explain why the ol lee "o" press is giving a run for its money. I got that press back when i first wanted to do my "own" loading, not using the old mans rock chucker.

When I first recieved my Forster I played around with some Match brass and custom made bullets to see if I could discern a difference in one press vs another and my Forster runout gauge said no difference all other things being equal.

Y'all are missing the best part about the co-ax, no primer mess. You can get the swapping dies ease with the Hornady lock n load but the primers make a huge mess.

You got us twisted homie.

Who gives a chit about spent primers? Yes you can swap dies in the Hornady, and every single die requires you to buy a corresponding collet for it. Silly bench-rester.

Haha....you would give a crap if that nasty residue gets on the press ram and starts squeaking and binding the rest, don't ask me how I know

Oh and those costs are the cheapest thing I've ever spent in this game

Roll of blue shop towels
Acetone
3-in-1 oil

I've been running a couple Lee Turret Presses for several decades for all my reloading needs.Never had any problems making really accurate ammo with them,and all my dies stay set up and ready to swap out in a couple seconds in their own turret plates.
The Co-Ax is the finest single stage press ever made,I just can't make myself pay that much coin for a single stage press.

I'm considering going to an arbor press and hand dies for all my seating needs.

reading he reviews on the co-ax, is there a problem with the primer set up? one review states its finicky to set up.

Not quite that simple on the Hornady press...you have to disassemble it and clean the sleeve the ram slides in. Regardless, on the co-ax you don't have those issues because they keep that mess separate.




I've made the change...you get a much more consistent OAL and if you buy either a 21st Century or K&M press you can measure neck tension and group like neck tensions together. If you're shooting moa targets I'm not so sure you'll see a big difference but as you go smaller you have to tighen up all loading practices and I'm convinced it's made a difference in my shooting.

RCBS Rockchucker is all ive ever used. No complaints thus far. Im convinced every issue ive encountered was my own.

I run a Redding T-7 as my main precision single stage reloading press. Any good press will load match grade ammo with good dies and checking your ammo for consistency. I ran an old CH Tool and Die press from the 60's for several years when I first got into shooting competitions. It made great ammo. If you tune the load to your rifle, most any press will load good ammo.

I like that you can keep the dies locked in on the t-7. Do you have any experience with changing the turret? I know you can buy separate ones. How repeatable is it switching between head?

I only use one head, and don't switch between them. If you bought an extra turret head, you could swap them out easily with the main bolt on top. It would be very repeatable. But with 7 stations, it would be easy to just change out the dies faster. I like using the T-7 because I can easily switch between 2 dies with the slide of the head. I often have the sizing die and seating die in place when seating bullets. I often need to clean up the case necks before I chamfer the case mouth, so I run the case up into the sizing die just enough to kiss the expander ball to round out the neck, and them chamfer.

Loaded question, pun intended.

I have green ones (RCBS) and blue ones. I'm tempted by the Redding T-7 and the Co-Ax though. Will never give up my 550s and will probably always have a Rockchucker around.