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Hi all,

Does anyone on here have any experience with Forster's Coaxial Press?

Are they worth the money over the cost of a Rock Chucker for example?

Mainly looking at gear for reloading .308 for F/TR but would also occasionally produce .303 rounds.

Thanks,

Mick.

Adam (Dromia) has one he may be able to help.

Cheers Alpha1,

If he's not along soon I will risk a PM.

I have one - love it

dodgyrog wrote:I have one - love it

Thanks Dodgyrog,

Would you say it's worth the difference in price over presses offered by RCBS, Hornady, Lee etc?

I have both RCBS Rock Chucker and Co-Ax, the Co-Ax gets used almost exclusively.

Have several presses including a Corbin CSP-1. but the Co-Ax gets the most use. It's the best of the lot for full-length resizing as it self-aligns and gives virtually zero runout with good quality dies (I use Redding).

Doesn't work with Lee Collet dies, but they're fine in any conventional press.

SD

The Forster has a weakness in that the plate that goes over the case holder jaws does have a tendency to buckle. The one that I have been using has loaded close to 70,000 rnds in the last twelve months and the aforementioned plate has had to be replaced at least twice. A new sturdier plate has now been made which should last at least 100,000 rnds. Personally I think that a RockChucker is a better press.

Steve E wrote:The Forster has a weakness in that the plate that goes over the case holder jaws does have a tendency to buckle.

Not something I've ever experienced but if you over stress anything it will eventually break. I would have thought you'd damage your brass before the press.

My Co-ax handles Lee collet dies just fine, what is you problem with them?

If the plate is buckling then I would do two things, I would check the case lube you use and how you apply it and secondly I remove that abomination from hell, the neck expander, in all your dies.

The buckling off the plate will happen on the upstroke of the handle when the case is being removed from the FL die, if not sufficiently lubed or the lube not evenly applied or a tight neck with those damned expander balls will cause a tight case extraction from the die and the force exerted by the presses leverage will buckle the plate.

As in all things in handloading if you need to use force then there is something wrong that needs sorting. A bigger hammer is never an answer.