The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Any of you oomans tried a CH4D 'H' press? We rather like the look of 'em.

http://www.ch4d.com/products/equipment/presses/044000

I use CH4D dies in a couple of obscure sizes and they are superb, the press looks to be the same quality and is keenly priced so has to be worth a look.

Brian Fox of Fox Firearms UK imports a very similar press from Italy - might be worth giving him a try rather than a USA import. There is also a Germany company making a similar one - I see it at IWA every year but it is expensive. The Fox one is more reasonable.

It is a well made press indeed however I have found it a tad wanting in leverage for rifle calibres, fine for pistol rounds though.

Also you need to move the cases 'tween stations each time.

For non progressive multiple station presses I am a big fan of the Redding T7 turret press so much so I have two, the on press priming system is excellent along with the spent primer disposal now copied by others like lee, however they now seem to be going for stupid money.

Lyman are bringing out an 8 station turret with a priming system similar to the Redding, looks as though the price will be more reasonable so I am looking to try one out when they land

We currently use a single stage Rockchucker, weighing every charge. We're thinking of moving on to a new press that would enable us to keep certain calibres set up rather than having to swap out dies for every operation. Most turret presses we have looked at seem to have a bit of play in them but this H press doesn't seem to suffer that problem. We'll enquire about the Fox ones.

We saw a nice video of a multi-station, inline press on t'tinterweb that looked spiffin' but there was no maker's name and google wasn't our friend when we tried to track down something similar

The issue of play in turrets is much over played, like most things in this firearms game there is the theory and then there is the practice as measured by the holes in the target. It may seem a problem to those theorists but the practical outcomes belies the theory, which, to be honest a lot of these "theories" are used as marketing stratagems by each manufacturer to "prove" that they have a better mousetrap. It is not the press that needs measuring but the ammunition produced thereof and its practical effectiveness on the target.

My turret presses produce excellent ammunition that shoot better than I do, I know not difficult, from my experience a good bullet seating die is far more crucial for concentric ammunition than the perceived "play" in the turret presses.

Personally swapping out dies isn't an issue for me as I prefer to reset my dies each time I reload as they will move and thinking that they are set forever is lulling yourself into a false sense of security. Checking the die settings regularly is essential as "wandering" dies probaly contribute more to inconsistent ammunition than any other single factor.

We like our Rockchucker single stage press and weighing every charge as we want to keep things simple* and safe. However, as we sometimes needs to load up to 400 rifle cartridges for a weekend, often 100 each of 4 different calibres, we are thinking of ways to speed up the process. One thing we have noticed is that progressive presses all seem to use powder throwers that work on a volumetric principle. We prefer to weigh each and every charge. Are we being unduly finicky ?




* We is a small brained species compared with you bald monkeys

For volume production while maintaining reasonable quality, try a Dillon 550.

You can throw powders by volume if you choose your powder carefully (spherical powders like Ramshot will measure more consistently than extruded stick powders like the Reload Swiss ones). And you know where the 'nodes' are in your load where minor changes in powder weight have minimal impact on velocity.

Triffid

meles meles wrote:We like our Rockchucker single stage press and weighing every charge as we want to keep things simple* and safe. However, as we sometimes needs to load up to 400 rifle cartridges for a weekend, often 100 each of 4 different calibres, we are thinking of ways to speed up the process. One thing we have noticed is that progressive presses all seem to use powder throwers that work on a volumetric principle. We prefer to weigh each and every charge. Are we being unduly finicky ?




* We is a small brained species compared with you bald monkeys

The quickest way to speed up your reloading process is to buy an RCBS Chargemaster. Stick with the Rockchucker - swapping dies takes seconds. Hornady have the 'lock n load' press system but it only saves a minute or so.

400 rounds for a weekend's shooting - wow, wish I could afford that!

I reload 3-400 for a range day using 2 presses, the Rockchucker fitted with the Inline Fabrication case ejection system for case de-priming (followed by a SS pins clean) then a full length size.

After trimming to length, chamfer/de-burr and a final clean in the SS pins I hand prime using an RCSB Universal hand priming tool. Cases are then bagged up ready to be loaded when needed.

For the actual loading, using a Hornady Auto powder Dispenser and the Lee Breech lock press to seat bullets the operation is quite fast. It takes about a second or two longer for the powder dispenser to operate than it does to seat a bullet and pop the round in the tray while it dumps the next charge. I've not timed it but you could easily do 400 rounds in a morning or afternoon with breaks for cups or tea/coffee every 50 rounds or so.