If You Built a Reloading Press...

Exactly concentric seating of the bullet is where all the popular press/die sets fail.......for exact concentricity you need a seating die set that is exactly fitted to the case ,and bullet ,and ensures the bullet does not seat off centre...so it must slide inside the main die with near zero cleareance....This is the kind of stuff Wilson make ,and it aint cheap.
 
I am just going to post this here. It is not something I am going to build (yet). First, I'll start with an RCBS Rock Chucker kit and get a little more experience. However, I'm putting this in here if anyone else is looking. It's a 3-column press, and it should be adaptable for pretty much any need. It would be a lever made out of a 3/4" bar, so you can make it as solid as you want. BTW, before anyone DOES make it, I already know of one issue that I didn't get right in the drawings - and that is the "intermediate plates" on the carriage. One of the plates should just be flat stock, while the other two should be mirror images of each other. I only drew one basic form on that page. The plate sizes are definitely overkill. Yes, knowing that, I'm still going to post this here, because someone can build it and tweak it.

If anyone DOES decide to build this, I'd be curious to know how well it works out, and if there are changes. Without further adieu, here is the PDF of the hand-drawn diagrams. I haven't drafted anything in a while, so the drawings are a little crude (and my wife giggled about me huddling over the drafting table for a week). The first page is the assembly, hopefully the rest is a little more self-explanatory.
 

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OK, a bit late to this one, but here goes.

One of the things that has been mentioned above, but not really focused on, is that reloading presses do a lot of different jobs. The big one, in terms of pressure, is case-resizing. Other operations, like bullet seating or neck crimping, require comparatively low forces but spot-on concentricity. For these operations. there is a type of reloading die called an inline die that can be used with an arbor press.

This means that it is possible, if you don't try to do everything with one press, to build a press for inline dies, and then use a commercial press for resizing.
 
silverhawk said:
I am just going to post this here. It is not something I am going to build (yet). First, I'll start with an RCBS Rock Chucker kit and get a little more experience. However, I'm putting this in here if anyone else is looking. It's a 3-column press, and it should be adaptable for pretty much any need. It would be a lever made out of a 3/4" bar, so you can make it as solid as you want. BTW, before anyone DOES make it, I already know of one issue that I didn't get right in the drawings - and that is the "intermediate plates" on the carriage. One of the plates should just be flat stock, while the other two should be mirror images of each other. I only drew one basic form on that page. The plate sizes are definitely overkill. Yes, knowing that, I'm still going to post this here, because someone can build it and tweak it.

If anyone DOES decide to build this, I'd be curious to know how well it works out, and if there are changes. Without further adieu, here is the PDF of the hand-drawn diagrams. I haven't drafted anything in a while, so the drawings are a little crude (and my wife giggled about me huddling over the drafting table for a week). The first page is the assembly, hopefully the rest is a little more self-explanatory.
Click to expand...

Interesting design! It looks a lot like that German press.

I am a software engineer and I work on computers all day... I still would MUCH rather go to the drafting table I built in highschool (30+ years ago) and whip something out really quick with the drafting arm than fight a CADD package that I might use a few times a year.
 
Check this guy out

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Neat press. Looks like you have to fiddle with it a lot, just look at the number of things to adjust just in the motion alone. Then there's the counterweights. And the window is very small, with reduced line of sight from the thick frame. Still looks nice, probably great precision, looks like a lot of work... just awkward to use.
 
pontiac428 said:
Neat press. Looks like you have to fiddle with it a lot, just look at the number of things to adjust just in the motion alone. Then there's the counterweights. And the window is very small, with reduced line of sight from the thick frame. Still looks nice, probably great precision, looks like a lot of work... just awkward to use.
Click to expand...
He builds some absolutely beautiful and ultra percision gear
 
I have been reloading for about 15 years. Currently I own 7 presses. 5 of those are progressive shot shell presses. The other two are a rock chucker 2 and a Dillon 550. I’d say the op is on the right path with the rock chucker kit idea. I do have some Wilson dies that are designed to be used with an arbor type press and they are very accurate. I’d be willing to say that if all you plan on doing is loading at home the rock chucker is a great way to start out and figure out what else you want. I’ll add that the Wilson dies are something I found used and probably wouldn’t own them otherwise. I’ll also add that the extra money spent on a more expensive press would probably be better spent on things like a better way to measure powder and better dies not to mention more dollars to do what we got here for........... shooting!!!


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