[eastbank]

i picked up three old reloaders today,a texan model M 11-A 12ga progressive press, a starr 38spl progressive press and a hollywood universal 12 station turret press all in good condition. i have another hollywood universal press,but i don,t know any thing about the other two presses. i will mess with then when the cold and snow comes. eastbank

[jaguarxk120]

Great finds, the Hollywood is outstanding!

[Joatmon]

I am a sucker for old reloading presses. The Hollywood and the Star I have experience with, they are both great machines. If cared for they will run for generations. The bigger Hollywood turrets operate on the upstroke, something you dont see anymore on modern reloaders. Seems to work well though, plenty of leverage. Stars are just great reloaders, tool room precision and craftsmanship. The Texan is something I have not messed with. They are supposed to be well built, finding parts is always a potential issue with the old timers. Good luck, and nice find.

[bds]

I have two Texan shotshell reloaders and they happen to be for sale/trade. PM me if interested. :)

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=171860&stc=1&d=1347841367

[Kevin Rohrer]

Eastbank: I'd be interested in seeing a pic of your two Hollywoods.

[eastbank]

kevin, here are the tow holleywood presses,the one with the priming arm is the one i had before. eastbank.

[jaguarxk120]

The press with the wooden handle is a earlier model and is made of cast iron chances are it weighs about 50 lbs. or so. Still a great find.

Owning a Hollywood press is like having the Holy Grail of handloading.

[bds]

My Texan presses weigh 36 pounds each - yes, solid cast iron base! I think they were serious when they made these presses.

[eastbank]

i put a magnet on all parts on both presses and both are made of iron and weight about the same,HEAVY. i have two six die stationed herters presses i think were made by holleywood also. eastbank.

[Joatmon]

It looks like you are missing the acrylic powder reservoir for the Star progressive. The folks on the Star reloading site can probably help you out with that, very nice people. Other than that the priming tube and follower look to be there.
As far as bases go, one of the Hollywoods that I have is an aluminum pedestal, the other is iron, and the Senior turret is iron. They are all heavy. BDS, I sent you a pm, let me know.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Eastbank:

Your two Hollywoods are duplicates of two I own. The one on the left is an early (post 1945) Model-II or Model-B. The wooden handle is also an indicator that it is of the original Universal design. The swayback design shows it to be 1 of 100 before Lyle Corcoran changed the design to the one on the right, which is a later Model-II that allowed the addition of a primer arm turret. Both will clean up nicely as they are cast iron. Mine were in similar condition.

Mine:
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/KevinRohrer/Reloading/IMG_0504.jpg

http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/KevinRohrer/Reloading/IMG_0465.jpg
This one is for sale.

A quadrary of Hollywood turrets
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv29/KevinRohrer/Reloading/IMG_0447.jpg

[eastbank]

kevin, i have two of these 6 die stationed turret presses marked made by herters, i think they were made by hollywood for herters. this one have a neat sheet metal primmer catcher marked pat. pending,what do you think? i use one some times,its also heavy. eastbank.

[Kevin Rohrer]

It is my understanding that Herters sometimes had other companies make presses for them (e.g. Dunbar), and that Herters' also liked to copy other companies' products. I have no information on their relationship with Hollywood.

If you contact 'Pressman' on the Cast Boolits site, he is an expert on all things Herters.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Joatman:

Do your Hollywood have a rounded top knot like the ones in these pictures, or is the top knot flat?

[Kevin Rohrer]

Eastbank:

I say that your press is 1 of 100 as Lyle Corcoran made his presses in batches of 100, and numbered them as such. If you get your hands on a copy of Phil Sharpe's excellent handloading book, there is at least one pic in it showing press frames setting on a bench.

And if you want to know what your press numbers are in that sequential, turn them upside down and look on the bottom of the arm that holds the primer arm. You might need to knock the paint off to see it though. I found the number on one; it was '068'.

[rsrocket1]

I loaded a bunch back in the late 70's with a friend's Texan and I loved it. I wish they were still in business and made replacement parts for them because I would have picked one up in a minute when I started loading shotshell again. Instead I picked up an old Mec 9000G(N) which is adequate, but nowhere near as well built and fool-proof as that Texan.

They are nice loaders. Someone with machine shop skills or a stash of hanger queens could really enjoy those machines.

[Joatmon]

Kevin, They both have the rounded top with the flats like yours. The aluminum base press is two inches taller (19) and has the thee large die holes for the Hollywood shotshell dies (I have a couple). They are both straight backed (not curved) and the aluminum press has the smaller turret for the multiple primer rod setup (up to 4 different primers). Something from another era. If you are referring to the super turret, I have only seen them in pictures. They are really big, at least 2 feet tall.

[Kevin Rohrer]

Yes, I am lusting after a Super Turret.

[JLDickmon]

I miss Herter's..