RCBS Piggy Back Progressive Reloader

[loose noose]

First off does anyone other than me still use this press? In my humble opinion it was one of the best. I bought mine brand new in 92, and since reloaded over a million rounds of ammunition, every thing from .32 auto to .45 acp.

I was thinking of upgrading to the newer RCBS Progressive, but why, it is like an old friend, anything that ever gave me the slightest type of problem, RCBS allways corrected. It is one of the smoothest running machines I've ever had the opportunity to work with.

Now granted I don't reload any rifle cartridges on it, allthough the .223 can be loaded on it, I prefer to use my Rock Chucker for rifle type cartridges, due to the precision I use in rifle cartridges. Don't get me wrong the Piggy Back, does a pretty good job on pistol cartridges as well. That Uniflow Powder Measure drops the same amount of powder every single time.

In all those rounds I never had a squib load or an over-powerered load of any kind, it just don't get no better than this. BTW RCBS is the best service oriented company period. And no I don't have any financial interest in that company.

 

[carbine85]

I still have the Piggyback with all the upgrades. RCBS as been great over the years with replacement parts and improvements. I don't use all five stations at once. I reload .30 carbine, .223, & 9mm with it. I remove the Piggyback and use the Rock Chucker for the bigger stuff. After I got rid of the horrible powder feed system and upgraded to the newer style it became very easy to use.

 

[fguffey]

I have two, 5 position with auto advance, then there is the case activated powder system. Shell plates for the Piggy Back 1 &11 fit two other RCBS presses. I use the powder lock out die when using a progressive press, the 5 station Piggy Back allow for seating and crimping on separate stations while taking advantage of the lock out die.

F. Guffey

 

[ljnowell]

You loaded almost 48k rounds a year on that press?

 

[Evans]

I have one that I still use as well. Not one complaint with it.
I only use it for handgun loads as well and the Rock Chucker for rifle.

Looking for a 9mm #16 5 position shell plate for it now though,so if anybody has one they are willing to part with please let me know.

And I agree RCBS has great customer service.

 

[BYJO4]

I see no reason to buy a new press if my current press does everything I want it to do.

 

[loose noose]

Yep ljnowell, probably closer to 50,000 rounds a year. I would sit down and load at least 500 rounds at a sitting of .38 Spl. three times a week or so, as I was on a pistol team, and then another 500 rounds or so of .45acp.

Note: I loaded for the entire team, 5 regular members and 3 alternate members. Naturally the team members reimbursed me for the components.

Shortly around 1996 we had several members going to the 9mm and the 40S&W. So I loaded for those also. Again 500 rounds at a sitting.

We had weekly practices, and on the week of a shoot we would have 2 practices.

I had my two boys loading the primer tubes, and the production moved right along. Now this went on for 15 years or so.

Now when I say a million rounds, I might be a bit shy, but not by much.

I also load for .32 auto, .380 auto, 44.spl/mag, 357 Mag, Colt .45, 44-40 and the afore mentioned, for my own pleasure.

 

[ljnowell]

Yep ljnowell, probably closer to 50,000 rounds a year. I would sit down and load at least 500 rounds at a sitting of .38 Spl. three times a week or so, as I was on a pistol team, and then another 500 rounds or so of .45acp.

Note: I loaded for the entire team, 5 regular members and 3 alternate members. Naturally the team members reimbursed me for the components.

Shortly around 1996 we had several members going to the 9mm and the 40S&W. So I loaded for those also. Again 500 rounds at a sitting.

We had weekly practices, and on the week of a shoot we would have 2 practices.

I had my two boys loading the primer tubes, and the production moved right along. Now this went on for 15 years or so.

Now when I say a million rounds, I might be a bit shy, but not by much.

I also load for .32 auto, .380 auto, 44.spl/mag, 357 Mag, Colt .45, 44-40 and the afore mentioned, for my own pleasure.
l

You have me beat pard! I do 300rds of 38 wadcutters per week for 22 weeks of the year and 200rds of 45 acp during that time. Then, the other 30 weeks of the year I do 100 38s and 300 45s(on average). Then I have my 40s, 9's, and 45 colts, but I dont compete with those, so they are maybe 5k all year between all three. Thats around 28k. I guess I should include match ammo too, thats another couple thousand a year.

I have been doing that on a Lee Classic Turret for the last 4 years, just stepping up to a progressive. In case you should wonder, I'm disabled andhave all the time in the world to reload.

 

[Bruno2]

If you have it and it is working then why change? I cant say enough good things about RCBS and their CS. You can buy their equipment at a garage sale and tell them " I bought this at a garage sale" and they will warranty it like you bought it new. I am not kidding either I have done this.

 

[A Pause for the Coz]

Here Piggy piggy piggy!
I have used mine for every caliber up to 5.56mm.
I did upgrade to a Case activated measure and added a powder check die.
Now I use it mostly for 45 acp and .380 auto.
RCBS support is awesome. They have kept me up and running more than once.

I have a Hornady Projector and even though it has a life time warranty. They meant life of the product warranty.
They no longer support it past any old parts they have in stock.

 

[rajbcpa]

Your arm must be very tired.

Normal my motto is, "if it ain't broken, don't fix it," however you would benefit greatly by moving to a Dillon 1050 which is designed for the kind of high volume you are cranking out.

Go to U-Tube and check out some vids on the Dillon 1050 press...

Yeh, it is high time to upgrade. Also; I've never used a RCBS Pro 2000 but it uses plastic primer strips and half of the people like them and half do not.

 

[Bruno2]

The 1050 is a sweet press! There was one at a pawn shop and it was dressed out for $700. I wish I would have bought it.

 

[loose noose]

Naw my arm is just fine I use all carbide dies, and just the Federal, Star, Remington, and Winchester cases. For the actual shoots, I used new brass from Star. It actually builds muscle co-ordination which believe it or not helps in shooting. The newer RCBS press wasn't available, I don't believe at the time, and Dillon, ya had to buy the extra plates for the quick change etc. and I allready had all the caliber change plates for the RCBS.

Granted ya have to grit your teeth somtimes when ya change caliber,'cause it can be time consuming,(changing the plates, the dies, the primer set-up for large primers in the .45acp, and resetting the powder charge) but I generally loaded enough of one caliber to keep us in stock for a while.

Further I don't care for the new RCBS strip primer feed proceedure, allthough I haven't tried it. I would imagine the cost is quite a bit higher also, or it would be more time consuming loading the primers into the strips?

I recently changed the powder drop plastic (window) insert to the RCBS aluminum drop, as I use a powder indicator die anyway, and the plastic powder drop gets really dirty after several thousand rounds.

Anyone here remember the Warren/Ponsness electronic progressive press? Quite a few years ago I had the opportunity to see one in operation, talk about fast, all ya did was feed the bullets, and cases into the machine, as well as the primers and check on the powder in the hopper and hit the switch: Wonder what ever happened to that company?

 

[Ken70]

For some reason the RCBS progressives never really caught on. Same with the Ponsness/Warren stuff. I hardly ever see anything about either one on the reloading forums I view. It's the two reds and the blue one for the most part...

 

[tygranch]

My first press was (and still is) a Rockchucker. I bought a piggyback unit for it in the mid 80's and loaded many thousands of 9mm and .40 on it. I did get kind of tired switching dies and taking the unit off when I wanted to load rifle, mostly .308 for highpower. It was virtually flawless though. Sold it to a friend and bought a Dillon 550B and never looked back.

 

[loose noose]

I have the Piggyback mounted on a RCBS 6 that I found years ago at a Pawn Shop for little or nothing. I have the Rock Chucker mounted on the same bench.

I can honestly say I've never heard any bad remarks against the Dillon, but I've got the "green machine" and I've got no regrets.

 

[rajbcpa]

The RCBS plastic primer system does not require you to buy pre-loaded primer strips that are more expensive. You can buy standard primers and load them into the plastic strips.

That does not mean you will like the plastic primer system. About %50- of users do not like the plastic strip system.

The Dillon 1050 or even the 650 are specifically designed for high capacity work - like what you are doing.....

1% or so of professional shooters in competition use the progressive RCBS Pro 2,000 and +90% of professionals use the Dillon presses.

What does that tell you?

If you buy a Dillon you will never go back to your old RCBS press. Trust me on this.

 

[loose noose]

Well rajbcpa, at my age I don't shoot competitive anymore, nor do I reload the amount of ammo I used to. I still enjoy shooting but now I'm much more retired and just enjoying life. I still give firearms classes and firearms safety classes, but now I'm just taking er easy so to speak. I do like the Dillon though. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[GW Staar]

Granted ya have to grit your teeth somtimes when ya change caliber,'cause it can be time consuming,(changing the plates, the dies, the primer set-up for large primers in the .45acp, and resetting the powder charge) but I generally loaded enough of one caliber to keep us in stock for a while.

An RCBS Pro 2000 changes calibers faster than any progressive. You want to experience slow expensive changes? buy the dillon 1050 or the next slowest the 650.

Further I don't care for the new RCBS strip primer feed procedure, although I haven't tried it. I would imagine the cost is quite a bit higher also, or it would be more time consuming loading the primers into the strips?

That's unfortunate you don't try it. rajbcpa stated:

Yeh, it is high time to upgrade. Also; I've never used a RCBS Pro 2000 but it uses plastic primer strips and half of the people like them and half do not.

Yup, he hasn't tried it either. I'd like to know where he got his numbers. RCBS told me they don't sell many tube conversion kits, and they're selling more Pro 2000's all the time. I've found only one thread from a real bona fide user who didn't like it... and that was a result of his not reading the instructions. He got a primer stuck high, and like a bull in a china shop he tried to rip the strip out backwards....and of course broke it. If you take the time to learn the system you'd never go back to tubes. Safer, faster, more convenient...and IMO worth the slightly higher price for preloaded CCI's.

Yeah there's lots of posts on forums from people who say they don't like it....Dillon and Hornady users and others who never seriously tried them.

And BTW, loading regular primers into strips with the strip loader is just as fast as pecking them into a tube unless you buy a vib-ra prime tool or similar. But you're not going to load 100 tubes and store them for a month or two, are you? With strips you can safely do just that. They store safely. When I need to load strips, I do it away from the press while I watch sitcoms. When I'm ready to load, my primers are not the bottleneck they once were...just insert and stoke. And the risk of blowing up a whole tube of primers is zero.

 

[rajbcpa]

I'm not knocking the RCBS progressive pro 2000 press and I have never used one. I have an RCBS single stage Rockchucker that is solid but it just sits on my bench unused.

I own a Dillon progressive for a good reason.

The stats on who from the pro shooting ranks use Dillon presses in high output applications. It is way over 90% and that speaks volumes. These stats come from ultimatereloader.com.

 

[GW Staar]

I'm not knocking the RCBS progressive pro 2000 press and I have never used one. I have an RCBS single stage Rockchucker that is solid but it just sits on my bench unused.

I own a Dillon progressive for a good reason.

The stats on who from the pro shooting ranks use Dillon presses in high output applications. It is way over 90% and that speaks volumes. These stats come from ultimatereloader.com.

I'm not knocking Dillons either....good presses too. And I used a Dillon 650 (not owned). and chose not to buy one as it didn't fit my planned use. The reason you own a Dillon progressive....."90%+ pro use in high output applications" may be a good reason for you, but IMO, it isn't necessarily a good reason for everybody. It all depends on your use and your needs. Typically those same pros you cited, set up their Dillons for one use....churning out the same ammo over and over for their meets. New competitors are not prone to reinvent what works, and so Dillon's share of that market has continued since long before RCBS even built a progressive.

I don't compete...never had that interest...I shoot to relax after a hard week of building construction. If I did compete, I'd buy a Dillon 1050 to go with my Pro 2000. With the RCBS, I usually load 2 calibers a session...sometimes 3 calibers.

BTW, Ultimate Reloader really screwed up his first RCBS Pro 2000 video....he didn't know how to use the APS primer system and kept pushing primers up when he shouldn't have. I commented on that and told him how to use it right. He said he'd redo the video.....he never did.....and he erased my comments. His later videos were much better.

Hopefully we can agree that we are different with different needs in presses. The Piggyback works too....it obviously fits the O.P. just fine. The Piggyback wasn't an option for me....I didn't want to lose my Rock Chucker, so I bought the Pro 2000 to go with it.

 

[rajbcpa]

I still have an RCBS auto powder measure with the rotating drum like the one shown in the picture above. I also owned a Hornady powder measure that is very similar in design.

Neither of these are (were) very accurate I found. I'm not sure why, but from throw to throw, they tend to vary more than I like. I used them with a lot of different powders including stick, ball, flake, etc.

 

[GW Staar]

This answer may be off topic too far. If it is, loose noose, I'll erase it.
There's three steps to making Uniflows and Hornady powder measures (and Reddings for that matter) throw repeatable and accurate loads:

1. Take them apart and make sure all the packing lube is totally gone. Clean with mineral spirits, or lacquer thinner.
2. Buy some plain paste wax and wax all surfaces that will touch powder. (Wipe on...let dry...wipe off and buff)
3. Buy a baffle and use it.

That done, all three measures will measure more accurately than Dillon's slide mechanism with some powders. That said....when loading pistol, the difference isn't going to affect accuracy enough to worry about, even for IDPS or IPSC. Rifle is another matter. Dillon makes a conversion kit to allow Uniflow style P.M.'s to work with their presses.

 

[loose noose]

Never had a problem with either of my RCBS Uniflow powder measures, and found both to be very repeatable and extremely accurate.

 

[buckbrush]

one of the Reasons most Profesional shooters use Dillon equipment is because Dillon is a huge supporter of Profesional shooting . They give away a lot of stuff at competive shoots. Mike Dillon has been quoted for saying that his prices are comprised as 33% cost 33% advertizing, and 33% profit.