WORN OUT

I agree that maintenance is key to longevity. I used to deprime on my single stage press until I got tired of cleaning it. Left uncleaned, that grit and grime from range pick up brass would definitely wear the ram/frame after a few years of neglect. It is hard to wear out solid blocks of metal, but it can be done.

I cannot imagine I'll wear any press out in my lifetime. I just started the hobby too late in life to give myself half a chance.
Assuming the press is kept indoors and half way lubed once in a while it is hard to imagine one wearing out I suppose it is possible over dozens of years or a couple generations.

-Jeff

KY DAN said:

I decided I would look up what a new press cost from midwayusa.com and while I looked I read reviews and I came across a few in which the words worn out was a reason for replacing their existing rock chucker.

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It's odd that they would replace a press that RCBS would fix for free.

If the ram on my old Lyman Spar-T ever wears out, I already have the bronze bushings to sleeve it with.
But I run it fairly wet. Maybe my grandkids might need to do it

Funny you should ask. I'm over the 100K mark with my Hornady LnL AP and I was having troubles with my .38spl. These are loaded for IDPA and are fired through a much lightened 686, so primers and primer seating is important. I was starting to get about 1 in every 100, misfire. Run the round around and it fire the second time which indicates they weren't seated all the way. Took a careful look at my press and where the primer punch, which is steel, pushes against the press body, which aluminum, a divot (hole) had been formed. Not much of one but just enough to cause the punch not to push up as far as it did originally. We're talking ~1/1000" or maybe less, but that's all it takes.

One solution would have been to replace the frame. Big hassle, big expense. OR I squared off a box cutter blade(steel) and glued it over the divot area. Now not only is it steel upon steel, but it's now pushing the punch up about 32/1000" more than originally designed. I'm sure to bottom seat every primer. Re-seated my last two boxes and tested them. No mis-fires.

Yes well manufactured equipment will last almost forever but sometimes things do need patching and they do need to be taken care of and operated within specs.

<warstory> Sad, that my favorite plane, C-141A, was pushed past it's design and run into the ground. What a great plane it was. </warstory>

My Rock chucker is on it's third owner (ME) it has outlived the first two and will probably outlive me

I still have the first press I ever purchased, a Lyman single stage bought brand new in 1975 and I couldn’t even estimate the number of rounds I’ve loaded on it.

A few years back I broke the handle off at the threaded shank sizing machine gun fired 308 brass.

I had a local machine shop shorten and re thread the handle and it’s still going strong.

Short of very extreme abuse, it would not be very easy to render a single stage press unfixable.

I have been using the same RCBS single stage press since the early 70's and it isn't as heavily built as the rock chucker. It is still in excellent condition and I will wear out before it does. I'll admit to being protective of it. It has a dust proof cover that it wears while out of use and I clean it and lube it regularly. It doesn't have to carry the work load now that it did just a few years ago either. My son will inherit a perfectly functional old press someday.

KY DAN said:

Does anyone have a "worn out press" ?

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After loading over 120,000 rounds on my first Pro 1000, I called Lee to replace ram linkage with holes that elongated into slight oval holes but still worked. They went "You loaded over 120,000 rounds on a Pro 1000? ... Really?" then silence.

They offered to replace the "worn out" press with a new press at 50% retail but I chose to get a new complete kit from MidwayUSA thinking other parts like dies would have also "worn out" at slightly more money (I think $139?).

Now after 650,000 rounds reloaded in 30 years on 15 presses, maybe I will reload 1 million rounds before I die?

KY DAN said:

I bought recently a rcbs rock chucker from a scrap yard which was locked up tight as a proverbial drum due to rust and impact damage.

I have disaambled and removed all rust and burrs and lubed all pivot points and now have it back in proper functioning condition. It's ugly but works fine.

I decided I would look up what a new press cost from midwayusa.com and while I looked I read reviews and I came across a few in which the words worn out was a reason for replacing their existing rock chucker.

I feel the word worn out is over used..

I will make this statement no reloading press of quality construction and design can be worn out by proper use with maintenance and lube.

I own 7 Dillon rl1000 presses and their previous owner was a commercial loader who ran a indoor gun range in Florida 1980s to early 2000s and used these 7 presses for the vast majority of the tenor. How many 100,000s if not a million have been loaded on these presses but yet they are still here and going strong all thanks to maintenance and lube.

Does anyone have a "worn out press" ?

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I broke a Lyman Spartan once. It fell out of the trailer at 70mph on US 1 SB to Vero Beach. Very sad day. Also lost the best boot scraper ever made in that same calamity.

Not worn out, but presses do develop more play with years of regular use. And that wear can make it more difficult to make precision ammo.

Press still functions as it should….. Me on the other hand. Not so much

Hmmmm, worn down is maybe a better term. Like how the Colorado River has worn down the Grand Canyon.

Remember this: Nothing lasts. That, is as sure as death and taxes.

Some things can last several lifetimes though and I agree, reloading presses are one of them.

I began reloading in 1986 on a Pacific "C" press that is now 83+ yo, and it is still the only press I have and use for rifle and handgun cartridge reloading. It has the Spangle primer feed. Handle still has the original rubber handlebar grip. Like John Cameron Swayze used to say about Timex.....It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

I’ve told this story before but here goes. About ten years ago I bought a box of random reloading tools and components at a garage sale. In the box was a beat up Rock Chucker I didn’t need but what the hey.

After I got home I found the linkage bushings were worn out so I call RCBS and asked them to send me new bushings. The nice lady on the phone said if I’d send in the press they’d rebuild it. Off to Oroville it went.

A couple of weeks later I received a BRAND NEW press; no charge and they paid the return shipping. Hard to beat that.

A few years back I had an RCII that had developed noticeable play and I wanted to replace some of the worn parts. I called RCBS and was told that they no longer had parts to service that press. No offer was made to replace the press. Perhaps it depends on who you speak with.

Bought a Rock Chucker Supreme to replace it, which was not as tight as the RCII was when I bought it used. I miss that RCII. It was handier than the larger RC Supreme.

burrhead said:

A couple of weeks later I received a BRAND NEW press; no charge and they paid the return shipping. Hard to beat that.

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RCBS sent me a new RC2 press, after i returned mine around 1980s. Ram became loose in frame. When seating bullets at top of stroke, ram fell forward. May not have lubed propertly?

A new Dillon RL-450 took away some wear & tear from the RC, IN 1979.

A new RC is on its way to me right now from Midwayusa. DONT MISS THE REBATE.

243winxb said:

RCBS sent me a new RC2 press, after i returned mine around 1980s. Ram became loose in frame. When seating bullets at top of stroke, ram fell forward. May not have lubed propertly?

A new Dillon RL-450 took away some wear & tear from the RC, IN 1979.

A new RC is on its way to me right now from Midwayusa. DONT MISS THE REBATE.

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presses are cheap right now! Dies are cheap. Probably because they don’t have primer and over produced Presses and dies and such. Bit themselves in the butt

Fathers day special.

This is interesting to me. I think a lot of presses can wear out but I think some may be nearly impervious -maybe.
I want to focus on the theory/operation of presses like the forster co-ax, the die "floats" so it should self center and create consistency . seems to work, that press is well regarded . so for a single stage press, assuming the ram got some serious wear and is no longer held in tight alignment I would think it too would self center to one degree or another. Is that inaccurate? Maybe single stage presses produce more concentric cartridges as they wear? I don't know. Just a thought.
I can easily see a progressive or turret press having multiple issues in their fiddly bits as they wear and that would be expected .
I don't count rounds but I'd think I have loaded about 40k on a single stage lee press, zero signs of wear. I don't grease or oil my press either, seems to attract and hold grit rather then letting it just fall away. That may be backward thinking but it seems to work for me. The only other press I have is a lee app, good press for sizing bullets and cases and I do lube it because it's fiddly and I can definitely see it wearing out at some point .
I'm interested to see more responses .

Pulled a helicoil out of my Square Deal that I bought used from a friend in '87 a couple of years ago.

Sent it back to Dillon and they replaced the frame, powder measure and quite a few other parts; but not the handle.
Free.

2 years ago I broke the handle.
Even during the height of "the pandemic" they replaced the handle within 2 weeks.
Free.

Obturation said:

self center

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A fl die should self center. A standard seat die has to much slop.

243winxb said:

A fl die should self center. A standard seat die has to much slop.

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How does that work for the forster? Seems the die will walk to wherever it wants. This is an honest question , not meant to be a question I already have a smart a÷# answers for .

Obturation said:

forster

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Never used one, so dont know.

The "jaws" hold the brass, i think? A question for Youtube?

EDIT ADD- Another video, said the jaws let the brass self aligh also. Both float, die & brass.
The target will know what works.

Only $380 to try one.https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1012990048