Pacific press

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shenck

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At an auction I bought a box lot that had a press in it, (you can never have too many press lying around) When I got it home I discovered it is a Pacific, it's stange in that you raise the handle to raise the ram. All of my other presses you push down on the handle to raise the ram. I have an older Lyman press that can be changed to raise the ram by raising the handle. Is there any advantage to this or is just something different?
 
We don't know what model press you have but most of the older presses, like your Lyman, permitted action on either the up or down stroke, depending on how the owner connected the ram linkage.

Some folks once liked to work on the up stroke, but not many. That's why it faded away with no loud complaint when compound linkage presses were introduced.

Up-stroke is a pill to operate, IMHO. You can lift the bench unless you have the front legs bolted to the floor, and it takes all muscle power. Down stroke lets body weight do most of the work! That's good.
 
Thats what I thought, If your bench didn't weigh a ton the press would be difficult to operate. This press doesn't have the ability to be reversed. I will probably set it up and try it out just for fun.
 
I have two of those presses out back, plus a whole assortment of rams. I don't know what they are good for but I got them all for less than ten bucks.
 
The one I just bought came with ten rams, one takes standard shell holders.
I'm thinking about setting it up for priming. I've got one more empty corner on my bench, might as well use it.:)
 
Didn't Hornady buy out the old Pacific brand products/company? I think their 366 AP shotshell press instructions still has the name Pacific printed in them.

Good shooting and be safe.
LB
 
someone posted a picture of one about a month ago. that thing must way a ton. very heavy duty. they were made to not wear out.
id sand blast it and have it powder coated. Make it workable.
 
If you google up the USPTO (Patent Office) and W. Sutton's Nov 7, 1933 patent Nº 1,933,940 you can read all about it. The entire patent is there for your press.
One advantage for the old dedicated shellholder rams is that they get taken out and cleaned from time to time.
An upstroke press is a little easier to use for bullet pulling, but not much else.
That press was state of the art in those days before WWII, and still will serve you well if you tie your bench down securely.
Cheers from Darkest California,
Ross
 
The label on the spent primer cup says "Pacific Div of Hornady" I plan on giving it a try, but I will keep it just for historical purposes. At least thats what I'm telling my wife ;) .
 
I set it up

I just set this press up, full length sizing of 30/06 is not difficult. This might be interesting to play with for a while.:D
 
I don't have problems resizing 308 brass fired in my rifle, but sometimes I feel like I'm about to lift the whole bench up by the press handle resizing some once-fired military 223 brass that I have come into. The next time I resize the military brass I may use a newer press that I have instead.
 
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