Shell holder wont fit into Ram on older Rock chucker

[Bull Nutria]

I acquired an older rock chucker. The ram will not accept any of my numerous shell holders. the slot in the ram is too narrow to accept the base of the shell holder. is there an adapter that is missing? Please help me out.
Bull

 

[edwardware]

My first guess is that the slot is peened (damaged) and needs filed back to shape. I don't know of a previous shell holder rim spec.

Measure and see?

 

[FROGO207]

As far as I know all the Rock Chuckers are able to use the standard shell holders. If you have problems I would get ahold of RCBS amd ask them. They are good about getting you parts or fixing things for free. They will make it work for you.

 

[AJC1]

I would pull the press appart and soak the ram. Once out the ram will be easy to inspect but the rust may be hindering you. A good clean in mineral spirits never hurt anything. Wire brush the crap out of the shell holder area and see if it's still a no go. Any fix will be easier to identify and execute on clean parts

 

[bearleft]

BULL, I have a spare ram!! Send me your address and it's yours, if you can't get it to work. Dan

 

[PWC]

Is it an original ram? I replaced the ram on my 80 yr old Pacific C press, which is caliber specific, with a RCBS Universal, and now I can use caliber specific shell holders.

You "acquired" a used press, just replace the damaged part.

 

[Bull Nutria]

The rest of the story on my original rock chucker is that it was submerged in sea water after hurricane Katrina in 2005. I obtained it from the son of the decease owner at a gargage/estate sale. it was frozen with corrosion. it was given to me as worthless with some reloading stuff that i did purchase. I ask a friend who is a very experienced mechanic to see if he could free it up. It took a while but he used several methods and combinations but got it freed up. Perhaps the top of the ram was damaged by the corrosion or in the freeing up process. Have a bunch of standard shell holders and none fit. I have emailed RCBS but have not heard from them yet. Stand by for a report.

Thanks to all for the suggestions.