The Firearms Forum banner

Chart of Reloading Press Specs?

2K views 8 replies 5 participants last post by  CampingJosh 
#1 ·
I've been loading on a Lyman T-Mag II press for a few years now, and I like it a lot. But I'm looking to add an additional press to leave set up as a decapping station, and I'm seeing tons of presses listed on auction sites. Some of them are pretty old, and they don't all take the standard dies and shell holders of today, so I was wondering if anyone had ever seen a chart that lists all the old presses with some specs on each? Stuff like what material each is made of, length of travel, frame shape, die size, and any other "odd" thing about any given press.

Anybody got something for me? Or did I just come up with a project for myself?
 
#2 ·
I'd be willing to bet that if you went and did a search on every press that you're interested in, you could gind a spec sheet. But a master sheet? Let us know how that works out.

Now that I've said that, watch Alpo post one. That man can find find anything.
 
#4 ·
I use a cheap Lee press for de-capping Josh. It takes standard dies and works fine for decapping. A used press found at a garage sale might be a bit hard to find. I found an old Pacific press at one, turns out that It's one of my favorites for seating bullets.
I have 5 presses on my bench, and use them all.
 
#7 ·
Note to administrators. I am posting this here so if you can look back at the software you will see a timestamp and location of the occurrence. I periodically get knocked off the forum. I don't notice when exactly, but I had to log in submit this post.
 
#8 ·
May not be much help, but, I acquired an old C-H aluminum "C" press a while back (same design as Pacific, Herters, and a few more) and it came with a ram dedicated to one head size, not made for universal shell holders. I found several vendors that had new rams that used universal (RCBS style) shell holders and got one for mebbe $20.00. Since I only paid $12.00 for the press, it still is a good deal, and it is now my dedicated decapping tool. A lot of the inexpensive presses used "one caliber" rams and the rams are still available in universal shell holder configuration...

P.S. Don't bother looking on ebay for one of these presses, the idjits selling them are asking 4 or 5 times what they are worth...
 
#9 ·
P.S. Don't bother looking on ebay for one of these presses, the idjits selling them are asking 4 or 5 times what they are worth...
Things don't sell at auction for multiples of their value. That's why auctions tell you what things are really worth.

Good deals may be available in your area, but I never see a used press sell in this area for less than about 80% of retail value--and it's often closer to full price. Indiana just recently opened up deer hunting regulations to allow some rifle cartridges after decades of shotgun-only, and the best legal cartridges are all wildcats. Used presses disappear within a few hours on Craigslist or the local swap sites. Too many people getting into it for as few used presses are available here.

If you've got a working cast press that takes 7/8-14 dies and uses RCBS shell holders for under $40, let me know. Otherwise, I
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top