Shawn

This is only my opinion, but I think your press "is done". It has way too much play in the parts for accurate reloading. However, if you really, really want to use it, there are options.

1. Make a new ram. If you do this you should have the press frame honed to make sure the bore is round and centered on the die bore.

2. Have the press bore made bigger and bushed to fit the ram. Of course the ram needs to be checked for straightness and size.

3. You can also have either the ram or the press bore knurled and ground to size.

All expensive solutions unless you have the machinery yourself, or access to a shop.

I understand the sentimental part, but I'd suggest buying a new one and keep the Herters for just crimping or punching out old primers. Good luck.

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Surely we must all hang together, for separately we will all surely hang.

Martindog

Load some shells and see how it does.

Shawn

quote:

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Originally posted by Martindog:
Along these lines, I would like to know why it is so desirable to have minimal play in the ram to begin with. What am I missing here?

Martindog

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My opinion: Some dies depend on the ram (shellholder) to hold the case head in line with the die. Such as most seating dies. My hornady dies in particular.

Some dies align the case in a sleeve for seating the bullet and shouldn't be sensitive to play in the ram. ie. Redding competition seating dies.

Also, a excessively loose ram may allow the depriming pin to miss the flash hole.

JerryO

quote:

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Originally posted by JerryO:
My opinion: Some dies depend on the ram (shellholder) to hold the case head in line with the die. Such as most seating dies. My hornady dies in particular.

Some dies align the case in a sleeve for seating the bullet and shouldn't be sensitive to play in the ram. ie. Redding competition seating dies.

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Thanx for the response. I sort of understand what you are saying, but your example confuses me a bit. Both the Hornady and Redding seaters use sleeves to support cartridges as bullets are seated -- Hornady's supports only the neck while Redding's supports both the neck and the body. Why then would Hornady's seater be more reliant on ram alignment while Redding's would be more forgiving? Do you have an old style seater that doesn't use the sleeve?

Regardless, it still seems that a little bit of sideways play would allow the ram and shellholder to naturally find the die's center. The worst case would be perfect support with no slop whatsoever, but a ram which wasn't aligned with the die's base. Then as the shellholder got closer to the die, the angular misalignment would rear its ugly head.

Martindog

While I'm not an expert on the Herters press, looking at my RS-5 it seems that it would be fairly simple to drill and tap 4 holes square into the press' ram guide bore area, install 4 brass screws, and presto, sliding "steady rest". You could adjust to the amount of play you were comfortable with, or dial a set up in to rock solid inline with a particular dies set up.

But that's just a first impression.

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Ray Atkinson

ray@atkinsonhunting.com
atkinsonhunting.com

quote:

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Originally posted by Martindog:
Both the Hornady and Redding seaters use sleeves to support cartridges as bullets are seated -- Hornady's supports only the neck while Redding's supports both the neck and the body. Why then would Hornady's seater be more reliant on ram alignment while Redding's would be more forgiving? Martindog

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I don't have redding dies, so I sorta/haveto believe their support of the case aligns the case with the bullet. I have looked at forester dies with the slideing sleeve and thought the sleeves were loose in their bore. Perhaps that is why they were in cabelas bargin cave.

I do however have a set on hornady dies with the neck sleeve. Since the neck sleeve has to be loose on the case neck to accomadate various brass thicknesses, it can't control the angle of the brass to the bullet (ie, it does not support the case neck !!! ). However, a circle of music wire soldered inside the bottom of the die is fit just barely tight (on my neck sized dies). I did check runout with my rcbs case alignment measureing tool and did find a big difference with the ring in the bottom of the die, but have no numbers written down to quote (sorry).

I should note that I was using a lee C-press when reloading with these dies. This press had resized about 15,000 9mm and 5,000 .223 cases and had considerable slop from front to back (which I have since reduced by way of shims in the bore, ie epoxy and coke cans). So why did I (do I) use this press? Because the action is so light and quick it is just delightful for light to modest duty. It also has an excellent system to handle (contain) the old primers which is something that can't be said for the rockchucker.

JerryO

For what it is worth, cleaning and lubricating the press ram will go along way to preserve the life i.e. tolerances of a press, if your goal is to keep the ram to frame tolerances as tight as possible. It would also stand to reason, that deflection of the ram (due to greater tolerances) as the cartridge starts into a sizing die, for example, cannot be condusive to good die/cartridge alignment. Assuming the ram is bored straight to begin with, tighter is better.

I have had good luck with some heavy lubricants that stick tightly to the ram and have even used some of the lubricants designed for motorcycle chains, which will not run or move much. These lubricants often have moly added and I can see a difference in wear as compared to other lubricants like the oils. I load ALOT so experimenting with ram lubes makes sense to me.

kind regards

Paul Prochko