Hi all can someone help me dos someone have a RCBS PRO 2000 progressive press are they good and how accurate are they

quote:

Originally posted by deraldm:
Hi all can someone help me dos someone have a RCBS PRO 2000 progressive press are they good and how accurate are they

I don't own one but I have seen it in action. To me it's a production rig and the accuracy is fair to good. For all the time it takes to set up, you better have a large run otherwise it's a waste of time. Would never use it for precision loads but I wouldn't hesitate to load up a couple hundred rounds of 9mm for plinking!

I have one.
Once set up it is fast.
I load on 45 ACP on it and I get very uniform performance from my reloads.

it depends .. and NO, either way
it was originally a manual indexing press, though the new ones are auto progressive. Its 125 to upgrade. However, its list price, 710.95, is outrageous. You could nearly buy TWO LNL ap, or a full dillion 650, ... you cuold get a LNL ap and case feeder AND bullets.

GOod part? it uses the APS strips for priming .. which i prefer over tubes, and wish my other progressives used. Some guys might not like the aps system, which is fine .. its actually not nearly as fast as tubes, and requires more attention, though you see EVERY primer, and there's nil chance of MISSING a flipped primer .. i like to SEE stuff

I had a Dillon 550 and a RCBS 2000. I used them both a lot, and after comparing them for features, ease of use (ergonomics), available caliber change overs, ... the RCBS is superior in every way except the quality of the powdercoating.

I sold my 550, the 550 is an excellent press, the RCBS 2000 is just better.

I've had my Pro 2000 for 7-8? years (I bought about a year after they came out); it's the older manual indexing version that only cost me around $450. It's a more complete system than what you get from anyone else - the primer strip loader tool, a few of th eplastic primer strips in each size and color, bullet tray, completed cartridge bin and all the allen wrenches needed for adjusting the powder linkage etc came with my press. You also get both the rifle and pistol drums for the Uniflow powder measure.
The APS system is far better than any other primer system, not sure why jeffeosso says it's slower than tubes since I can load strips faster than any of my friends with Dillons or Hornady's can get their tubes loaded. You do need to operate the press correctly when priming, the primer ram is operated by pushing the operating arm past it's neutral point, a short stroke will cause the plastic primer strip to not advance correctly and when you try to prime the next case, the ram goes through the seperator between the holes for the primers, crushing and ruining a primer and the plastic strip. Though surprisingly I have never managed to actually set off a primer even though the primer gets thoroughly crushed and mangled when I make this mistake. One of the big advantages of the RCBS over the Dillon is changing the primer size. It takes about 15 seconds on the RCBS, many guys have bought a second press from Dillon so they don't have to change the primer size on their first press. That says it must really be a major pain to change the primer size on a Dillon, but on the RCBS its loosen one lock nut and unscrew the primer ram, then screw in the other primer ram size and adjust it for proper primer seating, then tighten the lock nut. The primer ram is easily accessible on the lower right side of the press frame.
Changing die and shell plates is also faster on the RCBS than any of the other progressive presses. Two pins that can be pulled or inserted using just your fingers hold the die plate, the shell plate is held in with just a single allen bolt in the center. Adjusting the powder measure linkage for different cartridge case lengths is a bit of a pain, as is changing powder types, but that is true of all of the progressive presses.

I load mostly pistol so I'm not sure about benchrest rifle accuracy, but as with the other progressive presses unless you modify the press for a flat torrington bearing the OAL of your cartridges is going to vary, sometimes up to .010", as the shell plates will deflect this much during bullet seating.

The only reservation I currently have is that the CCI primers loaded in the APS strips were the first to go to "out of stock" status, and have stayed that way until very recently when a few were available from Midway and Grafs, then immediately went out of stock again. It's MUCH cheaper to occasionally buy some CCI APS primers so that you can re-use the strips. The strips by themselves are available from Midway, but cost $6.00 for just eight (8) strips. A 1K box of CCI APS primers has 40 strips, and only cost about $5-$10 more than the standard 1K package of primers back when they were commonly available. Hopefully availability and low markup price over the standard primer package will return soon.