Hey Guy's,
I'm looking for a press that can handle large cartridges. (7mm Rem Mag...375 H&H...416 Rigby...458 Lott) The press I use now is a Pacific single stage I bought in the fifties and its too small. I have a Hornady L&L progressive that I love for loading pistol, but I would rather use a single stage for loading the big stuff.

These are my choices so far. first choice (Redding Big Boss 11) Next two tied for second choice. (Lyman Crusher 11 and RCBS Rock chucker Supreme) Third choice (Hornady Classic)

Anyone that owns one of these presses, and loads any of the above cartridges, I would appreciate your comments and pros & cons.

Bob

quote:

RCBS Rock chucker Supreme)

it works with the .375 H&H for me......and the 404 Jeff too.

Hi Vapodog,
Thanks for the information. Would you know the c.o.l. of your 404 Jeff? I think the .416 Rigby will be the longest cartridge of the one's I mentioned. C.O.L. 3.700 WITH 400GR BULLETS.
Thanks Bob

rock chucker

I vote for the Rock Chucker.

quote:

Originally posted by Bob jr:
First choice: Redding Big Boss II.

Stop there.
.

quote:

These are my choices so far. first choice (Redding Big Boss

Why not spend a few more bucks and have the biggest, strongest of them all, the Redding UltaMag?

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:

quote:

These are my choices so far. first choice (Redding Big Boss

Why not spend a few more bucks and have the biggest, strongest of them all, the Redding UltaMag?

Excellent suggestion.

Fitch

The cartridges you mention are moderately long, but within the capacity of most modern single stage presses. I suspect you are having the most problem seating bullets. In-line seating dies like RCBS comp and gold medal series, while expensive, solve that problem. Other seating dies, such as Forster, Redding comp series, and Hornady, have sliding sleeves that engage the bullet earlier, yet lift up out of the way, and reduce the need to hold onto the bullet as it advances into the die.

A press that is very large and was not mentioned is the Lee Classic Cast (iron) press. It has excellent spent primer handling (as does the BB2, but not the RCS/C2/HC), very large ram/stroke/opening, and adjustable handle for length and stroke. And it is much less expensive than any of those mentioned.

The new Forster co-ax, with the larger handle yoke, will also work well for your cartridges, particularly with the seating dies mentioned above.

Andy

The Rolls Royces of presses are made by the Corbin brothers [Dave swage.com; and Richard, rceco.com] for swaging bullets but also reloading with proper adaptors. You can have as much length as you choose to afford and as they love to point out, the standard reloading presses use "sleeve" bearings while theirs use "roller" bearings. Cost is greater than the "reloading presses" but the leverage and roller bearins make the "work" feel alot less. If your budget permits. Then there are the hydraulic adaptors. You have to push buttons... luck.

You know, when the railroads switched from sleeve bearings to roller bearings on the wheels, the rolling friction went up. Sleeve bearings were harder to get started when left standing under load for several days (tends to squeeze the oil out from under the bearing), but once they rolled over a couple of times, were much easier than roller bearings. But they changed because of drastically reduced maintenance, not rolling resistance.

Just an interesting little factoid...

Andy

quote:

Originally posted by Fitch:

quote:

Originally posted by Jim C. <><:

quote:

These are my choices so far. first choice (Redding Big Boss

Why not spend a few more bucks and have the biggest, strongest of them all, the Redding UltaMag?

Excellent suggestion.

Fitch

yes, excellent suggestion indeed.
I have a big boss, handles pretty much everything. plus they are heavy! thats always good...

Bob, don't overlook the Forster Co-Ax. I'm using it to reload my 338-378 with a COL in excess of 3.720 with no problems. I also have a Rockchuker Supreme and it handles them about the same.

Ken....

Redding Ultramag.