What press to start with (second hand) for a 'Buy once' policy.

[Grandhubert]

Any of the quality (Lyman, RCBS, Hornady, Forster, etc) single stage presses will last a lifetime and load any round you would wish.

You can add a hand press and/or turret press as time goes on for things like dedicated decapping stations, crimping, etc.

 

[Akeld]

Really depends on what calibre you're loading. I have a RCBS Rock Chucker supreme, and it will easily deal with all the calibres you are likely to load.

I also have a RCBS Partner press, which I bought pretty much for bullet seating. It's very small, and a PITA loading for the longer ammunition, where there's little room between the top of the case, and the bottom of the die. It's also much more cheaply made, and not nearly as smooth, or easy to use as the Rock Chucker.

So unless you'll only be loading short action rounds, pay a little more, and wait for a full size press, at the very least.

Longest I loaded with mine was .270, which it dealt with no problem and the bullets where seated far out, can't think of a standard round (long or short action) that would be too long for it

 

[deeangeo]

RCBS Rock Chukker .. Excellent press, solid & will last a lifetime & hand prime with RCBS hand primer. The Lee autoprime is good too, but more prone to break than the RCBS. Both are good for feel when priming.

Lee turret press will do the job, but it's sloppy with 'play' in ram & turret location. I still have one (originally bought for revolver/pistol use) but only use it for depriming with a Universal Deprimer die & case neck expansion when required. All other work is done on the Rock Chukker.

 

[Redneck]

I have used a RCBS partner press to load hundreds of 30.06 rounds no problem at all. I mostly full length size. Used a Lee challenger for de-capping.

Yes of course there are " better presses" but you can do the job perfectly well with a budget press.

 

[Effnjeff]

I've only ever had Lee presses and have no complaints.
If another brand gave reloads that measured with better consistency then I'd consider changing but I'm not aware of any empirical evidence.

 

[MTLEADFARMER]

If you're serious about buy once cry once. Single stage FORSTER, progressive DILLON. Doubt you'll find either used, unless it's an estate sale.

 

[Lateral]

Longest I loaded with mine was .270, which it dealt with no problem and the bullets where seated far out, can't think of a standard round (long or short action) that would be too long for it

I'm not saying the Partner press can't load the rounds, just that it's more fiddly than a full size press, and if I have 50 rounds to load, I don't want to be faffing about, having to lift the bullet up into the press, just to seat it. You also need to put a LOT more effort into resizing with the short arm partner press, but it's down to personal preference.

Examples, all the bullets are slightly seated, so they sit for the picture, so they look shorter, and there's actually less room to seat them. And yes, smaller rounds will be much easier.


270 130g Nosler BT. Partner press / Rock Chucker.



270 150g Nosler BT.



7x64 170g Partner press



And for the long cartridge, 9.3x74r 285g Oryx

 

[Donzo]

Forster Co AX ,,, you won't regret it

 

[TURNBOLT]

I started with partner press and used it for almost 20 years.no complaints at all. Have used a Forster co-ax for last 6 or 7 years.Does it load better ammunition than a partner press? who knows,all I can say is ,accurate ammunition came from both presses.

 

[Ferryman]

Look for a Bonanza Co Ax press they were taken over by Forster and all the parts for the Bonanza are still available through Forster should you ever need any.
I did a complete refurb on my 2 Bonanza co Ax presses last year and got all the parts direct from Forster.

 

[Woodsmoke]

I bought the Lee Challenger kit to load 22-250 and .270. Never had any issues whatsoever (save the time I forgot to lube a case and ruined a perfectly-good die trying to get it out )

 

[munty123]

Anybody have any feedback on the redding Big boss ii press? nobody seems to have mentioned redding

cheers

 

[enfieldspares]

Redding BB II? If I'm paying that much I want the links on the swinging arms supported on BOTH ends on both sides and not just on the one end on each side.

 

[jordang]

I use a wamadet press for everything. Cost £60 a few years back and is brilliant - and portable!!

 

[Xtrema]

Look for a Bonanza Co Ax press they were taken over by Forster and all the parts for the Bonanza are still available through Forster should you ever need any.
I did a complete refurb on my 2 Bonanza co Ax presses last year and got all the parts direct from Forster.

Forster presses are indeed great presses. However, you can't seem to get them for love nor money in the UK.
Spud had them on his site but the link is dead so maybe he's out of stock.
Does anyone have any idea where in the UK they are available?

 

[Laurie]

The OP was asking specifically about secondhand presses. The chances of finding a secondhand Forster Co-Ax are small (although I was lucky enough to get my PM in ahead of about 100 others for one on this forum), and I wouldn't recommend a secondhand lightweight aluminium press or many turret types either unless you know they are genuinely little used and well cared for.

The better / bigger cast iron frame presses last a long time - Redding models, Hornady, and RCBS Rockchucker and its predecessors. Remember they are heavy though and you need a bench able to mount 15-20+ Lbs of iron and they mostly have a lot of linkage below the frame too that needs space.

Another possibility either new (as it's cheaper than equivalents) or secondhand that's not been mentioned is the Lee Classic Cast which is highly rated by those who've measured runouts and suchlike to the nth fraction of a gnat's whisker. Randy Robinette allegedly uses (used?) one for years in modified form to swage his world famous benchrest bullets and says it's unbeatable in terms of alignments and suchlike. Henry Krank sells it for £100 in both trad screw dies in form or in the newer breech-lock system. I used one of these presses for some years after it was first introduced and it is as good a heavyweight iron type as I've tried to date - but nothing like as convenient for my multi-calibre use as the Co-Ax with its snap-in die holder and universal auto-shellholder.

http://www.henrykrank.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=164_181_472&products_id=2333

 

[Harry mac]

I still have and still use my first 2nd hand press, RCBS Partner

I've still got my Partner, set up in the loft at my dad's house. It's got one of the nicest on-press priming features I've ever used for "feeling" the primer being seated. As the press handle comes to the top of its stroke, just grasp the front strap of the press frame with your fingers and squeeze, you can feel the primer go in all the way to fully seated.

 

[Sauer90]

Lee classic cast, cheap accurate and tough, I use one to swage 224 and 6mm bullets, a fine press.

 

[Ferryman]

I picked up one of my Bonanza Co-Ax presses up on Gumtree for under £50, also got some lead thrown in as previous owner originally cast his own bullets in .38.
So look in those unlikely places "FreeAdds, Gumtree, Fleabay"

 

[deeangeo]

Most of the good heavy presses work well and should last a lifetime. Used RCBS Rockchukkers come up for sale more often than other presses, so shouldn't take too long to find a good used one. But, any of the others, Lyman, Redding, will work well too.