Arbor style press, anyone using one of these?

[clrems77]

Curious about the differences between the arbor and traditional style press? I've been using a Forster co ax for a little while and love it, but I've been told by several other shooters that their arbor press with pressure gauge is no comparison. What your take on it and is it worth the extra investment? I've been looking at the 21st century hydro seater press.

 

[jonbearman]

The 21st century arbor is just for seating just to clarify that. You have to use Wilson or similar type hand die with the arbor press. Unless you are shooting in competition stick with what you have.

 

[Chappy]

I will be setting up my bench soon with a Forster Co-Ax for sizing operations and a Hydro Seater for seating obviously.

 

[Judd]

What the force indictor arbor style presses do is allow you to group shells with like neck tensions. I can tell you that a shell with higher neck tension will shoot higher than shells with lower neck tension. How much depends on caliber and distance...but I have done enough testing to convince myself this is valuable time spent.

I have the coax and 21st Centtury...as far as I'm concerned....the two best in their class.

 

[Down South]

The 21st century arbor is just for seating just to clarify that. You have to use Wilson or similar type hand die with the arbor press. Unless you are shooting in competition stick with what you have.

I agree. I use the hydro seater press and love it but if i didn't compete in competition i probably wouldn't have bought it. I use my co-ax press to FL size and love it for that but i used it with a Redding competition seater for a while with good results until i got the hydro press and Wilson hand seater die.

 

[Shynloco]

Personally, I hardly ever use my bench presses to seat bullets. I use Wilson Seater Dies to seat most of my bullets in pursuit of best accuracy since I shoot strictly Benchrest discipline anymore. And as most know, Wilson Dies require (not always) an arbor press, with or without a pressure gauge. And I do not compete, but strive for the best accuracy and the lowest possible runout. I've had greater success with the Wilson Inline dies than a commercial bullet seater such as that made by Redding or RCBS. But there is another reason by I prefer using an Arbor Press. I like the "feel" of seating a bullet, something a bench press does not afford. And that "feel" tells me things about my casings such as consistent seating (no rough spots) and even brass hardness that I can sense from case to case when the resistance of the seating changes. Guess it's a matter of preference as well as habit.

Alex

 

[BoydAllen]

Arbor presses give more feel as you seat bullets, due to their having less mechanical advantage than regular reloading presses. If you are not competing in long range events, I think that a regular arbor press should be fine. On the other hand, if you budget does not flinch, having one of the 21st Century hydraulic units should be a fun way to learn more about what matters, for your kind of shooting, and what is less important. As with many things, the answer is it depends.

 

[dannyjbiggs]

Curious about the differences between the arbor and traditional style press? I've been using a Forster co ax for a little while and love it, but I've been told by several other shooters that their arbor press with pressure gauge is no comparison. What your take on it and is it worth the extra investment? I've been looking at the 21st century hydro seater press.

I use the Sinclair Arbor Press for seating bullets using the Wilson seating die. Sinclair also offers the Wilson Neck Die for use in conjunction with an Arbor Press, if you are into NS. IMO the Arbor Press is designed for "lighter" and more accurate work than for the traditional presses? I use the Forester co-ax press, primarily for FL the .308 and .284. The floating of dies is a great feature. For case forming, bullet pointing, FL sizing short magnum brass, i.e. where extra torque might be beneficial; I use the heavy Lyman Orange Crusher.

Dan

 

[M-61]

I use one of my RCBS Summit presses strictly for bullet seating. Because it is a single stage and used with the short handle I find there is very good 'feel' in seating bullets. I made my own conversion to an arbor press with it as it is a faster setup than the kit RCBS offers to do it. For me it works just fine.

 

[wmdron]

I only compete informally, but I use the Wilson Seater dies with the 21st century regular arbor press. I like the feel.

 

[Richard Jones]

Homemade arbor press here, used mainly for seating, as I've pretty much switched over to 7/8-14 bushing dies for sizing. Hard to beat with a mic top.

 

[clrems77]

Thanks everyone! IM not at the competition level yet, but I'm always seeking to better my performance in reloading techniques. Chasing ES/SD is costly!!!

 

[Raythemanroe]

I just started the arbor press this season but I feel the Wilson chamber type die give less run out and more consistent seating depth..



Ray