Forster Co-Ax Press Priming Problem

[Phil3]

For now, I am trying to use the Forster Co-Ax press to prime cases (I will be getting something else later). For those familiar with the press, you will know that the design of the tool always seats primers .005" below the case head. The problem is, mine doesn't. I primed ten cases and all have the primers sitting a few thousandths ABOVE the case head. Using calipers, you can see the caliper blade sitting on the primer, with daylight around it. What can be happening here? The Forster design DOES seem to make it impossible to seat primers at any other depth than .005" below case head, but mine does not. ???

- Phil

 

[xr650rRider]

Screw the primer seating plug out a few more turns. It has a shoulder that allows the consistent priming depth but not if you don't screw it out far enough to allow the shoulder to bottom out.

I still can't see what all the fuss is about this press. After $400 (press and lock rings) its still not equal to my RCBS Pro 2000 (runout,priming and die change out speed). Probably be for sale before long.

 

[Phil3]

Screw the primer seating plug out a few more turns. It has a shoulder that allows the consistent priming depth but not if you don't screw it out far enough to allow the shoulder to bottom out.

I don't understand your explanation. You can hold the knurled part that has threads which screw into the press with one hand, and turn the only remaining part accessible by your hands (the part on top of the spring), and turn both against one another, but that changes nothing. You can screw the entire piece in and out of the press, but that has no effect either.

- Phil

 

[infantrytrophy]

I'm not trying to be flippant, but why would you want to manually place primers in a little holder, then manually place each piece of brass to prime it? ???

Just get a $13 Lee auto-prime (plus a set of shellholders) and prime away f-a-s-t. Better, get two units because a couple of guys have said that the cheap pot-metal handle may crack eventually. Nothing is perfect, but for $13 (even X2) you can't lose. Did I mention that it was fast? You can load up 50 primers, wiggle to make sure they are upright, then prime 50 cases faster than you can prime 4 or 5 cases manually on a reloading press.
Link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=807875


I have (and love) the Forster Co-Ax press. However, manually priming on this press (or manually priming on any press) is pure torture! Get a life! ;D

Randy

 

[xr650rRider]

If you don't screw the assembly out far enough the primers will not be seated deep enough. You can't screw it out too far as the case will bump on the shoulder and that is where the consistancy that they advertise comes from. You CAN screw the assembly in TOO FAR and it won't seat them deep enough. That sounds like what you have going on. It's not a rocket, try it. Unscrew the entire assembly OUT of the press a couple of turns and re-seat your primers.


I've got 2 RCBS hand primers and they won't break. But I also have a Pro 2000 that I've done all my priming on for 10 years. I bought a Co-Ax from all the rave reviews. I bought $143 of Forster lock rings to change out all my rifle dies, so I could use them on this new super press. These new lock rings will not allow the dies to work on the Pro 2000 die plates as they are too big. After switching everything over and dedicating the progressive to pistol and .223 ammo, I needed to load some .338 RUM and .325 WSM and realize I don't have a regular shell holder for these cases, so I couldn't use the hand primers. I could have put a die plate back on the Pro 2000 and used it but decided to use the Co-Ax. It sucks but is functional.

 

[Phil3]

I'm not trying to be flippant, but why would you want to manually place primers in a little holder, then manually place each piece of brass to prime it? ???

Just get a $13 Lee auto-prime (plus a set of shellholders) and prime away f-a-s-t. Better, get two units because a couple of guys have said that the cheap pot-metal handle may crack eventually. Nothing is perfect, but for $13 (even X2) you can't lose. Did I mention that it was fast? You can load up 50 primers, wiggle to make sure they are upright, then prime 50 cases faster than you can prime 4 or 5 cases manually on a reloading press.
Link:
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct/?productnumber=807875


I have (and love) the Forster Co-Ax press. However, manually priming on this press (or manually priming on any press) is pure torture! Get a life! ;D

Randy

As my original message said... "For now, I am trying to use the Forster Co-Ax press to prime cases (I will be getting something else later)".

I am new to reloading...I have not yet decided on a priming tool.

- Phil

 

[Phil3]

If you don't screw the assembly out far enough the primers will not be seated deep enough. You can't screw it out too far as the case will bump on the shoulder and that is where the consistancy that they advertise comes from. You CAN screw the assembly in TOO FAR and it won't seat them deep enough. That sounds like what you have going on. It's not a rocket, try it. Unscrew the entire assembly OUT of the press a couple of turns and re-seat your primers.

I tried unscrewing the priming tool assembly out two turns, then five, and using calipers, it is plainly evident the primer sits above the case head. No change in primer position from the priming tool assembly being fully screwed in. Will call Forster tomorrow.

- Phil

 

[Travelor]

Phil3, I think your problem is not the press but something else. The reason I say this is that by screwing the primer seating stem out further, you are getting no change in primer seating depth.

Which brand of primers and cases are you using?

Also, I will work a bit with my Forster today and see if I can duplicate what you are experiencing as I have never had this problem.

George

 

[Phil3]

I want to be sure we are clear on terminology. When you say "primer seating stem", you mean the entire primer assembly that screws into the top of the Co-Ax press? Or the piece that the primer actually sits on? If the piece the primer sits on, there is no way to turn it as there is nothing to grab. Part of the stem is partly visible behind the spring, but how to get the spring off?

The cases are 223 Remington Winchester (new) with uniformed pockets (Sinclair tool), and Remington 7-1/2 primers.

I talked to Forster. The said the priming assembly does not come apart without destroying it. It is non-adjustable. All you can do is thread the entire assembly in and out of the press, and that according to Forster, should not affect anything. They are sending me a new primer assembly and want the other one back for evaluation. They said the primer seat should stand proud of the outside shoulder by .005" - .006". Hard to see with the naked eye, but careful inspection shows it does not appear to do so. Will see what the replacement one does.

I am interested in what you find.

- Phil

 

[squirrelduster]

If you decide to buy a hand primer unit go with the RCBS version that doesn't take shell holders.
Had mine for a couple years and really like it.

 

[xr650rRider]

So Forster doesn't think screwing the assembly (entire thing) in or out of the press frame doesn't affect anything? If you screw it in to far, just look at the top of the press frame. You can screw it in so far that none of it will protrude thru the top. Guess what? You want seat a primer. Now once you have it screwed out enough to seat a primer correctly then screwing it out some more won't hurt a thing because it doesn't set the final seating depth. You can only screw it out a few turns or it runs out of threads and unscrews completely. It sounds like your assembly has something under the plunger and is not allowing the plunger to go below flush. The first couple of cases I did, it shaved brass and that sat in the cup and would put dents in the primers. One of these brass shavings might be able to get under it.

 

[Phil3]

You can screw the primer assembly all the way into the frame until you run out of threads and it won't screw in anymore. This still leaves all the untreaded portion sticking out of the red frame. This position permits the shoulder of the small primer shoulder to sit even with the base of the shell holder affixed to the top of the two rods on the press, when the rods are lowered. Unscrewing the primer assembly any further simply raises the shoulder in the shell holder which sits on a spring. In this case, the shoulder is just pushed down against the spring when the shoulder hits the bottom of the case. This is all confirmed by the fact that primer seating depth was unchanged with the primer assembly screwed down as far as it would go into the press frame, or screwed out as much as five turns.

The outside shoulder hits the bottom of the case. The primer seat is supposed to sit .005" higher than that. Therefore, when the shoulder hits the bottom of the case, and the primer seat can go .005" higher, the primer is seated .005" deeper than the case head. This is not happening. A piece of brass or something could be inside the assembly causing this. Despite cleaning wuth Brake-Clean, nothing changes.

Will see what happens with the new piece Forster sends.

- Phil

 

[Sray53TXTN]

Not sure if pics will help any, however, here's some of my Co-ax with large primer setup for possible comparison. Lapua 308 brass CCI LRP

 

[xr650rRider]

There is definitely something different between Rinoray's press and mine. He has his assembly screwed all the way in and it still protrudes from the top of the press. I can only screw mine in about 2-3 turns before its too low to work. I've only had mine for about 3-4 weeks and I assume its a newer style. I was able to load .338 RUM on it and I don't think you could on the earlier models. Mine primes ok but I sure can't screw it in all the way.

 

[Phil3]

My press was purchased in early 2010, and is the B3 model, and with my priming assembly screwed all the way in, it protrudes just as the photos shown.

I DID find the problem. ME! I had one 308 case and one spent primer. I don't shoot 308 and must have picked it up at the range. I deprimed it and then used the Co-Ax to put the primer back in, using the Co-Ax large primer assembly. This worked fine, with the primer not sitting above the case head, initially confirming my suspicion something was wrong with the small primer assembly.

I took a few 223 Remington cases that I had primed with the primers sitting above the case head and tried them again in the press. No change. Tried again, and just put more effort (not much really) into the lever arm. Primer no longer sitting above case head! As a new reloader, I had no idea what effort it took. Again, this is not much effort I am using, but having no idea what is normal, I guess I was being pretty light on the arm.

I will say the small primer seat does not seem to go above flush as much as the large primer assembly, so will see if the new one from Forster behaves differently.

I would like to see how far below the primer is beneath the case head, but can see no good way to measure that.

- Phil

 

[Sray53TXTN]

There is definitely something different between Rinoray's press and mine. He has his assembly screwed all the way in and it still protrudes from the top of the press. I can only screw mine in about 2-3 turns before its too low to work. I've only had mine for about 3-4 weeks and I assume its a newer style. I was able to load .338 RUM on it and I don't think you could on the earlier models. Mine primes ok but I sure can't screw it in all the way.

The measure the total length of my large/small primer setup with spring compressed and not.

Both large & small same measurement:
Un-compressed 1.130"
Compressed 1.015"

 

[jo191145]

Phil
Have you uniformed the primer pockets on your 223 brass?
Using Wolf primers?

 

[Phil3]

There is definitely something different between Rinoray's press and mine. He has his assembly screwed all the way in and it still protrudes from the top of the press. I can only screw mine in about 2-3 turns before its too low to work. I've only had mine for about 3-4 weeks and I assume its a newer style. I was able to load .338 RUM on it and I don't think you could on the earlier models. Mine primes ok but I sure can't screw it in all the way.

The measure the total length of my large/small primer setup with spring compressed and not.

Both large & small same measurement:
Un-compressed 1.130"
Compressed 1.015"

Mine are similar.

Small uncompressed = 1.116"
Small compressed = 1.006"

Large uncompressed = 1.116"
Large compressed = 1.002"

- Phil

 

[Phil3]

Phil
Have you uniformed the primer pockets on your 223 brass?
Using Wolf primers?

All primer pockets uniformed using Sinclair tool. Primers are Remington 7-1/2. As I stated later, looks my technique is at fault. A firmer push on the arm and they seem to be seating fine. Still, need to get another tool. This takes too long (as expected).

- Phil