Neck bumping with Forster Co-Ax press

[Travelor]

Love the press, but I cannot bump the shoulders using a Redding body die. The die hits the shell holder before touching the shoulders.

Any ideas/experiences with this?

 

[riverwolf1]

I think the only solution would be to have someone take a few thous off the bottom of the die. Since your press has a universal shell holder.

 

[ridgeway]

Its not a problem with the press. The die, like mentioned above, needs a few thousands removed from the bottom of the die.

 

[BoydAllen]

Shell holders are easier to shorten than dies. Just make sure to mark it. Also, make sure that you are bumping from the longest that a case can get in that particular rifle. It takes more than one firing with a stout load to arrive at that point. For once fired brass, I generally put the shoulder where it was after firing, since there is clearance due to spring back. That, combined with the reduction in diameter of the body will let the sized case chamber like it should. If you have a reference case that has maxed out, head to shoulder, the other thing that you need to watch is variation in how much (if at all) cases will be bumped by the same die setting. This can be the result of differences in work hardening, because they have not been fired and FL sized the same number of times, or because the factory annealing was not uniform. When you are bumping by say .001 it pays to check the bump on all of your cases, since one that fails to bump will cause a hard bolt close, and a shot that is not with the rest.

 

[ridgeway]

Boyd....he is using a Forster press. It uses a shell plate...IMHO, mod the die.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

You could always get the adaptor plate for a standard shell holder. That might be a pain though to swap. Another option might be to make (or have someone make) a shellholder that works with the regular jaw trap system on Co-Ax. The only problem I have with modifying the die itself is that you might have issues selling it if you decide to change directions, or die manufacturers, etc... but if that's not a concern, then modifying the die as suggested might be the quickest/easiest route.

 

[BoydAllen]

Ridgeway:
Good catch
That is one of the reasons that I am not as great of a fan of those presses, the other is that given the precision and frequency with which I make adjustments to shoulder bump, I find it much less convenient with that press. A friend has a couple, that I have used to help him work up and prepare loads with. The other area that I find them less than perfect for is expanding up the necks of .220 Russian brass to 6mm. I tried it on one of his presses, and the results were not nearly as good as what I get with my Rockchucker. The best results that I get for that operation are with my Harrell's combo press.

 

[artbosco]

Love the press, but I cannot bump the shoulders using a Redding body die. The die hits the shell holder before touching the shoulders.
Any ideas/experiences with this?

Full Length Size. The Redding F/L die works perfectly in the Forster CO-AX press [I have one] and you get to size the other half of the case at the same time too ... for free.

 

[BoydAllen]

One more thing, when you say that the die makes contact without any bump, is that with a case in place that is being sized? The reason that I ask is that there is usually some gap ,that allows for additional adjustment, that develops under the pressure of sizing, with other presses that I have tried. I am not sure it this is the case with yours.

 

[Down South]

Love the press, but I cannot bump the shoulders using a Redding body die. The die hits the shell holder before touching the shoulders.
Any ideas/experiences with this?

Full Length Size. The Redding F/L die works perfectly in the Forster CO-AX press [I have one] and you get to size the other half of the case at the same time too ... for free.

I use this combo as well, works fine.

 

[coford]

Something is not right.

I have no problem bumping my shoulders with my Redding body dies and my CO-AX press. So I went down stairs and measured the clearance on a conventional shellholder and the clearance on the universal shellholder on my Forster CO-AX. The CO-AX actually is one thousandths shorter and allows me to size smaller than the conventional shellholder.

Have you tried the die in a conventional press to see if it pushes the shoulder back? Have you measured the shellholder on the CO-AX? Maybe the die is defective or the CO-AX shellholder is?

How are you measuring the shoulder bump?

I am just curious as to what you find. The conventional shellholders I measured went .125 and the CO-AX went .124. My CO-AX is only a year old so maybe earlier presses were different.

 

[BoydAllen]

Chris,
What are you trying to do, introducing hard data into a discussion based on generalizations? Shame on you!


Seriously....thanks for the information.
Boyd

 

[JRS]

Buy a Scotty Crawford (Hood) press, or a Lee Classic Cast, and get rid of the rest of the scrap ;D

 

[Joe R]

Travelor said: Love the press, but I cannot bump the shoulders using a Redding body die. The die hits the shell holder before touching the shoulders.

Any ideas/experiences with this?

What caliber are we talking about?

 

[1911cwp]

I thought you were supposed to use an extended shell holder?