Redding t7 <> forrester co-ax

[Westhunder]

im about to purchase my second press. To speed up the process of reloading a little, and to gain the inherent other functions over my rockchucker II. Pros and cons of each... or complete different direction. I load a lot of subs and supers for hunting. And want to do some long range plinking and hunting. No competition in the forseable future. Building 3 ar’s now, so I would like to be able to bang out 223/556, 300blk, and 458socom as well as 9mm in addition to my hunting loads.

 

[JRS]

Dillon.

 

[Westhunder]

Which model are you referring too and why? What sets Dillon apart?

 

[Gabe22BR]

650 is auto indexing, 550 is manual indexing. With a pull of the handle, a loaded round ejects.
Depending on how much you want to spend, bullet feeders, and case feeders ar a huge help in this process.

 

[Shrek]

Because for cranking out a bunch of ammo a progressive press system is what is called for and Dillon is the king of that hill. I’d have both a Dillon system and a CO-AX personally. If you’re blowing through ammo the up front costs of the presses are negligible spread across tens of thousands of rounds. The CO-AX is super easy to switch dies in and will make as straight ammo as can be made. The Dillon can be had from basic manual progressive to fully powered automated.

 

[Westhunder]

I’m going to need lots more brass. I was aware of these but a little hesitant bc of all the moving parts. But this thing looks like a dream once you set it up.

 

[1shot]

I have a three presses that the OP mentioned. For volume reloading, I use my Dillon 550. The 650 wasn't even invented when I bought this one. I've worn out a powder bar and a low primer sensor that were replaced free of charge. The T-7 is my work horse press and the co-ax does all the loading.
I hope this helps,

Lloyd

 

[ngb1787]

T7 is very very solid!

 

[shoot4fun]

I love my old Dillon 550 for loading pistol ammo but never trusted the powder measure for rifle loads (other than plinking ammo) and I got away from loading 223/5.56 for my Ar's a few years ago.
The Forster Co-Ax is the best press I've ever used for loading precision rifle rounds. Dies can easily be set for proper sizing and seating and left alone and it really does keep run out to the lowest I've ever measured.

 

[Barlow]

I have a T7, it works well! Barlow

 

[Westhunder]

So it sounds like I definitely need to pick up a Dillon for the production of plinking rounds. But let’s go to the load development side when I would be trying several powders, bullets, etc. May need to expand a neck before seating a bullet, put a lite crimp on a bullet, or a whole host of the little things that “pop” up. Iyo is it easier to give the torrent a spin or slap a different die in? I love the idea universal shell holder and auto alignment, but on the other hand the Redding is brute that has the same ability to “swap” dies extremely quickly. Forrester seems it could be a little odd getting used to it’s function, but I have no experience with either. Wish these popped up more “used” so it would be conducive to just buy them all and figure it out through r&d.

 

[1shot]

Do your load development on the Dillon using it as a single stage. That gets all your dies tweaked the way you like them. After that, just run and gun.
There is a reason you rarely see the co-ax or T7 presses for sale, no one is letting them go! LOL

Lloyd

 

[LittleLebowski]

Do your load development on the Dillon using it as a single stage. That gets all your dies tweaked the way you like them. After that, just run and gun.
There is a reason you rarely see the co-ax or T7 presses for sale, no one is letting them go! LOL

Lloyd

The Dillon market is similar and they don’t really depreciate.

 

[Westhunder]

The Dillon market is similar and they don’t really depreciate.

Oh yea I get that. I picked up a forester from a member. And still looking for a Dillon 650. Just would like to save a few bucks if someone isn’t using anymore. Had a few people offer to sale at higher than new prices which was what they paid at the time. You can get a t7 with free shipping from Cabela’s for only 250-ish right now. Hell it cost 40 to ship one

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Always seem to get the Dillon guys craving attention and whining about how nobody wants to use their presses when this subject comes up. Lol! Just messin with you guys

I have the coax and T7. I like them both but seem to be gravitating towards the T7 as of late. Just quicker once set up. I like that on the T7 turret I can have a powder thrower on a charging die, a universal depriming die, and 2 caliber's FL sizers and seaters. Auto prime tube is a nice touch as well so I don't have to hand prime.

Coax press has quick die change out, but priming is a pain. Coax die swapping is very fast, but I can have multiple turrets set up for the T7 and just swap them out from my Redding turret stacker.

Both make very accurate ammo.

 

[Westhunder]

I have the coax and T7. I like them both but seem to be gravitating towards the T7 as of late. Just quicker once set up. I like that on the T7 turret I can have a powder thrower on a charging die, a universal depriming die, and 2 caliber's FL sizers and seaters. Auto prime tube is a nice touch as well so I don't have to hand prime.

Well shit. Now I have to buy that one too. Haha

 

[muleman69]

Always seem to get the Dillon guys craving attention and whining about how nobody wants to use their presses when this subject comes up. Lol! Just messin with you guys

I have the coax and T7. I like them both but seem to be gravitating towards the T7 as of late. Just quicker once set up. I like that on the T7 turret I can have a powder thrower on a charging die, a universal depriming die, and 2 caliber's FL sizers and seaters. Auto prime tube is a nice touch as well so I don't have to hand prime.

Coax press has quick die change out, but priming is a pain. Coax die swapping is very fast, but I can have multiple turrets set up for the T7 and just swap them out from my Redding turret stacker.

Both make very accurate ammo.

I'm with you on the versatility of the T-7 especially if you load for multiple calibers. Like your Idea of mounting powder thrower as well. Were do you find the charging die?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I'm with you on the versatility of the T-7 especially if you load for multiple calibers. Like your Idea of mounting powder thrower as well. Were do you find the charging die?

LEE and Lyman make them. Pretty handy. Of course powder throwers don't work well for extruded powder and I don't use throwers for rifles where I require the utmost precision. But for varmint and handgun loading with "ball" type powders, a powder thrower on top of a charging die saves a lot of time when you are loading hundreds of rounds at a time. The Lyman pistol charging die also expands the case mouth at the same time so saves you a step there as well. The brass drop tube included with the die works for rifle cartridges and does not expand the case mouth.

I use the Lyman charging die with the RCBS powder thrower. Its a simple modification where you have to tap the short plastic drop tube that comes with the RCBS, then thread it into the top of the charging die. Works well. I also have an old Lyman thrower that I picked up a while back, but have not set it up yet. Shouldn't require any modification for the Lyman charging die.

Don't have the LEE charging dies, but I'm sure they could be modified similarly for a powder thrower other than the cheap plastic LEE throwers by using an adapter or by threading a thrower drop tube.


LEE rifle case charging die set.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/318047/lee-powder-charging-die-kit

Lyman rifle/pistol charging/expanding die.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/748976/lyman-multi-expander-and-powder-charge-die

 

[hogpatrol]

I don't own a Forster but I will say Dillon and Redding have outstanding customer support.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I don't own a Forster but I will say Dillon and Redding have outstanding customer support.

I haven't had to deal with Forster on the co-ax press because it has always worked perfectly, but I have had to call them a couple times years ago about decapping pins bending or breaking on their FL dies. Much weaker pins than other manufacturers. They were awesome and sent me replacements right away at no charge I would assume their excellent CS is the same for all of their products.

Though now I just use universal decapping dies or tools for that part of the process so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Redding and RCBS have always had excellent CS as well. Have not owned any Dillon products to date.