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Posted: 3/3/2016 12:28:18 PM EDT
I have been looking at getting a new press a nice single stage I have a square deal and a 650 and a lee breech single stage . Help me decide should I get a rock chucker or a Co-Ax. I have been wanting to get a little more precision reloads. I know the co ax is more money but I don't mind spending the money since it will be a life time purchase. Are there any down sides that I'm going to face or maybe another press I'm not seeing. Thanks guys 
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Quoted:
Only gripe I have with my rock chucker is spent primer handling. Its a solid press otherwise. ETA its a very minor gripe. I'll preface this by saying I don't have any hands on experience with the Forster, but have put tends of thousands of rounds through my RC. I have an RC Supreme and echo the above comment. Both presses are great; the Forster is probably a "better" press overall (floating shell holder jaws, quicker die changes, likely better at handling primers). While those differences sound fairly impact on paper, I doubt it's that big a deal in the real world. I don't know what the cost delta is between the two, but I probably wouldn't pay for the Co-Ax if it was $50 more than the RC. The finished ammo will likely be the exact same between either press. Both are great presses, and you really can't go wrong. |
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Love my co-ax.
I don't prime on it, I use a handprimer. I have primed on it on occasion - it works ok once you get it adjusted, but it's a PITA to adjust. There must be a trick to it I haven't learned. I have pulled bullets with it. SUX. Think vice-grips on the puller body. Hornadys cam-lock style puller may be better than the RCBS style I have. |
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Quoted: And a very easy fix. 2 inch piece of blue masking tape. Quoted: Quoted: Only gripe I have with my rock chucker is spent primer handling. Its a solid press otherwise. ETA its a very minor gripe. And a very easy fix. 2 inch piece of blue masking tape. I stuck a bic pen behind the primer tray to keep it scooted up against the ram. Secondary positive, always have a pen on the bench for note taking. |
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For many years I reloaded on an RCBS A2 press, Rock Chucker big brother. The two complaints I had were spent primer handling and the nuisance of changing dies, i.e. having to unscrew one die and and screw
in the other. The Forster corrected both of these problems but added a couple of new ones. The first is the shell holder. On the RCBS press I just had to pull out the shell holder against spring tension and push in the new one. Of course I had to find the proper shell holder in my collection. When I switch between .223 and .308 I have to fuss with the automatic shell holder and change between small base and large base. It is more complicated and involves unscrewing a plate, swapping the jaws and screwing the plate back down. Forster does have a holder for standard shell holders but I haven't used it yet. The other problem is that the linkage interferes with reaching into the press when I insert and remove cases. I am getting better at it. I am used to sliding cases out of the shell holder but the Forster shell holder requires that you lift the case straight up, another annoyance. Even though I had to buy Forster die lock rings I really enjoy the ease of die change. I plan to keep using the Forster. |
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I replaced an Hornady single stage press with a Forster Co-ax.
Primary use was deprime/resizing brass before wet tumbling. The Co-ax is 100% better for my use, it requires very little maintenance (primer debris is mostly contained) and has performed flawless. Much faster to drop a case into the locking jaws then to insert into a shell plate, cases also remove easier.... probably size/deprime 1000rnds an hour on it. The priming system is a little funky, but I've only used it for small batches of .454 before migrating to a progressive press. I do use a collet bullet puller for rifle rounds that need to come apart, it worked well. I recently pulled my Co-ax of my reloading table to make room for another progressive press, it was unbolted for a day before I realized that I needed to resize a batch of .357sig, it's now mounted in a new location and will continue to get regularly. I'd guess I've probably resized/deprimed close to 75K of pistol/rifle rounds. I know a lot of people use it for precision rifle rounds. ~g |
| +1 on the RC. Mine is 40 years old and still works perfectly. I use a dedicated Smart Reloader brand press with a Universal Decapping die installed for all depriming. I prime on an RCBS bench mounted auto prime tool. It works great for me. I prime separately when using my progressive presses as well. Just my preference to prime as a separate function. RCs rock!! |
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I have a co-ax. I highly recommend it.
I have tried to use the primer setup but it is pretty goofy. I just use my bench primer. I just pulled apart 400 .30-06 rounds using the Hornady collet puller. Worked like a champ. The only thing I have not been able to do is prime on it. |
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I just got a Co-aX, love it. I really like the shellholder, ease of die change, all of it. Very nice press.
It's nice for little jobs when You need to change the die a lot. You do need the lock rings, but I'm finding that not to be a problem. I like the primer system for just little jobs, anything else is done on the RCBS priming tool. |
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I have both a Rockchucker and a Co-Ax. Both are fine presses and can turn out some accurate ammo. My personnel preference is the Co-Ax, for many of the reasons already mentioned. The universal shellholder is fantastic, and I now do all my depriming on it as well due to the no mess primer collector. I used to end up with with a few spent primers escaping the Rockchucker's little primer catch, and I may have dumped the entire tray once trying to take it off the press.  You can't go wrong with either, but its my opinion that the Co-Ax is the best single stage on the market. |
| I have a Dillon RL 550 and Redding Big Boss 2. I use the BB2 for all of my precision/hunting rifle rounds and have been very happy with its performance and its "robust-ness". It is very sturdy and has a very solid feel to it. I wanted to step up from my Lee Breach Lock Challenger. |
| I recently worked through this as well. I added the Redding Big Boss II to the equation though. I ended up going with the Redding. I really like it. I like the looks of the Co-Ax a lot too. I just wasn't sure it was worth the difference in price. (Got the Redding on sale with free shipping.) |
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