Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Forster Coax press Coax loading press

Anyone here use the Forster Coax loading press? I knew of them, but never checked into them. They seem to have some good features, notably the way the dies slip in and out of a slot rather than thread into a hole. Seems like a practical system that eliminates the possibilty of changing the die setting while installing or removing them. I use a hand priming tool, but the one on the coax looks pretty good for knocking out a few rounds.

Thoughts or experiences?

I have a Forster CO-AX press amoung others and love it!
I would highly recommend this press.
Jim

Some of the best money I ever spent.

Grab some of their dies while your at it.

Their seating dies are the best. Zero run-out.

I have two co-ax presses, they get used all the time.

The co-ax is fast to swap out dies and fast grab a case with the jaws close. Other presses, these days, have come up with other fast die swap outs, but the co-ax jaws still offer unique advantages. Also the leverage of the co-ax is very good.
Here is one minute of my depriming cases with a co-ax using one hand:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkT_s4jerLQ



Very observant watchers of my video might figure out one modification to that press, as the 37) Shellholder jaw housing is clearanced for the 44) Jaw opening screw (long) to pass through full diameter.
I have made my own:
37) Shell holder jaw housing
20) Button head screw
1231) "S" lower shell holder jaws
46) Wear plate
13) Handle
I was impressed with Clarance Purdie's 1969 patent.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3440923.pdf
I think that it was built by Gopher shooting supply, then Bonanza, then Forster, and now is off patent and still being built by Forster.
The first mod I did was to fasten the wear plate to the shell holder jaw housing. I had two sets of housings, wear plates, jaws, and springs. This made for a fast jaw size swap.
Then I went back and tried harder.
I was only able to improve on two parts:
37) Shell holder jaw housing
20) Button head screw.
I could make the 37) shell holder Jaw housing:
a) stronger so it will not bend when a case gets stuck
b) clearanced for the jaw opening screw
c) semi circular chamfers on the bottom, not the top, correct that error.
d) capture the 39) jaw pressure springs so they don't fly across the room
e) clearanced for a better screw than a 29) button head
f) milled from 1010 steel, not cast steel
I could make the button head screw:
a) From a knurled head screw, so I can screw it in with my fingers
b) pointed on the end so it lines up the holes in the 37) shell jaw holder housing, 46) wear plate, and 45) guide block casting.
I wanted to be able to change jaw sized in a few seconds while blind folded. I made a dozen of these set ups and sold them on line. I gave my sketches to a CNC guy who sells now.

It seems some guy on LONG RANGE HUNTING who owned a CNC machine shop made much the same changes as me 10 years earlier.

I have told Forster co owner Bob Huck about my changes. He is one smart guy. If the changes were cost effective, he would do it.

I have one and love it.

Most of my reloading is done on a Co-ax. It is a superb press and produces very accurate results, minimal bullet runout, due to the die being able to shift slightly and stay in alignment better. One you have a die set and the ring locked, it switches over very quickly.

Forster is also my preferred dies for bottleneck cases, they are very fine.

It is not good on really big rim cases, like a .45-70 or a .50-110. For them I usually move over to a Redding Ultramag.

Except for high volumes, where you move to a progressive press, it is my favorite, and has been a fine investment.

Actually, I remember the Bonanza version, just saw the Forster while webbing around. Don't really need one, having a Rockchucker and a recently upgraded Redding Ultramag, but since when was that a factor?

I've also got a minor itching for an arbor press, sort of a hundred-dollar hammer for my Lee Loaders.

If you load a lot of different calibers then buy a co-ax for just changing out dies. snap in and out in 2 seconds. I have a good used Rock chucker press sale if you need one. I can't go back since I got my co-ax.

As above I get much less run-out when using my co-ax and their seating dies are great also.

My Rockchucker is mounted on a pedestal and gets used mostly for seating handgun bullets, although it came in handy when the link pin on the Redding broke recently.

I also have a Lee hand press that gets used with collet dies.

I like it and use it a fair bit but I try to stay with the same case head size because it is a bit of a pain to change the jaws around , for instance going from 30-06 to 45-70.
Unlike other presses where a quick and simple shell holder change does it.
As others have said some cases are just too big like 45-120 and 404 Jeffery.
Mine is a Bonanza bought at a garage sale for $ 50 about 15 yrs. ago... money well spent..

The name is unusual to be responsive to searches.

It should be obvious that many of us like the CoAx press very much.

It's trivial to adapt the press to using regular shell holders for folks that want to do that or to use Redding shell holders for fine adjustments but that may be abandoning a desirable feature. Changing the jaws is easy enough but like many aspects of reloading demands paying attention to details, dealing with springs that want to fly off and disappear and small parts to store without misplacing. For many jobs a short handle is handy; for a few jobs the full 180 degree swing on a long handle gives ample leverage.

One thing to be aware of is that there have been several iterations mostly increasing the height of the arch in the handle as longer and longer micrometer dies have become popular. The earliest Bonanza brown don't do much with micrometer dies, the intermediate Forster red will do up about .308 micrometer dies and the current Forster red will do longer.

The priming station allows priming against a stop for folks that uniform their primer pockets and who buy primers that are of uniform depth. Another example of precision but many people find primers are not very uniform in depth so it's better to prime by feel to an anvil crush.

For most people I suggest a Redding T7 has a lot to offer and I tend to use a couple of turrets more but as I wrote elsewhere in one of the many discussions of presses on this board the CoAx gives me a pride of ownership and a pleasure in use like no other.

Once I understood the features of the co-ax I wanted one, once I got one my rock chucker became a dust collector.

I have added a Dillon 550B, but the co-ax is my mainstay press.

It is my go to press. It is a Bonanza. Have had it over 40 years. Have a Redding Ultra Mag for heavy case forming. The co-ax does all the loading. Really like their dies as well.

I got my father's brown bonanza co ax press after he died last year. It's the press i learned to load on and is wonderful. Once I get some more of their rings I'll likely have my rockchucker collecting dust. Does anyone know what years the brown bonanza presses were made?

The Forster Co-Ax is the best press I've owned. I'm very impressed with the floating die setup, its quick, easy, and accurate. I use the Forster bench rest seater die along with lee collet neck die, and Redding body dies. Run out is usually less than .002

I opted to replace the universal shell holder with the standard shell holder attachment. When useing Redding body dies you cannot bump the shoulder with the universal setup my Forster came with. With the standard shell holder you can.




Trystan

I drank from the Forster kool aid back in the 90's at Quantico during the last years of the M-14 being used for service rifle competition.

The Marines had an aggressive program to obtain better accuracy out of the rifles built for the Gold Team. Factory Federal Gold Match did not cut it, so the Loading Shack was completely revamped with, then, state of the art equipment. A new load was developed with special Berger VLDs using an in-house 22-step loading process. The presses chosen were Forster. The program went so far as to conceal this by packing the in-house VLD ammo into factory Federal cases and shipping them off so they would be delivered at the Nationals in a factory Federal truck. At the Nationals, anyone out the loop would think the Gold Team was shooting Federal Gold Match straight out of the Federal truck, but this was not the case.

I've been a Forster fan boy since, though, a close friend has pumped out quite a volume of ammo on a high end Dillon, that I find quite attractive to pursue, if I were still shooting and reloading such a high volume. For knocking out a few rounds, there are quite a few good options, with Forster being a good choice.

CO-AX for rifle, Dillion 450 with upgrades for pistol...

Dont reload shotgun ;}

Forster solved that problem a few years ago by increasing the size of the yoke.

Guys,I am just getting into reloading and bought the Forster Coax for my first press.

Can you guys tell me if you prefer the best Forster seating dies over the best Redding seating dies? It seems they both have the sliding collar to keep the bullet aligned. I've been trying to read up and decide which micrometer die is the best.