Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Getting into rifle reloading-should I add a Forster press?

I have reloaded 45 acp, 45 colt, 357, and 10mm for the last decade. Started on a Lee classic turret which worked great but got tired of its finicky primer system so 4 years ago sold it and upgraded to a Dillon 550b, which has been awesome except for caliber changes. I have seperate setups for the 45s which makes it a lot easier, but still coming from the Lee it's a bit of a pain.

I have inherited/bought some rifles that I need to reload for. Model 71 348, 1886 33 wcf, 257 Bob, 220 swift, and I have a 475 Turnbull in the pipe I will definitely reload for it.

It was suggested to me I get a Forster co ax to reload my rifle rounds and leave the 550 dedicated to pistol reloading? Mostly because the smaller batches of rifle loads will change out quicker on the Forster and also have better quality for a rifle round?

I find it handy to have a progressive and a single stage press on the bench. When I used to shoot competition, there was a progressive set up for each cartridge at all times. The progressive is used for large (say 50 or more) batches and the single stage to to do single operations like sizing or smaller batches. There are several companies that make quality single stage presses.

Several years ago I inherited dad’s old Forster, so old that it says Bonanza on it. I had forgotten what a joy it is to use and have since converted nearly all my dies to use the Forster. I find it makes great ammo a bit more conveniently than the Rockchucker.

Pretty good advice . I've had my CO-AX (originally Bonanza) since '73 and it serves me well.

very happy with my forester coax press.

My progressive is used for pistol only. For rifle I use a rockchucker with a bench mount primer system. Never found it to be a pain since I only have to swap from size and decap to seater. How the Forster would make this any easier I don’t understand unless it’s a 2-3 hole you still have to swap them, unless you are saying it’s too tough to unscrew them.

i started reloading 40 some years ago i started with RCBS and they make good reloading tools. but around 30 years ago i got into bench rest shooting and decided to buy better reloading tools Wilson and Redding. if your starting out and think you are going to want better accuracy you may want to just buy Redding equipment right away in the long haul of life ? good luck,Pete53

Me too. I have a Dillon 450 for loading my pistol cartridges and my .223 and .308 Win, and next to it a RCBS RockChucker for my other rifle reloading. I've used that set up for over 40 years.

All good suggestions IMO. I might add that in this man's world it's better to start out with the best you can (or can't) afford and skip the "entry level" stuff. You're likely to end up there anyway and by doing so you'll save money in the long run.

I'm always hesitant to recommend a Co-Ax to a beginner because getting advice and assistance from others on-line can be dicey because of the differences.

In the case of a guy who already knows his way around a loading bench, I say "go for it." There may be a few things that you can't do on a Co-Ax (such as use a grip-n-pull bullet puller or certain stuck case removers), but those things sure won't stop me. There are other ways to handle those situations. The conveniences of the Co-Ax are many. About the only thing I do not like about it is having to reverse the shell holder jaws for smaller cases.

One other thing to think about is the cost of Forster die lock rings. In my opinion, they're the way to go with this press, but they're not cheap at about $4 a pop (I've bought about 70 of these things over the years myself). If you have 30 or 40 die sets it could get awfully expensive. Some think other lock rings are as good if not better for this press, but I disagree. YMMV.

Unless you have a custom or semi custom rifle for shooting LR or bench rest, with a custom reamed chamber and such , just about any press and dies you choose will manufacture ammo for any of the off the shelf hunting rifles and will kills deer and elk just as dead. IMO the single most important factor in accuracy is concentric ammo and with a little bit of tinkering and adjustment , most dies will produce ammo with less than .003 run out . Most off the shelf rifles do not not have concentric chambers and may be of 2-3 thousandths. If your rifle won't do it, the most expensive press and dies won't help. Worrying about press and die types are about like wasting time on flash hole reaming, neck turning , brass sorting etc. if you have an off the shelf rifle.

50 + years ago, I started off with a hand me down C&H press and Herters dies. I up graded to an RCBS because I wore out the old press and still use the RBCS, but I have a Dillon Square Deal B for all my handgun rounds. My dies are mostly RCBS ,but I have a few Lyman,Herters, Lee, and Hornady thrown in

Well I managed to find one for sale so I ordered it. Should be interesting to try.

The other thing I am having to figure our moving to rifles is case trimming. Never had to do that with pistol ammo.

Forster sells a variety of trimmers but I don't know if they are worth it or something else. They sell something called the tri trim but don't know how it is all that different.

Also, how do yall handle powder with this type of press? Measure individually or use a drop scale?

Those are items that should probably be selected after considering the volume of reloading you plan to do.

I won't be reloading tons of rifle ammo like I do pistol, but 50 or so rounds to a session is likely. Maybe 100 rds. Who knows I love shooting my new M71 in 348 so I could reload more.

Like saddlesore said above, unless you are thinking about BR competition a lot of this stuff can be over kill and remember, you are asking a BUNCH OF RIFLE LOONEYS for advice.
For hunting ammo most powder measures will consistently throw accurate enough charges (+-.1 grain) so that you can get your measure set up and go as long as you use a powder that isn't long grain like standard 4831, although I still weigh a few during a run to make sure nothing has gone haywire.
For trimming, Forster makes good stuff as does Redding, Most of the others will make you serviceable hunting ammo with RCBS probably the go to for most.

I use a Chargemaster 1500 Combo for coarse powders, but I shoot several thousand rounds a year and I think it makes life easier enough to justify the cost. If you're going to shoot a few hundred rounds a year, then using a Uni-Flow or similar powder measure set to drop a light charge and then trickling up might be the way to go unless cost is no factor.

Trimming is one of the tasks I detest the most, so I overspend by a bit to minimize the drudgery...but again, for shooting a few hundred rounds per year, going the more economical route oughta be perfectly viable. It all depends on how you wanna go and how much you're willing to spend.

I have a Forster press and I’m happy with it. If I was trimming a bunch of rifle cases I would look at the Frankford Arsenal trimmer.
A friend has one and it’s is nice. Hasbeen

I got my Co-Ax about 45 years ago and it is just great. I bought a Redding Ultra Mag when I was forming cases for wildcats. Thankfully I got over that phase. The Co-Ax is used about 95% of the time now. It is easy to use provided the user know how to handload.

RiverRider,

Midway USA has a kit to swap the Forster COAX from the universal setup to a shell holder setup. If I remember correctly it was around $30. I got this setup for my COAX and it's best of both worlds now.


Trystan

The uni-flow is a POS with coarse extruded powders, with a baffle it works great for fine or flake powders. Mine has been relegated to pistol only. Rifle I use a first gen Hornady measure that they don’t even make a powder hopper for anymore. Made a replacement one myself after ordering 4 foot of tube for 20 bucks. Got enough to make 5 more at least.

Trimmer I use the RCBS with the inside/outside chamfer adapter while trimming. Cheap and the cats meow.