A bit long-winded so I apologize in advance ...
It's been cold up here in NW MT these past few weeks and rather than work outside in a garage that sees a high of 15F I figured I'd stay indoors and finally get around to tidying up my gun room which had deteriorated into a state of chaos. It's still a bit of a mess but I'm making progress. I added some home security cameras recently and one is in that room ... and no, I'm not going to post a link!
My first reloading press was an RCBS RCII that I bought in 1992 as part of a boxed reloading kit when I lived in Portland, OR. Around 1995 I added an RCBS Piggyback II to the press since I was shooting hundreds of rounds every weekend and I was getting tired of spending most evenings during the week assembling ammunition. Back in 2009 I upgraded the RCBS powder measure and linkage to a Redding 10X with Hornady's Case Activated Powder Drop, and the following year modified a Redding BR-30 to work with the PB II in the same way. The last time I used the press was in 2011 when I lived in Hawaii. I left Hawaii the same year to work for Remington in AR and didn't load a single round at home during the next two years. I moved to MT in December of 2013, bought a house in July of 2014 and mounted the PB II to the bench shown the first week of being in the new house, and there it sat in non-operational mode because the nut that holds the handle on wouldn't clear the steel frame that the bench top sits on. Lame I know.
Last year I sent a Ruger Super Redhawk "Alaskan" .454 Casull to Bowen Classic Arms to have him work his magic. I carry that revolver whenever I'm out hiking, hunting, camping etc. Now that spring is almost here I want to shoot it a lot more and that means I need to reload for it. I was using my Redding single stage press for small batches of 6 to 12 rounds but that's not ideal for 50 to 100 rounds in a session.
This past weekend I decided to resolve the problem with the RCII/PBII. I have a stick of 3/4" x 1-1/2" flat bar in the garage so lopped off an 8" piece, drilled it for two 5/16" lag bolts, bolted it to the bench to move the press further out, and drilled new holes for the press. Now the nut clears the frame by about an 1/8". Last night I set up the press for .454 Casull and after an hour or so of messing around managed to put together 12 rounds using 24.0gr of H110, 360gr WNFP GC TrueShot bullets, Starline brass and CCI small rifle magnum primers.
The press isn't particularly fast, but it's always been a rock solid reliable setup. The addition of the Redding 30-BR and 10X with the Hornady Case Activated Powder drop makes this set up a real winner. I'll most likely use this press for .454 Casull and .45 Colt only. It's hard to believe that the press sat idle for at least 8 years! What a waste!
Here's a link to an old thread about this upgrade.
It's been cold up here in NW MT these past few weeks and rather than work outside in a garage that sees a high of 15F I figured I'd stay indoors and finally get around to tidying up my gun room which had deteriorated into a state of chaos. It's still a bit of a mess but I'm making progress. I added some home security cameras recently and one is in that room ... and no, I'm not going to post a link!
My first reloading press was an RCBS RCII that I bought in 1992 as part of a boxed reloading kit when I lived in Portland, OR. Around 1995 I added an RCBS Piggyback II to the press since I was shooting hundreds of rounds every weekend and I was getting tired of spending most evenings during the week assembling ammunition. Back in 2009 I upgraded the RCBS powder measure and linkage to a Redding 10X with Hornady's Case Activated Powder Drop, and the following year modified a Redding BR-30 to work with the PB II in the same way. The last time I used the press was in 2011 when I lived in Hawaii. I left Hawaii the same year to work for Remington in AR and didn't load a single round at home during the next two years. I moved to MT in December of 2013, bought a house in July of 2014 and mounted the PB II to the bench shown the first week of being in the new house, and there it sat in non-operational mode because the nut that holds the handle on wouldn't clear the steel frame that the bench top sits on. Lame I know.
Last year I sent a Ruger Super Redhawk "Alaskan" .454 Casull to Bowen Classic Arms to have him work his magic. I carry that revolver whenever I'm out hiking, hunting, camping etc. Now that spring is almost here I want to shoot it a lot more and that means I need to reload for it. I was using my Redding single stage press for small batches of 6 to 12 rounds but that's not ideal for 50 to 100 rounds in a session.
This past weekend I decided to resolve the problem with the RCII/PBII. I have a stick of 3/4" x 1-1/2" flat bar in the garage so lopped off an 8" piece, drilled it for two 5/16" lag bolts, bolted it to the bench to move the press further out, and drilled new holes for the press. Now the nut clears the frame by about an 1/8". Last night I set up the press for .454 Casull and after an hour or so of messing around managed to put together 12 rounds using 24.0gr of H110, 360gr WNFP GC TrueShot bullets, Starline brass and CCI small rifle magnum primers.
The press isn't particularly fast, but it's always been a rock solid reliable setup. The addition of the Redding 30-BR and 10X with the Hornady Case Activated Powder drop makes this set up a real winner. I'll most likely use this press for .454 Casull and .45 Colt only. It's hard to believe that the press sat idle for at least 8 years! What a waste!
Here's a link to an old thread about this upgrade.