Pro Chucker 7..... OK Finally! .... I'm Tempted!

[higgite]

I saw a video of using a extra sizing die without the depriming pin, after the depriming die. Something about centering it for inserting the primer??

That may have been on a press like a Lee progressive that primes at the top of the ram stroke with the case in the die, unlike the PC7 which primes at the bottom of the ram stroke with the case held in place by a small leaf spring.

 

[jmorris]

^ I did that with my Loadmaster, they don’t make a shell plate the right size for 9mm, so the cases needed to be centered with an extra die in #2 to prime right 100%.

 

[Rule3]

Pistol (usual):
1- size/deprime (only I size already deprimed as in the video above...the deprimer then just verifies the flash hole is clear after polishing)
2 - expand & prime (unless it's hand or bench primed)
3 - charge-
4 - check charge
5- Feed a bullet
6 - seat
7 - crimp

OR.....in my case I don't use a station to check charges....I use a spy video camera with a 4" video screen. Therefore that frees another station. Then if you also expand while charging....you really don't have to have more than a 5 stage press, do you? On the other hand if you prefer to use a lock-out die because your eyes glaze over after a while.....we're back to 6 or 7.

One can make this as complicated as you want.....look at the new 10 station Mark 7press

If I have to count fingers on more than one hand it is too complex!

 

[jmorris]

Update: Midway canceled my backorder.....they also canceled their sale.

Yeah, I quit doing business with them after I had a part on backorder for months and then one day they cancel my order. I call them up and tell them I didn’t want to cancel the order and the nice lady said, “No problem, I can fix that...oh, good news, the part is actually in stock.” Great I thought until she told me the new price that was hundreds of dollars more, actually enough more that I could have bought the thing at the time I placed the original order for less.

The good news is after I quit doing business with them, they haven’t done it to me again..

 

[cfullgraf]

So the expander die does only that,(expand) rather than expanding in the same step as the powder measure/drop?

Right. Just like the expander die used on a single stage press.

In fact, in my case, I use die sets made for a single stage press on my progressive presses except the Dillon SDBs for obvious reasons.

 

[GW Staar]

......
The good news is after I quit doing business with them, they haven’t done it to me again..

Yes very good news.....trouble is, sometimes they are the only source of what I need at a price that isn't gouging. But Graf's is my favorite place....

 

[Rule3]

Yes very good news.....trouble is, sometimes they are the only source of what I need at a price that isn't gouging. But Graf's is my favorite place....

I have read that Harbor Freight has their version in stock. Much less money, plus with a coupon you get 20% off, and a free gift!!

 

[Rule3]

Here are some videos of the Chucker 7. Granted not the new and improved version.







(yes that is a LFCD)

 

[GW Staar]

Rule 3: While I don't especially like to watch his press jump around (distracting to pea brains like mine....he needs a solider bench)....whoever he uses to shoot his videos is WAY better than ME!

Bummer.

That pretty much defined my day yesterday, until I thought of what jmorris said:

The good news is after I quit doing business with them, they haven’t done it to me again..

I got to thinking how I got my AutoAdvance Pro 2000 2 months after Obama got elected the first time....when such reloading equipment was rarer than hen's teeth. I ordered the last Manual version of the press from Grafs AND an AutoAdvance Upgrade Kit. And SAVED MONEY over Midway. Danged if history didn't repeat itself......and without Midway or Grafs (they don't have any RCBS Progressive stuff in stock) or any of the higher priced outlets that do.

UPDATE!: I'll have my equipment by April 11th!!!

I found and ordered Tilos's Pro Chucker 5 link on Amazon for $400 free shipping. https://www.amazon.com/RCBS-88910-Chucker-Progressive-Reloading/dp/B00X02G7C0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522855477&sr=8-2&keywords=Pro+Chucker+5

I found a new Pro Chucker 5 to 7 Conversion kit on Ebay for $268.50...again free shipping https://www.ebay.com/itm/RCBS-88914...901344&hash=item4b1a80cb50:g:0DgAAOSwXetZT9-z
Total $668.50!!
Anyone notice this is cheaper than the on sale Midway price for the Pro Chucker 7....$722!....backorderd, but now it's $850 (still backordered)?
Also notice that this gives me an extra Uniflow Powder measure? Free!

So what's left.....buy a couple of shell plates at Midway for $57 each........or.......do what I did and order them from the same ebay seller for $30 a piece.

So now I have the press, an extra P.M., and two shell plates for $728.

The new Die Plate (without the forced powder measure) is still listed as "coming" at Midway......and I can buy the powder die there as well (it's now in stock and NOBODY else even lists these 2 products) but it's listed for $10 more than a Hornady powder die!?!.....but I can wait on those....maybe they will show up elsewhere cheaper in the next couple of months.

Where's the dancing snoopy when you need one......oh well this will do....

 

[GW Staar]

It's Monday! Some stuff came in. The case feeder came last week, but that was ordered with the original canceled Pro Chucker 7 order from Midway. No, the PC 5 is not here yet, the 5 to 7 conversion did come in...for the most part.

It's never a sure thing to order from "others". (meaning not Midway, Grafs, MidSouth, Cabelas, or Natchez) In fact it can be a little scary.

I also got three shellplates, a #3, #10, and a #27 (.45/308, .223, .40S&W) That'll be a good start. They came in good condition $36, $30, $30..not bad since Midway price is $57 each.

Now for the less than stellar news: The powder measure cylinder was not in the 5-7 kit., nor was the 4 transfer bars or the actuator. There's a place for the cylinder to be pressed into the box display and obvious to me it never was. the actuator and t. bars were supposed to be in a separate sealed bag like most of the other smaller parts....no bag. There was 6 bags, that was supposed to be 7. Not a big deal since most probably the transfer bars were the original ones that didn't make the grade. RCBS will make it good. The missing cylinder might have been a big problem but I happen to have one of those new fangled Quick Change Cylinders already anyway. They will make that missing part good too....its just that waiting for it won't hold me up. The missing bag will......getting on the phone with RCBS.

And then there's the possibility of finding problems with the PC5 when it comes in. Hope not, but the $400 price tag makes one worry a little. It was in Henderson Colorado from Delaware Saturday, so maybe tomorrow.....a 7 hour drive?

 

[GW Staar]

April 11th is here and so is my new equipment with one catch. The 5 to 7 conversion kit viva Ebay came minus the powder measure cylinder...no biggy since I have several. But it also was missing the PC7 parts bag that has the all-important Primer Transfer Bars and Transfer Bar Actuator. Can't make the conversion without them. RCBS as usual is sending the missing parts free gratis, but that will take time.

The P.C. 5 from Billy Bob's Bass ($400 free shipping) on the other hand came perfect. I installed it on my bench last night. Only catch? Ah uh, I did not order any PC5 shellplates. This is a 7 conversion, remember? Jokes on me......sitting on my hands. At least I think I can install the case feeder.....try that tonight.

Observations: I mounted the press just 12 inches away from the Pro 2000. Gotta tell you, the new press looks lightweight compared to the cast iron Patton Tank Pro 2000....and the fact that it is Aluminum makes me less than comfy with it. You'd think that the casting ought to be bigger to make up for the Alum., but it's not. In fact there's a lot less metal in the casting! Even the massive-looking back support is cut out.

I'll take a couple of pictures in a few minutes to demonstrate what I'm talking about:


Cast iron Pro 2000 tank above:
Aluminum new kid on the block Pro Chucker below:

• While the back looks massive enough, the front .... not so massive. Attractive clean design though.

• The handle and linkage arms & parts are cast iron though....checked with a magnet.

• The sub shell plate and index parts shown are changed out P.C. 7 parts. Update: Notice the black pin holding up the sub shell holder.....that came mounted thru a hole in the ram...and tied to prevent ram movement until mounted. RCBS says it has 2 purposes...a stand off as shown to keep the plate off the advance mechanism below while adjusting stuff down there.....and you can put a small lock through it after you put it back through the ram....to keep "others" from stroking your press when you're not around......not a bad feature even if it was an afterthought.

• The Pro Chucker shell plates are larger in diameter than the Pro 2000 ones....so that makes for a lot of room between dies on the 5 station press. Nice.

• The seven however has less clearance than the Pro 2000......and is why they thought they had to sell a mounted powder measure with each die plate!....huh?

Well that's what they explained. I told them....compromise with us....sell the plates with just the lowers! They did better.....now selling new plates and new p.m lowers separately.....which is why I decided to finally bite. (it was like they never thought of selling lowers as a product before......which Hornady had been doing for 5 years...they need to hire me as marketing manager....just kidding Ken Sakamoto)

 

[GW Staar]

I installed the Case Feeder Kit Today:

I got a deal on it, $97.20. Refurbished……and in my experience that means somebody couldn’t get it together and sent it back. That was the case, and the kit was opened only to point where they tried to mount the case-pusher box to the feed slide…..and it wouldn’t slide. The track slot on ½ of one side measured a few thousandths larger on one side of the slide…..a machining fluke. Refurbished, no, repackaged and resold yes …….it took me all of 10 minutes with a file to remove the extra material, and it then worked perfectly.

I clicked buy again for fun to see what the price of this kit was today, $163.33 $66 saved by being willing to file a part.

It took me from 1:30 to 11 PM today to put the kit together, adjust it and get to know it. It works pretty good, but I think the shape of the case pusher could be improved……feeding .308’s fast was counter productive. I think I can fix that problem…..we will see.

Pictures maybe a short video, tomorrow. Have a while to wait before the primer system can be tried....waiting on RCBS to send the missing parts on the 5 to 7 conversion kit. (also supposedly refurbished, but just repackaged.) The PC5 press was all new, unopened.
,

 

[GW Staar]

Video below shows the case feeder in action:
End of the video indicates a hang that will occur if the eject wire is set wrong. But once you get the hang of it, it's not usually a problem......except on the 7 station press it does need to be longer.



Don't think there's going to be any powder bumped out on indexing on this press!

 

[cfullgraf]

Don't think there's going to be any powder bumped out on indexing on this press!

That is good to see.

When I played with the ProChucker5 at the NRA convention after the ProChucker's were first introduced were introduced, the shell plate would still snap into place just like the Pro2000. The presses were mobbed so I did not get to spend too much time with it and I think RCBS had announced but not yet introduced the 7 station press at the time.

Maybe RCBS corrected it or the seven station press never had the problem to begin with. It does index a shorter distance than the 5 station version.

Unless RCBS provided a second mounting hole for the ejection wire, the geometry that works well with the 5 station version may cause a tighter window of good operation when changing to the seven station set up. Tig welding wire may be a good source of material to make custom ejection wires. Stainless or mild steel should be stiff enough.

 

[GW Staar]

Yes, I remember your post.....one of the reasons I sat on the fence for a while.....among others. I originally saw the 'ole steel ball and spring and assumed that would make it snap just like the Pro 2000 and other similar actioned presses. The ball does make it center but between the post that goes throught the shell plate, and the indexer that also goes through, you never even notice that the ball did anything.

Ejection wire mounting hole: I looked for it, even, thinking the same thing. I had some piano wire left over from past projects of the same diameter and put a 90 into one end and cut it off about 7/8" long. Works much better.....in fact I couldn't find the sweet spot for the shorter one.

Picture below shows the tube case feeder, drop mechanism: the cross piece a couple of inches down the alum. cylinder holds the top case hold pin. Two set screws on either side are loosened to move it up and down. Correct placement is a quarter inch above the bottom case, where the spingloaded pin will stop the stack until the single case is released and the lower stop pin move back in to stop the next one. I learned the hard way that you need the part hanging to the vertical shaft to be ........ahh......tight!
Don't focus on my mess......I for one cannot build anything any other way!


The next video is a little shaky in places, trying to get a view of the classic double-pin case stop/release mechanism. It's pretty simple....few moving parts....my kind of contraption. The lower release wheel just slides in....and moves freely in and out.

The upper pin is spring loaded and rides against the vertical bar. That pin adjusts by scewing the head in an out (the head has 2 tiny set screws to keep it set.)

I noticed some squeaking! Couldn't figure it out what it was for a while.....infuriating!
Turns out it's the steel head of the upper pin that rides on the vertical shaft! That will require grease on the edge of the vertical shaft...often, I'm afraid. You can thank me later for turning the sound off.

I suggest when you start the video, that you click on "Vimeo". That takes you to Vimeo's site where you can full screen it. Much easier to see the in/out action.

Sorry this video is short and wobbly. It's mounted rock solid, but trying to tape and run the press at the same time was hard.....the point being I was trying to move it in while things were moving so you can see better. It's short cuz I ran out of memory on my little memory card thingy...

 

[GW Staar]

THIRD DAY with the RCBS Case Feeder:

No, all is not perfect as it comes from RCBS......they need a few years experience behind them! It works, it just ain't ready for speed and especially not motor drives.....don't even think about motor drives for the Pro Chucker yet. Only three days in, still no primer feeder parts yet so I've been focusing on making the Case Feeder more better.

At this point, I'm thinking to prevent this thread from becoming an unwieldy tome where nobody including me can find anything, I'm going to split this up.

So today's thread will be called "RCBS Pro Chucker Case Feeder Tales". I will end up copying a few things, and repeating a little to make it understandable....but not today. I'll add that as we go. This is for those who have or want to buy this feeder, and how to make it work and stay working.

Link to the New Thread.