RCBS pro chucker 5 & 7 available

[dave333]

Just saw both the pro chucker 5 and 7 are in stock and ready for shipping at midway usa. Havent checked any other sources, litterally just saw this a few minutes ago. Looks like the 5 is selling for $579.99 and the 7 is selling for $819.99, neither with a case feeder. Noticed Midway is offering free shipping on orders over $150 right now. So who is going to be the first to place an order and tell me all about the new press selection from RCBS???

 

[GW Staar]

Just noticed that dave......for fun I ordered a "7" up to the point you push the final button to order, just to see if they really were in stock.....they were, and they charged for shipping, so I don't know about the free shipping thing.

No, I didn't actually order one. Not ready to move over my Pro 2000 quite yet. So who's going to be the first brave pioneer!

No sign of case feeders yet.....shell plates and die plates, including the infamously expensive P.C. 7 die plate/powder measure combo is in stock.

Such is a little more sticker shock than I'm ready for yet.

 

[dave333]

I went back to check, there is a red banner that says Free Shipping with $150 or more order. If you click on that it brings up the promo code SHIPFREE15, that I guess give you the free shipping.

There, now you can order one and tell me all about it.

Maybe when some other places get some stock and if they dont jump off the shelves right away the pricing will come down. I just dont know how much luck they will have with an unknown press at the same price point as a Dillon XL650(in the case of the 5 station press) that you can get a case feeder for now.

 

[jmorris]

With no case feeder available I don't think they are going to sell that well.

 

[GW Staar]

Patience, jmorris they will come. I'm just hoping they debug that case feeder so that they don't repeat the mistakes Hornady made with theirs......working well with only some calibers. I'd rather wait a few months than buy a buggy one.

Also consider how many, many Hornady AP users continue to get by without one. I realize they are cheaper, and so people less flush can buy an AP who otherwise would stay with single stations, or buy Lee Progressives.

Also, I will repeat .....again.... my argument that if give the choice of only one feeder, I personally would choose a bullet feeder. I still say it's faster to shove cases into the shell plate, than to manually guide bullets into a seater. Both is best of course.....and now RCBS will offer both.

Jmorris, from your Dillon view, though, I totally understand your thinking. Your Dillon 650 feeds cases on the right lever-side of the press, absolutely requiring a case feeder to keep stroking. But where you feed both on the left side from nearly the same spot even (see picture below), case feeders aren't nearly as critical. I think they will sell.

Pro 2000 users like me may be a harder sell though.....for me, the Pro Chucker 7 has to excel in a big way to make me give up the safety and speed of preloaded APS primer strips.

 

[RugerOldArmy]

Where do the spent primers get collected on these RCBS progressives?

 

[GT1]

They have been in stock online for a while at other places.

I just don't think many or any are ponying up at that price. Not until it is proven they are awesome and you really need more than 5 stations for the home consumer loader.

 

[Kaldor]

Im interested, but not until they have a working case feeder.

 

[GW Staar]

Kaldor and I are watching a guy, bm3, on AR15.com putting together his brand new Pro Chucker 5.! A couple of revelations already.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/446121_Finally___New_Pro_Chucker_presses_in_stock_at_Midway_.html&page=2#i4341361

Where do the spent primers get collected on these RCBS progressives?

There's a tube that runs down the back of the ram....picture in bm3's mini review HERE.

 

[dave333]

It will be interesting to see how he comes along with it.

 

[Kaldor]

Kaldor and I are watching a guy, bm3, on AR15.com putting together his brand new Pro Chucker 5.! A couple of revelations already.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/446121_Finally___New_Pro_Chucker_presses_in_stock_at_Midway_.html&page=2#i4341361

Yep, Im liking it thus far. Kind of disappointed in the plastic primer shuttle though.

For the 5 station, the toolheads will be cheap enough that a guy can setup a head for each caliber. However, the way I load rifle, Id have to buy 2 heads per caliber. Head 1 would be universal decap, sizing on station 3 or 4. Loading head is drop, seater, crimper. For me, the LnL is better in that regard. I know some machinists, I wonder if they could make me a head that uses LnL collars?

The 7 station is what I want. I load enough pistol to make it worthwhile, and I dislike combining things like expansion/powder, or seat/crimp, and would like to add a powder check. Just cant do that on a 5 station. However, with RCBS forcing you, or at least it appears that way, you buy a new powder drop with every 7 station head, the change overs would get stupid pricey real fast.

Oh, and I like to see the price come down about 10% or so that it can really compete with Dillon, and give people another option over the LnL.

 

[jmorris]

For the 5 station, the toolheads will be cheap enough that a guy can setup a head for each caliber. However, the way I load rifle, Id have to buy 2 heads per caliber. Head 1 would be universal decap, sizing on station 3 or 4. Loading head is drop, seater, crimper. For me, the LnL is better in that regard. I know some machinists, I wonder if they could make me a head that uses LnL collars?

The 7 station is what I want. I load enough pistol to make it worthwhile, and I dislike combining things like expansion/powder, or seat/crimp, and would like to add a powder check. Just cant do that on a 5 station. However, with RCBS forcing you, or at least it appears that way, you buy a new powder drop with every 7 station head, the change overs would get stupid pricey real fast.

Oh, and I like to see the price come down about 10% or so that it can really compete with Dillon, and give people another option over the LnL.

You can combine powder check along with separate seat and crimp, with a bullet feeder on a 650 (5 stations) with a GSI tool head.

No matter what you do, you have to run them twice on rifle to trim but can gain swage for the primer pockets with a 1050 but that costs more (how much more depends on what the case feed costs once they get one working).

 

[Kaldor]

You can combine powder check along with separate seat and crimp, with a bullet feeder on a 650 (5 stations) with a GSI tool head.

No matter what you do, you have to run them twice on rifle to trim but can gain swage for the primer pockets with a 1050 but that costs more (how much more depends on what the case feed costs once they get one working).

Fair enough, but you would still need to run an expander on your drop. I have the PTX for my Hornady, but at the moment I just dont feel like screwing with it until I get a second powder drop setup for 9mm only. Even still, myself and plenty of others like to separate operations.

 

[jmorris]

Dillon pistol conversions all come with expanders built into the powder die (SD, 550 and 650 or into the backup rod for the swage station on the 1050). Like the one in the center of this photo.



The 1050, for pistol, uses the die on the left to bell but expands with the backup rod on station 3.

Rifle powder dies do not expand for the most part, the expander is built into the decapping pin. If they tried to incorporate it into a powder funnel the ID would be so small powder bridging would be a big problem.

 

[GW Staar]

You can combine powder check along with separate seat and crimp, with a bullet feeder on a 650 (5 stations) with a GSI tool head.

No matter what you do, you have to run them twice on rifle to trim but can gain swage for the primer pockets with a 1050 but that costs more (how much more depends on what the case feed costs once they get one working).

Speaking of costing more? I know you love those GSI tool heads, but at $215 per caliber, if you want to do that with 9mm, 40s&w, and .45acp, that add a whopping $645 to feed and seat at one station to keep your powder cop station free on a 650. Let's see, looking at one caliber, the basic 650 at $570 + $220 case feeder is $790....then add the GSI $215, now you can load like you have a 6 station press for only $1,005.....and another $430 for 2 more calibers.

I'm liking my constant video powder level indicator better all the time! Using that with my Hornady bullet feeder system means I can afford to use 3 stations to feed and seat & crimp......in more ways than one.....each caliber powder die, which includes a $11 PTX expander, is only $24.95.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=745876&highlight=Video

 

[jmorris]

A regular tool head for a 1050 is $200, the GSI bullet feeder is a machined billet tool head with integral bullet feeder, makes it almost a bargain.

 

[GW Staar]

Almost! Jmorris, face it we riding in another class...I'm in coach. My kind of bargain is more the $25 variety. I'm afraid that ain't going to change soon.....the older my kids and grandkids get (5k and 18gk) the less I fill justified to load myself up with bargains.....family comes first. It's really hard out there these days for a young family to get enough of a break to make a decent go at self-reliance. While I can help, I will.

If I ever get to retire (Uncles S.S. kicks in next year, but I can't just shutter the company), I really may get a second press, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was another Pro 2000.....as much as I agree with you that the 1050 is a hell of a press for some reloaders, 1050 "bargains" are just to rich for me.....Pro Chucker 7's are starting to appear to be in the same category by the time you buy the "bargain" caliber changes for it. We will see.

The video powder cop is nothing more than a glorified "look in each case" method, true, but it's big, in your face, screen, makes it very unlikely you will forget to look. None of the mechanical powder cops are fail safe, they give false negatives to stop you, which isn't dangerous, usually, just damned aggravating.

You continue to give great advice for the upper crust reloaders, and that's awsome, I'm just trying to give good alternatives for the coach class.

NOTE: The first guy to actually review the Pro Chucker 5 with his very own, is posting now on AR15.com. There's a fly in the ointment. He loved it until the stupid tube primer system's sliders broke....read all about it. RCBS will be scrambling to field this one. Too bad....maybe a fix is on the way.

 

[jmorris]

I understand it has taken me 30 years to acquire the reloading stuff I have. Sure there is a substantial investment in it but reloading is cheap vs race cars, boats, motorcycles and such and I don't own any of that stuff anymore.

Spending a weekend reloading costs a lot less than one racing, where loosing an engine or transmission over the weekend would cost you more than a decked out 1050 (that will last forever and be worth more in 10 years than you paid for it).

 

[GW Staar]

No argument that it works for you....and you don't need to change calibers on your 1050's, you have three, I believe, and more of other models......and room to set them all up, and time and talent to tweak them all to perfection.

All that's really neat, and I don't begrudge you one penny....but I am perfectly happy with what I have. I will never need nor want to reload at the capacity that even one auto-drive 1050 is capable of. The new Pro Chuckers are obviously not aimed to compete for that market.

We probably should to get back to the thread's subject.....Pro Chuckers, sorry O.P.

 

[Kaldor]

Yeah, I as really disappointed to see the plastic primer slide. Ive got nothing against plastic, in some situations it might actually be better, and self lubricating. If RCBS wanted to use plastic, they should have used delrin, but used steel pins for the spots that are load bearing.

 

[higgite]

Good news, bad news. Bad news first, the reviewer on the other forum found some burrs in the primer slide track that was binding the primer slide and causing the breakage. A shame that RCBS would send out a new press like that. The good news is he has smoothed the burrs out and says it runs so well now that he has changed his opinion from "not a buy" to "buy".

GW, when are you going to pop for one and modify the primer system for us APS fans?

 

[GW Staar]

Tell you what.

You buy one, ship it to me for a month to have a look see, and if it's possible, then I'll buy a P.C. 5......and convert both of them, yours for free! Deal? Shucks.....didn't think so.

I'm not much of an early adopter.....I've only done that twice in my life. The Summit Press and the RCBS Bench Swager. Neither bit me, glad I bought both of them, but these presses are a lot more money. cluck.

No, really, I'll wait a year to see if RCBS will get real and offer seven station shell plates instead of press-priced combos. I'm more than a bit mad over that....we wait this long and they pull that. Yes, Pissed with a capital P! At the show Ken said maybe in a year.......so maybe in a year a lot of us will buy.....not before, though. That enough message, for marketing, Ken?

 

[SwaneeSR]

I was hoping you guys would feel the need to upgrade, so I put purchase your used stuff.

I am sure RCBS will stand behind their product and make things right if any defects. This is a major effort for the green guys. Good to see new major offerings in the press area.

I will admit I do have sticker shock.

 

[Jfoster99]

I just put together my pro chucker 5 and snapped both small primer slides in 10 minutes.

Rcbs need to send 10-20 at a time until they figure out a fix.

Going to try lubing and polishing any burrs tomorrow with my two remaining lg primer slides. I don't load any large primers so if I snap them no big deal...

 

[jmorris]

Do you have photos, not exactly sure what you broke.