old RCBS Rock Chucker RCII rebuild..

[Mauser 98K]

pulled this out of a scrap pile the other day. older model RCBS Rock Chucker RCII.. thing was rusted up tight as a drum when i got it and the top of the ram where the shell holder goes was rusted off and the 7mm rem mag die set that was in it was so rusted it didn't really look like a die, but the press frame itself seemed to be in good shape. it is very serviceable..had to heat the press up a bit and soak it in penetrate oil so i could press it out with my hydraulic press. didn't think it was ever going to press out and thought i would have to cut the 7mm mag die out in pieces. i finally got the die to break loose and got the ram to press out. i made another ram for it yesterday out of an old 1960s dodge truck axle. very good steel, even better than the stock steel. all i have to do now is to cut the shell holder slot, the slot for the shell holder retainer spring, and the grove for the priming tool and it will be ready to go.. not bad for a 2$ investment.

[EMC45]

Rebuilt one a lot like that one. I needed a new ram and die insert as well. Called RCBS and they patched me up.

I had to use heat, Kroil and a hammer. Got it free.

[Mauser 98K]

well i finally got around to finishing the ram for my press. i set it sort of like the Lee style with the hole in the side of the ram because i cannot stand that crappy priming system that Lyman and RCBS uses that totally gets in the way. ill use a Lee ram-prime with it..

[Plate plinker]

Nice work. Always gratifying to brings something back from the dead.

[Mauser 98K]

yep, it was dead.. had almost 1/32in deep pits rusted in the original ram and the piece that held the shell holder was ate off... i actually had to drive the 7mm mag shell holder out of the ram with a small hammer and punch because it was so rusted up..

but this press is going to end up as a guinea pig for developing some jacket drawing dies.. i figure if i can get it to work then i can bring bullet swaging down to under 1,000$ for an entire setup. the press goes for around 160$-180$ and if i can get the drawing dies figured out they would probably be around 300$-400$ per set. so probably about 600$ to start drawing and swaging.. sure beats the hell out of several thousand dollars just to start. there is just no need for the **** to be that expensive when it is all cut with cnc machinery to begin with other than Corbin has a monopoly and can name their price. but i figure that if you can reform brass which is a harder metal to do then you should be able to draw soft copper jackets. at least that is a theory of mine.. we will find out anyway..

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

Head over to the swaging forum and you find lots of info about why swage dies cost so much. It has been covered ad nauseam over there.

Great project! I always like seeing these old presses come back to life. If I can make one suggestion. If you have anymore metal left, I'd make a ram with a threaded hole (1/2-20 or so) so you can make your base punches thread into the ram (for swaging/drawing). In the end it is a much stronger setup and the ram is simple to make.

How are you retaining your shellholder? Setscrew?

Look forward to seeing your progress in the future.

[Mauser 98K]

kewl.... that worked better than i had hoped.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNICPO-ECGI

this is a mock up and test of the RCBS RCII press i have to see if drawing jackets is possible..the die shown is the one off of my drawing press.. obviously this is not the last setup as i have to make a die that screws into the threaded die hole. it will screw in through the bottom and i will be pushing the drawn cups through the hole because the disk are too big to fit through the threaded hole b4 they are drawn but will fit fine after they are drawn. or maybe they are not, we will have to see... im also going to be making a piece that goes on the punch itself to hold the copper jacket blank that will hold it straight and will also slide up into the top die section to keep the punch and die centered and guide the punch for more uniform jackets. but the draw shown drew real easy. easier than i though it would have. but i still got to make a blank punching die to test out and that would be the hardest part as im shearing out the blank...