RCBS parts too bad so sad

[jh45gun]

Went out to my friends today he was gonna load up a bunch of 38 specials for me. He has a older RCBS The Green Machine progressive loader. Well a part broke on it that is part of the bullet seating apparatus. So when I got home I looked up RCBS for the phone number for him. The guy laughed and said that is too old we do not have that part anymore. mad Fortunately for my friend he has a milling machine so he milled out the part which is better because it is now made out of steel instead of cast aluminum. He said he should have just made it anyway but felt that for a few bucks he would order two of them. Kinda sucks knowing that parts are not available for it. I guess they said they had some parts but not THAT PART. Figures. Must have been a problematic part being cast aluminum instead of steel.

[Casting Timmy]

I think people either loved or hated those machines, I've heard of guys having multiple machines they bought as partials just to make sure they had extra parts on hand.

I tried buying one at a gun show once, it was mostly there but he wanted way to much for it. I couldn't get him to come down off the price even trying to let him keep the powder scale and other items that were included with it.

I think they're neat machines, but parts are getting harder and harder to find. Keep an eye on ebay as part machines and part lots show up time to time.

[MtGun44]

I have a friend that used a Green Machine for decades. He eventually gave up and
got a Dillon 550, but the GM still does some loading, even though he recognizes that
it is significantly inferior.

He won it in a pistol match and wanted to save the bucks over the Dillon, which is why
he kept it so long. He was not a huge fan, really, but had mostly figured out it's quirks.

Bill

[seagiant]

Hi,
This is second hand info,but I heard one time that the techs at RCBS hate that thing and it was an embarrasment to the company! Every company makes a "lemon" product every now and then. However I think anyone that has a lot of green on their reload table can admit RCBS has done better than most!

[Pete P]

I had a green machine in the 1980s. I remember that I really had problems getting it to run. I was younger then and not so mechanically inclined as I am now. Sold it off and got a Dillon 450. I would really like to see some pictures of the old machine.

[Poygan]

I bought a Green Machine in .38 special in mint condition at an auction. I could not get it to prime reliably. RCBS even sent me another priming tray but it still didn't work reliably. Perhaps it worked better with the large (and heavier) primers. Sent it down the road happily.

[Shiloh]

If one went with a Dillon press, there would be parts available.
I sure agree about aluminum parts though. Be better albeit more expensive if parts were steel.

Shiloh

[jh45gun]

That machine must hate me I went back out there today and it started acting up again but at least he had gotten some reloaded for me last night I have about 350 loaded. I am gonna buy my own dies and a sizer for my lubersizer it may be slower single stage but I know I will not have press problems like he did.

[3006guns]

As mentioned, every company turns out a lemon once in awhile....RCBS is no different, but the Green Machine was an engineering nightmare from the word go.

I had a friend who bought one back in the 80's. He had been reloading for over 40 years and had a PHD in physics. After three days of trying to get the Green Machine to work, he simply wrote to RCBS and they refunded his money including return shipping.

Mark my words......some day they'll be a rare collectible. The "Edsel" of RCBS history.:-)

[Ozark Howler]

Generally when a product is discontinued there are two main reasons, (1) it didn't work, or (2) poor sales.......poor sale are usually because it didn't work.

A thought to remember when buying used/discontinued products.

[canyon-ghost]

The few times I've dealt with RCBS, they've sent me parts for free. Then again, I use a Rock Chucker!

[GBertolet]

I have a 45 ACP Green Machine from the 1980's. It has 3 main quirks that I have corrected, and it works great now. The first problem was that the columns allowed some flex in the top plate, giving variation of bullet seating depth. This was caused by varying resistance at the sizing die at the other end of the press. This problem was corrected by replacing a bolt on the right side of the lower plate, creating an adjustable stop, contacting the top plate just a tad before the end of the stroke, forcing the plate to be at the same height every time. No more flex and seating depth variation. The second and third problems are connected. I replaced the Little Dandy powder measure with a Lee disk measure. Cost about $30 with the adapters. No more rotors to buy, and a lot more choices of powder charges. Plus no spilled powder anymore, as there must be a case under it to activate. This set the stage to fix the third problem, the primer system. I had all kinds of trouble with the RCBS disk feed. It kept jamming up. RCBS sent me replacements, still no good, even after working with their tech dept. I finally threw in the towel and went to a straight line primer tube. By switching to the Lee powder measure there was no interference by the Little Dandy rotor, allowing plenty of clearance to place a primer feed tube. I used a spare tube from my Dillon Square Deal press. I made a blast shield from a piece of pipe from an old lamp, that slips over the primer tube. I made up a plastic rod to be the primer level indicator. I can't take credit for all these fixes as they were compiled after conversations with other Green Machine owners.

[jh45gun]

I went out and shot today and some of the cases did not want to fall into the cylinder freely. Came home and went through all the shells I have left loaded and I found 49 cases that were either too fat at the mouth or the base. I culled them and will give them back to my friend if they do not fall into the cylinder freely I will not shoot them.

[Longwood]

I made a blast shield from a piece of pipe from an old lamp, that slips over the primer tube. I made up a plastic rod to be the primer level indicator. I can't take credit for all these fixes as they were compiled after conversations with other Green Machine owners.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blast tubes are made from thick wall chromoly steel tube.
I would think a piece of pipe could become larger and sharper pieces of shrapnel in the case of an event.

[circle141]

About five years ago I came across a green machine, Did not like it, called RCBS
about it, they said to send it back and they would replace it with a ammomaster.

They did, works great, you can see if they will replace your press with some thing else. The press is remake of a Philps in line machine made late forties to late fifteys.

I have two of the machines and parts for the next fifty years. They work well,
are in 38 spec. only.


Mike Circle
circle141@msn.com
727-544-1295

[jimkim]

If one went with a Dillon press, there would be parts available.
I sure agree about aluminum parts though. Be better albeit more expensive if parts were steel.

Shiloh

Yeah right fella! lol I have a Dillon RL-300. Tell me about those parts again! lol :kidding: Sorry, I HAD TO DO THAT. I still love my RL-300 but let's face it. There are NO parts available, except the shellplates which it shares with the 550. I don't even know if they have a handle that fits it now. This isn't meant as a dig. It's just a fact even Dillon won't stock parts for a discontinued press forever.

[hammerhead357]

I had one of the Green Machines in 38/357 back in the late 1980's. I went with an inline priming system and used a blast tube from an old Hornady progessive press.. I took all of my powder rotors and had them cut off short on the front and the numbers stamped on the front.. Still took a lot of tinkering with to get it to run properly, but I still liked it and may replace it in the future.. MY exwife got the old one in the divorce....Wes

[W.R.Buchanan]

The Green Machine was very similar to the C&H Auto Champ. It works the same way, but I doubt it shares any parts.

The Auto Champ was also discontinued becasue there are too many better machines out there. It is the type of machine that is best left set up for one cartridge and load, as it takes a significant amount of time to change it over.

They (both of them) also are very good at pinching fingers. However once you've got one dialed in they are fast, and 600 rnds per hour is very doable.

My own personal opinion is they load .45 ACP and 38 Spec best. Other calibers fall outside the sweet spot for the machine. The machines were designed at a time when the vast majority of bulk pistol ammo loaded was .45 ACP or .38 Spec. so naturally the machines were designed and built to function with those cartridges best. .40 S&W didn't come along until the 90's and nobody loaded 9mm because ammo was so cheap it was pointless, Which gets us back to .45's and 38's being the ebst usage for these machines.

C&H still ahs most of the parts for Auto Champs, however the RCBS machine is gone. If they have anything it would be a miracle, but they still come up on Ebay frequently so there are extra machines to cannibalize for parts. Kind of like Lee Enfields.

Randy

[HangFireW8]

I've heard that the Green Machine was an attempt to make a full progressive that circumvented Mike Dillon's rotary progressive patent. What Dillon patented that Star didn't already do, I don't know, but it makes sense because Richard Lee admitted to licensing the patent.

I really wanted one back in the day, but I'm glad I didn't go for it. I ended up with a Rockchucker instead, still going strong.

HF