Press Overhaul???

[GRUMPA]

Here I am with some free time and it got me to thinking, yeah I know it can be dangerous at times.

Anyway here I am cleaning my RCBS RCII press and noticing that there sure is alot of wear on this thing. I guess typical wear points like linkages, the hole for the ram and so on.

I'm sure I speak for alot of others in this forum that a person gets rather attached to things over the years. I'm no different in that department and would rather not have to replace it with something new and improved. Sure it works but I do use it alot and in time it will fail somewhere somehow.

So is there anywhere out there that refurbishes presses??
Or are the things so relatively cheap that folks just go out and get another press?

And I'm talking opening up the holes and installing bushings to make things a snug fit and not just boring out holes and using larger pins and such.

And I know the old phrase "if it aint broke don't fix it"

[novalty]

Well they don't seem to be cheap these days. I've seen more people do their own refurb work. Usually take it to have sand or bead blasted then repaint. Think I remember reading about Hammerite spray paint being close in color to the factory green.

[seagiant]

Hi Grumpa,
I had that same press. Mine was a orphan I found at my local gun shop. It was missing the handle so I bought it and called the nice lady at RCBS. She told me that the newer handle that they had was a different size thread so I needed to send in the linkage block and they would rethread and supply a new handle which they did! Free of course!

To be honest I have never seen a "wore out" press and I've had a few. Most just need some TLC what I would consider a "refurb" instead of a "rebuild". If I found an RCBS press that was really wore out I would seend it back to them as I know you would be taken care of!

Here's a pic that everyone has probably seen many times but is like night and day as I got the press pretty rough! This was "refurbed" as it is still tight and I use it now and then as I enjoy the old presses!

[GRUMPA]

Seagiant,

It just might be me and what I did for a living when I actually had to work that 9-5 job. Working in a machine shop I had access to pretty much all the equipment a person could imagine. My way of thinking is to make something better than new, and with the type of material that they use to make the things in the first place does have some room for improvement.

If I had access to the shop I would ream out all the linkage and install a bushing and hone it out for .002 clearance. The Ram I would have built up with more than likely hard chrome and run it through the centerless grinder and lap in a 8 finish.

The cast metal that they make these things out of do last, but not forever. I also swage with the thing thus creating more stress than the average person would do to it.

If I sent the thing back to RCBS I would imagine that they would take the path of least resistance and just grab parts from the parts bin and replace the worn out parts with new ones that are made of the same material.

I over engineer the heck out of stuff to make things last two lifetimes and maybe more. How something looks to me is irrelevant. That's why I posed the question(S) the way I did in finding out if there is someone out there that uses bushings rather than just replacing the worn out parts. If I can get bushings in there that sucker would last a very long time.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I have a small home shop as I like to play around the edges with machine work and do alittle hobby gunsmithing. I made a sold brass charge bar for my DL-300 shotshell loader. The small wheel that rides on the cam for the charge bar was bad(hole oval!) and I made a new one but made a press fit for a bronze insert to ride on the steel axle. Works very smooth and I suspect you could do the same on the moving parts of a press. A problem might be that there may not be room for the bushing to go in?

[darkroommike]

If it's an RCBS, call them, they may have a rebuild kit, or a list of suggested parts.

[Twinkiethekid]

I have 2 old Pacific delux pro presses and one bair O shaped press just like the two pacifics. Been wanting to have that guy on american restoration restore them he is in nevada and has a website. You can send him pics and they will get back to you with a estimate. One of these days I would like to send all three to him to restore. I cleaned one of the pacifics with paint thinner and it is really clean but needs a paint job pretty bad.

[LUBEDUDE]

I lay odds that Seagiant would do a much better job, not only looks- wise, but definitely Function-wise!

[3006guns]

I won a 1970's vintage Rock Chucker on Ebay. When it arrived I was dismayed to find excessive slop in the linkage and the top of the ram peened with what appeared to be hammer marks!

I drilled out the linkage block and pushed in a long bronze bearing, securing it with JB Weld. Although a press fit would be more desireable, this bearing is about 2" long and my method made insertion a lot easier. I made one improvement by drilling an oil hole in the block, then a new, close fitting pin was machined from drill rod and polished. The linkage arms were then drilled oversize and bushed with bronze, reamed to fit the new pin. This completed the repairs of the lower linkage assembly and removed much of the "slop".

The ram was chucked in my lathe and very light facing cuts taken, which removed the peening marks. Only enough material was removed to correct the situation so that the shell holder clearances weren't disturbed. The ram fit in the frame was still fairly good, with only a tiny amount of side play at the top of the stroke. Not a big deal, so I ignored that.

The press was then given a coat of Krylon green (a gloss paint that is similar in color to the flat green used by RCBS back then) oiled and reassembled. It was quite stiff at first, but quickly "limbered up" with use.

The only mistake I made was not bushing the upper ends of the linkage arms. There is still a little slop at that point and I may repair it also, but for now the press is almost like it came from the factory so many years ago.

[3006guns]

I have 2 old Pacific delux pro presses and one bair O shaped press just like the two pacifics. Been wanting to have that guy on american restoration restore them he is in nevada and has a website. You can send him pics and they will get back to you with a estimate. One of these days I would like to send all three to him to restore. I cleaned one of the pacifics with paint thinner and it is really clean but needs a paint job pretty bad.

I'm sure the guy on American Restoration does a bang up restoration on old gas pumps and Coke machines, but the overhaul of a reloading press is a machine shop job. The boring, reaming and bushing operations are not something he normally does from what I can see so he would probably farm most of it out. Then you're paying him AND the machine shop...so why not just take it to the machine shop straight away? Disassemble it yourself, saving more shop time, and explain what you want done to the machinist. Be forwarned that shop time is expensive and two hours of it might pay for another, better press!

As for the final paint and assembly, you can do that at home!

[seagiant]

Hi 3006,
Wish you had pics of that! Sometimes a press fit is not really the best way to go with thin cast iron and JB Weld or my favorite red loctite is just as good and safer. As long as you get the fit close as possible and then get the parts CLEAN! As you know it is very satisfying to get an old machine back to work again!

[NVcurmudgeon]

Not to worry, Grumpa. I asked the very same question of RCBS in 1988 about my bought in 1963 RCBS Junior. At the time the ram was getting a little wobbly. I wrote RCBS and asked if there was any reason for concern after +/- 50,000 rounds. They replied "at 50,000 rounds that Junior is just getting broken in." I told them in the letter that RCBS green was the predominant color in my shop, and that any replacements would be the same color. They sent me, free, a new RCBS RS 4 which is my main press to this day. I gave the old Junior to a friend who loaded a lot more ammo than I do. He used it for another 23 years and quit only because he is doing his loading with the late Fred Huntington these days. Not bad for a 48 year old press! I finally figured out that I had asked a needless question of RCBS. Ever watch the rim of a cartridge case "skate" around in the shellholder as the ram is raised? The die lines the case up.

[Twinkiethekid]

Yeah you are right 3006guns, either way it will be a lot of money.