Ponsness Warren Metallic 11 Rifle/ Pistol Reloaders Questions

[Teddy (punchie)]

Ponsness Warren Metallic 11 Rifle/ Pistol Reloaders

How good? Cost ? Parts? Die?

Looking at one for sale.

Thanks !!
Teddy

[bobthenailer]

I personaly dont have a metallic 11 but i do have a P-200, both presses use the std c press shell holders. i used this press for many years before Dillons came out. there a good press ! but with what is offered today and usually at a lower price there sort of out dated, but still a fine machine. Parts ect were avalible from P&W a few years ago!
I still use my P-200 for less loaded calibers that are not worth the $ setting up my Dillon for by the time you get the caliber conversion @$56.00, powder die @$11.35 & tool head @$23.00 + shipping you have about $100, for each conversion for the Dillon .
the 3 caliber that i do use the P-200 for would cost me $300.00 for 32acp, 9mm makarov, 30 carbine.
I have a extra tool head as well as the optional semi auto primer feed , i can load about 250+ pistol rounds a hour on my p-200 the M-11 is the big brother to my p-200

as to price ! if its in good used condtion IMO $150.00

[seagiant]

Hi,
The PW MetII is one of the best presses made today! Of course they are not cheap,I think a new one is $450+shipping! IMO they are 3 times better than a turrent press and the primer system works very well! If you decide not to get it I would be interested!

[Kevin Rohrer]

Although this is kind of an old thread, I have a question about the priming system.

I got a PW MetII recently and installed the priming system tonight. The manual is not very good, and the pictures in it are so muddy as to be completely useless.

If I understand how the priming system works, in order to load the primer tube, I have to unscrew and remove the steel safety tube, then unscrew and remove the actual primer tube. I then fill it and reverse the process to use the priming system. Is this correct? If so, it seems very slow and awkward. Also, I see the rubber o-ring that holds the primer tube mouth together failing, and there were no additional ones included in the package.

Comments?

[bobthenailer]

On my P-200 thats how you fill the semi auto primer tube.
You have to consider that semi auto primer system was designed around the 1970's .

[seagiant]

Hi,
Just use a fill tube like you do with a Dillon,easy! Thats one of the best presses made today!

If the primers want to stick a little on the transfer from the primer bushing to the primer arm. Pull the bushing and with some fine sand paper give it a good polish inside where the primer moves. Also the inside edges top and bottom. Don't egg shape it, just polish!!!

Oh, if you decide you don't want it send me a pm!

[Kevin Rohrer]

Seagiant: Do you have experience with the Met-II? I thought about using a primer fill tube from the Dillon, but don't think the primer tube inside the safety tube comes up far enough to meet the fill-tube. But I will take another look.

I did a handful of .44mags on the Met-II, priming the casings using the Lee hand primer. It went well and I like the basic operation of the press; just hoping I can get the primer system to work in an acceptable manner.

[seagiant]

Seagiant: Do you have experience with the Met-II? I thought about using a primer fill tube from the Dillon, but don't think the primer tube inside the safety tube comes up far enough to meet the fill-tube. But I will take another look.

I did a handful of .44mags on the Met-II, priming the casings using the Lee hand primer. It went well and I like the basic operation of the press; just hoping I can get the primer system to work in an acceptable manner.

Hi,
Do I have experience with a PW Met II??? No Kevin, I just had nothing better to do and figured I'd just pull your string!

Using a plastic LEE hand primer when you have a MetII is borderline sacreligious! Give the press a chance and go with the learning curve and you will love it!

[PB234]

I bought one off of feabay a year or so ago. It needed some parts and PW was not exactly up to speed on the press anymore. They had trouble identifying correct parts to ship and did not seem current on building the presses. It is a press I wanted for years having used the other PW press. I see PW still offers them for sale for $500 http://reloaders.com/metallic-ii/ but wonder if they can still produce them or if all the parts remain in stock. Call them and see what they say.

It is a good press when you get it up and going. The auto primer feed is a bit of a pain and I think there are different ones from early production and late production. If I had the room, money and any conceivable need for yet another press I too would be saying if you are not interested I would be. Just make sure all the pieces are there or that if any significant parts are missing that PW can still supply them.

I still occasionally look on fleabay to see if any come up. I think I have only seen two in maybe five years and I bought one of them. My advice is that if the price is reasonable from your perspective jump on it. You can always resell it. If you look at the picture Seagiant posted you can see some of the differences how they were made over the years.

Bought my other cheaper PW back in maybe 1978 and still like it, but not fond of how it holds the shell holder in place (set screws) as the shell holder is dragged out often. I think the more recent ones use the same system as the Metalmatic 2 which is excellent. Have a case stuck in a die? Just put it in the Metalmatic 2 and pull it out.

[pauly]

G'day from Downunder . [smilie=s:

G'day All , I have two early metallic 11 P/W presses that I use all the time one for large pistol and one for small pistol primers ( I am to lazy to swap out for different size primers :cry: ) I nearly had a third one but the seller got cold feet :cry: but I am always looking for another one , mine have the early type priming setup where the bushes are concave rather than convex like the newer ones and the primer tube set up is on the base plate not the top plate I also have three spare top plates for my presses , at the risk of being burned at the stake for heresy I reckon these presses are far better than my Hollywood presses and easily as well made.

Regards Paul . :smile:

[Kevin Rohrer]

The primer tube does set too far down into the safety tube to be reliably reloaded. But, I am thinking that the blue primer alarm thingie on the Dillon might fit the PW. If I shortened the PW safety tube a bit, I might be able to get the Dillon thingie to fit it, and I would be able to reload primers like I do on the Dillon. I'll look into it tomorrow.

[Lawyerman]

I owned TWO of them at one time. I had one set up for small primers and one for large. I sold both of them on Ebay for more than I paid for them.....The priming system was a pain in the butt and I never cared much for it. They DID load very accurate ammo though and for years that was how I loaded my Garand ammo, I just set it up for '06 and left it that way for a long time. Now I load everything on either a Dillon or a single stage. Nicely made presses they were but support was not all that great and I had plenty of trouble getting the primer systems 100%......

[W.R.Buchanan]

Seagiant sold me one of his or we traded or something I don't remember, but the press is a pretty nice machine.

The Priming System is simple to get to work right and if the O Ring cacks you can get one from any hardware store. I reload mine using Dillon tubes and just dump them in the top of the PW primer tube. They seem to go in just fine. In fact it is pretty easy to do.

I use mine for loading mostly rifle rounds like .30-06, but it will do just about any round. It is kind of a large machine for small pistol rounds but it still will do them.

They are definitely one of the best built presses out there and they aren't cheap when new at about $495.

With this machine, and all of my rifle loading, I have processed the cases previously and am only loading the preprocessed cases. I do use the priming system and it works just fine. I am only using three stations at a time. Prime charge in the second station, Seat Bullet, and then Crimp. done round!

If I was loading pistol rounds I'd clean the cases first and resize/deprime in the first station, Expand/Charge in the second station using a Dillon Powder measure and funnel/charging die, and then seat 3rd and crimp 4th.

The advantage is in dealing with one cartridge at a time to their end result, and is the way I do things any way. This machine makes it easier to do this as you don't have to handle the cartridge between steps,,, you simply move the carriage from station to station. Kind of a reverse of what you do with a turret style press where you move the dies to the cartridge.

Randy

[Kevin Rohrer]

I will try to post pics this weekend, but it looks like the Dillon parts fit the PW tube. I still have to determine if I can reload the PW tube using Dillon primer refills.

The machine is setup for .44mag. From right to left:

1. Deprime/resize
2. Expand case mouths (currently priming off the press)
3. Dump powder
4. Seat bullet and crimp

[Alvarez Kelly]

I will try to post pics this weekend, but it looks like the Dillon parts fit the PW tube. I still have to determine if I can reload the PW tube using Dillon primer refills.

The machine is setup for .44mag. From right to left:

1. Deprime/resize
2. Expand case mouths (currently priming off the press)
3. Dump powder
4. Seat bullet and crimp

Dillon now uses a plastic tip on the primer dispensing end of their primer pick up tubes. Now the hairpin clip goes into the plastic tip, not directly into the aluminum tube. Why am I telling you this? The plastic end extends half an inch past the hairpin clip. That's a half inch it can extend inside your blast shield to engage your primer magazine.

I have a few I can send you if you think it'll help you get there...

[W.R.Buchanan]

Kevin: you don't have a Lee Thru Powder Expander for Station 2?

If you did you could hang your powder measure atop that or use a funnel and split the seat /crimp operations.

I have used a Dillon powder die and funnel and measure so it is case activated.

I have also mounted a RCBS powder measure atop the die and manually dispensed charges.

I have also used a Lee thru Powder Rifle Charging Die with a funnel on top and dumped measured charges in that way.

Dillon makes an adapter die to use a regular powder measure to do this.

Randy

[Kevin Rohrer]

I took another look at the PW primer system. The original Dillon primer feed tubes are .10" too short, but the newer ones are plenty long. I have several of those; just need to empty them.

The Dillon cap that sets atop their safety tube fits the PW tube. I would just need to shorten the PW tube about .5". At this point, I will use the newer Dillon tubes.

As for a powder measure, here is my PW w/ a JDS Quick-Measure; hence the need for a case mouth expander.

123782

[W.R.Buchanan]

Kevin: the only way I see to get around that is to size and deprime your cases first and then tumble them, and then only load on the press. That way you are eliminating the sizing die from the setup and freeing up a station to split the Seat/crimp operations.

Randy

[Kevin Rohrer]

But that defeats the purpose of a Progressive (what a dirty word) press. I am good to Seat/Crimp in the same operation.