The "Tool" By RDP

[keydet15]

Background
In July of 2014 I went to a gun/reloading auction in Harrisonburg VA. Looking over the stuff that was being sold it appeared to have come out of somewhere that might have done commercial reloading since there were four Dillon presses including a 1040. There was also another progressive reloading press that I had never heard of; it had a tag on it that said “THE TOOL BY RDP”. When the auctioneer put it up for sale no one bided on it, so I bought it with two Dillon powder measures that were included with it for the grand sum of $15. Here is what the press looked like when I got it home without the accessories that I bought with it in Photo 1.


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Photo 1


Initially I was planning on selling it; till I found out that the mounting holes spacing matched the holes on my reloading bench. When I was researching the press I wasn’t having much luck finding much about it or the company that made them except for a few mentioning’s online and old for sale ads. Any information that I found was lacking in specific detail and was just a couple of sentences long. So I decided to do a write up on this thing and everything that I have found out about it to share this piece of reloading history and to help anyone that buys it without any clue like I did.

First I would like to thank those members of the online community that helped me along the way.

History
This press was the MODEL 1500 Reloading Machine for pistol and rifle ammunition semi- automatic hand operated and was constructed by the RDP Tool Company of East Liverpool Ohio U.S.A. It is covered under patent 4,522,102 filed on 27 June 1983 which was issued to Mr. Ralph D. Pickens of East Liverpool Ohio. For those that would like here is the link to the patent that was issued.

(http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=04522102&IDKey=EC73B5B6A5CC%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetahtml%2F PTO%2Fpatimg.htm)http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=04522102&IDKey=EC73B5B6A5CC%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetahtml%2F PTO%2Fpatimg.htm
(http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=04522102&IDKey=EC73B5B6A5CC%0D%0A&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetahtml%2F PTO%2Fpatimg.htm)
From what I have been told is that there are several different models of this press produce; a hand operated and, a power driven unit.

I managed to find an article in the April 1985 Volume 1, edition of the Front Sight, The Official Journal of The United States Practical Shooting Association/IPSC. This article titled “Progressive Presses Fear and Lusting” by: Clyde Bower and Chuck Goodrich, describes the various progressive presses that were available to the reloading market at that time. Here are their comments on this particular machine.

“The newest entry in the progressive reloading field is R.D.P. Tool Company and their Model 1500. The 1500 is a massive machine with a manufactures claim of 1500 rounds an hour, which puts it at the top of the group as far as production, goes. Conversion to other calibers both rifle and handgun is available using standard dies. The operation is totally automatic even down to the bullet handling. The handle is even adjustable for right or left-hand operation. The machine will retail in the $1300 range.”

The article does not list any of the accessories or options that come with the machine at that price. It is my guess that it included; powder measure, bullet feeder, dies and shell plate. Also I do not know how accurate the acclaimed 1500 rounds an hour as the patent mentions the capabilities of 600 to 800 rounds per hour. To put the price in perspective of the time the article goes to list the approximate retail prices of other progressive presses that were available at the time of the article these are shown in the table below.





Press




Cost ($)






Lee Auto Index Pess




95






Lee Progressive 1000




199.98






Dillon 1000 (per conversion $200)




2475






Dillon RL-450B




365






Pacific Pro 7




425






C-H Mk.5 Auto Champ (in-line press)




700






RCBS Green Machine (in-line press)




630






The Star Progressive Reloading Tool




1100





From what I could find the RDP Tool Company was not in business for very long most likely being not being able to compete with the Dillon and Lee prices. They did make at least 1,138 of them because it’s the serial number of my machine. However for the retail price the purchaser has a reloader that is greatly over engineered well built. I made a table of the specifications this machine so that those who are interested could compare it to the reloading presses on the current market.






Parameter



Nominal Value





Weight (Lb)



91





Base size (in)



9.5”x11.75”





Height Not Including Handle (in)



14”





Height With Handle



19.5”





Number of Stations



5





Ram Stroke (in)



5.25”





Ram Diameter (in)




1.25”






Based on the weight of this press it is no lightweight but a monster of a press making it a fun experience to place on my benchtop. Just the case feeder assembly alone accounts for approximately 3lbs of the total weight. Grease fittings are used on each of the vertical rams and needle bearing are used in place of bushing throughout the press. In photo 2 shows the RDP press next to an old Hornady Pro-jector Press that I have to show a size comparison between the two.



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Photo 2


As you can see the RDP machine completely dwarfs the old Hornady press. Photo 3 shows the shell plates of the two machines side by side for comparison. The Hornady located on the left measures 3.4 inches diameter while the RDP one is on the right and measures 4.4 inches. The RDP plate is also thinner than the Hornadys. Both plates have five stations for cases machined into the plate.

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Photo 3


I am sure that to most of you are familiar with how the Hornady plate is secured to the press using a pin and a single bolt. The RDP shell plate is held in place by two locating pins and 10 Allen head screws one on each side of the shell slot. The shell plate numbers correspond to the RCBS shell holder numbering system. Photo 4 shows a close up of the one of the Allen headed screws next to the screw hole used to secure the plate to the press.


132202


Photo 4


The cases and bullets are feed by gravity with a hulme style case feeder and a rotary bullet feeder consisting of five tubes two feet in length. Photo 5 shows what the press looks like with both the case and bullet feeder attached.


132203


Photo 5


The case feeder for this press is shown below in Photo 6 and is attached to a shelf located on the base of the ram. Two screws on the bottom of the feeder allow for minor adjustment to left and right. Cases are feed by gravity from the hopper into the plastic tube which is connected to the case feeder. To keep the case entering the clear plastic tube an L shaped bar attached to the top of the press bumps the hopper on the upper and lower stroke. This bumps the hopper to ensure that the cases are continuously feed into the case feeder from the hopper. The metal tube inner diameter is the same as the diameter of the plastic tube till about half way when tapers and becomes small enough to allow only the brass case to travel through it. This inner diameter of the tube for the cartridge case is not a one size fits all; the one for a 38 Spl will not work with a 45 ACP. This tube has a T-slot cut on halfway through it on the bottom to allow the cases to be able to feed into the press’s shell plate. The tube can be adjustable vertically to accommodate different case lengths by a single Allen screw on the right side. When the case reaches the bottom of the tube it is pushed into place on the shell plate by a gear and rack system on the rams downward stroke. This gear is activated by a lever (indicated by the red arrow) when it comes into contact with the vertical block (indicated by the green arrow) on the on the left side of the case feeder. The setup is adjusted to assure the case is fully seated into the shell plate is by adjusting the screws within the slots on the vertical block.
132204


Photo 6


Shown in photo 7 is the case feed with the upper part of it removed giving a better picture of the gear and rack arrangement. A 45 ACP case is located where it would be if it was fed through the drop tube. The cartridge guides located in front of the case guide the case from the case feeder to its position into the shell plate. On the lower stroke the lever comes into contact with vertical block causing the gear to rotate allowing for the rack to push the shell into position. On the upper stroke the rack is retuned to this position by a spring on the gear shaft. Needle bearings are used on the gear shaft instead of a bushing.

132205


Photo 7



Below Photo 8 shows position of the case in the shell plate once the ram is at the bottom of the stroke.

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Photo 8


Photo 9 gives a closer look at the cartridge guides and the retention of the cases within the shell plate. The gear rack has been removed to provide an unobstructed view. The case ejector is the angled bar on top of the shell plate on the right side of the case feeder shown by the red arrow. The cases are held in place by two spring loaded ball bearings which can be seen inside of the red box. These do an excellent job of retaining the case and have given me no trouble, as the case snap right into place. The cartridge case guide is indicated by the yellow arrow. These guide the case from the case feeder to the shell plate and are adjustable to accommodate differed cases.


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Photo 9

On this press de-priming the case does not happen at the die station which is directly in line with the case feeder. It is my opinion that this station is merely a place holder, because there was a light coat of surface rust on the die station threads when I bought it. When I was using the press to load 45 ACP I placed a case expander in this position as some of my cases were dented at the case mouth. On the downward stroke the press rotates the shell plate to the next station where the; case resizing and de-priming are performed. The spent primers travel through the ram and fall through a hole in the base plate to allow for a collection system to be setup underneath the bench. On the downward stroke from the resizing station the shell plate rotates and a new primer is inserted in a way that would make Rube Goldberg envious shown below in photo 10.

[keydet15]

132210


Photo 10


This is the most complex part of the whole machine as it controls both the primer seating and rotation of the shell plate. The octagonal column in the foreground is hooked up to a small air compressor set up to create a vacuum to help with the primer seating. The thing that is directly behind it rotates the shell plates and positions the primes to be seated. Not shown in the photo is the primer tube which would locate at the position indicated by the red arrow. The machine only came with one primer tube; I made a piece that would allow me to use the small and large primer tubes that I had on hand. The original had a brass piece that looked like the nipple from a percussion muzzleloader which screwed into a brass plate at the location of the red arrow. The primer tube was then placed over top of this brass nipple and the primers fed through it.


First I will explain how this rotates the shell plate. This like the case feeder uses a rack and pinion gearing system to operate, the gear teeth of the rack which are visible sticking out to the right of the assembly in photo 10. The motion of the gear is controlled by the long bar indicated also in photo 10 by the yellow arrow with the slot cut out for the lever arm. The Allen screws at the top are primer seating adjustments.

132211



Photo 11


Photo 11 shows the ram plate removed from the press and the shell plate and its mounting system removed. The long bar that is in the slot cutout is the gear rack that rotates the shell plate show in the position at the end of the downward stroke. The arrow indicates the location of a ratchet tooth that engages the gear indicated below in photo 12 by the red arrow. This assembly is inserted through the bottom of the ram and is secured at the top by the nut on the right.
132212
Photo 12

At the top of the press stroke the lever arm is forced from the 10 o’clock to the 6 o’clock position. This pushes the rack into the ram along the slot pushing the ratchet tooth over one of the gear teeth. On the downward stroke the rack is force back along the slot the ratchet tooth engages the gear teeth rotating the ratchet assembly, which in turn rotates the shell plate assembly.
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Photo 13



Photo 13 gives a better view of the priming mechanism. The bar that is being indicated by the red arrow is the priming arm. It is connected to the gear rack by a spring loaded ball bearing witch fits into a small indent on its side. The movement of the gear rack in the slot causes the ball bearing to engage the indent allowing the priming arm to travel with the gear rack. The adjustment wheel indicated by the orange arrow is the priming arm adjustment stop, moving it in or out allows for alignment between the hole in the priming arm and primer tube to be concentric. The Allen screws in the vertical bar with the slot cut out adjust the movement of the priming arm within the slot to allow for the priming arm hole and priming post to be aligned. The clear plastic guard piece indicated by the green arrow is to prevent anything from falling in front of the priming arm and hindering its forward travel. I do not know what function the wire that secured on top of the plate does. I have found out that if the gear rack is not properly secured in place by the plate the movement of the gear will cause the indexing gear rack to lift up and lock up the machine.
132214
Photo 14

Photo 14 gives a better view of just the primer bar and the indent on the side that engages the spring loaded ball bearing in the gear rack. The two holes at each end had me confused until; I figured out that it allows it to be used for both large and small primers. By rotating the bar about the indent’s axis allows for the user to switch between large (red arrow) and small (yellow arrow) primers. The way that the bar is oriented in the photos shows that it is setup for using large primers. At the end of the bars forward travel at the top stoke of the press the primers are positioned on top of the primer ram. At the bottom stroke a bolt on the bottom of the base plate pushes up on the ram seating the fresh primer into the case. The photo 15 shows the priming ram on the underside of the presses ram.
132215


Photo 15


After the primer has been seated the case is charged with powder on the upward stroke. The original system would have used a vertical bar like the priming system to engage a lever on the powder measure, similar to the old Hornady pro-jector system. I lucked out since my press had been retro fitted with a Dillon powder measure. From the powder measure the case rotates over to the bullet feeder and seating system show in photo 16.
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Photo 16



Like everything else on this press this operates using a gear and rack system. As stated earlier the rotatory bullet magazine is made up of five tubes inside a protective tube two feet in length holding a little over 200 bullets. The red arrow indicates the adjustment for the feeding the bullets into the cases. The small horizontal bar at the top shown by the green arrow adjusts the bullet feeding rack forward and backward within its slot. This is to ensure that the bullets can drop straight down from the magazine into the hole cut out in the gear rack (I’ll show this later). The block with the slot cutout (red arrow) is the adjustment that moves the bullet to the seating position base on the height of the case; taller case would require it to be positioned higher on the vertical bars. As the ram comes up the lever on the gear comes into contact with the block starting the bullet feeder to move forward in the slot. As it travels higher the lever enters the slot in the block stopping its forward travel positioning a bullet into the case. As the ram travels back down the lever comes into contact with horizontal bar at the top force the gear rack back to its original position to receive a new bullet from the magazine. The entire system is adjustable from left to right to make sure that the gear rack comes to its finial position. When one of bullet tubes in the magazine is empty the outer protective tube is grasped and rotated to one of the other tubes loaded with bullets. The photo 17 shows the bullet feeder rack with in its slot with a 45 cal 200 gr semi wad-cutter in place indicated by the red arrow.
132217


Photo 17


The knob that sticks out to the left of slot secures the bullet magazine into its position. Note the die station that the rack feeds into there are has no threads cut for the die to be screwed into. This is because this takes a special seating die that is held in place by the clamps one either side one is indicated by the green arrow. The photo 18 shows the seating die (different for each caliber) that is required by this machine.


132218




Photo 18


The square slot cut out goes all the way though to allow for the bullet feeder rack to travel to the other side. The half circle cut out at the top is to account for the nose of the bullet in case it was taller than the bullet feeder rack. The circle at the bottom is to allow for the case to enter the die. Bullet seating adjustment is made in the typical manner with a seating plunger. When the bullet rack is in it farthest forward position within the slot the bullet in the rack and case should all be in line with each other.

After the bullet is seated in the case the shell plate is rotated into the next die station. I used this station for applying the crimp on the case mouth. From there the finished cartridge case would be pushed out of the shell plate by the case ejector on the lower stroke into a collection bin that would be held in place by two brackets on the front of the press. Mine did not have them when I bought it.

Overall I have found this to be a very nice machine to use I once I overcame the learning curve and have used it to load about 1600 rounds of 45 ACP so far, but it does have its drawbacks. For starters the weight of it makes it’s a pain to mount and remove from the bench top, if I had the space it would be permanently mounted. While this press is adapted to be used with both rifle and pistol cases I feel that it is best to set it up and leave it for one caliber. To switch calibers requires for the removal/ adjustment of the case feeder assembly and case ejector for the removal of the shell place and the adjustment of the cartridge guides. As well as the time needed to ensure that the primer and bullet feeding system are properly adjusted. Because the company is no longer in business spare parts are not easy to come by, I was lucky enough to find a person over on The High Road forum that had some extra shell plates that he was willing to part with. For the bullet feeding system requires changing the seating die, the bullet rack and, the bullet rotary magazine. I had no luck in find these parts during my online searches. So a quick order to McMaster Carr got me the required raw materials that I need to fabricate those three parts. I’ll admit that my fabricating skills are not the greatest but I was able to get my parts to work but probably not as well as the factory parts. I have also manually inserted bullets without any problems.

I hope that is helps any one that that finds one of these presses for the first time so that they won’t be as clueless as I was when I bought it.

[Green Frog]

In a word, WOW. I've really not used my Star or Dillon all that much since I stopped shooting Bullseye and PPC, but it looks like that Unique would have been a favorite as well. It certainly qualifies as heavy duty, and from your description it looks like it would only be justifiable for very high volume usage... it's a little much for just a couple hundred rounds or so at a time. The word "overkill" come to mind. Congrats on a nice find and thanks for a fine presentation.

Froggie

[flyingmonkey35]

That is a very good write up.

Also a very good find.


Any way you can do a video of it working?

[Artful]

Nice write up - and as it turns out a heck of a buy for you - Someone collecting reloading presses will be knocking on your door thanks to the internet I'm sure.

[M-Tecs]

Hopefully it gets put back into service. Nice find.

[Walter Laich]

Wow! just some of the 'stuff' I didn't know is out there.
thanks for info

[Stonecrusher]

I always thought it was a stout looking item. Never have seen one in person before.

Here is a review I scanned out of the August 1988 Guns & Ammo.

132238132239132240

Enjoy, looks like fun!

[LUBEDUDE]

What a magnificent monster for a collection! A Grail press for sure!

Thanks for sharing your journey. :)

[mattw]

That is a monster, looks incredibly well built!

[dudel]

Wow. Great find. From the patent drawings, it reminds me of a rotary RCBS Green Machine.

[buckndee]

Really enjoyed reading your write up. Cool looking Machine.

[seagiant]

Hi,
I want! I want! Oh! My Precious!!!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Hi,
I want! I want! Oh! My Precious!!!

LOL, I was looking for your response, I knew it would be good.:)

Keydet,

Thank you for posting the write up and pictures. That's a very interesting press and I hope you're going to clean/polish it up and restore it to full operation. That press certainly deserves it. If not, I'm sure Seagiant will take it off your hands.:)

[lotech]

About 25-30 years ago, there was another article on this machine in either HANDLOADERS DIGEST or GUN DIGEST.

[keydet15]

Thanks guys, this is quite intimidating and I am sure it will still be working long after I'm gone. Stonecrusher thank you for scanning that article and, yes I did see references of this press being mentioned in one of the Handloaders Digest ( I forget which edition). I cleaned up enough to get most of the discoloration due to surface rust off and to get it operational, when I have the time I might do full restoration. I have used it to do 1600 rounds of 45 ACP so far and I plan on using for that and any additional calibers that I can find the shell plates for. I have have found it to be nice to use once I got over the learning curve.

I'll have see about doing a video but it will be some time before I can get around to doing one.

[bbqncigars]

Omigawd, what a beautiful example of "Machinists Gone Wild" engineering. It really looks like something a master millwright would make if time and money were no object. The only thing that keeps it from absolute perfection is the lack of adjustable gibs. Yeah, right. I figure Seagiant and Pressman might engage in mortal combat over one of these presses. A truly awesome press.

[Bzcraig]

As many have said excellent write up and an enlightening read. I would sure be conflicted whether to restore it to its former glory even if it meant fabricating some parts or to offer for sale knowing a serious collector would offer a bundle to have it. Truly a once in a lifetime deal.

[Three44s]

keydet15,

You might want to contact member "Rickets" on this link:

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-497379.html

He claims to have bought a bunch of parts from a previous owner of the company ......... could be he still has something you want?

Best regards

Three 44s

[fast ronnie]

From looking at the pictures and the way it operates, it was designed and built by a tool and die maker. If parts aren't somehow lost, it will probably never break, and will more than likely outlast several generations. Great find!

[tryNto]

Very Cool, Nice write-up.

Thank you

[keydet15]

Three44s

I got in touch with Rickets shortly after I bought this. He told me that he had sold all the parts he had to someone who has fallen off the face of the earth and, the prints were sold to some steel manufacturer in PA. I posted a picture of this thing over on thehighroad and a member who had one of these machines got in touch with me. I was able to get a couple of extra shell plates from him so I could load something other than 38spl.

Thanks again guys for comments I really appreciate them.

[twc1964]

What a monster!! That is so freakin cool. A lot of work and planning must have went into tht massive machine. Nice find and one heck of a deal.

[dikman]

What a beautiful piece of engineering! You got a great bargain there.

[jcunclejoe]

I bought one of these today for $80.
Many parts are missing but I now have a blueprint for rebuilding it to working condition.
Thank you for this article.
Joe

[BigGar]

I am so glad that I found this post. I purchased one of these reloading tools today (Serial #1040) from an estate sale. I have probably bitten off far more that I can chew as I have never reloaded before and have no idea what I'm doing. It came with all manner of dies and accessories, as well as a whole lot of brass and bullets. Fortunately it came with an owners manual / user manual. Along with the write-up above I just might be able to figure this out.
It's highly likely I'll have more questions.

Best regards,

Gar

[Pressman]

Good score, but beginning to reload on one of those will try your patience. Keep us informed as you go along figuring it out.
Ken

[William Yanda]

I has $15 worth of fun reading your write up.

[Rockindaddy]

Keydet: You got alot of iron for your money! I traded an Auto Ordnance Thompson full auto 45 to Ralph Pickens when he first came out with his RDP progressive press. Ralph paid the tax stamp! Mine is set up for 30-06 The vacuum priming system was always giving me problems. Had a shop fire years ago and the RDP suffered some damage. I keep threatening to revive it to load 308 I am glad to see your RDP press. I have 3 Dillon progressives. Have a couple of Gatling guns that gobble up the 45-70 ammo. My Super 1050 cranks em out quite well. Hope you get your RDP running good!

[COUSIN DANIEL]

I bought a version in 9mm for $750 in 2021/22 I can't recall.

My opinion is save your money and time, it's something that works but I don't trust it.

[curiousgeorge]

Same as what 'lotech' posted, there was a write up on this press in an old Handloader or Gun Digest. Very impressive piece of machinery.