Area 419 Zero Press

[roysha]

$890 +$50 shipping with 12 bids and 8 hours to go.

WHAT IN THE WORLD WIIL THIS PRESS DO THAT 99% of the bench reloading presses out there won't do????

[deltaenterprizes]

According to the website ZERO friction!
They retail for $1200, but not from me!

[Txcowboy52]

Oh my gosh! I have seen these presses in ads, here and there in magazines. I had know idea they have such a steep price tag! Like roysha said what will it do that 99% of other presses can’t do. To rich for my blood. Makes you wonder if presses are now status symbols like so many other things.

[414gates]

WHAT IN THE WORLD WIIL THIS PRESS DO THAT 99% of the bench reloading presses out there won't do????

I had a dust-up with some folks on the forum at Accurateshooter.com about this press.

Somebody posted that their Zero press flexes.

I replied that if it flexes, it's rubbish.

Someone - presumably a Zero press manufacturer / dealer or owner, took exception to my use of the word 'rubbish', and some other Zero press cheerleaders went off on a tangent saying all presses flex if you measure for it.

I mentioned that my Lee Classic Cast does not flex, and I was given a lecture on measuring flex, presumably to convince me that it does.

People spend money to feel confident. There's a big market for shooter confidence.

[M-Tecs]

All normal reloading presses have some amount of flex. Proper design, tolerances and material selection will minimize this issue, but it never will be fully eliminated in normal press designs.

[414gates]

All normal reloading presses have some amount of flex.

I agree and understand that. All metal under tension or compression will flex. So will the piston rods in your engine.

Would you say that a 3 thou flex in a $1000 press is normal ?

[M-Tecs]

The amount of flex will be related to the load amount, design, tolerances and material selection. Given the turret head needing some clearance to smoothly rotate .003" better than I expected but the devil is in the details like how they did the measurements?

In general, I am not a fan of turret presses. I only have one in my collection, and it rarely gets used.

https://www.area419.com/product/the-zero-reloading-press/

[rancher1913]

its a 10 station press, so lots of versatility.

[414gates]

To clarify what I mean by flex :

When you raise the empty shellholder to kiss the sizing die at the top of the stroke, then do the same with a case on the shellholder, and you then see a gap between the shellholder and the die, that gap is what I call the flex of the press.

In my opinion, when sizing bottleneck rifle brass, there shouldn't be any.

[jmorris]

$890 +$50 shipping with 12 bids and 8 hours to go.

WHAT IN THE WORLD WIIL THIS PRESS DO THAT 99% of the bench reloading presses out there won't do????

Eat up the better part of $1000…

[jmorris]

All normal reloading presses have some amount of flex. Proper design, tolerances and material selection will minimize this issue, but it never will be fully eliminated in normal press designs.

Yeah, I actually have a little fixture to test turret presses and was going to test one myself but the only place that actually had one out for customers to play with had the handle locked up. It did feel tighter than this old Lyman though.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60x8T5RN1Lo

[cwlongshot]

I have thought about a 419 a few times. Its costs are quite hi. But as Its something I really enjoy and frankly have invested more justbover a doz presses why not sell off and have less but better?

The "better" part is the argument. Smother fancier yea without doubt. But will it produce "better" ammo? Doubtful. The ol Rock Chucker is HARD TO BEST! Even a test on uTube I watched showed that RCBS press was one of the best.

One thats been impressing me is the MEC. Ill have to try one one day.

I love the functionality of the turret but see and saw its limitations with my first one a Spar T some forty years back. I tried a T-Mag and a T- Mag II. Sold both for too much slop. Wanted a Redding but saw they had same movement. Got a deal on a American 8 and grabbed that. Quickly found same slop I investigated and found I could remove it pretty easy so I did. Now its a very solid machine. Never be as solid as that RC as a O frame is best of any C or turret.

Of coarse That MEC is a "C" but its a beefy one and wow is she smooth!

I have had most presses made since the 60's and a few older. I liked something about/with most all of them. Like the Foster & its Chinese "copy" the Frankfort M Press. I use the M Press as well. My old Pacific "O" press still sits on another bench as does a RCBS Summit. I used to really mike my Ammo Master but it developed much slop and its first time RCBS hasnt stepped up to repair a product.

For now my American 8 is a favorite. But Ill have a MEC soon enough. ;)

CW

[dverna]

I cannot fathom how it can be any better or much faster than a Co-Ax.

My 50+ year old Co-Ax produces sub MOA reloads and I have no need to improve on that. I shoot so little rifle ammunition that gaining a bit of productivity is not a driver. I have my dies set up and just flip them in and out of the press and run in batches.

As to "flex", I do initial full length sizing on an RCBS RC. I doubt it flexes much. Can't envision how the Co-Ax can flex much seating a bullet. Just not a lot of force being used.

I am an equipment "snob' but I want to gain something for the investment. I run Dillons for that reason on pistol ammunition. This press does not check any boxes.

I don't have a Rolex for the same reason. How much better can it be?

[tew3006]

I've been interested in in this press since it came out. I have the redding T7 and am very happy with it. I just can't justify spending that kind of money unless I could see how it could produce ammo that is more accurate than what I already have.

[tinsnips]

A fool an his money are soon parted! I will just keep using my Co-Ax press it makes better ammo than my ability to shoot it.

[uscra112]

Machining tolerances, especially those controlling index accuracy, had better be phenomenal to match a quality single-stage like a Rockchucker. I know how high precision machine tool index tables work, but this ain't that.

[rbuck351]

If I want full length sizing I set my dies in the press deeper than just hitting the shellholder. This way the case goes in until the shell holder hits the die and any flex doesn't matter.

[414gates]

If I want full length sizing I set my dies in the press deeper than just hitting the shellholder. This way the case goes in until the shell holder hits the die and any flex doesn't matter.

That doesn't work if you need to control the amount of shoulder bump on bottleneck cases.

[uscra112]

The most significant weakness of the old "C-frame" presses was that they would spread open under pressure. This threw the ram axis and the die axis out of parallel, and for the bigger cartridges like .30-06 the base of the case was pushed out-of-square. THAT in turn was found by high-power shooters would contribute to larger groups. The "O" press was the solution.

Turret presses necessarily still have this problem. The post and turret clamping have to be extremely robust to minimize it. Which this 419 press does appear to be.

[Dancing Bear]

And here I am, happy with my Lee Classic Turret press and my Redding Boss single.

[gwpercle]

Eat up the better part of $1000…

:goodpost:
LIKE! LIKE! LIKE!
Gary... :drinks:

[Hondolane]

I had a dust-up with some folks on the forum at Accurateshooter.com about this press.

Somebody posted that their Zero press flexes.

I replied that if it flexes, it's rubbish.

Someone - presumably a Zero press manufacturer / dealer or owner, took exception to my use of the word 'rubbish', and some other Zero press cheerleaders went off on a tangent saying all presses flex if you measure for it.

I mentioned that my Lee Classic Cast does not flex, and I was given a lecture on measuring flex, presumably to convince me that it does.

People spend money to feel confident. There's a big market for shooter confidence.

Good post. Ever notice that what another person's owns is the best in the world and yours is garbage. I just keep on with what works for me and let the other person keep on pouring more money into things that do the same as mine.

[rbuck351]

As I said, IF I want full length sizing I set the die deep. Normally I partial size not touching the shoulder and leaving a few thousand of unsized neck. If I need to set the neck back, I adjust the die in small steps just enough to chamber a round. This takes into account any slop that the press may have. Not that most of my presses have enough slop to make any real difference.

[Brassmonkey]

Finally ran into a fella that has one, told me how he deprimed on it once and never again. Because of the spent primers passing through the ram, through the press into the little cup. Residue would work its way between the ram and base also into the neat bearings on the linkage.


A jewel of a press like that should not suffer dirty work like depriming.

[jmorris]

Not that most of my presses have enough slop to make any real difference.

There are things I load that don’t require much precision but if that’s what I am after, a turret isn’t what I use. The Lee might be the best design out of all of them though because it’s not a turret mounted by a post in the center. They don’t tilt back and forth like the one in the video on the first page.

[rbuck351]

I agree. If I was into extreme accuracy, I would not use one of my turret or progressive presses. Most likely would use my co ax or my Herters super O. I haven't tested the Herters but I doubt it would flex much.