Does Richard Corbin's WH Press use 'S' dies???
Printable View
Does Richard Corbin's WH Press use 'S' dies???
No his presses use his own die type, M ,S and H dies are all for Dave Corbins presses.
I suppose I should have stated that I have a CSP-1 Corbin press from the 90's and do Richard Corbin's current dies fit the Dave and Richard (in business together) CSP-1 press. Richard's prices on everything seem to be noticeably lower and I need to order a set in .351 from one or the other of the brothers.
RCE's dies don't fit his brothers or vice versa. Richard will make dies that fit his brothers press.
Attachment 49677 this is a what you need to adapted s dies to a walnut press, the one on the right is for the die and the left one is for the punch holder.
Since posting my original question, I have spoken with Richard and learned of the adapter set available to allow 'S' dies to work in the Walnut Hill press. His advice as to new dies was to sell my CSP-1 and purchase the Walnut Hill press and his dies for the new caliber (which I need/want) which is certainly an option. Let me say I have 'S' dies already for my CSP-1 press and I need to be able to use them so the adapter bushings would be a minimal ($45.00) expense.
His die sets, jackets and etc are lower priced than David Corbins which is appealing and I do not doubt the quality. What say you all who are familiar with both presses and die sets? Is Richard a one man operation since splitting with his brother? Both brothers have to be getting close to traditional retirement age and won't go on for ever. I'm not young myself, but I hope to keep playing with this stuff for another few years and I don't want to paint myself into a corner with soon to be obsolete equipment. Comments????
Richard with RCE is top notch. He's a great guy to work with and is very helpful when you need help. His lower prices are just a bonus. I have his walnut hill press and dies and I am very happy. No complaints.
Yes Richard is a one man show. And yes he is not getting any younger. I asked him how long he thought he would be in the business, his answer was he felt that he would do this until he died. We aren't given any guarantees as to how long we will walk this earth so I suppose that is a risk and I have to admit one i weighed myself. His prices are lower his quality is as good or better than his brothers and wait time is not as long. But depending on what you order from Richard you may have to wait. Still I waited over 2 years for a check maker from Dave Corbin until I finally gave up and bought one from Pat Marlin. Personally if it were me and I already had the dies I would send them to Richard and have him make internal punches to make them work on a new walnut hill press. Then any new dies I purchased would be Walnut hill dies. Walnut hill dies allow you a lot more flexibility on the lead you use for cores as they can take harder alloys that the M and S dies cant. Still I would not try to use wheel weights for cores.
B.T. Sniper makes what looks like good stuff, but it's all to fit a standard reloading press. The automatic ejector looks klunky.
My hands are big and fat, sorry B.T. the elegence of Corbin style presses and dies beat the ease and economy of using beefed up Lee presses.
With 2 Series II and one silver Corbin press purchased from an estate laying around, much soul searching on my part, I sent Richard Corbin enough funds to purchase a walnut hill press, core seat die, point form die, and .22 mag-.243 jacket maker die.
He said shipping would probably be within one-two weeks of reciving funds.
The check hit the mail 11-7- 2012.
I have Lafaun's lead extrusion die, and core uniform die.
Really have a hard time not standing on the road waving down the UPS guy, and asking where my stuff is...it almost like waiting for Santa Claus with no idea of the date..
It's only been nine days, easy boy, easy.........
It almost like an expectant father waiting for his first born...... I felt the same way after I ordered my press from Richard. Seemed like FOREVER!!
Does anyone have any long-term feedback on these Walnut Hill presses?
12 years later and the WH press and RCE dies that I have purchased over the years are still 'good as new' and going strong...
Richard makes excellent products, but I do believe he is a one man shop. Dave has recently? sold his business. It is still running along though.
Both Richard and his brother David (who by the way sold his swage die company and is no longer making dies. The new owners are working to clear the backlog and revamp their systems)
I have had both the walnut hill and S press and both work great and are very strong and should last forever. The reason I got the WH press was to do 50 cal bullets. I have also used the S die adapters in the WH press which adds to the versatility of that press.
I have been in communication with Richard. Thank you to all who replied.
I’ve had mine over 12 years it’s still going strong. As to whether it can use s dies Corbin manufacturing sells an adapter it works great. Problem is it’s almost 300 dollars and now the new ownership is a lot prouder of their products than even Dave was. But it does work and works well
I thought I had my WH press for about 5 years, but when I stopped to add it up, it has actually been over 10 years now. (time flies when you are having fun). I have Herter's swage dies and presses (3 different types of dies, 3 types of presses ) in a few pistol and rifle calibers, CH dies and press in a few pistol and rifle calibers, BT Sniper dies for reloading press in .50 cal ( I use in my WH press), Dave Corbin "R" dies for reloading press in 223 ( I use in my WH press), and I also have Hollywood Gun Shop swage/reloading presses and soon to acquire a set of HGS swage dies in 357 caliber just for fun. I also have RCE dies and Walnut Hill press in 223, 308, 358, 361, 375, 379, 400, 416, 429, 458, and 500. I also have BT Sniper and RCE jacket making dies (also used in my WH press)
So you can see how I voted with my pocketbook. I have settled on RCE presses and dies for most of my serious swaging needs. I think all these guys make good dies and/or presses. RCE is considerably less expensive than Dave Corbin and BT Sniper, and a little more expensive than BSS. It wasn't just a money decision for me.
A little known fact is that Richard Corbin was still working with his brother Dave Corbin when Richard designed the Dave Corbin CSP-1 press. After breaking from his brother, he made significant press design improvements and the end result is the design of the current RCE presses. So, IMHO, the Walnut Hill press is actually the next generation forward over the Dave Corbin presses. Larry Blackmon uses some of these evolved principles in his little press, which is actually great design, but with much less leverage than the WH press due to the physically much smaller size of the BSS (Blackmon) press. When I was a struggling college student, I would have really appreciated the fact that I could use the BSS press on the kitchen table (when the wife wasn't looking of course). Come to think of it though, when I was a struggling college student, I had never heard of swaging and I did all my reloading with a $15 Lee Loader outside on a picnic table because I could not afford a reloading press OR a place to put it. My wife could have probably been counted on for some free advice as to where I could put it though.
As far as dies go, Richard also improved die design. What was found over time with the Dave Corbin designs (and similar ones) was that a "stress riser" developed at the "step" where the large diameter of the die meets the small threaded diameter causing dies to fail at that point due to heat treating stress combined with usage stress. Richard Corbin dies are actually the next generation forward where the threaded diameter is increased to nearly the same as the outside diameter. This greatly reduces the "stess riser" effect and increases final breaking strength of the die and durability is therefore increased. Reloading press dies are limited in strength by the 7/8" straight diameter of the dies. They avoid the stress riser problem though because there is no "step". These dies can be strong steel and are fine for small calibers, but increased diameter is preferable for large calibers. I have a BT Sniper reloading press die in 50 cal, and I am always afraid I will break it with my WH press. Also straight dies with a lock ring cannot achieve the same precision in alignment that square shouldered "step" designs can. Although, BT Sniper reloading press dies can make amazingly accurate projectiles. Ted Smith evolved reloading die designs forward. Dave Corbin (and Richard Corbin working with his brother at the time) evolved Ted Smith die and press designs forward considerably and increased die body diameter, but kept the smaller thread diameter (probably in an attempt to maintain compatibility with older press designs.) Then Dave Corbin with his H dies, and Richard Corbin (now on his own) with his WH and HS dies increased thread diameter and body diameter. The far more common Dave Corbin S dies and M dies still kept small thread diameter. Richard Corbin designs, however, evolved forward and kept large body diameter and increased relative thread diameter close to the same diameter to avoid the stress riser flaws inherent in the Dave Corbin designs (even the bigger ones).
So the main reason that I went with the RCE designs for all my serious swaging needs is that Richard has kept improving designs in both presses and dies and currently represent the highest generation of design innovation for swaging executed with a very high level of precision and quality. The amazing thing is that Richard Corbin has done all this and also avoided the price gauging that some of the other business models have resorted to. RCE prices are not cheap, but they are reasonable. I think Larry Blackmon designs have also evolved in very similar ways to RCE, they are just limited by the smaller size of the press. Larry has also avoided price gauging and kept prices reasonable.
Contrary to popular belief, RCE (Richard Corbin) and BSS (Larry Blackmon) are still making dies and presses. The rumors of their demise have been greatly exaggerated, as Mark Twain used to say.
I also like to add to rolltide's comment, Dave Corbin was a business man who ran the Corbin mfg, Richard Corbin was the head machinists when he worked there, Richard really improved the dies and his presses, Richard's dies and presses are in my opinion, superior indeed.I have his dies, cartridge die jacket maker, core swage, core seat, point form, jacket trimmer dies are in my opinion well designed.
New Corbins is now selling an adapter kit for using "Dave Corbin" S or M dies on the WH press. That means you can use Dave Corbin, Richard Corbin, any die for reloading presses (BT Sniper, CH4D, etc), and maybe Blackmon dies???, in the WH press. This makes the WH press THE choice for versatility.
Blackmon dies will not work in Corbin MFG adapter because of thread relief. Corbin mfg puts thread relief on the die where as Blackmon relieves the recepticle. His dies will work if you put a thread relief in the adapter. This is coming from experience. As I have all 3 makes of dies
Reload3006, Thank you for the info. I can't quite picture it in my mind. I started a thread with photos of different types of dies called "Comparison of Commonly Available Swage Dies". Would you be willing to share a photo of all 3 types of dies side by side? I would sure like to see them.
Thanks
I'll add a few variations since I don't see Dave's H dies in recent posts. I've got some finned shotgun sets and .577 Nitro Express and they are monster dies. Also the Mega Mite Press towers over the S press as you can see. The Hydro press is basically parts of the Mega Might on a hydraulic cabinets.
Left to right-
Ch4D, BTSniper, M Diego (Dave's), S press punch holder, S die (Dave's), H Die (Dave), H die (Dave's), Mega Might punch holder.
Daves S press vs Dave's Mega Might.
Attachment 326749Attachment 326749Attachment 326750Attachment 326751
KokomoKid,
Thanks that is very helpful. Looks like a Corbin M die on top, is that correct? Would you mind if I copy this post to the "Comparison" thread?
SSG,
WOW, Those H dies make everything else look like toys. That is quite the setup you have there. Very impressive. What a great comparison pic. Would you mind if I also copy this post to the "Comparison" thread? Thanks so much for sharing these great pics.
Moderator: Is it ok to copy posts between threads?
Here is a good comparison of a Corbin 1-1/2" H-die set with a standard 7/8-14" die body.
Back years ago, the H-dies were only several hundred dollars more than the 7/8" dies, a good investment.
Attachment 326758
ADDED DIE INFORMATION:
Dies whose catalog number ends with -H fit the Corbin Hydro-Press and Mega-Mite Press.
These dies have 1-inch x 12 threads and a 1.5-inch main body.
They will also work in custom made presses.
Yeah of course you can use the pic.
In swaging mode, even the S press requires very little force on the cam over. The Mega Mite almost feels like nothing, just the feel of cam over for most Swaging I do. I do intend to start 50 bmg as soon as I can get a hold of dies or find time to turn some in the lathe. I start to put a tiny bit of elbow grease into it when making .577 Nitro Express projectiles. I stick with the roller handle but also have the long handle which feels over kill.
The H dies are 1"-12 threading into the ram. The top plate/punch holder is 1 1/2-12. The internal ejection punches on the Mega Mite are 7/8" diameter themselves.