I drank the coax koolaid

6pakzak

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First of all I'm a new to this forum but been learning a lot from you guys so thanks. I'll get to the point, seen coax available at Scheels last week so I ordered it while I could, in the mean time while waiting I picked up an old rcbs junior press on cl for 50 bucks, been using lee challenger press which is pretty sloppy, I set up Jr press, used Redding body die and then lee collet die and seated with Forster die on challenger press, to my amazement I had less than .001 runout using Sinclair tool to measure. So I tried it again and again and wow making some straight bullets, 10 in a row, maybe 2 with 0015 runout, coax comes in, set it up, used same sequence and runout is all over the place, some good but most over .003, tried new Lapua brass and still not so good, challenger press would make .001 runout with new brass. So went back to old set up, readjust everything and good ammo again, I'm looking at this coax and seeing all the moving parts, shell holder ain't between the Rams and wondering how something like this can line up better than a ram going through one hole, which seems much simpler, any ideas, I'm thinking of sending it back and getting a rebel or a mec.
 
I just have a rock chucker and a rock chucker 2. Seem to work perfectly fine. I can't just swap dies back and forth as the rc is 20k different lower ram height.
 
Did you use the Forster die rings with your dies or the ones supplied with them?
 

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Sinclair makes excellent stainless lock rings that work well with the coax also.
I've been using my coax for about 10 yrs now and it sits next to a Redding BB2. Ive compared the ammo produced by both using same dies and components and don't see a difference. One thing that might be interesting to try is to use centers similar to a lathe to see how rams and die holes line up. Granted, there is some play in shell holders and plates that allow movement.
I used a Rockchucker for 30 years which I passed on to my son when he wanted to start handloading and its as tight as the day I bought it. It still loads very accurate ammo.
 
Get the Rebel 😈 I get 0.001" or less from my Rockchucker - I attribute that more to the sizing die and mandrels than to the press itself, even though I do really like the press and it's very tight. For precise seating I'm going down the arbor press rabbit hole with an in-line die. I figure if the brass is coming out of the sizing die straight, then an in-line die definitely won't make it worse. I also use Lee and Hornady dies sometimes, so what do I know? 🤣

No digs at the Forster press because I don't have one. Just do like my Rockchucker.
 
I have the Rockchucker and co ax.
After getting mandrel dies, I would send it back, buy some mandrels, powder and primers.
 
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