Quote:
Originally Posted by DLab
Cheap is my middle name.I made this for my Wilson dies for BR cartridges,7/8-14 bolt shortened and faced off,drilled,tapped and Loctited a 1/2'' bolt into the top for ease of threading into press.Doing this again I would turn the bolt head to a thinner dimension,but this works.
Screw it in from the under side of my Rockchucker ,remove the shell holder from the ram,hold the die with the base on top of the ram(as shown in 260's image) and raise the ram,die to contact base of bolt head.
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The Lee Classic Cast press has a 1 1/8”OD hollow ram with 1”x20 threaded ID to hold a standard / universal shell holder adapter (or 50BMG shell holder) in the top of the ram.
The frame top is threaded 1 ¼”x12, and comes with a hard bushing for 7/8”x14.
IMHO, they are a VERY good design, and have a 4.5” tall opening that will handle seating long bullets in long cases (like 338LM & 50BMG) and Redding Comp seaters with fully guided case holders.
(The RCBS classic has a 1” OD ram and 3 5/8” high opening; the RCBS Supreme has a 1” OD ram and 4 ¼” high opening)
I like the CC well enough to sell all my Lyman and RCBS presses and purchase several CC, which I have fixed to my work station and mounted on flat plates for portable use clamped to any solid surface.
I turned several custom ram heads for Wilson dies and other tasks.
The custom ram heads have different lengths and head shapes.
A 2” dia flat surface is handy for holding lead muffins for hardness testing.
I made the ram heads in various lengths to best position the available leverage.
A true arbor press will have more consistent leverage throughout its stroke, but I suspect my setup has more force available in a smaller area of its total stroke.
I have faced both ends of 7/8”x14 & 1 ¼”x12 gr8 bolts to thread into the top frame of the press.
Similar gr8 bolts were bored for specific needs like punching BP wads and push through boolit sizing.
A lathe is a very handy tool.
Good Luck, YMMV.