New el cheapo loading press

[Charles]

I found my camera after being lost for two years so I thought I would take a pic and post it to see if I still know how. I bought this press about a month ago on Ebay for $15.00. It was missing the handle, but $2.00 worth of steel and a few minutes with the lathe cured that.

It is a Pre-War Pacific C. This is the first modern press with the now standard size ram and 7/18 X 14 screw in dies in the top of the press. All modern presses are descendents of this one. It was introduced in 1929. I am dating this one to 1935 simply because that is the median date of it's production. It is as tight and smooth as news.

[yooper2]

My grandfather used to have one of those mounted on his bench. Super cool find! You got to love old reloading tools.

Eric

[piller]

That is cool.

[earlmck]

Nice! What does it need for shell holders?

[Streetstar]

instead of "el cheapo" , you could call it "vintage" and triple your money on it !

[M. M. Wright]

Neat old machine! I use two old Herter's presses. Very stout but non-standard shell holders. I have a bunch of them though and Buffalo Arms sells an adapter to allow the use of standard (RCBS) holders.

[Sixgun]

I must be gettin' old as I remember those presses on most of my shooting buddies benches. Them and those Hollywood and Bear presses.

I see no reason not to use 'em as long as the tolerences are OK. ----------Sixgun

[Charles]

Nice! What does it need for shell holders?

These old Pacifics used a solid ram/shell holder for one case. This press came with three rams (30-06/45ACP etc., 38/357 and 30-30 etc.). I had an old RCBS replacement ram that takes the snap in shell holders and that is what I put in it. So, it can use all the Lee, RCBS, Pacific, Lyman etc shell holders in the fleet.

[Charles]

I must be gettin' old as I remember those presses on most of my shooting buddies benches. Them and those Hollywood and Bear presses.

I see no reason not to use 'em as long as the tolerences are OK. ----------Sixgun

When I started reloading in 1958 everybody I knew had a Pacific press. I bought a new Pacific Super
C at that time. It was my only reloading press for 18 years and I gave it to some kid in 1976 who wanted to start reloading. Three years ago I bought another Pacific Super C and it now is on my bench as well.

The Super C was introducted after WWII and is larger and heavier overall. It also has a boss cast into the top for an automatic primer arm. This is the way to tell the pre-war and post-war Pacific presses as the pre-war presses did not have that lug/boss on top.

In the ten year period from 1958 to 1968, I was deep into Bullseye pistol shooting and produced 250,000 rounds of 45 ACP and 38 Special ammo on the Pacific and a Lyman Tru-Line Jr. presses. I get amused at the guys who think they can't live without their Dillion high production machines.

[mikld]

I've been pretty fortunate with ebay deals. I got a C-H cast Iron HD press for $13 about 13 years ago and just reciently picked up a C-H C press for $15. The newest is in surprisingly good shape with a good tight ram channel (no ram slop with the old ram and even tighter fit for the new ram. I had to purchase a new ram to use RCBS style shell holders). A can of paint remover and a can of spray paint, and now I have a "new" old press that will see a lot of use.

[earlmck]

I started with a C-H C press that probably cost me $15 new. But those would have been real dollars, back when quarters were still being made out of silver. Might still be using that one but I started making 7X57's out of '06 cases and kinda' stretched the little C press out of shape a bit. Replaced it with the RCBS A2 press and haven't needed another (until I thought I should try a progressive, which has not been as cool as I thought it'd be).

In this world of immediate gratification/rapid obsolescence it is nice to have levers and pumps and presses and such that haven't changed a dang bit worth talking about in a century...

[Griff]

While I know that the "O" presses are stronger, the accessibility of the "C" presses is unsurpassed! I tend to size those big, long rifle 0cases on the "O" types, then hand prime and, after charging w/powder, seat bullets on my Lyman "Spartan".

[Ironwood]

I still have a Herter's Turrent press. I also have 7 shell holders for the Herter's. Many de-capping pins have been sheared off by the turrent. That old press is out in the Utility room. I think I know right where it is.

[Cliff]

Charles, nice looking press. My father made his own which is direct copy of that Pacific press. He was quite a machinest and handing in doing it. Had a friend who worked at a foundry cast it from iron, my father made the wooden pattern, then machined it when cast. I don't know the year he did it but he did use it all through WWII loading mainly 38 specials. He like a challenge. I learned to load on it and a hand made powder scale he made as well. Might still be able to find the reamers, threading tools and such I think we saved them all when we moved. I hated that press, when loading (as a complete) novice it wasn't too hard to pull it off of the bench, most of t he reloading dies we used, .38 Special, .32 S&W, 32 ACP and 44-40 were made by him as well with hand made reamers and bullet moulds. The ram was the shell holder and you were busy reloading with it. When got out of the military I discovered RCBS and was happy with the new stuff. Glad to see you got a good one there. Best of luck to you.

[2571]

I have two. One from E-bay; another from a gunshow. $10-15 each.

I use one frequently and the other is a dedicated function press.

I was gonna offer you a .38 Sp. ram, but it seems you already have one.

[DixieBoy]

Charles - This has been a really educational thread. Love when I learn stuff here on Leverguns.

You know it's funny, I almost felt like a heretic when I bought a Redding Turret press, because most of the older guys I'd learned from had Rockchuckers. So, I was "going fancy" on them. But it's all still loading single stage style, I just keep all my dies set into different turrets and switch out turrets for different calibers.

Looking back at the old Pacific presses and some of the other old ones you can almost feel the excitement of some young guy back in the day who is finally going to be able to load his own ammo, maybe for the first time. It just has something about it that I don't know if the dillon guys ever get to enjoy. But hey, I guess each to his own. Thanks for posting this. - DixieBoy

[stretch]

Very cool press, Charles!

I recall seeing pics of them in Phil Sharpe's classic book
about reloading.

I have an old set of Pacific 30-06 dies that still work
perfectly. Good stuff, those old Pacific tools!

-Stretch