Kind of neat handheld reloading press

[AJMD429]

http://buchananprecisionmachine.com/pro ... ding-press

Read about it in the February 2017 (love how I get it in December 2016 ) Bandleader Magazine.

[Pete44ru]

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It reminds me of the Huntington Die hand press that RCBS used to sell.



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[KWK]

I tried a Lee Hand Press for a while. While this one looks well made, as their own site says, you need three hands with such presses sometimes, unless you bolt it down (in which case you might as well have a bench press). My "bench" press is bolted to a small piece of plywood I clamp to a bench. It's just about as portable as a hand press.

[Chuck 100 yd]

I bought a Lee hand press also. It seems kinda awkward so I have never used it.

[3leggedturtle]

Chuck, you gotta try the Lee handpress. I would only resize and bell cases with mine, then finally put the auto prime in it and primed 200 cases quicker and easier than I thought it would be, when I get home this spring gonna bring it with me to load 9mm and 40S-W at the cabin, just to see how it goes.

[AJMD429]

Chuck, you gotta try the Lee handpress. I would only resize and bell cases with mine, then finally put the auto prime in it and did 200 cases quicker and easier than I thought it would be, when I get home this spring gonna bring it with me to load 9mm and 40S-W at the cabin, just to see how it goes.

I really like my Lee HandPress, although I'm still mostly using it to deprime and sometimes resize/bell.

[sore shoulder]

I'm going to give my Lee handpress to my son so I have an excuse to buy the one with the breech lock.

[Griff]

I just use the Lee hand press for depriming. The one activity I can do in front of the TV. I drilled a hole... (well several actually, until I located the center hole) to easily dump the spent primers from the ram.

[Rusty]

IIRC didn't the Huntington press have a strange size of dies that no one else used?

[TWHBC]

Lymon 310 is one I have used since the 60's. Does have limitations as everyone knows, requires nonstandard dies and does not full length resize. Requires case lube, and too me has a nice priming feature with its priming die. And no hammering! Design reaches back into history for a touch of the past!
But I have dies, several handle sets for everything I load for, and at this time do not have multiple guns in the same cartridge, and as with many things retired, not necessarily in a hurry! Portability does have advantages at times. Skeeter Skelton did an article about this many years ago. Needing loads from target to full power while in rural West Texas, on an extended camping, working adventure, with a .357 magnum revolver and 92 carbine as the noted arms he was carrying.

[Malamute]

IIRC didn't the Huntington press have a strange size of dies that no one else used?

The Huntington uses standard dies, its the Lyman 310 you may be thinking of.

Ive always admired the Huntington Compact, seems like a well made item. I use the Lyman 310s a fair bit though, and keep one for what calibers I travel with, along with the full length size die from the bench press setup. I can often borrow a press from someone to size, then finish at my leisure with the 310. I can load with neck sizing with the 310, but the shells don't always fit all other guns in that chambering easily.

[Ben_Rumson]

I like the Lee hand press. The press operates smoothly. But for de-priming the 310 with universal de-priming die is the fastest surest thing I’ve ever used . I can adjust it so the primer will fall so uniformly I can drop them in a coffee cup in front of me at the table . I’ll do as much reloading with the 310s as I can.

[Bill in Oregon]

I've had the Lee hand press for years and have yet to use it. Need to fix that.

[Old Ironsights]

I still prefer the whack-a-mole. The knuckle bashers really suck if you are doing compressed loads.

[Blaine]

I broke the pin in a couple die sets, so I use a de-capping die and the handpress for just that purpose. No more broken pins... FWIW, I loaded 100 45-70s with the hand press, and dippers and they shot just as good as the ones I do on the real press, and powder measure/scales....

[mikld]

Anyway, back to the OP...

I followed the development of the Buchanan press on castboolits.com. Lost touch with the fellow and the last I heard he was just starting production. It's reported to be a good sturdy press, and nothing like a Lee handheld (I too used one for a while).

[J35]

I like the Lee hand press. The press operates smoothly. But for de-priming the 310 with universal de-priming die is the fastest surest thing I’ve ever used . I can adjust it so the primer will fall so uniformly I can drop them in a coffee cup in front of me at the table . I’ll do as much reloading with the 310s as I can.

+1000 on depriming with the 310, I don't have 310 die sets for every cartridge I reload for but I do have 310

shell adapter's for every cartridge I reload for.

--------J

[sore shoulder]

I broke the pin in a couple die sets, so I use a de-capping die and the handpress for just that purpose. No more broken pins... FWIW, I loaded 100 45-70s with the hand press, and dippers and they shot just as good as the ones I do on the real press, and powder measure/scales....

The most consistent loads I've ever built were with dippers.

[Malamute]

I like the Lee hand press. The press operates smoothly. But for de-priming the 310 with universal de-priming die is the fastest surest thing I’ve ever used . I can adjust it so the primer will fall so uniformly I can drop them in a coffee cup in front of me at the table . I’ll do as much reloading with the 310s as I can.

+1000 on depriming with the 310, I don't have 310 die sets for every cartridge I reload for but I do have 310

shell adapter's for every cartridge I reload for.

--------J

Interesting, I broke several decapping pins with the 310s when I first had mine, I got tired of replacing the pins, so bought one of the Lee decapping tools that are used with a hammer and leave them in with the 310s. Havent replaced a decapping pin in a 310 tool since about 1983 or so. Usually just remove them from the die if its in combination with neck sizing.

I think Ive broken one decapping pin in RCBS bench dies. Have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds. They can get torqued and not be centered properly, you can hear the pin proinging off the edge of the flash hole.

[1894cfan]

Kinda recently started using the 310 tool for 30/30 and also had problems with de-capping, so got a spare set of dies and dedicated the resize/decap die to decap only, no more broken decaping pins.
At one point I got one of the Huntington press's and tried using it for a little while, but it just didn't float my boat, so moved on to the Lee handloading sets and Lee Hand Press (use for decaping and repriming when I'm not using the 310 tool for 30/30 and .357 mag.) Most reloading is still done on a RCBS RS single stage press.

[Blaine]

One cool thing about the Lee Hand Press is that if you're shoulders are shot, you can work it like a ThighMaster.

[1894cfan]

One cool thing about the Lee Hand Press is that if you're shoulders are shot, you can work it like a ThighMaster.

+1 LOL

[sore shoulder]

One cool thing about the Lee Hand Press is that if you're shoulders are shot, you can work it like a ThighMaster.

[marlinman93]

I own one of the prototypes that Fred Huntington made before they became mass produced. It's what the press in this topic copies, as have some others also. The original Huntington is a very nicely built hand press, and I use mine often at the range for load workup. It and my Harrell's powder measure make loading anywhere a slick deal! I can even take them out for a week of hunting or varmint shooting, and not worry about running out of ammo if I have bullets and powder!

[HawkCreek]

I have one of the first runs of these Buchanan presses and they are very well made. He designed it around the Huntington but with improvements. I was able to easily full length resize .30-06 brass without any strain and there was room to load 220 grain bullets in the .30-06 as well. It was different than a bench mounted press for sure but at no point did I need to clamp the press down or need another set of hands.

[marlinman93]

I have one of the first runs of these Buchanan presses and they are very well made. He designed it around the Huntington but with improvements.

What "improvements" over the Huntington? I don't see anything that's really different? Especially when compared to the pre mass production Huntington.

[HawkCreek]

I have one of the first runs of these Buchanan presses and they are very well made. He designed it around the Huntington but with improvements.

What "improvements" over the Huntington? I don't see anything that's really different? Especially when compared to the pre mass production Huntington.

I don't remember a lot of it but I was looking for an old Huntington when these came out. I know the handles (and I assume the entire press) is longer so you get a bit more leverage. Probably doesnt matter if you're doing pistol ammo but like I said I was able to full length size .30-06 without issue.

He talks about improvements when he introduced it and I was intrigued enough to gamble on one. Frankly I'm glad I got one of these instead of paying out the nose for an older used Huntington. If I'd have already had a Huntington I probably wouldn't have gotten one but this is the way to go for currently available presses this size.

If you care to read about it here are a few links.

Here is the grand introduction:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... Hand-Press

And here it is straight from the source:
http://buchananprecisionmachine.com/pro ... ding-press

[marlinman93]

It appears the improvement may be the longer handles, and CNC machined aluminum vs. cast aluminum. If it's less than a used Huntington, then its a better choice just for that reason. I really like mine, and this prototype is all steel, except for the anodized aluminum handle spacers. It full length resizes anything I shoot with no problem.

[HawkCreek]

Hope this is ok:

If anyone is a member of the Castboolits forum I see he is having another sale of these presses. $180 for a press if you're a member over there. The quality on these is top notch!


Another person with a wide selection of old reloading equipment presses compared it to a Decker press and said the following:
"More Leverage and Larger Capacity
Able to standup on the table by itself
Controls spent primers once removed
Better fit and finish over the Huntington Version
I'm still using both but prefer Randy's of the two."