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M. Fink · January 15, 2001, 01:04 PM

I knew this one was going to come up.

All I can say is get ready. I had no problems at all with this press until somewhere around 4000-5000 rounds were loaded and it's been downhill every since.
There are two PLASTIC guides which feed the PLASTIC APS strips for the automatic primer feed. If you disassemble the top plate you will see what I'm talking about. As the strips move through this mechanism, each PLASTIC arm flexes up and down to catch the next groove on the APS strip. After a while they become worn or the PLASTIC weakens, which will result in one of two things. You may be lucky and have them snap off before they quickly wear out, in which case you may simply replace them with a call to RCBS. When I called RCBS they sent me four new ones, as if they were anticipating another breakdown. I've used two so far. Secondly, there is a lot of noticeable play even new ones, when the strips are being held by these arms- Bad Design. The arms and the strips should have been designed from a stiffer plastic or perhaps even aluminum or tin with rubber inserts to hold the individual primers. Anyhow, when the arms and strips begin to wear out they will no longer exactly center the primer under the flash hole. This results in primers being pushed unevenly into the primer pocket with some scary looking results. I can't believe I haven't had any primers detonate in my face the way they are smashed sideways into the pockets. Also you will encounter the APS strip stopping midway between two primers. When pushing forward on the handle to seat the primer, this will cause the pin to go through the PLASTIC jamming the strip. You the need to spend 15 minutes taking it apart and putting it back together just to get the ruined strip back out.
Indexing the turret no longer produces that helpful click to let you know that you have stopped in proper alignment. It just sort of spins with the same resistance all the way around. Lots of fun when you index, pull the arm and the case mouths slam into the sides of the die because it was not properly centered.
The main spring underneath which holds the turret in the ready posistion has worn out. The ram just rests on the bottom of the frame now making it impossible to index because the priming pin is pushed through the access hole. I've tried taking the spring out and stretching it, which will last for a little while, but who wants to spend time working on it when you could be spending that time reloading.
I don't know, maybe the designer had three arms to compensate for these flaws when they happened. Then again maybe I just got a lemon. I doubt it.
Also if you have any luck finding a parts kit let me know. I've already looked. I wouldn't mind stocking up on a couple of them for the future. I checked with my RCBS dealer and most replacement parts he does not carry because if you need them you can just order factory direct.
I don't want to trash on this press too hard because I do still use it and crank out some rounds with it but, it just seems like It could be made a little bit easier if the parts and design would hold up.
All I can say is that my next progressive will be blue!

[Edited by M. Fink on 01-15-2001 at 01:24 PM]

January 15, 2001, 01:04 PM	#17
M. Fink Junior Member Join Date: January 13, 2001 Posts: 14	I knew this one was going to come up. All I can say is get ready. I had no problems at all with this press until somewhere around 4000-5000 rounds were loaded and it's been downhill every since. There are two PLASTIC guides which feed the PLASTIC APS strips for the automatic primer feed. If you disassemble the top plate you will see what I'm talking about. As the strips move through this mechanism, each PLASTIC arm flexes up and down to catch the next groove on the APS strip. After a while they become worn or the PLASTIC weakens, which will result in one of two things. You may be lucky and have them snap off before they quickly wear out, in which case you may simply replace them with a call to RCBS. When I called RCBS they sent me four new ones, as if they were anticipating another breakdown. I've used two so far. Secondly, there is a lot of noticeable play even new ones, when the strips are being held by these arms- Bad Design. The arms and the strips should have been designed from a stiffer plastic or perhaps even aluminum or tin with rubber inserts to hold the individual primers. Anyhow, when the arms and strips begin to wear out they will no longer exactly center the primer under the flash hole. This results in primers being pushed unevenly into the primer pocket with some scary looking results. I can't believe I haven't had any primers detonate in my face the way they are smashed sideways into the pockets. Also you will encounter the APS strip stopping midway between two primers. When pushing forward on the handle to seat the primer, this will cause the pin to go through the PLASTIC jamming the strip. You the need to spend 15 minutes taking it apart and putting it back together just to get the ruined strip back out. Indexing the turret no longer produces that helpful click to let you know that you have stopped in proper alignment. It just sort of spins with the same resistance all the way around. Lots of fun when you index, pull the arm and the case mouths slam into the sides of the die because it was not properly centered. The main spring underneath which holds the turret in the ready posistion has worn out. The ram just rests on the bottom of the frame now making it impossible to index because the priming pin is pushed through the access hole. I've tried taking the spring out and stretching it, which will last for a little while, but who wants to spend time working on it when you could be spending that time reloading. I don't know, maybe the designer had three arms to compensate for these flaws when they happened. Then again maybe I just got a lemon. I doubt it. Also if you have any luck finding a parts kit let me know. I've already looked. I wouldn't mind stocking up on a couple of them for the future. I checked with my RCBS dealer and most replacement parts he does not carry because if you need them you can just order factory direct. I don't want to trash on this press too hard because I do still use it and crank out some rounds with it but, it just seems like It could be made a little bit easier if the parts and design would hold up. All I can say is that my next progressive will be blue! [Edited by M. Fink on 01-15-2001 at 01:24 PM]