C H reloading equipment

ReloadKy · March 23, 2018, 07:39 PM

I had mentioned previously that I am relatively new to reloading (began last May). The equipment that I am starting with were handed down to me by my father in law. The press and scale along with a couple die sets are C H reloading equipment. Does anyone know much about that company or that equipment? I haven’t found much info online. I was also given a .308 die set that has the label Bair Cub on it. I haven’t found info on that either. Any help or info would be appreciated.

LeverGunFan · March 23, 2018, 09:37 PM

CH Tool and Die and 4D Custom Die merged in 1990, they are still and business and are located in Mt. Vernon Ohio. I have a CH 444 press that I bought in 1985, I still use it for many of my reloading tasks. They are currently known as suppliers of dies for many obsolete and uncommon cartridges, and they still make many of the original CH presses along with many unique reloading tools.

Here is a link: http://www.ch4d.com/home

Do you know what press model you have? Reloading presses are generally very durable, I'd guess that it should work fine to get you started in reloading.

FrankenMauser · March 23, 2018, 10:44 PM

Bair Cub dies are good dies. They started right around the corner from Pacific, in Lincoln, Nebraska. (I do not recall exactly what the deal was, but I believe the owner may have even split off from Pacific at some point.) If you follow the Bair lineage, you'll find the descendants of those dies and tools now wearing a "Hornady" brand name.
It sounds like you may not have it, but the original boxes for the Bair Cub dies were light blue injection-molded plastic and had an accompanying lid with a raised bear on the front (in an oval, inside a rectangle, reading "Bair Precision; Lincoln, NE").

I really like the Bair dies that I've got. One chrome-plated 7x57mm sizing die, in particular, is so smooth inside that I don't even use lube when sizing cases. Being new to reloading, you may not understand; but that's a serious compliment and highly unusual.

RC20 · March 23, 2018, 10:46 PM

Hand me down old equipment is great to get started on and likely keep forever if you single load.

A few tools that have history are the best one.

ReloadKy · March 24, 2018, 06:06 AM

FrankenMauser, the Bair Cub dies that I have are in the exact case that you are speaking of.

Sure Shot Mc Gee · March 24, 2018, 10:49 AM

Don't remember who? But there was a die manufacture years ago who purposely machined away one side of their die so to allow the reloader to observe the different working stages of his dies use. I do believe the calibers involved were Weatherby's if I'm not mistaken?
May have been Blair or perhaps Hollywood?

Anyway many of the older dies manufactures took pride in what they made and is the reason for their disappearance. Fat cat manufactures on the block made the owners of those smaller company's proposal they couldn't refuse. Grabbed the smaller company's custom made machinery and immediately fired the smaller company's employee's. Same on going business technique used today so it seems.

Jim Watson · March 24, 2018, 11:10 AM

I believe the original side loading seating die was the Vickerman. Not just to observe, that was where the bullet went in to align closely with the case neck.

I think Weatherby sold their own version of the design, which is likely what you are thinking of. RCBS has one now.

The present standard 7/8"x14tpi die body thread originated with Pacific and was adopted by most other makers, even though I have seen RCBS to get credit for it. I think Pacific first offered the T-slot interchangeable shellholder, too. Other makes had their own design, you can get adapters for some. Early RCBS milled a shell holder into the top of the ram. To change head diameters, you had to change the whole press ram; until they caught on. Hornady bought out Pacific, you could see the designs carry over until they mutated to in-house Hornady products.

**Mike Irwin** · March 26, 2018, 08:03 AM

When I was on staff at American Rifleman I used to talk reloading equipment with Dave Davidson, the owner. Not sure if he's still there or not, but he was doing some interesting stuff with not only the legacy equipment but also some new ideas.

I had a legacy set of CH dies in .300 Savage that I purchased with my 99 in 1985 or so, and they were damaging cases. Weird scratches on the case body. I couldn't see what was causing it, so I got in touch with the company, and he answered. That was our first contact. I described what was going on and he had me send him the die. What came back was a brand new set of CH dies in .300 Savage.

I still have some of his titanium nitride expanders in various calibers that he sent me to test out.

Really nice guy.

F. Guffey · March 26, 2018, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Don't remember who? But there was a die manufacture years ago who purposely machined away one side of their die so to allow the reloader to observe the different working stages of his dies use. I do believe the calibers involved were Weatherby's if I'm not mistaken?

I can't keep up with the "if I'm not mistaken", I have Weatherby dies for the 257 Weatherby, the seating die has the cut away, Back then they called it 'the universal seating die'. A reloader with a universal seating die 'body' and a box of seating plugs could seat bullets for most chambers.

The universal seating die with seating plugs could be purchased from Herter. The threads in the top of the seating die and sizing die were the same on Herter dies. The same threads on both the seating die and sizing die gave a few reloaders utility.

F. Guffey

jamaica · March 26, 2018, 12:30 PM

I have some C&H die sets. They have been just fine.

March 23, 2018, 07:39 PM	#1
ReloadKy Senior Member Join Date: February 23, 2018 Posts: 191	C H reloading equipment I had mentioned previously that I am relatively new to reloading (began last May). The equipment that I am starting with were handed down to me by my father in law. The press and scale along with a couple die sets are C H reloading equipment. Does anyone know much about that company or that equipment? I haven’t found much info online. I was also given a .308 die set that has the label Bair Cub on it. I haven’t found info on that either. Any help or info would be appreciated.

March 23, 2018, 09:37 PM	#2
LeverGunFan Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2007 Location: Indiana Posts: 407	CH Tool and Die and 4D Custom Die merged in 1990, they are still and business and are located in Mt. Vernon Ohio. I have a CH 444 press that I bought in 1985, I still use it for many of my reloading tasks. They are currently known as suppliers of dies for many obsolete and uncommon cartridges, and they still make many of the original CH presses along with many unique reloading tools. Here is a link: http://www.ch4d.com/home Do you know what press model you have? Reloading presses are generally very durable, I'd guess that it should work fine to get you started in reloading. __________________ *Support the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition*

March 23, 2018, 10:44 PM	#3
FrankenMauser Senior Member Join Date: August 25, 2008 Location: In the valley above the plain Posts: 13,424	Bair Cub dies are good dies. They started right around the corner from Pacific, in Lincoln, Nebraska. (I do not recall exactly what the deal was, but I believe the owner may have even split off from Pacific at some point.) If you follow the Bair lineage, you'll find the descendants of those dies and tools now wearing a "Hornady" brand name. It sounds like you may not have it, but the original boxes for the Bair Cub dies were light blue injection-molded plastic and had an accompanying lid with a raised bear on the front (in an oval, inside a rectangle, reading "Bair Precision; Lincoln, NE"). I really like the Bair dies that I've got. One chrome-plated 7x57mm sizing die, in particular, is so smooth inside that I don't even use lube when sizing cases. Being new to reloading, you may not understand; but that's a serious compliment and highly unusual. __________________ Don't even try it. It's even worse than the internet would lead you to believe.

March 23, 2018, 10:46 PM	#4
RC20 Senior Member Join Date: April 10, 2008 Location: Alaska Posts: 7,014	Hand me down old equipment is great to get started on and likely keep forever if you single load. A few tools that have history are the best one. __________________ Science and Facts are True whether you believe it or not

March 26, 2018, 08:03 AM	#8
Mike Irwin Staff Join Date: April 13, 2000 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 41,383	When I was on staff at American Rifleman I used to talk reloading equipment with Dave Davidson, the owner. Not sure if he's still there or not, but he was doing some interesting stuff with not only the legacy equipment but also some new ideas. I had a legacy set of CH dies in .300 Savage that I purchased with my 99 in 1985 or so, and they were damaging cases. Weird scratches on the case body. I couldn't see what was causing it, so I got in touch with the company, and he answered. That was our first contact. I described what was going on and he had me send him the die. What came back was a brand new set of CH dies in .300 Savage. I still have some of his titanium nitride expanders in various calibers that he sent me to test out. Really nice guy. __________________ "The gift which I am sending you is called a dog, and is in fact the most precious and valuable possession of mankind" -Theodorus Gaza Baby Jesus cries when the fat redneck doesn't have military-grade firepower.

March 24, 2018, 06:06 AM	#5
ReloadKy Senior Member Join Date: February 23, 2018 Posts: 191	FrankenMauser, the Bair Cub dies that I have are in the exact case that you are speaking of.

March 24, 2018, 10:49 AM	#6
Sure Shot Mc Gee Senior Member Join Date: January 2, 2012 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,876	Don't remember who? But there was a die manufacture years ago who purposely machined away one side of their die so to allow the reloader to observe the different working stages of his dies use. I do believe the calibers involved were Weatherby's if I'm not mistaken? May have been Blair or perhaps Hollywood? Anyway many of the older dies manufactures took pride in what they made and is the reason for their disappearance. Fat cat manufactures on the block made the owners of those smaller company's proposal they couldn't refuse. Grabbed the smaller company's custom made machinery and immediately fired the smaller company's employee's. Same on going business technique used today so it seems.

March 24, 2018, 11:10 AM	#7
Jim Watson Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2001 Location: Alabama Posts: 18,539	I believe the original side loading seating die was the Vickerman. Not just to observe, that was where the bullet went in to align closely with the case neck. I think Weatherby sold their own version of the design, which is likely what you are thinking of. RCBS has one now. The present standard 7/8"x14tpi die body thread originated with Pacific and was adopted by most other makers, even though I have seen RCBS to get credit for it. I think Pacific first offered the T-slot interchangeable shellholder, too. Other makes had their own design, you can get adapters for some. Early RCBS milled a shell holder into the top of the ram. To change head diameters, you had to change the whole press ram; until they caught on. Hornady bought out Pacific, you could see the designs carry over until they mutated to in-house Hornady products.

March 26, 2018, 12:30 PM	#10
jamaica Senior Member Join Date: March 24, 2006 Location: Northern Utah Posts: 705	I have some C&H die sets. They have been just fine. __________________ Take a fine bead!