Area419 Zero Press

[Shane Tuttle]

Brownells sent me an email stating the Area419 press is back in stock. Never heard of it. So, I went to take a gander...

https://www.brownells.com/reloading/...tent=Reloading

Holy CRAP on a cracker! I love the fact it's American made with American metals, tight tolerances, beefy components, etc. But, $1,200?! I think my Hornady Lock 'N' Load AP and RCBS Rock Chucker will do me juuuust fine.

Problem with me is, if I had $1,200 lying around, it's going towards another firearm, my Beetle project, or other reloading components.

[MarkCO]

Hah, I got the same email, but did not go look as I knew what the cost was. It was hard for me to let go of my $75 Rockchucker and move up to a $325 Redding T7. Yes, those are old "paid" prices, not current.

The FA X10, if it finally comes out, at $1100 is about the only press I can see myself adding to what I have.

[Shadow9mm]

Its a beautiful press, but not at that price

[Nathan]

I’m questioning if the ammo produced on that is measurably better in any way than from my MEC.

I actually wonder if it is as tight as the MEC! It too is made in the USA!

[hounddawg]

and the part that Area 419 leaves out is that there is a 1/10 of a inch float on all sides of the shellholder. There has to be to allow the case to center itself in the dies. CoAx presses also have float in thier die holders.

I keep a RC under the bench for the heavy stuff when needed and my day to day is a Lee Turret which is the handiest press ever invented. $15 turrets, keep my dies for each cartridge easy to access and store and never need readjusting

[Unclenick]

Yes, and the Co-ax also lets the die itself wiggle, and if need be, tilt a little in its lockring retainer slot to keep on-axis with a case. If you had a super-tight press with class A female die threads, you'd be at the mercy of the dies makers to make the die body threads perfectly concentric with the die axis. All manufactured things have tolerances, so the idea you can float parts to self-alignment makes more sense to me than using something rigid. That said, you don't want a press that stretches vertically if you want to have repeatable numbers when you set a sizing die's height to control your resized cases' shoulder locations. If there is significant vertical elasticity, it will increase case-to-case shoulder height variation when you are not keeping the die mouth in contact with the shell holder deck, so rigidity in the z-axis is desirable.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by hounddawg

and the part that Area 419 leaves out is that there is a 1/10 of a inch float on all sides of the shellholder. There has to be to allow the case to center itself in the dies. CoAx presses also have float in thier die holders.

Is that a bad thing? The MEC has that too.

[Unclenick]

Nope. You want it. Brass is often slightly bulged or has it's head off-axis from an out-of-square breech face or from having the rim bent by extraction in self-loaders, so you want that wiggle room for self-centering.

[hounddawg]

Quote: Nathan

Is that a bad thing? The MEC has that too.

not a bad thing, in order to not cause damage the case has to be able to self center in the dies. Just pointing out the so called Zero float press has plenty of float. The zero float in the turret is just a marketing gimmick to sell a very expensive press. Your MEC, my Lee and Uncle's Forster CoAx is every bit as capable of making precision ammo as the Area 419, They might not have the fit and finish but they serve the purpose just as well