Thread: Frankford Arsenal M press coaxial review

Originally Posted by longrange308

Am I the only one lost here? Two months ago selling everything to feed the family buy a car bla bla now buying gear to load again

Ummm let's get one thing straight, never was it about feeding the family that's not a problem they always come first, the cost of living certainly impacts on my ability to save doesn't mean I can't it just takes longer.
I needed a new car and wanted to buy something decent so sold most of my toys as my need for a newer reliable/economical car was greater and more urgent than my need to own several rifles. I do travel 120km per day for work, we can't all walk 100m as nice as that would be
Bla bla bla time to start again....after all it's what I do best.
I hope that clears up any confusion you feel over my finances

Geeze are we really that concerned about the reasons folk give for selling anything? Mostly I ignore reasons given and focus on what goods are offered at what price. Never bought anything out of sympathy yet and, not saying anything to Dannyb, I don't put much faith in seller's expressed reasons for selling anyway. Most of it looks like spin and its always irrelevant to a considered purchase decision. The only time I pay attention is when its occasionally amusing...

Originally Posted by JohnQT

Damn!! It was you who bet me too it! I went in to grab it and it was sold! haha.

They look like great presses, and as you, every review I've read/watched has been very positive.

I just bought the FA powder thrower too. It feels very very good so far!

Keen to hear what your thoughts are on this after running a hundred or so rounds.

Cheers

the wholesaler/distribiter still have them in stock as i just ordered 1 through Reloader supplies @ a simlar price to Delta Mikes.I live in the winterless north so quicker for me to get 1 from Reloaders

Found this video after reading a thread on snipers hide about issues with the m press, I will probably strip mine down and do the screw upgrade as suggested in this video before doing any real work with this press.
Another issue I have found mentioned is that the grub screws in the die blocks can work loose, dunno if a bit of blue loktite might be a fix, if it even is an issue ? Other suggestion I found was to use 2 redding die lock rings per die spaced to fit in the block on the press.
Will see how it goes first with seating before I bother mucking around with that.
Of note my shell holders rotate freely.

https://youtu.be/-hI3QmcND2I?si=GczisYkTYDYhBdTA


Here is a pic demonstrating using 2 die lock rings instead of the Frankford Arsenal die block, again I'm unsure if thus is a genuine issue but at very least it would get you out of a bind if you needed to set up dies for a friend to use your press so handy to know.



I will try blue loktite on the grub screws in my FA die blocks if they come loose before giving this a go.

Mmm, very interesting video and associated comments. You might need to buy a cheap Lee press to do do your FLSing :-)

Might also be a market for my box of Redding lock rings...

Originally Posted by zimmer

Mmm, very interesting video and associated comments. You might need to buy a cheap Lee press to do do your FLSing :-)

Doubt that will be necessary, pretty sure annealing and lube will be more than enough.

Originally Posted by dannyb

Doubt that will be necessary, pretty sure annealing and lube will be more than enough.

The guy in the vid was short by 8 thou. You will need to use pretty thick lube methinks. But I'm sure no manufacturer would be dopey enough to release a press which won't do the most fundermental of reloading tasks. Good luck, watching with interest.

Originally Posted by zimmer

The guy in the vid was short by 8 thou. You will need to use pretty thick lube methinks. But I'm sure no manufacturer would be dopey enough to release a press which won't do the most fundermental of reloading tasks. Good luck, watching with interest.

I see your point, I thought you were talking about the issue of bending the shell holder plate caused by a stuck case (caused by insufficient lube possibly).
I'll go size a case now and update on if it's an issue as far as being able to bump the shoulder back enough.

Yeah, there are quite a few hits on Google re cases stuck in dies. This is a lube/competance issue, not the press.

The deepening of the threaded holes and longer screws plus a centre screw fixes the plate lifting/bending issue 100%.
Even on the Forster I would maybe question the strength of the shellholder retaining. There are only 2 screws.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Yeah, there are quite a few hits on Google re cases stuck in dies. This is a lube/competance issue, not the press.

The deepening of the threaded holes and longer screws plus a centre screw fixes the plate lifting/bending issue 100%.
Even on the Forster I would maybe question the strength of the shellholder retaining. There are only 2 screws.

Well i did I stupid thing.....

Found a fired Sako case that 100% would not chamber in the Howa 308win, slotted the die in the press and ran it through.....thought to myself holy heck that's super slick I could barely feel any resistance.....tried to chamber....no dice...screwed die down further....run it through again.....no dice....screw die down as far as I dare (solid contact with the sheel plate)....run it through again.....no dice still hard no chamber.....start to think I've bought an utter lemon and how much of a PITA it's gonna be to get the bottom of my dies machined so that they will be able to screw down far enough to bump my shoulder back.
Pulled the die out of the press in disgust.....hang on a second....squint....squint harder "Lee decap die"
Ffs I was using my de capping die not my full length sizer kicked myself changed to Hornady new dimension full length size die ran it through once (a little more resistance, to be expected when actuallyfull length sizing)....better but still tight....screw down another 1/4 - 1/3 of a turn run it through again.....voila!!!!!! Chambered like silk and die not to hard up against the shell holder....what a bloody rookie move

All good.

What was the required effort on the handle like?

Originally Posted by zimmer

All good.

What was the required effort on the handle like?

Less than my old lock n load press, or at least felt that way. Couldn't say for certain without doing a side by side comparison.
Maybe its the angle with the lever on top of the press vs way down below, maybe its smoother, maybe having dual rams makes it feel lighter ? It's only 308 brass so not exactly hard to full length size.

Also after having a bit of a play with it i am going to run the seater die with dual lock rings like the picture below, reasoning is, with the factory die blocks there is a bit of play which is needed otherwise they would be a shit of a thing to get in and out.
This is fine but to set up the seating die not to crimp you need to back the die out 1 full turn which means when you drop the ram with the die set up on the FA die blocks there is play, now i know you can wind the seating adjuster down to negate this but by using the dual die lock rings you can take up 95% of that play which should mean more consistent seating...."should". Either way, I like the idea of the seating die having little to no play, it may or may not matter.

I have now sized 50 new cases and a few once fired cases, also loaded up a load ladder as well.
So far so good the seating is very consistent using the 2 lock ring set up, I'm sure it would be equally good using the foster die blocks.
Because you can't turn the case in the shell holder like you can on a conventional press I think this press will preform best with seating dies that have the floating sleeve that helps center the projectile whilst it is being pushed up into the die (may or may not be an issue I just usually turn the case, seat a little turn again seat a little etc, apparently this helps with concetricity. This would be a real hassle with the frankford m press as you would need to lower the ram almost to the bottom for the case holder to release it's grip on the case) I don't have e a concetricity gauge so can't comment on if concetricity is an issue.
When sizing for the first time you do need to go easy when lowering the handle for the first time as there is a little side to side play in the die blocks and the seating die will center itself on the first case, it didn't move around on me after that.
All in all very happy so far. I will continue to update this thread as I use the press more.

If you haven't got a concentricity gauge just use the method I used for years - roll the loaded round across the top of your desk. You'll see by eye if you have bad concentricity.