DGW1949 said:
That, or keep using it like it is untill you can't no more.
Hi,
I think DGW's got the answer right there!
At last count, I had six single stage presses. Two were bought new, two "almost" new, two "definitely used" but not apparently abused.
Three of them have nice tight rams (one of the new ones, both of the almost new ones) while the other three have a fair amount of wobble. I haven't measured it to be exact.
Once upon a time I asked a buddy, who's quite familiar w/ machine tools and many other types as well--he was in manufacturing 30+ years--if I should worry about the wobble (it was my '69 RCBS Jr. in question, one of the definitely used presses.)
He 'splained to me the wobble didn't mean a thing. "Your dies keep everything straight and centered. All the ram does is push 'up' and any wobble in the ram just tends to let things center in the die easier. Notice how the case does NOT 'lock down' in the shell holder. There's a reason for that--you NEED some wiggle available in the system."
He didn't explain HOW MUCH wiggle might be ideal. Or tolerable. But I quit worrying, cuz the ammo produced on the "wobbly" presses sems to shoot just as well as the ammo from the "tight" ones. A benchrester might argue that point, and could well be right, but I'm not one of them.
Now, cleanliness is next to godliness, as they say, so I make sure to wipe the ram down and give it a couple of tiny droplets of oil before each loading session, and AFTER each depriming session. The primer dust is abrasive, and, combined w/ some oil, becomes a good grinding paste which CAN ruin a press, as reported by Joe Miller here on a couple of occasions. So keeping the OPs's loose Jr. dedicated to depriming/sizing uses may be wise, as it keeps the other one much cleaner!
I guess that approach is still good practice on a loose press just as it is on a tight one: none of my loose ones has gotten any looser since they came to live w/ me!
Rick C
