A bench clamp for the Rockchucker

My solution was to mount the presses and other equipment to individual chunks of Baltic birch plywood, then drill each with the same hole pattern. Threaded inserts went into the bench, allowing removal if needed. The various tools can be used on my Workmate, too,with soem C- clamps. So while I had to drill wholes in the bench, they're the last holes I had to drill. Any new stuff goes on a drilled plate with the same hole pattern. No welding needed.

Stan

nice clean looking job, simple, sweet. was wondering what you used to cut the C's (plasma, bandsaw?), and if you used a disc sander/grinder to clean up the edges.

b.w.

Nice professional job.

I mount the rockchucker to the end of a board clamped the long way on the bench. That way the bench reaction to handle force is to try to lift up the bench the long way. In the past I have mounted the rockchucker on a short board that is clamped to the bench the short way, and the bench is screwed to the wall.

Here is a picture:

Very nice work. What is this ammo, .223 or something?

i

According to Don Foreman :

Nice! One of the things which make me wish that I had welding equipment and experience.

A few observations and questions -- from the top down:

1) I've got an RCBS press which was made on the same frame as the Rockchucker -- but drilled and tapped directly for the reloading dies instead of for the bullet swaging dies, so mine does not have the thread reducer that yours does. I got mine new many years ago. 2) The black object behind the cartridge case and leading down to the side -- is that some alternative catcher for spent primers? If so -- is the ram in backwards to feed it? Or a different ram? 3) You seem to have machined off the ears for the primer insertion tool, so I presume that you are priming out of the press? (And it also does not have the slot at the top which would be used for holding the primer feed tube, so that machining may have been at the factory. 4) The linkage where the handle joins in apparently has offset mounting for either right-handed or left-handed operation. Mine has only right-handed, and without the slight side angle to the handle, either.

So -- do you know when this one was made?

Thanks, DoN.

Not "The Rockchucker Clamp" ? ;-)

Nice work.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Verrry nice! Bob

Bandsaw for two edges, plasma for the crosscut to clear the throat, pneumatic disc sander (cheap Taiwanese, been running for 20 years) for cleanup.

Plasma coulda/woulda done the whole job faster, but I'm not that good with it.

.243

2: The black thing is a spent primer catcher. The ram is in as it came from the factory. 3: I have not modified the press at all, but I haven't yet installed the primer insertion gizmo. I probably won't because the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool is very inexpensive, works great, and it completely obviates handling individual primers. It can prime a round about every five seconds and it affords good "feel" for when the primer is seating right ... or not.

1. Don't know when it was made but I bought it new for 5 in St. Cloud a couple of weeks ago.

Something I STRONGLY suggest when mounting a reloading press..is to put a 4x4 under the press, from the floor to the bottom of the table top, and just back far enough to clear the linkages.

Even sizing small pistol cases puts a pretty good strain on the table top. Think of it as mounting a post vise.

My main reloading bench has 3 manual presses and a couple autos...and they all have either a 4x4 or a 2x4 from floor to bottom of the press mounting area.

It also helps to keep you from pulling the entire bench over (as I saw done once..laughed for an hour) when resizing recalcritent mil surp cases.

And if you make a metal mount for a press..consider putting in a 10-15 degree tilt backwards. Really helps make the press opening acessable if you are doing the "pecos switch" with cartridge cases.

Gunner

My reloading bench I built over 30 years ago is only 3' long and 18" wide (lived in small spaces back then), but the legs and frame are

4"x4" oak bolted together, and the deck is inlet 1-1/2"x6" tongue & groove of some red tropical hardwood used for truck beds. It's never given me a problem, although I don't load or shoot as much anymore.

I guess I developed a penchant for overbuilding the hell out of stuff a long time ago.

Pete Keillor

On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:53:48 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, Don Foreman quickly quoth:

WHAT? You own a plasma cutter and didn't practice with it? Shameful. Little projects like that get and keep your hand in the mix, Don.

Saaay, if you're not even using that cutter, and if I were to send shipping fees in advance...

- Metaphors Be With You -

Good point. I did use the lil' plasma to make the crosscuts, but I'd get better with it if I used it more. At present I just use it when nothing else will do the job nearly as easily or as well. That alone makes it worth keeping around.

Frankly..there is no such thing as overbuilding anvil stands or reloading benches.

Gunner

That is NICE.

I bolted my RockChucker to a chunk of 2x10 with recessed bolt heads and then use C clamps to clamp it to the bench when I'm in reload mode (which isn't so often any more).

Mike Patterson Please remove the spamtrap to email me. "I always wanted to be somebody...I should have been more specific..." - Lily Tomlin

[ ... ]

O.K. A different design then, because the ram on mine spits spent primers out towards the front. (But mine was bought in the late

1960s or very early 1970s IIRC.)

Unless the design has changed significantly, you probably

*can't* install it in that press without some serious machining. The one which I have (and no longer use) is a spring-loaded arm mounted to a slot in the front at the bottom of the open frame (about where the fresh milling cut shows on yours) with a pocket to hold the primers so you insert by pulling up on the lever, thus moving the ram down), and a feeder tube mounted above it, in a slot (which is not present) in the forward lump of the upper part of the casting.

If they still provide one, it must be significantly different.

Yes -- I have one of those -- and have seated one or two primers sideways. That is a pain, as you have to complete the crushing of the primer before you can slide the casing out of the shell holder to get back to the press to de-prime it. :-)

Interesting. When I got mine (without the larger size threaded hole at the top for the bullet swages) back a long time ago (as shown above), they (RCBS) had supposedly just discontinued the Rock Chucker in the configuration to accept bullet swaging dies, but still had this very solid casting which they were selling as a normal reloading press with the 7/8" thread. (What is the OD thread of your adaptor, BTW? I consider from time to time possibly modifying mine to accept the bullet swage dies.) Not really likely to do that, because the commercial bullets are already very good.

So -- they must have gotten complaints and re-started the line?

Thanks, DoN.

I used to use C clamps for that, but I have switched to Wolfcraft clamps:

I have always used 2x6's to make a clamping bracket, but as it gets used as a shelf, maybe the 2x10 is better.

The junk piled on the board can fall down, just out of sight:

You are probably using 2x10s with the Rockchucker press twisting the board, and the width spreads the reaction to handle force.

With the Rockchucker on the end, that is not a problem.

Same idea, except that it doesn't accept a feeder tube. The user must insert each primer individually. See

works, but I think handling individual primers is a fiddly PITA. I just left the primer gizmo -- ahem, primer arm, #19 -- in the box.

I don't know how you'd get a primer in sideways because the feeder won't feed them that way. Maybe you had the wrong size primer seat plug installed and it tipped there. Even then, it's easy to pop the caseholders with a small screwdriver -- and failing that you can remove the cover plate (4 allen screws), freeing the shellholder tabs. I don't think it's a real good idea to either crush a primer or deprime a live primer in a press, though I know that some guys do it. I would discard that case and primer.

Having more sensitive feel is part of why I like that hand primer. It'd be easy to crush a primer in a press, but I think it'd be very unlikely in a hand primer.

1.2273 OD x 12 TPI. Seems like an odd size, but I miked it twice and verified gross measurement with a digital caliper. Seems to fit OK, not sloppy. Doesn't say "made in China" anywhere...doesn't say "made in USA" either, but I think it is made in Oroville, CA.

Dunno. It appears from my reading that many reloaders prefer the Rockchucker in a singlestage press, and (like Sara Lee) nobody doesn't like it.