Reloader’s Press

When it comes to the reloading press, everyone seems to have a favorite. It could be because of the feature set, brand loyalty or customer service. The reasons are as varied as they are long. I certainly have a few favorites of my own.

The first one that comes to mind is an RCBS Rockchucker II reloading press. Despite its age, it still has a place on the bench primarily for sentimental reasons. This was the first press I used and the one I learned to reload on. Sitting right next to it on the bench tall and proud, is my most used press to date, a Redding T-7 turret press. In spite of its high mileage, it cleans up nicely on the rare occasion I have time to tidy up the bench. It still cranks out precise ammunition and has been used in countless articles and videos for Wolfe Publishing. Over the years, I have grown quite fond of this press, and some of my favorite loads and most sentimental cartridges have been loaded on it. From the ammunition for Grandpa’s 1903 to that weird, wacky wildcat that most folks have never heard of, it has been a great asset to the bench and my own reloading adventures.

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Some time ago, Creedmoor Sports announced its Enhanced and Adaptive Press heads, which are designed for the Redding T-7 Turret press. I was immediately interested. I have a few Redding replacement press heads for the T-7. Many of those hold die sets that are already adjusted and set for a favorite load. Adding another press head was not a hard sell for me, especially since this one was geared towards precision. I load a lot of handgun ammunition on the Redding T-7 as well as loading precision rifle ammunition. Having a dedicated press head for just such occasions made sense. An order was placed for both heads; due to limited space, I will focus on the Enhanced Press Head.

The Enhanced Press Head is machined from solid 416 stainless steel. It has seven die stations, and the threads are precision cut to the industry standard 7⁄8-14 thread pitch. Any standard die will thread in securely with noticeably less wiggle than in most presses. Installation of the press head was very easy and straight-forward. A Creedmoor Sports Redding T-7 Turret Press Upgrade kit was installed before the Enhanced Press Head. The instructions for installing both products were clear, making the installation a mere 5-minute task.

The press head rotates into position positively and securely on a newly replaced ball detent system, offering smooth operations and tactile stops at each die location. The very first thing I noticed when loading with this new setup was the hard stop against the turret and a notable lack of flex in the new press head. The press head did not flex even when some cam-over was applied.

The next step was to load up some ammunition and put this press head to the test. At the time, I happened to have a very accurate rifle from AllTerra Arms chambered in 6mm Creedmoor. I needed to work up loads for this rifle and conducting a full load development seemed like a great way to test this new press head. How repeatable would the setup be? How consistent would the ammunition be? Perhaps most importantly, how small would the best groups be? These are all things I was determined to find the answer to.

For starters, brand-new, unfired Starline cases were selected along with a Redding Deluxe die set. All cases were run into the Redding neck-sizing die to iron out any dings from shipping and to set uniform neck tension for all of our cases. Measuring neck tension with a Mitutoyo Caliper, all cases had a minimum measurement of .0015 inch to a maximum of .002 inch. Not bad for brand-new, unfired cases. After sizing, all cases had a chamfer and deburr applied using a Frankford Arsenal Platinum Case trim and Prep Center. All cases were then primed using a Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer, a great tool I have learned to love. Once all the cases were primed, each case was then charged using an RCBS MatchMaster powder dispenser, and weights were within .04 grains of the target weight. Bullets were then seated to the correct lengths using a Redding seating die with the micrometer adjustable VLD seating stem installed. I mention all of this so that the process can be easily repeatable for the reader and answer any questions before they arise.

Now that the ammunition was loaded and ready to go, it was time to start testing. By running through a normal load development, there was no shortage of loads to test. As can be seen from the table, everything performed very well. Undoubtedly, everything from the rifle to the loading equipment was working well together. In testing more than 30 different loads and several powders and bullets, not a single load grouped over 1-MOA. There is no doubt in my mind that the rifle made the most significant contribution toward assembling small groups. However, I should not discount the handloading and the time and equipment used to assemble these loads. As a reference, some factory ammunition was also tested to establish a baseline for comparison. Looking at the factory load table, I can clearly see that the factory ammunition also performed very well in this rifle. However, despite this, we can also see that the best handloads outperformed the factory ammunition, especially when factoring in group size and velocity consistency. This tells us that with a little bit of load development and using good tools, we could exceed factory load performance.

This test may not be the most conclusive, but it is measurable and repeatable, and when factoring in all the loads shot, it is also statistically significant. Thirty rounds of factory ammunition and more than 30 handloads to compare with the test rifle and handloading setup. Overall, I am delighted with the performance of the Creedmoor Sports Enhanced Press Head. I am sure I will be using it for many years to come. It also brings some new life to a favorite press of mine. Besides that, one truly can’t have too many T-7 press heads. I believe that the results of this load development clearly show that this equipment is more than capable of assembling high-quality handloads. I would not hesitate to take appropriate loads from this setup to compete in a match with or into the field for a hunt.

If you would like to watch the accompanying video to this article, check out the video titled “Creedmoor Sports Enhanced and Adaptive Press Heads” on our YouTube channel Handloader TV.