I love my 20yr old Rock Chucker even more now
Here as of late I have been spending a lot of time at my reloading bench with my old favorite companion Mr. 20 year old Rock Chucker. Reloading is a stress reliever for me and my reloading bench is a place to go after one of those tough days at work. Like most when I started out reloading I started out on this single stage press which has seen tens of thousands of rounds throughout the years. And like most reloaders as technology have advanced I have moved forward with it owning a Lee Classic 4 hole turret press and a Hornady Progressive LnL press. Over the years I have found my Rock Chucker sitting lonely mounted to the end of the bench unless I am in need of rifle rounds. I still prefer to load all of my rifle ammunition on the single stage. Having tried rifle on a progressive the flow of the process does not feel safe to me, cleaning, full length sizing, stopping, trimming brass, stopping, priming brass, stopping ok you get the point I think. Now before you condemn me to eternal ****ation, there are many reloaders out there whom have mastered reloading rifle on a progressive press and feel totally comfortable with it. I guess it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks as I have the same process for the last 20 years of reloading rifle, processing batches at a minimal of 200 rounds at a time and it is this process I am most comfortable with. I also know that the Rock Chucker gives me more consistent tolerances having measured cartridge overall length utilizing the same exact dies just two different presses but I digress.
Though I enjoy reloading time is very precious as any session could be interrupted by a call from work or any other life moment. Though I have a 20 year old process thats tried and true I have made a few changes over the years to become more efficient, in a sense thats part of the excitement and joy of moving to a turret or progressive press. Spending so much time reloading pistol ammo as of late and really enjoying it I found myself at the bench looking down at the Rock Chucker asking myself what can I do to make rifle reloading more efficient and enjoyable. That's when it hit me, one of the things I love about my Hornady LnL is the ability to quickly change calibers, it is also the reason I purchased the Lee Classic 4 hole Turret press for low production ammunition runs. Enter the idea of possibly modding the Rock Chucker for easy caliber changes and I knew Hornady made a kit for this very task, the Hornady Lock and Load Conversion Kit. Like any mods I take on I make sure to have the right tools first to complete the job and for this one I was going to need to acquire a 1 1/2in socket as I did not have anything that large in my toolbox.
For the complete process go here http://www.dayattherange.com/?p=3172
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