Anybody using one of these???

[Gary]

http://i.imgur.com/olhnoCPl.jpg

I just did a buy it now and haven't heard back from the seller yet, so I might own it, or not. Looks to be sturdy and in decent condition. These use standard thread dies?

 

[Will]

Pretty sure the old bonanza presses use standard dies.

I think Ben recently had a thread where he cleaned a bonanza up and made it look like new.(as he does with lots of things)
I'm sure he will be along with plenty of info.

Found it.
http://www.artfulbullet.com/index.php?threads/my-new-to-me-old-press.1156/

 

[Gary]

I got it!! It's in the shipping cycle as I type.
Step in Ben and enlighten me with any caveats you've gleaned about the Bonanza.

 

[Gary]

Thanks Will. Well I got it and it's on it's way. Now, Ben step in and enlighten me about the Bonanza Press.

 

[Dusty Bannister]

I bought one used early in my years of this hobby. I later found a good deal on a Rock Chucker. They did not interchange dies, without adjustment, so I made a young new reloader very happy with the Bonanza and kept the Rock Chucker. I probably should have kept it anyway, but at the time... It seemed a good idea to pass it along.

 

[Gary]

Do you mean the regular dies used in a Dillon; RCBS; Lee won't work in the Bonanza, or are you saying the shell holders aren't going to work?

 

[Dusty Bannister]

I found it inconvenient to have to re set the dies when going from the Bonanza to the Rock Chucker. The space between the top of the shell holder was not the same with the two presses. You should not have any problems using the standard reloading dies and shell holders.

I did not say they needed to be modified, just that they needed to be adjusted when using a different press.

 

[Gary]

Gottcha; I had the same problem with two Rock Chuckers and cured the problem with a shim under the insert. Thanks for the info.

 

[Ben]

I got it!! It's in the shipping cycle as I type.
Step in Ben and enlighten me with any caveats you've gleaned about the Bonanza.

I had a young reloader who didn't have a nice press and I gave it to him.
He loves it.
It didn't have a primer catcher, so we made one.
Works 101%.

Ben

 

[Gary]

Good for you Ben. I've got a brother that has, for years, leaned on me to reload for him and I think my Bonanza will be a gift to him. Kinda killing two birds with one "reloader". I'll put up some more pics of the press once it gets here and I have a chance to go over it real well.

 

[Gary]

Got it today and she's pretty slick. I took her apart to clean, but it really didn't need it. Here's a couple of pics; paint is original and the action is very tight. I really like it a lot.