Time to get into the hobby... HELP!

[schmalts]

Well, since i bought a 300WSM i guess it is time to start reloading. I talked to my Godfather.... and guess what, he gave me a shitload of reloading stuff.
4 presses, a lube sizer, molds, 2 powder measurers, boxes of brass and other shit. They were his Dad's stuff, and while it is old stuff some of it is still usable and he bought top line stuff in the day. One press that caught my attention was the Pacific Super-Mag 3. I looked at it and knowing nothing about it knew it was built like a tank. I took it all apart and cleaned it all up and you can see in the last picture its all done. There is 2 of those little Tru-line JR's and i see that someone sells a 7/8 14 turret plate to upgrade them to the standard dies. I can make it myself too. I read these are great little presses to knock out a lot of pistol ammo in a hurry because of the short throw. Do you think it would also be good enough to make some quality .223?
Anyone have a clue as to what the other blue press is? it is the same color as the Pacific so i guess it may be one as well.

 

[Ovis]

You dawg...waiting for my grandpa to hand me down his. He has a ton of it...all boxed up now.

 

[gundog]

The blue press may be a Bear or Herters. They were both similar H style presss.

 

[schmalts]

found out the other blue one is called an EZY-LOADER made by Lyman. It takes the same shell holders as the Tru-line JR presses.

 

[1_pointer]

That blue press looks perfect for cranking out lots of shells! Sweet pick ups!

 

[Dangerous Dave]

Schmalts, man -it looks to me like you've got enough hardware there to reload everything that goes 'bang' ever made. I've never used any of the presses you have in your photos, so I can't begin to offer any opinions on which would be best. The Pacific press looks like it could punch through and necksize a battleship.
One suggestion: CHECK ALL OF THE RAMS FOR LATERAL WEAR AND END PLAY!! If the arbor that the shellholder sits on either wobbles side to side OR if there is any looseness at the end of its stroke, toss it. A press like that will produce the worst ammo in the world. Good luck with your reloading. Dave

 

[schmalts]

Dave, that Pacific press is an animal and i feel sorry for any shell that tries to resist getting full length sized! It is a sweet press and i found out that in its heyday it was 20% more costly to buy than a rock chucker. It was Pacific's top of line back then and i will be using it next week for the first time but i doubt i will have any trouble. The other ones, well they will just be used for pistol and small rifle stuff so i don't have to reset any of my big gun dies in the other press. A lot of it is on ebay right now for sale. I am selling the stuff i will not ever use and giving the cash to the guy that gave me all this stuff for being so nice to me. I will get over 150$ in bullet molds and hand loading pliers alone!

 

[schmalts]

just an update on this.. I gave the guy who gave me all this stuff 475$ for the stuff I sold that would never be used by me. He was tickled about it and said until I asked about the stuff he was going to take 200 for all of it!
I have seen the Pacific Super mag press sell for $300 bucks on ebay, so either this was a highly sought collector item of just a darn sturdy press. I have been cranking out all kind of ammo with it and it will size my 300WSM pretty easy for sure as long as i have the lube on it (forgot once.... not fun)
Keep in mind that all that money I gave him was from stuff other than the presses that I kept.. the Swager and luber brought better money that I thought and all those little tru-line lyman hand press tools are collector items I found out.