Wichita precision tool co press ?

[hunter280man]

Long time since I've been lurking around this neck of the woods.  But I have run into something that I haven't seen before.  Met a older fella that bought a hydraulic swag/reloading press from a estate sale many moons ago.

 It is in nearly new condition with foot pedal controls and a 110 pump and mounted on a small bench.  The tag reads:   Wichita  Precision Tool Co.   Model RW1   Swaging/reloading press

Is anyone familiar with these?  It looks to be very well built and fairly handy to operate.

The gentleman would like to sell it but hasn't a clue as to its worth or where to start.  (He isn't exactly a computer friendly fella)  So I offered to help him out some.

Any info would be appreciated.  Mark

[talon]

Mark, Good to see you back.  I've never seen the press model you speak of. A lot would depend on the threading for the dies, and if the ram could handle Corbin or Walnut Hill dies. If it can only handle reloading dies and shell holders it would be limited to the type of swaging dies available today. Perhaps Richard Corbin at RCE could help you find out a lot more about your friend's RW1. He has been building those big hydraulic presses for 3 or 4 decades.  He may want to know the size of the cylinder and it's stroke length so have that info ready as well as the TPI of the head and ram.

[hunter280man]

Oh boy!   Thanks Talon,  I was wondering if you were still hanging around....good to hear from you too.   

To be honest it looks like it takes standard reloading dies in the top.  This unit pulls the top die down with the hydraulic ram instead of raising the lower punch.  And a non-moving ejection punch pops the bullet down and out on the return stroke.   All adjustments are made by mechanical lock nuts and stops on the upper cross rail.

Pretty interesting unit to say the least.  I'll try Richard again today....last night his website was all funky.  Thanks again.