Posted by Brett Meyer on 1/16/2025 to
In the world of reloading presses if you ask most of the top shooters what their favorite all purpose single stage press is, the Forster Co-Ax would overwhelmingly be at the top of that list. The simplicity and ease of use along with the free-floating design has proven itself year after year as being one of the best single stage presses you can get.
After years of wanting one, I recently picked one up for myself from Brownells. Upon opening the box, the first thing I noticed was how light it was compared to many other large cast iron presses. Don’t let that fool you, Forster packed brut force into that little press, and it is toted as having three times the force as comparable C presses. While setting the press up, I could feel the motion of the travel is quite impressive. With recent improvements in manufacturing processes, the new versions of this press are supposed to be better than ever, and it shows. Working with metal every day and fitting parts, I can appreciate the fitment of everything and you can hear how smooth they run together. This along with the perfect alignment gives us a great start to a quality press.
The first thing I did was get it all assembled and installed on my bench. There’s not much to put together. Installing the handle with a set screw, and taking the primer drop tube and inserting it into the press and adding the jar is a breeze. The one thing you do need to do is adjust the expander mandrel at the base that opens the jaws at the bottom of the stroke. A few minutes and you are up and running.
I started out with some 308 Winchester brass that were fired out of a factory gun. Factory rifles tend to have generous chambers, and this is a good example of what the average person would see when resizing brass. As expected, it ran through there with ease. A great feature of this press is its ability to Co-Axially align the case with the die. The true floating die body holder accompanied by its self-aligning and self-closing jaws should allow for perfect alignment between the two.
I usually don’t prime on my presses, but if needed I think the system they have set up for priming does the job very well and it is easily accessible. With a little adjustment on the three jaws you can prime just about any case needed. With the top location I found it very easy to use and would be great if you needed to prime a few cases. Priming several hundred cases at a time could be done, but it’s my opinion that there are better ways to accomplish this task. Forster sets up this priming system so it seats below flush, but won’t crush the primer.
In the pursuit of always improving my reloading process, this press will be a critical component when needing a large single stage press for doing operations such as sizing cases. If you are just getting into reloading or a seasoned vet needing another press, the Forster Co-Ax is a top-of-the-line press that will do everything you need it to and last a lifetime!
You can Pick up a Forster Co-Ax Here!
Here are some accessories that can be useful with this press and I plan to acquire myself.
