Hollywood press

T

topweldor1

New member
I have a old single stage Hollywood press, works great. Does anyone have any history on these? This one has a center mounted handle, the prees head looks to be cast steel. The welds on it look terrible but are holding up for the age. Takes 7/8-14 dies. Not to many markings on it. The handle has a brass ball on the end. Sorry for the long description.
 
There are several generations of the Hollywood press. They are highly regarded as to their strength because of their very large guide column. From your brief description, it would seem that you have a Hollywood Senior press. Built "he11 for stout" and a great press. Originally, these were built by 'Hollywood Gun Shop', but the name and the rights to the design have changed hands several times over the years. As I understand, the final iteration was based in Sun Valley, CA ad was plagued by customer service issues. It eventually burned down a few short years ago.

The Hollywood press is a really great design, has steady collector interest and is a great press to put to use if you are lucky enough to have one.
 
Have one of their powder measures purchased in '52. Hollywood Gun Shop cast into the housing. Couldn't afford their press, too as I was in high school working part time.
smile.gif


Never found a need to replace it as it still throws .1 gr. =/-.

Regards,
hm
 
One of our members acquired one several years ago from either a family estate or an estate sale...He posted some photos and several on here were very familiar with them...The one he had required a different thread on the dies than is normal today and there was some discussion about the ability to use a thread adapter for modern dies with it..

This may be the thread, but at any rate it's a little information on it..
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1096943
 
Thanks for the info. I too have the original powder measure that came with it. I have been using it to resize and load 25x45 sharps, it does make quick work of it. The powder measure does not seem to throw constant, but I have not spent much time using it either. I will try to set it up when I get some time. It is a knee knocker if you don't watch it.
 
Quote:The powder measure does not seem to throw constant, but I have not spent much time using it either.

Like any measure, the smaller powder grains, the more accuracy is possible. Ball powder runs smooth as silk & 4895 is not too bad; use SC (short grains such as 4831 SC) versions where available for best (throwing) accuracy.

Experiment w/your technique and try to be as consistent as possible. I generally bump the drum (against stop) gently at top and bottom to help settle powder in hopper on each throw. I did add a baffle of thin plastic between measure base and plastic hopper which helps minimize varying powder weight as powder level decreases in hopper.

If a long grain powder hangs up and is cut, you can pretty well forget that charge; dump back in hopper and dump next one too. The third charge should be back in the groove.

Since your measure has been in storage a long time, I would remove the drum and clean it up then lube w/dry graphite to smooth out operation.

Regards,
hm
 
Originally Posted By: topweldor1HM, Thanks for the advice, I will give it a try. Does the baffle sit on top of the powder?

No, it goes between the powder hopper and funnel area of the measure, thus taking the weight of the column of powder off of the powder drum. Hard to describe so here's a picture, looking down powder tube from top:



Regards,
hm
 
I think you'll like your measure. There is a learning curve (with any measure) and uniformity is essential to accuracy.

Before I made the baffle, as the powder level dropped in hopper, the charge weight would decrease. The baffle reduced that tendency.

The only downside to the baffle is that complete emptying the measure after use is a bit more difficult. I pour out all I can but make sure to work the drum until I'm sure no powder remains below the baffle.

Regards
hm
 


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