I recently came into posession of an old Dunbar H-style press. Not a speck of rust on it anywhere, so someone must have cleaned it up, and man, this thing is beefy! It weighs about 28 lbs and looks like it could crush rocks. It's a two die station press, as shown in the pictures, with priming posts for large and small primers.

It looks like there is plenty of room between the two die stations to use this as an arbor press for those precision hand dies. I'm also wondering if it might work for bullet swaging, it looks to be strong enough, and has a lot of leverage.

The only marking on the press at all is the name "Dunbar" stamped on the axle.

Do any of you have information about these presses? I read that Herter's made some of these as well, and that the Dunbar presses are pretty rare, but couldn't find more information than that.

I'm debating whether to keep it or just sell it and buy a Forster Co-ax press.

Here's some pictures:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/zthang43/Misc/IMG_0973a.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/zthang43/Misc/IMG_0977a.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c26/zthang43/Misc/IMG_0979a.jpg

I never heard of them either, but it sure resembles the C&H presses. The only problem I can see with this kind of press for bullet swaging is all the pressure, and it takes a bunch of pressure, is put on one side of the press set up like shown. This may be a problem. C&H shell holders may fit it if you need any, though looks like you got a box full. Here's their website.

Welcome to CH Tool & Die / 4D Custom Die (http://www.ch4d.com/)

Here's where you can check on swaging dies and equipment. There's lots of good info on bullet making here.

Corbin Bullet Swage Technology (http://www.corbins.com/)

RCE Co. - Bullet swaging presses (http://www.rceco.com/)

Go here http://www.starreloaders.com/forum/ and ask Mr. Kenneth L. Walters about this press. Mr. Walters has written quite a number of articles on antique and collector loading equipment.

Yours appears to be a beautifully finished press with quality throughout. I notice that the handle on yours is mounted inside the base pivots. C-H handles were usually mounted on the end of the pivot outside of the base. Interesting. BOL

I'm debating whether to keep it or just sell it and buy a Forster Co-ax press.


That's kinda like asking whether to sell a classic car and buy a brand new model or not. With a classic car, you enjoy the trip more than the destination. If you just want to get there, a late-model car is a better bet.

I would ordinarily recommend a co-ax over any other single stage press out there. But what you have there is something special. If you want a co-ax, save your money and buy one outright, but hang onto this one; they don't make them like that anymore. Enjoy the trip...

I think BigJake said it very well. The Co-ax are very good presses, but if your looking to reload quality ammo on a budget then take a look at the Lee Anniversary kit at Cabela's or Midway. There is everything you need for around a hundred bucks except your dies and loading supplies.

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll check out the website posted above.

I'm not looking to get into reloading on a budget, I've been loading for about 15 years now and I'm currently using a Dillon 550B and an old Lyman Orange Crusher; just picked up this Dunbar because I hadn't seen anything like it before and it impressed me. I don't really like my Lyman press very much, so I've been thinking about upgrading to a Co-ax for a while now.

Interestingly, the co-ax is sort of an inverted H-press anyway. Instead of the "platen" riding on guide rods, the co-ax platen and guide rods ride together in bearings in the press frame. The non-compound linkage of the two designs is similar, but the Forster lever fulcrum is at the top instead of the bottom.

Of course, the co-ax has universal shell holder jaws, a snap-in/out, floating die retention system and flawless spent primer/debris handling too.

Andy

I contacted a fellow named Ken Neeld (aka "Mr. Herters") about this press, and with his permission I'm including his reply below, for anyone interested:

"The Dunbar press is an interesting artifact of the reloading business. It was conceived during the early 1950's by a shooter who happened to own a glass business. I am not sure if it is the first of the "H" presses or not. There was a connection between Herter's and Dunbar that has, so far, been hard to pin down. They marketed the same powder measure though who actually made it is not known. For some time I was under the impression that their "H" presses were identical but that has proven to not be true. Also, Dunbar dies are very different than Herter's.

The Dunbar press and reloading tool operation continued for a short time after it was separated from the Dunbar Glass Works.

There are several variations as to how they are marked and these are likely attributed to who produced each press and when. Some have a brass plate on the base, others it is on the slide while mine has Dunbar cast into the frame under the main shaft. But mine has a nickel plated shaft and link arms without that neat little Dunbar logo stamped on the shaft. Mine has been repainted but gray is the correct color.

As for using the press for swaging I would not. Swaging takes a lot of force and leverage, both are best handled by an RCBS press. The weakness of the "H" design is frame tweaking under load. "

BigJake, interesting observation about the similarities with the Co-ax press; I've heard a lot of good things about them but hadn't looked at one in comparison to this Dunbar.

Wow It's the 2nd one I have seen, I owned the other, It had the tag on the baseplate.

I would say collect it or sell it on ebay as it will fetch a good price!

I used mine for a few years when I bought it back in the early 90's but it does tweek abit when using to FL size belted mags etc. The handy part obviously is you can set up two stages.

-2sigs