I have to go ahead and say it. Nothing in this game is cheap. I’m not made of money but I have $4k rifles that have $3k+ scopes on them. It’s called saving. You save for something and then you buy it. We ALL like good tools whether we can afford them at the drop of the hat or not. If you want it get it, in a time frame that works for your budget. But if you think of it like this. That 1200$ press will last you a lifetime. A lot of us spend twice that in barrels every year. Also you can recoup 300-400ish bucks by selling your coaax. So call it 900$ that’s what, 2-300 more than one barrel? My point is the pricing isn’t that off if you want to use nice tool. I will also say some of y’all are the biggest pessimistic cry baby bitches. You act like fucking Democrat social justice warrior feminists. “Why would area419 not work for for free for the betterment of our shooting community, how dare they innovate and then do it for profit” listen to yourselves, it’s pathetic. Don’t buy it if you think your equipment is “just as good” simple as that. I for one like that it’s a hard stop and not a cam over, holds 9 dies, has bearings. It also looks very nice. I will SAVE my money till fall this year and hopefully have enough to get one. The same way I did my rifles, my autotrickler set up, my scopes, my range fees, my barrels, my loading components, my truck etc.
I'm going to jump in here. Keep in mind I'm the guy who's wife thinks I have half a million dollars into this sport (I don't, but I'm sure it's in the six figures). I don't mind spending money on quality components, but there has to be a performance benefit.
First off, I applaud Area 419 coming out with what they see as an improvement on the other presses on the market. If it wasn't for ingenuity, we would still be stuck in caves smashing rocks together.
People are having open discussions, it's a new press, it's a very expensive press (compared to it's alternatives), and as such people are playing the dance and trying to figure out where this fits on the cost-benefit analysis. Yes, this sport is expensive, and yes, lots of us have plenty of money dumped into this sport. But I don't think most people are aimlessly throwing their money into the sport "just because". Generally people who have lots of money to spend on the sport aren't careless with their money - there has to be perceived benefits in order to justify such a purchase.
I think that's why there's lot of discussion in regards to what the performance of this press will be, when it's 3-4x the cost of what is considered the current standards. My Forster Co-ax is most likely going to last my lifetime. It makes excellent ammo, and as an end user, it's a simple and easy device to operate. For myself, there would have to be some sort of performance enhancement for me to spend $1200 on a press, when I already have one that does what I need. I think this is what people are trying to figure out - besides nice machining and build quality, what am I getting for $1200? Is there going to be any down range benefit? Or is it just something that will be nice to look at in the reloading room, with no real functional benefits?
Others in this thread brought up the CPS, a $600 primer. If that's worth it, then certainly this is. The issue I see with that argument is that other methods of priming sucks. I have a K&M hand primer, and that thing blows for comfort. I hate priming more then 100 pieces of brass with that. With a CPS - you can prime with precision while having absolute comfort, plus it's quicker. While it's a big price tag compared to the K&M hand primer, it's a definitive upgrade in end user performance. I don't own a CPS yet, but I think there's one in my future. I also own a Giraud trimmer and AMP annealer - expensive, but there's some big definitive advantages and benefits over the competition to justify the expense.
What will this press do for $1200 to enhance the end user experience and performance, to justify the cost over a Forster Co-ax? For myself, I don't see a big leap in performance or user experience to justify selling the Co-ax. My ammo is all sub 5 SD and 1/3 moa or better, am I going to see even better ballistic performance? Yeah, I understand the tolerances are much tighter, but what will that mean for the reloads? And for user experience, is it going to be much more enjoyable, comfortable or easier to use then say a Co-ax?
Again, I fully support A419 in this venture. But I myself don't see the value in it. I spend money when I know there will be a benefit from it. From what I'm seeing right now, I don't foresee myself buying this press. But I'm also not one to buy a $130 micarta loading block - it doesn't do anything my plastic $15 one doesn't, functionality wise. So there are people that like "nicer things" even when they don't have any really added functionality. I'm not one of them.
Ultimately the market will decide if this is press is a viable option at the current price. There may be enough people to think the cost justifies what they are getting as a product, and A419 can keep making them and selling them at that price. It will be interesting to see how successful it is, and I wish all the best to A419. I appreciate them taking the risk to come up with what they think is a better mouse trap.
