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Andy, I would say that there are two avenues with this, one is the press itself - what this adds over the K&M press is a way of achieving constant seating force. I looked into buying a hydraulic version of an arbor press, which is considerably more expensive than the K&M but still does not give you a constant force. Before the AMP I looked for a while at more industrial type arbor presses with constant force motors on them , certainly not anything new anyway. Second avenue is if it gives more consistency or better results on targets. I’m happy to let the beta YouTube testers do the work on that.

Deer and Chris, let those without an Autotrickler cast the first stone. Seriously if the thing cost £50 we would all have one because it’s nerdy but interesting to know if seating force has an accuracy / consistency (ES) effect or not. Like a lot of other kit selling a perceived advantage works but comes with a sticker shock. At least the press does do stuff other arbor presses don’t.

Maybe I think of it more as a limited window of opportunity. Frankford Arsenal ( best China) are not making precision presses like the Zero or Turban but a constant force motor and scale could be done in China for a lot less money. It may hold the same appeal as a treadmill to Stephen Hawking’s but many use Holosun ( half the price) red dots on pistol who used to swear by Trijicon.

F Class John has put his first video up, it’s a bit slow. I commented there as Czech Tactical.

There are multiple ‘reloaders’ on YouTube. Just pick who you like. ATM Erik and Ulimate Reloader have the AMP press now. I don’t know them personally so view them more as Beta testers, which can be a very useful thing, both time and money saving. I hope F Class John also gets one to add another point of view. What the press is doing is allowing you to test various assumptions. What it’s not doing is directly measuring neck tension but that is just one aspect. It’s also questionable if it’s best to wait a year or two for the V2 version- as with the AMP annealer.

Is anyone planning on getting one? I’m very tempted but want to wait until Erik Cortina has done his test. Sort of fingers crossed that it shows gas annealing does as well as AMP induction and that seating force does not account for a hill of beans on targets…..It would keep things simple.

Saddler and Gary, agree the new MK7 primer feeder could be a blessing. At the moment primer drop tubes are filled with a Dillon electric primer filler. It’s a bit of a bottle next in the system unless you pre fill enough tubes first. I started on a Dillon 550 about 30 years ago. Great press, brings back some happy memories of shooting in the U.K. I did speak to Dillon at the IWA a couple of years ago, at the time they were not recommending to auto-drive the 1050. I get their point - when there is an issue you ‘feel’ it first before you bugger things up too much. An auto-drive takes that away.

I split the reloading chores with a mate. I do the precision / LR rifle stuff and he does the pistol. Probably our pistol count comes to 50k him and 10k me plus that again for PCC ( pistol caliber carbine). Fortunately all 9mm at the moment. Anyway comments on presses. All 3 presses are hand cranked. I have a range so get quite a lot of range brass, it’s put through a LEM cleaner but primer pockets will still be different. If using just new brass something like a Mark 7 Revolution with auto drive would be appealing but then you will need more sensors ( not cheap). Dillon 1050. Not enough spaces on the tool head and powder thrower is not that accurate. Dillon primer tube filler is reliable but you still need to fill the tubes. This is another minus against auto-drive for it. Mark 7 Evolution, more space on the tool head and more consistent powder drop but sill it’s an adjust the powder drop and chrono job to get to whatever power factor ( for IPSC games) you want / need. Biggest issue with this press is the primer system. Primers hang up in the transfer bar. It’s a major pain if you don’t spot it, press can jam and you can dump powder over the plate head. Same reports from another Mark 7 Evo user I know too. I feel the company must be aware of this as they have an upgraded primer system - mates bought it but not installed yet. If it works you don’t need to manually transfer primer tubes to the press. Mk7 Evo waiting to install new primer feed. Mark 7 Apex 10, bought to load 9mm major as a dedicated press, primer system is changed from the standard system on the Evolution. More plastic parts in the primer system though it does work without issue. Conclusions, nothing is that reliable that I would like to auto-drive it. A big part of that is no doubt due to using range brass. Next level would be commercial grade Camdex or something but guessing use of range brass would be an issue also.

Terry, I was watching some of the Ste Gough vids at the Eley test centre. Looks like the best 10 shot groups were around 12mm and 17mm for 40 shot groups @ 50m. Lot selection was making at least 2mm difference. Real world with limited lot selection 15mm 10 shot groups @ 50m must be getting to about the best achievable. I’m going to try Center X and Midas to see if I can improve on the Tenex when I get bored of more exciting stuff like watching paint dry.

Oldest daughter (20) and youngest (8) wanted a range day. Youngest daughter is into her archery at the moment but I see that she starts to take an interest in 22lr also. First time shooting the Sako Finnfire at 50m, 5 shot groups. White patches are 18mm diameter for reference. I am starting to turn the eldest daughter to the dark side of speed, not to mention the black rifle:). Simple double taps on half steels from 15m to 50m ( think these targets were at 18m). 9mm Sig mpx PCC. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HnJrvO9mRiTEMrpFDJtOz9rOuuIxY3QZ/view?usp=drivesdk Looks like I can jack anything up! Transitions like start-stop-start today! https://drive.google.com/file/d/10RyqQs1qFL5M_shjgeuPNAzzaJ_77fDf/view?usp=drivesdk It really is the only future and way forward. A great shame the U.K. levy’s so many restrictions on what can be a family hobby. All in all throughly enjoy seeing the girls shooting. Going to have a BBQ afterwords to end the day.

AI, AT / ATX . Reasons being: AIs tend to hold value better than a custom rifle which is your harts desire but rarely anyone else’s and desires tend to change over time; AIs have a very easy user replaceable barrel system - so easy to change calibers for application; great U.K. support from AI authorised service centre - Baldie at Valkyrie rifles.

TSG, a red dot adds complexity to the draw and the whole platform ( guessing Glock, plus the mos plate is not the best) you need about 2k rounds of practice before it’s going to be good and that’s from a normal standing position. It’s harder also using a level 3 retention holster like a Safariland. Out to 10 m I don’t see a speed or accuracy advantage to a red dot (I do and have used one for quite a few years). Draw, you get a more consistent draw taking the pistol by the fingers on the up stroke if you will, not traditional web of hand being forced down into beavertail. This creates an issue with level 3 retention holsters with a stirrup. A Safariland GLS level 2 works well though. Red dots only have one plain of focus ( target) so the draw can be more “bowling” but you don’t want to go “fishing” by over extension or locking out your elbows. Left hand should meet the pistol around sternum height and push out (allows fire from retention if needed) critical is getting the hands to meet close to the body, not away from the body. That’s what makes bowling a bad technique for the most part. Vid of Thomas. Pistol drawn by fingers / hand upwards (time not lost going down and then up). Left hand is waiting to meet pistol then bowls it out. It’s efficient as you don’t see the dot until it is over the target anyway but that’s why you need a lot of repetition. Meeting the pistol higher and pushing out ( as with iron sights) is slower but easier to find the dot.

Number 1 daughter is home from uni. She decided to take me to the range and kick my ass. Having not shot for a year I thought she did really well. Rifle .22lr Sako Finnfire Range, scope Meopta 4-16x44 Artemis, ammunition Eley Tenex. Prone position. Targets 50m, 18mm patches. Top row daughters target. Targets left to right. First target 1 minute max time, then next 3 targets max 30 seconds each for 5 shots on each target. Bottom row. Me, Targets left to right First target 1 minute max time, then 30 seconds 20 seconds and 10 seconds for 5 shots on each target.

Hi Gary, you are very welcome to come whenever you like. We tend to update info on our fb page fairly often with more members vids and covid restrictions etc. I sympathise with being in a chair - I was on crutches for a long time after a knee synovectomy. At the moment the U.K. is on the Czech red list for travel ( political bullying) but I am hoping restrictions could be lifted by September. You are certainly very welcome to use my Cz Shadow 2 as a competition type pistol and try a slide ride red dot on it or irons. There are of course more normal Glocks, Czs and Sigs to use but the Shadow2 in a Double Alpha rig is a nice competition set up.

Matt, IPSC is a good teacher of speed with accuracy. There are only really two areas where you can gain ( not loose) speed, movement and the draw…….reload but not so much in open class. Thomas is next level to me - he puts the effort and training in :). His draw to first shot yesterday averaged 1,16 second. It’s new kit. I know he’s usually about a consistent 1 second to first shot. I am about 1.3 seconds on a reasonable day. Shot splits are about 0.15 seconds. So just from the draw I am 2 shots (1 target down). The best here consistently average 0.8 seconds. There are no real gains to be made on the double taps. Once the skill sets are there to shoot accurately and fast the biggest differentiator is movement between target arrays. It is training but this is where me and IPSC part company - I want the shooting skill sets but with a more tactical/ practical approach to movement and cover. That’s what most of our clients want. Good thing about IPSC is there is a lot of available data, so you know what you should seek to achieve / improve in terms of times for draw, double tap, reload, basic drills - el prez etc. It’s much more effective than trying to copy what some bloke in your club does.

gazzarM1, just a thought, the accommodation and where I live is in a spar village, they do the usual wellness but also more intensive rehab stuff for people with injuries or after an operation. Possibly worth a thought of some shooting and a bit of wellness before or after - it’s very popular with Czechs. https://www.lazne-losiny.cz/en/

A quickie from today the Open toy does shoot fast, it needs more powder though to really work the compensator and keep it flatter……..you then get into 38 Super Comp territory but going there. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tyQH4WiSxs0DdX3SeG6nZWV0zwU9V5eu/view?usp=drivesdk

Hi Andrew, I really like XDs I had one but sold it only because we do a lot of our training with Glocks or Cz p10c’s so I train with them. I appreciate the paradox though - here we go crazy for anything out of USA especially Texas ( STI / Staccato) but you are lovin the XDM from Croatia. I would highly recommend trying a Cz Shadow 2 also. It’s a boat anchor but we like them, it’s about the best IPSC /USPSA Optics Ready division pistol. Today suns out, guns out.

Matt, it’s surprising but the Steampunk (I like that name for it - now christened) is formula 1 of the IPSC world. By contrast my more traditional looking STI is useless for any gaming class, though has about 90 percent same basic parts (both are compensated 2011s). Same……but IPSC useless. A bit like looking at F Class vs FTR rifles I guess and the associated kit like front rest and joy-pods. If it helps John, mates been putting together an Apex press for the last couple of days so he can feed it 9mm major, apparently it’s a bit frustrating. Described the Dillon 1050 as a Toyota Yaris by comparison.

Hi Derek, Thomas

Forgive the indulgence, a mates new 9mm major Open toy. Going to be popping it’s cherry tomorrow It’s what happens when you spend about £5k (less Trijicon SRO) on a 2011 STI and the best Czech pistol smith ( Zendl )……no MIM ( made in Mexico) parts I told him it’s almost as pretty as a Glock

I do agree on humidity control but you can get a reasonable room humidity controller from about £200. It’s what I did anyway. Most people start to look at quality balances if they have identified a need. In my case getting 20+FPS ES was not doing me any favours at 1km. It’s sort of annoying when vertical spread is larger than horizontal spread. A more accurate balance did do a lot to get ES consistently down into single figures, or so the Labradar says. If I was only ever shooting 200m or 300m then the juice would not have been worth the squeeze. Accepted that a precision balance is only part of the process but it is somewhat higher up in the pecking order than a hydraulic seater or most of the other Sinclair crap I seem to have acquired.

Before even considering the scales though you can see play about with the maths. Take whatever the +/- accuracy of the scales is. Add and subtract that from whatever load you are using and run it through an interior ballistic calculator like Quickload or BT to get a max and min velocity. Using an external ballistic calculator you can see what that velocity makes at the distances you shoot at with your load. Cavet with that - you are not taking into account many other factors and really the only one that counts is consistency over a chronograph but it doesn’t cost anything to play around with the theoretical benefits or lack there of on a ballistic calculator.

Problem is it’s still a strain gauge system. The more precise / repeatable tend to be magnetic forced restoration type ( also hybrid and other systems). What is basically comes down to, if you want precision buy an Autotrickler with A&D fx 120i scale - around the same coin as the RCBS, faster and potentially more accurate/ repeatable but can be a PIA to set up - it’s a bit fiddly. If you want convenient buy a RCBS Chargemaster Lite for half the price of the Matchmaster ( possibly half the accuracy / repeatability). I have the Lite and the Autotrickler, the Lite from weighing charges on the fx120 seems surprisingly repeatable for most of what I am doing, within about 0.4 grain if I stop the Lite short of the change weight and slowly manually trickle it up to weight. This sort of defeats the convenience element somewhat. For LR, it’s nice to know that it is accurate rather than believing it to be so….. I also use the Autotrickler because the cost of reloading components, especially 338lm it cost too much to waste. The Matchmaster seems an expensive half way house - you get the convenience but not the accuracy or speed of the Autotrickler. Got my Autotrickler v3 from U.K. https://www.hammer-pair.com Strain gauge vs Magnetic force restoration video:

Interesting bit of science. Reminds me of HK years ago with the PSG-1, if you can make it heavy enough, you can make it accurate.