MEC Marksman?

[SpeedyR]

Anyone tried one?

I've had my eye on a Forester Co-Ax for years. I've got an older RCBS and a Dillon and was thinking I'd get a new press more oriented towards precision rifle (6.5/308 for now, might use it on a few other hunting calibers I have). Mainly just because. Found a really good deal on the MEC recently and it was one that I've had on my radar but hadn't done much research into it. Turns out it looks like a solid option to the Co-Ax. Mainly like the floating shell holder and very low runout numbers compared to many other presses.

Anyway, anyone have one and have any comments? I have a separate priming setup and usually deprime my brass before SS tumbling to clean the primer pocket, so priming/depriming isnt's really a concern of mine.

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2018/09/mec-marksman-impressive-strong-single-stage-press/

 

[owen58]

Faced with basically the same questions, I recently decided to buy a Marksman. Brownells had it marked down to $175 and I used a $20 off coupon code. Solid deal in my book; plus no months-long wait and high price with the co-ax. It arrived a couple of weeks ago but I haven't had the chance to use it. I'll be using it to load precision .308 and .338LM. I deprime and prime my precision loads off of the press so these "limitations" are a non-issue for me. Based on the tons of independent reviews and videos I have been through, I'm very confident the Marksman will produce very accurate rounds. I load pistol and non-precision rounds on a Lock-N-Load AP progressive and I'm more-or-less satisfied with it, but I don't believe its up to the challenge of truly precision, long-range ammo.

 

[jglenn]

really nice review and test of the Marksman..crazy good loads for his test.

I purchased one from Brownells but haven't used it yet for my 308 loads.. it is Very well made and sturdy.. smooth as glass .

 

[jeffdt]

I've been very happy with my Forster.Funny thing is I ordered one from Midway and forgot I had on back order at Brownell's. About six weeks after Midway's fufillment the Brownell's showed up. Knowing they are perpetually on back order I put the second one up on Ebay and realized an $80.00 profit.

I really like the no shell holder of the Co-Ax and the dead nutz concentricity of my brass. I mainly use it for .22 Hornet precision loads for my Anschutz 1730.

 

[owen58]

I just received the Marksman mount/riser today. I expect to get the press setup and operating within a couple of weeks.

 

[owen58]

It took a lot longer for me to get around to setting up my Marksman than I had intended, but I finally got it done today today. The Marksman is super-easy to setup. It is remarkably smoother than my Hornady or my Lee. The ram is massive, yet feels like it glides effortlessly in operation. As my first run, I loaded 50 rounds of .308 using 155gr Nosler Custom Competitions. The projectiles were seated with a Forster Ultra Micrometer Seating die. I'm not able to measure concentricity, but I can tell you that the Marksman/Forster combo resulted in CBTO variances across the 50 rounds of .002....pretty impressive especially considering these projectiles were "seconds". My RPR has never liked 155gr projectiles, so I'm not expecting miraculous groups out of this bunch. The real test will come when I build some of the 168gr Hornady HPBT rounds that my RPR seems to love. The MEC is a very high quality and impressive machine. There's simply no question its making more consistent rounds than either of my other two presses. I'm glad I got one!...especially considering it was MUCH less expensive than the Co-ax.

 

[jglenn]

funny I've been loading the same bullets in some LC 308 and 30-06.. runout is scary good using Bonaza benchrest dies.. the 30-06 brass I had to use was 50s vintage.. after a lot of prep, the worst runout I saw was .001.. the press is a bargain for what it produces with good dies.