REDUX

Shoot their CS an email with the same rant and pics. At least you might feel better. Could be worse, you could be the sweatshopped, missing organ'd, solyent green'd huigher peasant.
Thanks for that! I don’t have the energy to take it further. But I thought I would shame them a bit. It’s the least I can do.
 
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There is an answer to this post on 6mmbr. It's by a principial from Forester and states the op is wrong. Forester isa Totally American Company.


Copy of post from 6br.

Vince from Forster here to prove that 6MT has no idea what he's talking about :)

The Co-Ax press is, has always been, and always will be manufactured in the USA. The castings come from a foundry in Galena, IL. We manufacture the majority of press parts in our shop in Lanark, IL. We have farmed a few press parts out to shops in Freeport, IL and Rockford, IL to help keep up with, and increase, production.

The paint was changed 5-6 years ago. The old paint was a case red paint with a glossy finish. The new paint is a red wrinkle powder coat paint. The reason for the change was that the wrinkle paint hid some casting imperfections better than the case red paint. Some people have issues with the new paint, most (reasonable) people seem to not care at all.

Apologies for the rods not being lubricated when coming out of the box. We oil the rods before packaging and shipping. Perhaps this press in question missed that final step. I will send a sample bottle of our case lube which will work just fine. Give me a call. Or you can use a light sewing machine oil.

What really irks me about this is that I go out of my way to make sure everything in our shop is made in the USA. The tooling to machine the parts are all made in the USA. Rarely, if ever, do I settle for purchasing Chinese tooling. I take pride in not only manufacturing this press (and all our other products) in the USA but using USA made tools to manufacture as well.

For those wondering - Forster had a change of ownership just over a year ago. The new owners are local to the NW IL area - certainly not a part of any conglomerate in the market, and certainly not people who believe in shipping work to China. New ownership has made a concerted effort on increasing press production, improving press production processes, all the while not sacrificing the Forster quality our customers have come to expect. By all means, I would consider this mission accomplished with room to grow.

Feel free to give me a call to chat (or in 6MT's case - rant and rave over being incorrect) any time. Our phones are on Monday - Thursday 8:00AM - 4:00PM CST. I'd be happy to inform you of the detailed process changes that have helped us increase press production and other things we are doing in our shop to keep up with demand. If you're local we can set up a tour and you can come face to face with our 29 employees that take pride in manufacturing top of the line reloading equipment here in the USA. Have a good day.

Last edited: Today at 10:31 AM
 
Ok….I sold one….bought two. Forster Co-Ax’s that is.

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The green RCBS Summit has left the building. I have to say…Forster, you cheap bastard$. There are subtle differences between the two presses. One made in the USA, the other in china. The paint finish is the most noticeable. The left press has what looks like a much thicker paint layer…and…a clear coat on top. The one on the right…the paint barely covers the porous metal. The fit on the one on the left is immaculate. Absolutely no air gaps at any pivot point. The one on the right…only one air gap. A very noticeable one on the lower right pivot.

The shell holder jaw frame on the press on the left has a machined opening for the jaw spreading pin on both sides. So, you don’t need to worry about which way it goes together. The one on the right…only one side has the cut out! Talk about being cheap! That minuscule lack of one machined cut out must have paid for the CEO’s latest mansion.

The most frustrating thing was the almost grinding feel to the piston rods on the right hand press. They were completely dry out of the box. I’m surprised that they were not rusty. (Boy…sure saved a lot on lube there, huh?) It took a lot of G96 and working the handle through its full range of motion to get it to feel sort of smooth. Whereas the press on the left, is absolutely buttery smooth and doesn’t make any noise throughout its full range of motion.

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All of these subtle money saving “changes” must have saved Forster at least $5 or $10 per press. But the real thing is the fact that in china, they probably forced peasants or political prisoners to do the labour to make this. And paid them nothing or almost nothing. And when they couldn’t work anymore…they harvested their organs and buried what was left.

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For shame Forster, for shame. You cheap bastard$.

Now that my rant is over, I have this set up to speed things up. One press will be set up for larger cases and primers. And the other for the smaller ones. I do love this press. But to see the idiotic money saving things that have been done to this new chinese made version makes my blood boil!


EDIT: I have been rebuked.

They are in fact made in America. But that still doesn't excuse the bad quality control, fit and finish, and poor paint.
Then retract your post if not true
 
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Then retract your post if not true
Done. I was wrong. Am big enough to admit it. Because I was taken aback by the obvious differences between the 2 presses, I assumed (incorrectly) that it was sourced overseas. Again, I was wrong in that assumption. I should have checked to see where the press in question was made. That was my error.

My concerns still persist with the deficiencies.

And I'll end this here.