Hollywood Engineering

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Hollywood Engineering

There are a number of things I wish to cover on this page, so I'm breaking it up into smaller bits. This includes my first product review. (I'll link to it from the reviews page, but it made more sense to put it here. ( I think...)

Hollywood Engineering, or Hollywood Gun Shop?

The "Hollywood Senior" turret press - a review / buyers' notes

The company

Hollywood Engineering, or Hollywood Gun Shop?
What's in a name?
There are a lot of fine, older pieces of reloading equipment out there bearing the name "Hollywood". Most of it was made by a 'Hollywood Gun Shop', a different business than the 'Hollywood Engineering' business that exists now. Different, yet the same... :'Hollywood Engineering' has taken over, and 'supports' the old 'Hollywood Gun Shop' merchandise and appears to have added some of their own. If you see an old Hollywood press for sale (on ebay perhaps) it may be from either. Later on this page I will have abundant photos of the presently offered turret press, so significant variations are likely to be from the older 'gun shop'. I make this explanation because references to the two confused me, and this is what I am able to glean from the net, friends, and the Hollywood Engineering catalog.

The "Hollywood Senior" turret press
- a review / buyers' notes.
Quick specs:

Height: 15.5"
Handle length: 18.5"
Shellholder travel: 7.25"
Turret diameter: ~7.75"
Footprint (base): 6"x7"
Weight: 43 lbs.

Design & features

Here you have left and right views of the press. In the left view there is a vertical rod connecting the turret to the base. (Approximately behind the handle, but visible.) This rod is presumably to stiffen the press for full-length sizing operations, and can only be present when using the die in that particular spot. The rod must be removed, as in the left side view, to index the turret. (For descriptive purposes here, the handle side is the right side.) A sleeve carries the shellholder up the column to the head, where the dies are mounted. The press comes with exactly what is shown in the right side photo and nothing more. (Well, OK, maybe a catalog.)

Not much to see behind the press.

Activating the handle runs the platform up, via the leverarms, as shown.

For you southpaws, or eccentrics, the handle can be mounted on either side.

There are a few features that are notably absent:
There is no manner of priming system. This was not a concern to me, but bears mention because it is the first press I have ever bought (out of 20+) that didn't.

More importantly (and somewhat annoying) is the absence of any catch tray for spent primers. I have a few ideas for modifications that might work, but there's nothing present.

There is a bushing where the shellholder goes. This is a departure from industry standards for common, or .50BMG shellholders. This may condemn you to purchasing all of your shellholders from Hollywood Engineering, and means that other manufacturers bullet sizers, pocket swagers, etc. will not work in this press. Alternately you can machine, or have machined custom parts or modifications to existing parts.

Quality and Execution

Overall the press appears to be of very good quality. The finish is a crinkled paint (powdercoat?) and is even except in one spot. The most critical part, the platform bushing-to-colum fit, has no discernable play. There is some small play if you try to rotate the platform around the column axis, but this is inconsequential to loading, or longevity of the press.

All of the materials and dimensions of the press appear to be more than sufficiently stout to load the .50 BMG.

Almost all of the machining appears to be better than average, and easily up to the task at hand. Almost all, that is. While still up to the task at hand, the tap that was used to tap the die holes is in need of sharpening. The threads are a bit rough and torn. This is nothing that will prevent the press from being useful, but it isn't in keeping with the rest of the quality.

It's kind of difficult to get the roughness to show up in the pics.

Die fit can be a bit crowded. Particularly depending on the type of die lock rings you're using. This is a chicken-egg type problem, as you could blame either the die lock-ring manufacturer or the press manufacturer. I don't blame either, but am noting the incompatibility, because it's something for the prospective owner to be aware of.

In the photo above, die 'A' will not even fit, as there is not enough room between the die hole and the turret hub to screw the lockring down. (Lockring is from CH4D)
Die 'B', with an RCBS lock ring fits easily, and easily accomodates its' neighbor, die 'C'.
Dies 'C'&'D', each with CH4D lock rings (these are smaller than that on die 'A') are accomodated, but not next to each other...

Revisiting something I noted in the 'design features' section, the shellholder mount is not the standard 7/8"-14 thread seen on most .50 presses, or the clip lock slot thingy seen on most standard presses, the Hollywood Sr. has a 1/2" bushing! This could present a small problem!

I am fortunate enough to have a machine shop in my garage, so this presented only a brief problem, while I turned down and rethreaded the shaft of a CH4D shellholder to fit the .50 press.

On the left is the modified shellholder, next is a bullet pusher which must also be changed, and the RCBS shellholder which will remain with my RCBS (Ammomaster) press. (The shank on the RCBS shellholder isn't long enough to extend through the bushing on the Hollywood press, so it couldn't be modified anyway.)

While this would normally seem like a trivial difference, and minor inconvenience, the fact that Hollywood took five months to delivery this press (all the while promising shipment in 'a week or two', 'by the end of the week' or some such) makes me disinclined to ever order anything from them again. One can also only wonder how livid with frustration you might become if you waited 5 months for a press to show up, only to have to order another part and start the whole wait over...

An alternative may be to remove the platform entirely and rebore it for a larger bushing, tapped 7/8"-14 so you could use standard accessories.

Conclusion

All in all, I have to confess that the press is 95% of what I had hoped it to be. With the exception of the weird shellholder bushing and the lack of a spent-primer catcher it is perfect for use loading the .50BMG. The workmanship is nice for the most part, and only a hobby machinist (or pro) like myself would nitpick the threading. I'm ignoring the lock ring issue because of its' minimal impact on me.

While I'm generally pleased with the press, dealing with the company was a terrible experience, and if I had it to do all over again, I'd order a Corbin...

Dealing with the Company.

As a customer there are two things I'm after: Goods and Services. A lot of companies forget the service part. Some companies forget the goods. It has been a point of pride to me that I could boast to non-shooters that I had yet to deal with a shooting company that has less-than-stellar service. My friends and acquaintences know that I make that statement with more than a small sample of shooting companies. Well, Hollywood Engineering is now the exception.

The story

In January of 2003 I made the decision to go to a Hollywood turret press. I watched ebay for a week or two and found one, then - as circumstances would have it I was unable to be at my computer for the end of the auction and I was outbid. After another week I decided that rather than wait for another one to show up on ebay, I'd just order a new one so I could get it sooner.

Debit card in hand, I called Hollwood Engineering to place my order. I was informed that I needed to send a check, $700 + $50 shipping, and before I knew it I'd have a press.

On February third I ordered my press, by February 10th my check had cleared my bank. Surely my press would be here shortly!

On March third, a month after placing my order I politely inquired about my order status via email. All of the responses I show you now are direct quotes (spelling and grammar included.) I received a very terse response from Hollywood: "Have many presses to get out. Give me another week or so....Thanks Margaret ".

On March 30, almost two months after I ordered, I inquired again. The response this time: "Have many presses to get out. Give me another week or so....Thanks Margaret "

On April 23, two months and three days after ordering, they told me "I have everything in order to be shipped but right after I emailed you Joe came down with the flu for a week. He is now better. Sorry for being so long but things happened that is not in my control. We are on out projects now so give me a few more days and it should be getting out...... Thanks Margaret ** Hollywood Engineering ** "

On May 11, over three months waiting, "Still working on it and am trying to get it out by the end of the week. Hold on just a little longer. Beleave me it is worth the wait....... Thanks Margaret "

On May 26th - a week shy of four months waiting - I sent Hollywood a form letter that I had taken from the Federal trade commision site. It was polite, professional, and firm. Margaret stewed on that for two days before responding on the 28th: "Have many presses to get out. Give me another week or so....Thanks Margaret When the above message was sent no one was sick................... We as human beings have been under the weather and just got back on our feet. Your press indeed will be shipped by the 6th of June, 2003 and I will asure you that it is worth the wait. It will take about 4 to 6 days UPS to get to your place. I can asure you that a third-party assistance will not be necessary. All contacts are done by email to cost down for my customers............ Thanks Margaret "
She must've forgotten that she'd already used the 'sick' excuse once. (Others had heard it too.) In my letter I demanded delivery or a refund by the 6th, she then promised shipment. It's an important date, one I'll refer back to. The last line is in reference to the fact that I gave them my *complete* contact information: phone, fax, voicemail, etc. and requested that they contact me if there were questions.

Well, sometime in the middle of this mess, I decided to ask the folks on Biggerhammer what their experience with Hollywood Engineering had been. I got a pretty good set of responses, some posted to the 'net, others sent to me personally. A few folks, close enough to walk to the Hollywood Engineering shop reported good results and quick service. Almost universally, anyone farther away reported extended waits for whatever they had ordered. Most folks were pleased with the general quality, but some folks noted exceptions. There were two very detailed descriptions and I obtained permission from one of the authors to print his, so it follows 'the story'(this section).

By Jun 15th I was sick to death of waiting, sick of excuses, and sick of broken promises. I got online and found the Better Business Bureau. I looked up Hollywood Engineering and no one had *ever* filed a complaint about them. Well, I sent mine in immediately. For those unfamiliar with the BBB, when you submit a complaint they ask that you then do nothing for three weeks while they seek a response from the company about which you are complaining. They then forward the response to the complainant and ask if you have been satisfied. On the morning of 30JUN I received my response from Hollywood. In my complaint I had quoted all the letters you see above, in the response Margaret addressed only the last one, saying that she promised shipment by the 16th and was just running a few days late, but that the package had been shipped. That afternoon my press arrived. If you're tired of waiting for your grossly overdue Hollywood Engineering order to show up, check out: Better Business Bureau.

Another story

Here, in his own words, is the story of another Hollyood customer. I read this after having waited only a couple of months, it was nearly prophetic...

If you buy something from Hollywood Engineering, be prepared for a MAJOR hassle. In my experience in dealing with them, I found them to be pathological liars. By the end of the nightmare, they also proved themselves to be crooks. And I was not at all impressed with the quality of the products. For the same money, you can get several Hornady or RCBS presses, and you'll have better quality.

Joe and Margaret are a tag team of liars. When one runs out of lies and excuses to give you, they refer you back to the other one for more lies. The price of their integrity was low; I bought theirs for about $60, as I'll explain here:

I bought a Hollywood Press from them about a year ago. At least, that's when I started the process. Because their "catalog" is like what one Biggerhammer person described then as "the scribblings of a mad scientist", and because their catalog has dire warnings that if you send them even slightly less money than the amount of your order, they will simply send your money back to you without further action, I called them in Jan, 2002. I wanted to talk to them to find out exactly what I needed to order and exactly how much money to send, so there'd be no delay in getting my press.

I talked to Joe, and he explained his convoluted catalog, telling me just what I needed to order and how much money to send. I wanted the full package; press, resizing die, seater die, powder measure. It all cost about $1700. He told me he had it all in stock, and that he would send it to me as soon as he got the check.

I called them every couple weeks for the next several months. Every time, Joe or Margaret would give me more lies and lame excuses for why it hadn't shipped yet. Every time, it was some new BS excuse, and the renewed promise that it would go out in about a week. At first, I believed all their BS, and I didn't take detailed notes on every conversation.

Here are some details from the notes I did take:

A couple weeks after sending the money, I still hadn't received the press as promised, so I called to check the status. I talked to Margaret. She gave me a line of BS and told me the stuff would ship in a few weeks. I told her Joe had told me at the time of the order that he had everything in stock, ready for immediate shipment. She then said it would ship in a few days.

On 3/22/02 (2 MONTHS after Joe had told me he had everything in stock), Joe said the dies were out in heat treating, everything else was ready, and they'd ship the following week for sure.

On 4/1/02 Joe told me it hadn't shipped yet, although the dies were back from heat treating. He said everything was ready, he was putting the box together as we spoke, and it would go out in a day or two.

On 4/9/02, Margaret told me they were still working on the powder measures and seaters, and it would go out the following week.

On 4/17/02, Joe said he was "building the box now", and it would "go out the next day"

On 4/23/02, Margaret told me the "box is going out today".

Sometime around the first of May, I finally got the box. It did not contain the manual I had paid for, and it contained 2 bullet seaters. Remember that their catalog is such a convoluted mess, I had to call Joe to find out what I should order. They sent, and charged me for, the "regular" bullet seater, as well as the micrometer bullet seater I wanted.

I called Hollywood and explained the situation to Margaret. She was very nice about it, and said to ship the excess seater back, and they would return my money for the second seater. I sent it back around the first part of May. She said she'd send me the manual, which I never did receive.

I called several times over the next few months about the refund for the die. Every time, I got a new line of BS from Joe or Margaret, and the promise that it would be taken care of immediately.

By the first of July, I'd had occasion to use their FL sizing die. It was WAY out of spec. It pushed the neck back about 1/4" from what it should be, and mangled the case. I also have RCBS and CH4D sizer dies, and they work fine. I called to ask if their die was meant to be used differently from the way all other FL sizing dies are used and adjusted on all other presses. She said no, you adjust it like any other (screw it down until the top of the press contacts the bottom of the die at press TDC). She said I should send it back to them, and they'd fix it. She also said my seater refund was coming real soon. She was nice about it. I still was sucker enough to think they were sincere. I sent the sizer die back.

By August 5, I still had not received the refund Margaret has repeatedly promised me, nor had they sent me my repaired sizer die. I called Margaret and she told me they were "looking into" the refund, made lots more BS excuses, and said she'd send the refund by the end of the week.

On 8/12, Margaret said she "didn't get to it last week" and "was going to send it out today". She said Joe was working on the sizer die problem.

On 8/20, I called again. Understand that lots of times when you call Hollywood, no one is there, so each contact can represent many attempts to call. If you get Joe, he says you have to talk to Margaret about business issues. Reaching Margaret on the phone can take many calls over many days. Neither of them EVER return ANY calls, as promised. I talked to Joe about the sizer die. He gave me a huge convoluted BS story about the die that made no sense at all. I've been reloading for 40 years, and I had no idea what he was talking about. I think it was something about the die was made "special" that way. It was BS - the inside of the die wasn't even close. I talked to Margaret after that. I'd been real nice and patient throughout all this. But by now, my patience with their lies had ended.

Margaret, even though she'd promised to send me a refund for the seater die many times, was now saying she didn't know anything about a refund, and I had to tell her the whole story all over again. I also told her I wanted a refund for the sizer die. I said I'd been patient with them for many months, and I was sick of playing this game with her. I said the sizer die was defective and I wanted a refund for it. I said Joe had been giving me lame excuses on fixing the die since the first of July, and she'd been promising me a refund for the extra seater die that JOE TOLD ME TO ORDER since the first of May.

I also read to her from my notes all the promises and conflicting stories she'd been giving me for months that had not happened as she'd promised they would. Habitual liars don't like being confronted with the proof of their lies. She got rather irate and said she'd send me a refund for both, and "don't buy from us again". Like I would EVER buy from you people again??

That was the only thing she ever told me that was true. A week or so later, I got the refund check for both dies. Margaret chose, however, to extract a $60 "restocking fee" from the refund. How cheesy can they get?

I called her about it, and she kept switching lies about it. She'd say it was for restocking the non-defective seater die. I would explain that I had ordered exactly what Joe told me to order, because I couldn't figure out just what I needed from their mysterious catalog. Then she'd switch and say the $60 was for restocking the sizing die, and that it was my fault for requesting a refund, rather than wait (until hell froze over) for Joe to fix it. I'd explain that I gave them a couple months to fix it, and they hadn't, and I was just disgusted with trying to deal with them. Then she'd switch back to saying the $60 charge was for the seater die, because it wasn't defective.

It got nowhere. Not only were they both bald-faced liars throughout all of this, they proved themselves to be thieves in the end, and sold me their integrity for $60. I have it hanging on my wall now. ;-)

I also am not impressed with their products. The sliding sleeve in their micrometer bullet seating die always sticks in the "up" position. Numerous other Hollywood Press owners have complained of this, too. The radius of the centerline of the threaded die holes in the die holder plate is so small that normal lockrings will not fit; they bind against the rings on adjacent dies, especially lockrings that have a protruding set screw.

People seem to continue buying from them, but my advice, from having been there and done that, is that you are making a big mistake to buy Hollywood products. If you want several dies mounted and adjusted, buy 2 or 3 or more RCBS presses; the quality is better, and you will be dealing with competent and honest business people when you buy it. If you have to send something back, you're in for an even bigger hassle. I strongly urge people to not buy Hollywood products.

BTW, I went through an even worse ordeal (minus the thievery and, hopefully, the poor products) with Randy Dierks at Action Gun Works. Promised delivery time of 6-8 weeks on a rifle turned into 9 months of continuous "just another week or 2" promises.

What is wrong with people who do this? Don't they understand how much they piss off customers when they lie like this? If they just gave an honest estimate in the first place, we customers can decide on our own to accept or not accept the honest time estimate. My McMillan stock was quoted at 12 weeks; that's about what it took. When people tell customers "another week" when it isn't even remotely close, all they are doing is creating customer ill will.

-Brian M. (with permission)