A transfer mechanism for a progressive forging machine in which the fingers for transporting workpieces from station to station are arranged to pick the workpieces axially out of dies from which they are being discharged, transfer the workpieces laterally from the discharging stations to receiving stations, place the workpieces axially into the receiving stations, and then open wide enough to clear tooling on the slide and return to the original delivery stations. Included in the mechanism is an adjustment for the axial stroke of the fingers and a cassette mounting for the fingers enabling them to be readily replaced with another cassette for a changeover in the workpieces being forged.