In a method for operating an indirect extrusion press, wherein the indirect extrusion press includes an indirect punch having a tool head that can be accommodated on the indirect punch, a closure piece, and a longitudinally movable block holder having a material block accommodation for accommodating a material block, after pressing a material block and forming a shell in a shell chamber, a tool head to be replaced is pushed out of the block holder by a tool head to be inserted, so that very operationally reliable removal of a shell formed during one or more pressing procedures is possible. For this purpose, an indirect extrusion press can have a maximal distance between a closure piece and an indirect punch that corresponds at least to the sum of the expanses of the tool head and of the block holder in the movement direction.