Method for reducing the cutting impact in a precision blanking press which is equipped with a hydraulic main drive and in which a main piston guided in a main cylinder space of the bottom unit and bearing a die plate performs a stroke movement in rapid traverse mode between a bottom dead centre and a top dead centre and in the power stroke performs the cutting or forming operation, wherein first and second pressure spaces (17a, 17b) of the main piston are subjected to a working pressure of a hydraulic fluid from a hydraulic system that is preset by a central controller and generated by a hydraulic pump unit, with the following steps a) sensing the position of the main piston during its stroke movement towards a fixed stop well before reaching the top dead centre by a displacement-measuring unit which is assigned to the main piston and detects the position data of the main piston and passes them on to the central controller for processing, b) permanently sensing the working pressures (PO, PU) in the pressure spaces (17a, 17b) of the main piston by pressure pickups (37, 38), which detect the pressure values and transmit them to the central controller, c) determining the rise and the maximum of the working pressure in the second pressure space, d) establishing a maximum of the force present in the second pressure space from the product of the detected working pressure and a working face of the main piston and measuring its drop, e) setting the pressure in the first pressure space by way of a pressure limitation of a tank valve, assigned to the first pressure space, in dependence on the determined maximum of the force and its drop according to step d) in such a way that, for generating a force counteracting the cutting impact, the working pressure in the first pressure space is correspondingly increased as soon as the maximum of the force is exceeded and is maintained until the cutting operation is completed. a) sensing the position of the main piston during its stroke movement towards a fixed stop well before reaching the top dead centre by a displacement-measuring unit which is assigned to the main piston and detects the position data of the main piston and passes them on to the central controller for processing, b) permanently sensing the working pressures (PO, PU) in the pressure spaces (17a, 17b) of the main piston by pressure pickups (37, 38), which detect the pressure values and transmit them to the central controller, c) determining the rise and the maximum of the working pressure in the second pressure space, d) establishing a maximum of the force present in the second pressure space from the product of the detected working pressure and a working face of the main piston and measuring its drop, e) setting the pressure in the first pressure space by way of a pressure limitation of a tank valve, assigned to the first pressure space, in dependence on the determined maximum of the force and its drop according to step d) in such a way that, for generating a force counteracting the cutting impact, the working pressure in the first pressure space is correspondingly increased as soon as the maximum of the force is exceeded and is maintained until the cutting operation is completed.