AGAIN!!!!!!!!! *update*

I broke a Lee C press once and took it back to P&D and they said I had to just buy a new one. Found out later I could have got warranty on it. With the new one I made a brace to stop the top from breaking off again until I got my RCBS back from my brother. Do you have a head rebuilder close by they can weld it.
 
I had a Lee press snap off at the base and they would replace it under warranty but I had to pay to mail the old one in. For a $27 press I just tossed it and bought an RCBS.
My press is likewise bolted into softwood but it's a 4x4 which I clamp to my desk (live in an apartment, multi-use desk). It's thick enough to not flex and I can't see anything happening just because it's softwood. Lots of people bolt pressed into wood and use them for decades without issue. I'd say it's because it was too thin and was flexing rather than because it's softwood.

To add to what gewehr76 said;
Vista Outdoors is the new parent company for RCBS. ATK shut down in February of this year and moved their defence work to Orbital ATK and all of their retail lines (Federal, CCI, Speer, RCBS, etc.) to Vista Outdoors (two new companies to replace the old ATK). It wasn't a buy-out or anything like that from what I've read. I don't know if they changed the warranty policy when their corporate holdings got shuffled but Vista is essentially the same as ATK; they just legally separated the defence branch from the retail branch (probably for liability/lawsuit reasons).
 
RCBS service is second to none. I had problems years after I bought a hand primer and I had a new one in hand in a week.
 
Called them and a nice lady told me to just mail it to them with my name and what's broke and they will send out a new one. Now she didn't mention the Warranty card which I don't have.
 
Raton57 said:
I broke a Lee C press once and took it back to P&D and they said I had to just buy a new one. Found out later I could have got warranty on it. With the new one I made a brace to stop the top from breaking off again until I got my RCBS back from my brother. Do you have a head rebuilder close by they can weld it.
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P&D won't warranty anything. They lost a boat load of money over them not willing to exchange a Dillon carbide die. Sent Dillon some pics of the carbide ring that fell out, they sent a new one out and buddy had a new die in 3 days.
 
Nate, as mentioned early on it is your use of a "spring board" mount which caused this to happen. If you really must use an extender to move the press off the lip of the bench like this go for at least using a hunk of FIR (not the cheap softwood) 2x6 to get the lower degree of flexing you should have.

You say you loaded up a bucket of .45 over the years and this happened with the 270. I'd suggest that the base was already stressed and likely had a partial crack you didn't see and it was more to do with coincidence as much as a heavier pull needed for the .270.

The flexing on the thin piece of wood you're using for your support board put a huge amount of tension into that mounting ear. Yes it's cast iron. But the way the forces work in something like this you'd be amazed at how your efforts on the lever multiply through the various leverage ratios to add up.

So give the new base or new press a fighting chance and use a much thicker and stiffer sort of wood for the arm. Or alternately fit an adjustable leg under the end of your "spring board" to prevent any flexing for the new press. And ideally use both the thicker arm AND the support leg.
 
BCRider said:
Nate, as mentioned early on it is your use of a "spring board" mount which caused this to happen. If you really must use an extender to move the press off the lip of the bench like this go for at least using a hunk of FIR (not the cheap softwood) 2x6 to get the lower degree of flexing you should have.

You say you loaded up a bucket of .45 over the years and this happened with the 270. I'd suggest that the base was already stressed and likely had a partial crack you didn't see and it was more to do with coincidence as much as a heavier pull needed for the .270.

The flexing on the thin piece of wood you're using for your support board put a huge amount of tension into that mounting ear. Yes it's cast iron. But the way the forces work in something like this you'd be amazed at how your efforts on the lever multiply through the various leverage ratios to add up.

So give the new base or new press a fighting chance and use a much thicker and stiffer sort of wood for the arm. Or alternately fit an adjustable leg under the end of your "spring board" to prevent any flexing for the new press. And ideally use both the thicker arm AND the support leg.
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Thank for the advice like I said I'm gonna mount it on a .75 thick steel cutting edge off a CAT D6 bull dozer
 
That'll do it..... *nods knowingly at the overkill*.... :d

Actually there's still room for some concern. I know that RCBS and all the rest mill the base of the frames flat. But you'll want to check that the plate you're using is equally as flat. If there's a high spot between the mounting holes the act of bolting the press down could produce the very tensions in the frame that you're trying to avoid. If at all in doubt on this then use washers between the press and the plate so it's supported only at the three mounting points. You'll still have all the great support from the plate but without any accidental stress from any unflatness of the plate.

I know this sounds over the top but when you work with metal things that seemed insignificant in wood working or other materials suddenly becomes very important. Certainly when you hold the press in place if you can feel it rocking in any amount at all then the metal will feel like it's got a mountain under it in terms of the stresses that can be generated. ANY felt rocking instantly calls for the use of washers as spacers or some sort of softer interface such as a spacer pad of 1/4 inch plywood.
 
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No one has mentioned how much pressure was put on the handle in sizing the 270.
Was the case properly lubricated and was the neck internal sizing plug/depriming rod properly adjusted, so it wouldn't bottom out on the web of the case, before the case was fully sized?
 
That would appear to be a Partner press, with the bolt up against the bench like that, it could stress the web area like that over time. Nothing to do with how dies are set up. Essentially he was putting all the leverage against that one bolt and flexing the base. Would have thought, it might have happened closer to the bolt, at the end of the web.
 
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