Broke my press this morning

I just bought a co-ax press with the short throw handle, 12 lockrings and the optional FS jaws.
Rock and roll. Will report when I get it. Probably will be sturdier than that lee breech lock .
 
My lee breech lock press is annoying me because the part where the breech lock thing "locks" is crossthreaded or something.
A bit cheap for my taste. I would rather have a press that I cannot twist the metal on.

Cant wait to try that coax.
 
rookie wildcat said:
I have had the same press for 20yrs. It was used for who knows how many years when I bought it. There is nothing wrong with any of the Lee Presses, no matter what anyone on here tries to say. Everyone on here touts the Rock Chucker as better than any Lee press. It isn't!!
I can absolutely guarantee that the Lee Classic Cast Presses are built heavier than the Rock Chucker. I have both of them and the Lee Classic Cast Press was still less expensive than a new Rock Chucker.

Most people buy the Lee presses because of their value. And they certainly give you that. But they buy the low end cast aluminum presses that Lee offers. Again, there is nothing wrong with these presses, I have owned 2 Challengers and a turret press for almost 30 years. I traded something for my first Challenger press (up until then I was using a Lee Loader). It was used and had that toggle cracked enough that the handle would not tighten, I taped the handle up so it would not slip and used it for 15 years on everything from 7.62x39mm to .300WM before I broke down and bought the Anniversary Kit and put that press away while I used the new Challenger. It never failed to produce ammo for me. Because it was cracked, my first wife thought I needed a new press, so she found a used (barely) Rock Chucker still in the box at a local gun shop and arranged to buy it. With efforts from her family members, I received that press for Christmas that year. I still have it but use it strictly for pulling bullets from milsurp ammo (I also use it to break the seal on the same ammo first) I find the press just too much for what I am doing and the stroke is longer than the Challenger or the turret.
A few years ago, I was neck sizing some .30-06 cases and was partially through the stroke when my current wife came to the door of the "man-cave" and asked if she could come in. I stopped what I was doing, dealt with whatever she needed, but forgot where I had been in my process. I tried to raise the case again, but something blocked it, I couldn't get the case to go up. I put an increasing amount of force on the handle until the top of the press popped off with a very loud crack (I am 225lbs). I had broken the top of the turret clean off of the press. The mouth and neck of the case had been crushed down into the shoulder. I called Lee Precision, emailed pics, and I was told to send the turret, turret holder, die, the crushed case, and a serviceable case to them. They would check out the die to see why it did what it did, and replace the turret holder free of charge. While I was boxing this up, I decided to add the toggle from my old Challenger and added a note along with it indicating that this was a second hand press and simply bill me for the piece. I received a new, steel toggle for the Challenger, new turret holder, new turret head, instructions on how to use the collet die, a perfectly neck re-sized case...all for free.
A year ago last spring, I finally got to see a Classic Cast single stage press. I must have drooled over it a bit since my wife commented on it and asked if I wanted one. I said, "Nope, but from the way this was built, I would love to see a Classic Cast Turret press." Got to see one in Calgary on a trip down. Definitely beefier than the one I had. She decided to order me a press from Wholesale Sports for Christmas. When I opened it up, I guess my excitement was not what she had expected. She had ordered me a Classic Cast single stage press. I gotta tell you, this is built way beefier than my Rock Chucker any day. I explained that I had wanted a Turret press. She felt bad and told me to order the one I wanted. No one had it locally, so I ordered from Higginson's (I added a powder order since I was ordering). When she checked into returning the single stage, it wasn't worth it just for the postage and hassle so she told me to keep it as well. Merry Christmas!! Now I have presses that I will NEVER wear out in my children's lifetimes and the cast aluminium ones to hand to my youngest son to get him started when he finally gets a place that will allow him an area to do so.

Now a case in point here. A new Rock Chucker costs $210 at Cabela's, while a new Classic Cast single stage press costs $125 (one that Lee uses for .50 BMG reloading kit). It is a BETTER press and (anyone wanting to dispute that can come to my place and see them and use them side by side) lets you spend money ($85) on dies and other gear you need. THAT press has the Rock Chucker beat ALL to he!! and gone. It is built for 1 1/4"x 12 dies as well as has an adaptor for 7/8"x14 dies, It has a 1 1/8" ram that is drilled out to allow primers to fall through it. Note that only after 30 years of reloading have I moved into this end of Lee products. Everything I ever needed as a hunter (NOT a competitive shooter, but as a hunter requiring the smallest groups possible for my hunting) has been built on a Lee press. Not all of my stuff is Lee, like most I have a fair blend of colours on my bench, but more often than not, Lee gear serves my purposes, especially the expense outlay.
As one person stated here, "Buy once, cry once", I have never cried about the Lee stuff I had, I have used almost all of their products (I do NOT like their powder measure or their scale, but others love them) and they can be used to turn out very accurate ammo at half the cost of the "big boys" and that is the difference to me. No one can turn out hunting ammo on a $600 Dillon or Redding press that is any better to me in any significant way than what I can turn out on a $60 Lee to justify the cost. But, then, I drive 20 and 30 yr-old cars and trucks that are not chromed to the nines, or jacked up so high as to be unsafe and yet never leave the ashphalt, and heaven forbid the paint got scratched but can do the job I ask of them every day with just a little bit of love from me - work on the acreage- get me into and out of the woods when I need to - haul loads of wood, dirt, lumber, etc - get me to work and back for a year for peanuts - pull the expensive trucks out of the ditch each winter ... Bought for a few thousand and driven and worked for 10-15 years and kept in good repair. They owe me nothing...neither does my Lee gear.
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Best post in the thread. I think the same in many ways. I do have an old single stage rockchucker and a nice Lee turret press that churns out 9 mm with no issues except with the finest ball powder.

No complaints about warranty though. I've broken two 1oz slug moulds and handles for another mould broken...all replaced for free. Just sent them an email with pictures. Lee is as good as their word.
 
In my experience, the lee press that I bought had aluminum parts which could break quite easily.

Mainly, I found that the aluminum have the arm a bit of flex or wiggle when you are pressing into the die.

It took a lot if force to remove that and get consistent seating and sizing.

I think it's easier to get a quality press without this problem. It's simply easier to turn out consistent stuff that way, in my experience.
 
TwoTone said:
I read the title "Broke my press this morning".
As I clicked on it and saw that a photo was loading I thought to myself "There's going to be red paint in this picture".
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My thoughts exactly!!!!! :)

I've been reloading for approx. 20 calibers, rifle and pistol, for more than 25 years on a second-hand (gifted) RCBS Jr. press, and have never Really felt the need to replace it.
 
I used my RCBS Junior since 1972, which I bought as a teenager at the W.W. Arcade in Edmonton, a very old 2 story brick building. It was a Hardware/General/Gun Shop Department Store kind of place in the old downtown area. I recall that you could see old streetcar rails emerging from the asphalt in front of the building, where the city had buried them instead of removing them in the 50s, when they converted to trolley busses.

Great press, very strong, but I longed for a Rock-Chucker for heavy-duty resizing. Around 2007, I bought a Redding Boss, because I felt it was an improved version of the Rock-Chucker. Very good press, odd bolt mounting pattern.
 
Don't buy any Lee aluminum press for heavy duty use. Buy the cast iron and steel units.
My classic cast four hole turret press is smooth operating, sturdy, and bullet proof. No aluminum in sight.

I do wish Lee would stop producing the aluminum presses as they are giving the company a bloody nose.
 
ilike22s said:
Don't buy any Lee aluminum press for heavy duty use. Buy the cast iron and steel units.
My classic cast four hole turret press is smooth operating, sturdy, and bullet proof. No aluminum in sight.

I do wish Lee would stop producing the aluminum presses as they are giving the company a bloody nose.
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it's a good cheap option for those who do light loading, i load 500 mag on my $35 C press. no issues yet. the problem is stupid morons who think all lee products are garbage and that their blue presses work perfectly every time. what they fail to realize is there is FAR more lee product in the market, they don't seem understand that without lee the reloading community would be half the size. haters are gonna hate, so not much can be done.
 
I like Lee just because they offer some neat stuff.

Take a look at the hand press. I take it to the range to seat bullets while working up powder charges to get me into the velocity range I am looking for. Then you got the collet dies, and the old Lee Loaders... or what about the factory crimp die? Great company for innovation and ideas at affordable prices. Not high end stuff but hey it gets people into reloading.
 
Lee makes some good and some below average stuff.
Their good point is that it's very affordable and you can try their stuff and see if you want, or need, to buy something better after, or not.
I am still using alot of lee stuff, but on some items, I chose to buy better. Of course, that comes with a price tag that is 3-6x more.
Lee never advertised that they make stuff better than what is costing 6x more. They advertise that they make the best stuff for the money, and honestly, this is true.
Some of their items just are not made for processing thousands of cases one after the other, but this is probably not something all reloaders need.

For example, the 223 trimmer and length gauge, it just doesnt work for fast processing on a drill. The part that goes through the flash hole actually heats, then anneals, then grinds itself on the shell holder, and your cases get shorter and shorter. Also, the cutter kind of eats its way into the 223 length gauge with the vibration.
BUT, it costs like 5$. And it works perfectly fine for hand trimming, or low volume, low speed trimming. Of course, the 80$ WFT trimmer is better suited to trim 1000 cases super fast, but lee never said that their 5$ trimmer would mass trim cases better than a 80$ trimmer...

I like the lee trimmers for low volume processing. They work fine. I think I have been having an issue lately with the quality of the steel on the part that goes through the flash hole on the 223 model, because the last one, even at 500 rpm, didnt last through 100 cases.
Maybe I could add a drop of oil on the contact part on the case holder, I don't know.

The breech lock press, I like it, my issue is that 1:
when you deprime cases, you need to have the priming arm in place so the primer drops properly. The issue is that since that part is free floating, and removing primers drops grit and trash, the part jams and ends up falling on the floor.
There is also the fact that the die holding part is aluminum, and it can (and did) strip a bit on mine.

I like lee stuff and I wouldnt be into reloading if lee wasnt there. But, for mass volume or top quality, expect to pay more for other brands.
 
Republic of Alberta said:
I like Lee just because they offer some neat stuff.

Take a look at the hand press. I take it to the range to seat bullets while working up powder charges to get me into the velocity range I am looking for. Then you got the collet dies, and the old Lee Loaders... or what about the factory crimp die? Great company for innovation and ideas at affordable prices. Not high end stuff but hey it gets people into reloading.
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I love my collet neck sizing dies. No resizing lube required. Especially handy for my different .303 rifles, both Lee Enfield and Ross as their chambers vary wildly. I separate the brass for them. Love the factory crimp die for the .303 as well. Might look into the hand press.

Sorry OP. Didn't mean to hijack.
 
I have seen a lot of reloading gear in my time. As a member of several gun clubs, I have sat with men who have reloaded since the 1930s. 70yr old men who, in 1982 decided I was worth talking to because I listened. There was an awful lot of Lee gear in their rooms. Yes, there were lead pots and meters from Lee, most of the molds were not since you couldn't convince some of them that aluminum cast good bullets, but 50yr old guys had them in use. I have watched these old guys line up sights, straighten barrels, and shoot the centers out of dimes. My oldest friend, lubed on a Lee lube-sizer, sold me my first Lee Loader, did pistol rounds on a Lee Progressive, a blue one I came to learn later was a Dillon. Did shotgun on Lee and MEC gear. Loaded his magnum rifle rounds on an old Herters press and his "light" .30-06 and .308 rounds on a Lee Challenger. He introduced me to the Lee Hand Loader for the range.
Other guys in the various clubs used other brands, but th e colour was predominantly bright red. None of them ever complained of the "quality" and none of them were overly "rich" so they got what they could. If I had ever seen a Classic Cast press earlier, I would NEVER have wanted a Rock Chucker. As it is, one of the old timers (when they heard I had gotten one for Christmas) told me I wouldn't use it enough to justify having it. I really guess he knew me. He was right.
 
Odd, from coast to coast, in my travels for both work and play, and knowing many many hand loaders, belonging to 4 clubs in 3 provinces, I would say green (RCBS) outweighs any other color at least 3 to 1. Must be different circles, or two people's experiences are too small of a test group, lol.
 
Cleftwynd said:
Odd, from coast to coast, in my travels for both work and play, and knowing many many hand loaders, belonging to 4 clubs in 3 provinces, I would say green (RCBS) outweighs any other color at least 3 to 1. Must be different circles, or two people's experiences are too small of a test group, lol.
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All I can say is...I got my Rock Chucker as a Christmas gift. My wife found it in the local sports shop. It had been lightly used, in the box, but it was evident that the box had been roughly stored during that time. There was no primer catcher with it at the time, but it was there on consignment.
And, really, I have never ACTUALLY needed it to do the work I needed done. It will FL resize easier than a Challenger, but I Never broke a Challenger while properly resizing anything, not even 300WM and I have FL resized .30-06 cases on the Lee Hand Press. Leverage is not a problem here.
Need a Rock Chucker...never. Wanted one, yep. Part with it...never (I don't sell guns either). But now I have a Classic Cast that will easily load .50BMG. I think it will last longer than a Rock Chucker (not that I will live to know), but I am now still not using the Rock Chucker except for dedicated bullet pulling or the occasional non-specific depriming with a universal depriming die.

ETA: funny thing...second-hand RCBS press in that shop, but NO second-hand Lee anything. Guess I didn't get out enough. Around here, Lee is the Anti-Christ. But people around here got waaay more money than we did back home. Most of us just drove old beaters we kept on the road with body tape and soup cans. Nobody I grew up with ever had a $6000 shooting rig to get deer, but I have seen a dozen since moving to AB. Different strokes, I guess...
 
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