Broke my Lee Classic Cast

[Recluse]

My brother has an old Lee "O" style press that looks exactly like my Classic cast.

I bought a Lee Challenger press back in '88 and loaded thousands of rifle rounds and magnum pistol rounds with it with exactly zero problems. When Lee came out with the heavier steel assemblies for the handle and ram movement, I bought a kit for the Challenger press. It now serves duty as a sizing press for my cast projectiles via the push-through sizing dies after the Hi-Tek coating is done, as a de-priming and priming press, and for use with my Hornady bullet-puller.

I have heard several folks who own both rock chucker and classic cast say that the classic cast was a better press...even though it is 1/4 to 1/3 the price.

I don't like the word "better" when comparing most presses. Rather, "preferable" makes more sense to me. I grew up with a Rockchucker and for a long time, I really liked that "cam over" travel on the handle when I was doing all my loading single-stage.

All reloading equipment produces the same finished product--a loaded round. Some do it in ways and via mechanical movements that are more preferable to others, less so to the rest. The Dillon 550 has an almost cult-like following in the progressive crowd, even though it is a manual indexing press--and the manual indexing drove me up the wall. I prefer the 650. But it doesn't make the 650 "better," but rather more preferable for my purposes and preferences.

[greenjoytj]

I broke this same part on my 2006 LEE Classic Cast press this summer. I was neck sizing 22 Hornet with the LEE collet neck sizing die, your supposed to apply 25lbs to the press handle to close the collet, I suppose I was pulling too hard. I ordered replacement part online plus a spare.
I now consider that free replacement part a safety fuse that blows to protect the rest of the press.
Still love this press I have no complains about its quality or durability.

[MT Chambers]

Yeah well that's nothing, I traded a Ponsness Warren loader($1000) and a Spolar loader($2000) for a Lee Load-all 12 gauge!

[Ed in North Texas]

I have both a Chuck and a couple of Classic Cast single stage presses. One Lee is used for depriming large amounts of brass, the other for reloading chores. I form .270 to a slightly long 7x57 for my 1910 Roller using a trim die without any problems (use Imperial for all case forming). Annealing is after, not before. I can punch an "unbreakable" primer stem in a deprime die through the head of a Berdan case with the Classic Cast. The Chuck can do the same. Both fit the large .577 die sets. The Lees cost me just over $100 new, delivered. The Chuck cost me quite a bit more quite a while ago when I was still using my Lyman Spartan and Spar-T (the youngest son has those and they still are going strong). In doing bulk work I miss the set screw seating of the case holder, the spring allows them to slip around instead of staying in exactly the same spot (I push the finished case out with the next case, drops into a big plastic bin on the floor).

I don't use the press to prime, so pulled the roll pin for the primer punches out of the ram so the primers wouldn't hit it and bounce out the cutout for the primer punch.