I think I'm going to cry today -- RIP Lee Challenger...

[PineTreeGreen]

I have an RCBS jr. press I bought in 1962 for $29.95 w/primer catcher, lube pad, .30-06 dies and priming arm. Never failed me.

[jdhenry]

I have 3 lee presses and no complaints!!!!! Even if they all broke today I would keep buying Lee.

[David2011]

So I use Lee dies in my Dillon 650. Lee makes some nice crimping dies for autoloaders and an undersize sizing die that salvages .40 S&W that's been fired in oversize, unsupported Glock chambers. That allows me to use under $20/1000 range brass in my IPSC gun.

[jim4065]

I broke a Challenger re-sizing 270 cases to 6.5x55. Bought a Rockchucker and have no regrets - However, I have a Classic turret which is my favorite press. So much better engineering than my Dillon RL450. My only complaint with Lee Classic turret is that you need a Riser for the powder dies on most sets to keep the dispenser from hitting the primer tray on every revolution. Still - it's hard to beat the value you get from Lee.

[Arnie]

My first three hole turret press had that same thing happen and the part was made out of pot metal .They replaced it for free with one made of steel.Of course i was forming 40/90bn from 45/2.6 cases but i didnt tell them that

[handyrandyrc]

I give up. I quietly sent the broken links in and within a week, I had new ones in hand, with a note to "make sure you are lubricating your brass when resizing..." lol I have nearly 1000 .223 Rem to deprime/resize, so I started using it again. Got about halfway thru my pile:



I took no more than 3 swings with a hammer. It's a 3-piece press now, bound for the recycling heap.



Thanks to the guy who sent me the cast iron Lyman Spartan. I could probably pound the old Lyman with a SLEDGEHAMMER repeatedly and it wouldn't do any harm.

[Flinchrock]

Be careful, someone might think you are a "Lee Basher"
(sorry guys, couldn't resist)

[Jim]

My experience with Lee is, if it has moving parts, it won't last. I have used their dies for years and never had a problem, but EVERY press I've bought from them has failed in one fashion or another.

[EMC45]

I'da bought it from ya Handy.

[johnp]

Well good to see you put it our of your misery. I never did think much of their aluminum press but the cast model seems to be decent.

[Swagerman]

Guess you didn't use a lot of case lube in sizing your brass, did you???

The cast iron Lee Classic single stage is still going strong for me, haven't sprung any metal linkage and I'm swaging bullets with it.

Jim

[bmblong]

If we're voting, I second the Lee Classic Cast single stage or 4 hole turret. (I suggest one of each ) I own them both and I can't imagine breaking a thing on either one.

[Sundogg1911]

I'm far from being a "Lee Basher" But for certain things you gotta use a stronger press. I have one of those little Lee "C" presses (actually 2 I forgot about the one at camp) I use them for depriming, priming and general case prep. I have a hole in the bench with a peanut butter jar with a hole in the lid screwed under the bench to catch primers. Works great. If i'm sizing brass (single stage) I move down to the next spot on the bench and use my Rock Chucker. I really like Lee Dies ('specially the factory crimp dies) My Lee Auto primes work great. I have a Lee hardness tester. It isn't as easy to use as my Cabin Tree, but it's a cheap backup to use when i'm at camp, and I get accurate readings with it. I have had really bad luck with the Lee Progressive's. I have 3 Dillons now and they work great. I think the Lee stuff defenitly has a place on the bench, you just have to know its limitations. It's like anything else, it's not a one size fits all deal.

[rugerdude]

Everyone talking about press color got me thinking. ALL the presses and sundries on my bench are RED! There's the MEC Sizemaster thats over 20 years old, the Lee Challenger thats over 10 years old, and the Lee Classic single stage that I've had 2 years. With the exception of a Hornady LNL powder measure (its red too!), ALL of my metallic reloading tools are from Lee. They have served me VERY well for no more money than I have tied up in them. And I'll bet you couldn't bust that Classic press with 3 swings of a hammer!

[toecutter]

More echos of many of the posts here thus far. Lee really is junk, I say this owning a number of lee presses. They are great if money is tight, as they do work, they just never work very well. I recently upgraded from a lee pro 1000 to a dillon 1050 for reloading .223. I can't believe I waited this long loading on that piece of crap lee press. It's the difference between owning a blown out used mid-60's beetle vs a mercedes. My lee press was such a hack, the case ejector was replaced with a reground hack-saw blade to give more reliable ejection of loaded rounds. The case feeder does work, but about 1 in 10 cases tumble out, jamming the machine and require clearing. Not so with the dillon.

Years ago when I first started reloading, I was using a lee reloader press. One day while sizing some tough military brass, the press gave out. That wonderful "C" style press simply cracked in half. I also had a similar problem with the lee priming tool, as it cracked in half when seating a primer, slicing my hand up pretty good. I bought an RCBS partner press to replace it ($45 vs $20) But the RCBS press I regularly use for swaging bullets. The lee press would never stand up to that kind of abuse.

Seriously, buy an RCBS press as a replacement. The other nice thing about non-lee reloading presses is they don't dump the primers in the base of the machine requiring you to unbolt it to empty the spent primers (so frustrating!).

[jim4065]

My Lee priming tool has to have seated 100,000 primers and is still going strong. The design was slandered by the big boys for years - now Hornady and RCBS both use the same basic design. Guess it isn't that bad after all.

I have Lee, RCBS and Hornady presses - and they're like kids. You've got to play to their strong points and compensate for the weaker design elements. Had a Dillon RL450 when they first came out, but I sure don't care whether or not I get another Dillon. They were priced competitively 20 years ago.

I don't like the Lee turret (progressive) much, too finicky - but I use one for 38 Special and 32 ACP. Yea, it's a pita, but it sure can crank out the ammo when it's tuned. Hope my next press is a Redding - people been calling it the Cadillac brand for a long time, and I sure like the looks of the darn things.