Which Press???which Press???

[macvcallsign]

I Have A Set Of New 577 Snider Dies With 1 1/2 X 12 Threads. Which Press Would Ya'll Recommend? I'm Thinking Single Stage.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

If they were 1 1/4 X 12, I'd recommend the Lee Classic Cast single stage. Cabella's has them on sale on the last day of this month for about 40 bucks and they're a heckuva single stage press. With the 1 1/2 inch die set, I don't know. Good luckin your search.

Regards,

Dave

[KCSO]

I'll have to measure my old Herter's, the #3's can be had cheap and they are???

[Ross]

The Lee will handle the Lee dies without a problem. The Lachmiller, Herter, Hollywood may have 18tpi or some other pitch, and a bushing may be required. I don't believe there is a standard .577 shellholder for those older presses, and a special from Vega or an adapter from any of the press makers will be needed. The Lee dies screw right into my unbushed Rockchucker. Some RCBS A presses will accept much larger dies, and the Herter. Lachmiller were often cut to accept 12 ga dies, then bushed down for more normal dies.
Most presses will handle the H&H loads, so the Snider and Martini do not require an especially tall window.
At least at first, the Lee dies contained a shellholder for 24 ga CBC brass, and will not accept correct .577 cases.
Cheers from Darkest California,
Ross

"I Have A Set Of New 577 Snider Dies With 1 1/2 X 12 Threads."
Just curious, what brand of dies are they?

[macvcallsign]

Ross, I have a new set of LEE dies. It did not have a shell holder with them. Called Lee and they have one(#22) which they are sending to me. I did not know the
Rockchucker would also work. Thanks for the info from all. Dennis

[schutzen]

Personally, I like the RCBS Big Max best. However, they have been out of production for many years. Every now and then one shows up on Evil Bay, but they are outrageously priced. Still, I want one and keep looking.

[klw]

I Have A Set Of New 577 Snider Dies With 1 1/2 X 12 Threads. Which Press Would Ya'll Recommend? I'm Thinking Single Stage.

RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme.

[Rod B]

Another vote for the Lee Classic Cast.

I am very pleased with mine.:-D

[klw]

If you want that new Lee turret I've got one. Didn't like it. 1/3 list plus shipping. Would have to figure out what I have as I bought every possible gadget to go with it.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Before I go further, let me say I had the older, made in USA Rock Chucker, not the Rock Chucker Supreme and they are great presses, but Lee has basically improved upon the original design with their Classi Cast single stage and I found it a better press than my Rock Chucker was. Good enough, in fact, that I sold my Rock Chucker and kept the Lee. Here's what it impressed me about it and why I sold the Rock Chucker.

Lee Classic Cast Single stage compared to the RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme:

1. The Lee is made in the United States of America and is better machined than the RC Supreme, which is made in China.

2. About the same linkage as the Rock Chucker, but it has a thicker Ram and the linkage has a built in stop to prevent overtravel. The linkage parts are coated to prevent rust, not that I consider this an issue, as I liked blued steel as well.

3. The Ram has a hole in the middle and spent primers (Along with the associated filth.) go down the hole in the Ram to a plastic tube mounted on the bottom of the Ram, thereby keeping the press clean and free of spent primer debris. I especially like this feature, as the cup on the Rock Chucker got filthy over time and filled with primers. With the Lee, I just route the tube into a 2 pound coffee can and wahlah, no nasty primer filth in my press's work area. This is probably the biggest improvement over the RC for me, as I hate dealing with leftover primer filth when I'm trying to load rounds.

4. The operating handle can be moved for either left or right handed operation. It can also be adjusted for angle and for length. This allows the operator to get the most ergonomic position for the operating handle for themselves.

5. The press is cast iron, is an O-frame design like the Rock Chucker. But the base is a better design and while the press weighs less than the Rock Chucker, it feels (going on perception here, didn't measure it) more stiff than the RC and chores such as FL resizing of large cases, swaging of military primer pockets, decapping of brass, etc. that I use for the press for are done smoothly and effortlessly. Lee offers a .50 BMG version of this press and I believe the press can handle it. Certainly 30-06 isn't anything for the Lee Classic Cast single stage to handle.

6. The three bolt holes for the base are located in the most optimum location to support the working leverage of the press.

7. The press can be fitted with a Lee Safety Prime to make priming on the press quite easy and no touch. The bracket for the Safety Prime comes with the press. The Safety Prime has worked very well for me, is fast. Fast enough when I load single stage I don't find myself using my Lee Auto Prime any more.

8. On sale through Cabella's, this press costs about 1/3rd the cost of a Rock Chucker Supreme.

9. It can accept both 1 1/4" and Industry standard standard resizing dies, as it has a bushing for the large dies and the standard dies.

10. The bushing mentioned in 9 above can be removed and a Hornady LnL conversion kit used to allow you to use Hornady LnL bushings. This allows you to adjust a die in the press once, then quickly install and remove it without having to ever adjust it again. Makes reloading single stage, for those that choose to, much quicker to change dies, because you no longer have to set them each time.

For those that have turrets and progressives, this makes an ideal companion press to your other presses. For the price Cabella's is selling them for starting May 30 and running through June, I'd jump on one if I didn't already own one. That's an awesome deal for an extremely nice single stage.

Regards,

Dave

[macvcallsign]

Dave, WOW, a wealth of good info. I really do thank you and everyone for your input. Does Cabella advertise the Lee on there Website at month end? I'm going to be shopping around the next couple of weeks for one but from your info I would be leaning toward the Lee. God, I like this Website!!:drinks:

[mooman76]

Midway has the Classic Cast for a real good price and mine works great!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

mooman,

Starting May 30th through the end of June, Cabella's will be running them for $40.00. Near as I can tell, that's below wholesale and is darn close to Cabella's cost on them, unless they bought a monster load for the purposes of running a big sale.

Regards,

Dave

[dromia]

Classic Cast and Rockchuckers are both great presses, I have both, but my press of choice for large calibre BP cartridges loading, .577" Snider, 12.7x44, .577"/.450" Martini, 50-70 etc is the Redding Ultramag. I find that the open front really helps with these larger rounds and the leverage makes any resizing work so smooth.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Rockchucker A4. I load 45-120, 50-140, and 550 Gibbs on mine.

Rich
DRSS

[macvcallsign]

Thanks To Everyone, Now I Just Have Get Off By Butt And Go Look At Them In Person.

[Bad luck Bill]

If you're not nailed down to a single stage, I'd go for the newer Lee Classic Cast Turret press. I bought one about two or three months ago and I am very pleased! It is made to last and has given me flawless performance. I advise you to by the Pro Auto Disk powder measure to go with the press...if you do you will be able to spit out over 300 rds per hour without a problem. It is definitely the best designed turret press on the market IMHO.

I used to be leary and skeptical about buying Lee products but that has changed since using the Classic cast turret. I saw one up close at Cabela's and bought one on the spot! I have not had the oppertunity to use the safety prime with the press yet as I have heard different reports as to its ease of use. I hand prime with a Lee autoprime and then go from there, it's very quick and does a great job. Do not buy the micrometer attachment for the autodisk powder measure, it does not meter properly with any powder, just stick with the disks. If you need a disk size for a specific pet load then order another set of disk and carefully drill out until it drops the load you're looking for. I haven't tried this method yet, it was described to me on another forum.

BLB.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Bill,

For the rounds he's loading, he needs the strength of a good single stage. The Lee Classic turret is a great press and I have one, but sometimes there's no substitute for a great single stage and this is an incident where the round is big enough a beefy single stage is justified for sure.

About the Safety Prime for your press:

If you want to get the maximum efficiency out of your press, you need to add the safety prime. Priming off press is less efficient time wise than priming on the press. I've had the Lee Classic turret with the Safety Prime long enough to figure out it's quircks and why people have had trouble with them. Here's how to get the thing to work correctly out of the box:

1. Install the mounting bracket and mount the safety prime. Check alignment left and right. Be aware the lever prime (metal part that goes in the press ram) can be rotated a bit right and left to align the safety prime with it. If you cannot get it to align properly, then take a drill ONE SIZE larger than the mounting hole on the bracket and drill the bracket hole out that amount.

2. The extra drill size will allow a bit more adjustability to allow you to properly align the safety prime to the lever prime. If it's aligned right to left after you've done this, but not vertically, you may need to get a washer from the hardware store to place underneath the mounting bracket to raise the bracket up slightly.

3. The above descriptions should solve 100% of any alignment issue, regardless of the press owner. Once the alignment issue is addressed, there may be an operations issue.

4. The "pushbutton" of the Safety Prime is designed to be operated firmly and decisively. You don't have to baby it. There is a Utube video where a fellow demonstrates how to operate it correctly. Just go to the Utube website, then do a search for Lee Safety Prime.

5. Adjusted correctly and operated correctly, the Safety Prime is one of the fastest to refill and easiest to use Primer systems I've used. My personal experience includes the Dillon 550, Dillon 650, Hornady LnL and Lee Auto Prime systems. I'm very happy with mine.

Regards,

Dave

[BluesBear]

If you need a disk size for a specific pet load then order another set of disk and carefully drill out until it drops the load you're looking for. I haven't tried this method yet, it was described to me on another forum.I strongly advise against doing that.
Just too many ways to get into trouble there.

Instead get a second set of disks and get the Lee stacking kit.
By using TWO disks at a time you can get any combination of cavity size for any powder charge you could possibly want.
Lee has a complete chart available showing all of the possibilities.
It really expands the usefullness of the charger.

[Swagerman]

Here's something that might surprise you, the Lee Classic single stage press is most excellent for cast bullet swaging...if you make some minor aulterations to the shell holder by shortening by about 1/2 inch.

You can easily make, or have a machinest make this automatic bullet ejector I've invented a few years back. (see pictures of shortend shellholder and ejector apparatus.

The Lee Classic press can swage up to .45 caliber bullets from my own personal experience...as that is as big as I've known it to take with aplomb.

Jim

Lee shellholder shown cut and shortend near 1/2 inch.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/44and45/PC050006cropped650X.jpg

Bullet gets easily ejected from swaging die on up stroke of press handle.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/44and45/PB250001LeeClassiccropped.jpg

[dromia]

The Lee Classic cast Turret doesn't have the removeable bushings to take the 1 1/2 x 12 threads dies.

So Lee's .577" Snider and .450"/.577" Martini dies won't fit.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Actually, the lee .577" Snider and .450/.577 Martini dies will fit, as they're not 1 1/2 X 12. They are 1 1/4" X 12:

http://leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1178541036.1695=/html/catalog/dies-largeseries.html

Lee's Classic Cast press also has a removeable bushing to handle not only those, but the .50BMG, from their website:

" Threaded die adapter accepts standard 7/8 - 14 dies, remove and the press accepts 1 1/4 - 12 large series dies."

Here's the page it's on:

http://leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1178541036.1695=/html/catalog/classic.html


Regards,

Dave

[quasi]

The originator of this thread has dies with a 1 1/2 -12 thread, so the Lee's are out. The RCBS ammomaster with the .50 kit and the Hornaday clone have 1 1/2 -12 threads, as do some Hollywood turrets. I think the old Lyman all American turret press had an option of one 1 1/2 hole in the turret.

[dromia]

Dave, does the Classic Cast Turret have these bushings now, the one I saw didn't, is it a Lee upgrade.

[floodgate]

quasi:

No, the oversize thread in one station of the Lyman AA Comet and Turret was 1.100" dia. x 28 threads per inch, with a bushing to use the 7/8" x 14 tpi standard dies. I believe this was a special thread for a shotshell die set they used to make, and I seem to recall seeing ads for a special AA-T turret model for shotshell use that had all four stations threaded this way. To the best of my knowledge, no-one else used this thread.

floodgate

[macvcallsign]

Gentlemen, I want to apologize, the lee dies I purchased have a 1 1/4 x 12 thread. You have all been on the right track. Thanks again for all the advice.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dave, does the Classic Cast Turret have these bushings now, the one I saw didn't, is it a Lee upgrade.

Yes, they have a bushing. I'm not sure which one you saw, but I can tell you the bushing doesn't look like much, so you may just of missed it. I know a buddy of mine did when he first looked at it as well.

I swapped my bushing out with a Hornady LnL conversion bushing so I can now switch out dies really quick with no adjustments. I feel spoiled using it.

Regards,

Dave

[dromia]

Dave,

So its each of the 4 die holes that have the bushing or is there another sized die plate for the Turret.

On the Lee site I can't see how you unscrew the Bushings from the picture, the bushing wrench flats are obvious on the Lee Clasic Cast Single Stage but not on the Classic Cast Turret, what am I missing?

Classic Cast Turret picture/article:

http://www.realguns.com/archives/122.htm

[BluesBear]

The Lee Turret and Progressive presses do NOT have bushings.

They use 3 or 4 simple threaded holes in the turret head.

The Lee single stage Classic press DOES have a removable bushing.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dave,

So its each of the 4 die holes that have the bushing or is there another sized die plate for the Turret.

On the Lee site I can't see how you unscrew the Bushings from the picture, the bushing wrench flats are obvious on the Lee Clasic Cast Single Stage but not on the Classic Cast Turret, what am I missing?

Classic Cast Turret picture/article:

http://www.realguns.com/archives/122.htm

Ah, now I see what the problem is. We're talking about two different animals. I'm talking about the Lee Classic Cast Single Stage. You're talking about the Lee Classic Turret press.

No, the Classic Turret does not have a bushing. The Lee Classic Single Stage is the one that has the bushing.

Regards,

Dave

[MakeMineA10mm]

Heck, this is GREAT info! It's funny how one has and gets prejudices about things. My mentor was an RCBS man (and Lyman for bullet moulds), and I'd never considered anything other than a Rock Chucker for a press.

But about 15 years ago, I decided I wanted a progressive press, and after seeing a friend's Dillon, I bought one (the 650-it was brand new then, and I like that it could load both pistol and small and medium-sized rifle rounds).

Then, I inherited my dad's Bonanza Co-Ax press, and I had three different colors of presses...

One of the things that always annoyed me about the Rock Chucker was the spent primer catching cup. It always seemed to be full, spilled primers when taking it off, and rubber bands would break when the thing was full, etc, etc. It was just a mess. And, worst of all, when I got and installed the case-kicker attachment, the primer catcher had to be taken off, so primers were bouncing and spinning everywhere...

Thanks to you, Dave, giving the heads-up about Cabelas, I'm getting this Lee Classic Cast on May 30. By serendipity, I just got a Cabela's credit card and have a few points, so I'm thinking this press is going to cost me about $34, and by all accounts it's better than my Rock Chucker. When it gets here, I'll probably jury-rig some home-made version of the case kicker for the Lee press. I'm thinking a single-stage, with case-kicker, spent primer catcher through the ram, and the slick primer seating system might make me enjoy slowing down and loading on a single-stage again...

The only problem now is, if I can get the red and blue presses to get along on the same side of my bench!

[dromia]

You got a great press in the Co-Ax, shame it only takes standard dies but its not any the lesser pres for that. :-D

[MakeMineA10mm]

dromia,
That Co-Ax is the best press ever made for assembling accurate rifle loads, however, due to the thickness of it's head, the wishbone-style handle over the top, and the long throw of the lever, I pretty much reserve it for loading my target-grade rifle ammo. At that, though, it is fantastic. It just isn't very flexible at doing other things that a standard O-frame press is...

[reloader62]

I strongly advise against doing that.
Just too many ways to get into trouble there.

Instead get a second set of disks and get the Lee stacking kit.
By using TWO disks at a time you can get any combination of cavity size for any powder charge you could possibly want.
Lee has a complete chart available showing all of the possibilities.
It really expands the usefullness of the charger.

Thats what I have found too ,stacking two disks will get you what you want ,but the 'micro' doesnt work that well,your loads will not be the 'exact' same and forget a stick powder! It very much depends on how you use the press as it does need the 'shake down' ,rotating with enough force to fill out the cavity.

[klw]

If you want that new Lee turret I've got one. Didn't like it. 1/3 list plus shipping. Would have to figure out what I have as I bought every possible gadget to go with it.

It has a new owner.

[Shawrco]

You got a great press in the Co-Ax, shame it only takes standard dies but its not any the lesser pres for that. :-D


So the lock rings for the 1-1/2 dia dies won't fit in the slot?

The Co-Ax is the best press I have.

[dromia]

Yep the 1 1/4 - 12 Lees dies won't fit in the Co-ax and neither will these lockrings fit in the slot.

The Co-ax was made for standard dies, these Lee monsters weren't around then and I guess .577" and .577"/.450" handloading is still a bit of an minority interest. :roll:

[RoyRogers]

Midway has 12 packs of the CoAx rings on sale this month. They are worth it to anyone who owns a CoAx press.

Dave in FB - Where do you find Cabelas end of month sales? I can find nothing on their web site & have been a long time customer of theirs. I have called them & they acted like I was from Mars or something. They were nice but had no idea what I was talking about.

Thanks