Sportsmans Outdoor Superstore Early Black Friday Specials $120 Rock Chucker Kit

[jonp]

They are blowing out a Rock Chucker Supreme Kit for $129 plus a RCBS rebate of $10 equals $120 which is over $100 off and it's on sale now. Press, Scale, Powder Measure, Nosler Manual etc. This is a great deal

http://www.sportsmansoutdoorsuperstore.com/products2.cfm/ID/165028

[M-Tecs]

Thanks - passing that to a coworker that I am starting into reloading

[redriverhunter]

the photo and what is in the kit do not match

Kit Includes



Rock Chucker Supreme Single Stage press
1500 Grain Digital Pocket Scale
Powder Funnel
Case Lube Kit
Universal Case Load Block
Chamfer/Deburring Tool
Nosler 7th Edition Reloading Manual

[jonp]

Your right. I didn't read the stuff to see if it matched. The picture showed a beam scale and the list shows a digital scale which is not a big deal for a beginning reloader. The picture also shows the powder measure but the list does not mention it. That is a big deal unless you have some dippers or something.

I'm going to assume what you will get is this one: http://www.cabelas.com/product/RCBS-BASIC-KIT-ROCK-CHUCKER-SUPREME/1851329.uts

Still looks like a great deal to me for a beginner!!

[scarry scarney]

thanks for the link. The press was sold out, but I just bought some ammo for the daughter.....

[BrassMagnet]

Back in stock!

[onceabull]

Odd thing,there ,in that it's not a Speer reloading manual.. guess someone doesn't want any critique re: keeping everything under one umbrella... Onceabull

[DukeInFlorida]

Here's my two cents on this kit:

The ONLY real value here is the press itself
I hate factory lube pads, they get gritty almost instantly. I tell my students to just take a sheet of paper towel, and put some lube on that... instant "disposable" lube pad. You can re-fold it a few different ways. Stored in a zip lock bag, it will keep it clean longer. And, when it's finally gritty on all sides, you ross it out, almost no cost! Factory lube pads do NOT afford you the luxury of cheap and disposable.
The powder funnel is a must have item. So, OK on that.
I'm not a big fan of cheap digital scales. It's the most critical part of the reloading process. I much prefer the Chargemaster 1500 scale (with or without the powder dispensor attachment) of the Loadmaster 750, which basically uses the same electronics as the 1500. The scale is NOT the place to go cheap. So, I think of this item in the kit as a waste of my money. I'd rather skip the pocket scale, and get my own.
Case Lube is a must have item, so that one is OK
The loading block is a nice item, but it's not the one I would have bought. The one shown only holds 25 shells. I like the red longer ones which hold 50 cartridges. So, I would to skip that item, and get my own.
The deburring tool is a must have. So that one is OK. I worry a bit though, giving this in a kit, to mostly new reloaders. The inclination might be to use that tool for trimming to length, which is NOT what it was designed for. Using that tool in that way would leave razor sharp case mouth edges, which is a split neck waiting to happen. A proper trim tool will leave a flat end to the case mouth, and some ID and OD burr. Use the deburring tool to JUST REMOVE the burr. The end of the case mouth should still have a flat end when you are done with the deburring tool. If you remove too much burr, and leave the case mouth "sharpened" you have mis-used the tool, and dramatically shortened the life of the brass, as explained above. So, god and bad with this tool included in the kit for beginners.
Both references to the kits show pictures with case mouth brushes included in the kit. There's no actual reference to that item in the wording of the listing. Case neck brushes are mostly a waste of money. That area gets taken care of properly when vibratory tumble cleaning the brass (or pin cleaning, or whatever method you use for getting grit/dust/dirt off the cases). I've heard people mention that they use thos brushes for applying lube to the case neck area to assit in full length sizing (allows the plug inside the resizing die on rifle cases to slide more easily. However, my argument with that is I don't like to affect the resultant friction between the case neck and the seated bullet. That will introduce wild variations in accuracy from case to case. If one has the inclination to use case lube on that brush (two sizes of bristles to handle a wide range of case neck sizes) the only way to recover is to AGAIN tumble clean the brass to remove the lube BEFORE seating bullets.
The NOSLER book is so restricted to NOSLER bullets that it makes getting the Nosler book a total dis-service to any purchaser. The Speer book, and the Hornady book is a much better choice, because their bullet designs are closer to many of the other manufacturers designs to be mostly applicable to data in the Hornady and Speer books. However, that can't be said for the Nosler bullets. This is another item that is a waste of money. I'd rather get my own data books, typically my recommendation is BOTH the Speer and the Hornady books.

The way it looks to my eye is that RCBS started with the RockChucker press, and then spent some time deciding what cheap **** to throw in the box to make it look more like a "kit".

However, the Rock Chucker press, by itself:
http://www.cabelas.com/product/rcbs-reg-rock-chucker-supreme-press/728427.uts?Ntk=AllProducts&searchPath=%2Fcatalog%2Fsearch.cmd%3Fform_state%3D searchForm%26N%3D0%26fsch%3Dtrue%26Ntk%3DAllProduc ts%26Ntt%3Drock%252Bchucker%26x%3D10%26y%3D6%26WTz _l%3DHeader%253BSearch-All%252BProducts&Ntt=rock+chucker

is a whopping $164 minus the "up to $50 rebate", buying the kit is cheaper than just the press by itself (when you include the couple of must have items from the kit)..... So, I'd buy the kit, sell off the stuff I've indicated to not include, and BUY a better scale.

That's my take on this deal.

BTW, RCBS also makes a BIGGER kit, for a LOT more Money, and they have just included a few additional must have items (proper manual trimmer is a must have), but they still muck up the works with the Nosler book, and some additional waste of time versions of other items. Bottom line, the BIGGER kit is even a BIGGER waste of time and money.