Dang

[jonas302]

Yep you get what you pay for you can have 5 of those presses on the bench for the cost of a rockchucker and he gets a free replacement to boot everything has a breaking point read the threads here and see every brand broken

I dont like spray lube the unique or mink oil works soooo much better and cleaner easy on the skin too(:

[sparky45]

I would get a Lee Breech Lock press (I have two) for all your rifle needs, I just processed a box of 338 Lapua Mag. Brass yesterday with mine, worked very well with a liquid Lanolin lube.

[troyboy]

I've had that press in use of and on since 96'. It was never meant for resizing rifle brass as you have clearly illustrated. Customer service did the right thing and that is what matters. Everything will break, it is how a company reacts that is important.

[HeavyMetal]

I'm impressed that Lee replaced that for you! Obvious you exceeded the stress levels of the matrial it was made of!

Just how big a pipe did you add to the handle to increase leverage, or did you? just curious.

As for breaking things it can be done on anything! I once saw a Small Block Chevy head with the entire bottom section of bolts broken off. The "mechanic" figured it was "stuck" when he removed 4 of the 5 bolts per cylinder on the small block and stuck an EIGHT foot bar in the intake runners and pryed the head off the car.

After words he did state that it was the most unusual sound he'd ever heard!

Don't feel bad anybody who claims they haven't broken anything is: misinformed!

[r1kk1]

I'm glad Lee did you good on replacing the press. Was the base where it broke seem porous or lots of air gaps? I had a powder measure body fail and it was very porous. On page 19 of Richards book he was very optimistic of the press and its uses. 30-30 is not a hard case to resize. I've done quite a few plus variants of the case in .22 caliber to .35 caliber on a Lee hand press. You may have received a bad casting.

I have not seen broken frames in any thread on COAX, Ultramag or Champion. The Champion is the only steel frame press in my collection. I think the cast iron base on the Summit may fail or it may not, too early to tell as I've doing case forming operations on it from .405 Winchester brass as well as 444 stuff.

I have never used Cabelas lube. I shake spray lubes before use. I do experiment with different lubes. I have had linkage failure from the Challenger press back in the 80s, listening to Richard, it could do anything too. 1st failure was 7tcu case forming. Easy case to form. He sent another linkage and it failed on another full length sizing task of 43 Egyptian. It went back with 30 day money back guarantee and told him to keep it. They has since upgraded the linkage on the Challenger to steel linkage. Too late.

I would full size in smaller bites if need be, nothing says you have to do it all in one shot. Removing the decapper assembly helps too if needed.

take care

r1kk1

[flyingmonkey35]

So.

I really just used my own strength. No cheater bars.

I figured the 3/4 inch pine board would snap before the press would.

Yes I shook it and waited a few to let it dry.

But on the other hand I smelted 58 pounds of ingots today out of wheel Weight s.

[firebrick43]

Those recommending a new rock chucker seen a new supreme model? Pretty sad really. Lee sold that little press and weather he over hyped it or not it's a bullet seater or decapper at most. Yet lee makes a classic cast that beats a newer rock chucker(and IMHO an old one as well due to the primer catcher and superior safety prime) and is a great value and a strong press. Of course there is the Cadillac reddings and Forster

[fouronesix]

Hmmm. I started reloading using an old cast iron C press that cost near nothing. Bought it for maybe $5 in decent used condition. 40 years ago I moved up to compound leverage and have owned 2 RCBS RCs and 1 RCBS #5 (smaller cousin of the RC). All have been in good used condition when purchased or traded for. The RCBS presses have run between $20-75 each. Have done a lot of reloading with all of them, including the ancient cast iron C press, and at times have tested their strength limits. Funny thing, never broke one.

Cadillac Redding eh? About 4 years ago a friend was bragging about his brand new big Redding. Not 2 weeks later he broke one of the link pins during simple 30-06 resizing. But they do handle spent primers well

[Green Frog]

If you want a heavy, virtually unbreakable press that can also substitute as a medium sized boat anchor, you might look for one of the Herters' Super U presses... of course they use special shell holders, but even that can be overcome with an adaptor. An old machinist friend of mine had me find one for him after he broke his Rock Chucker sizing bullets. Yes, I was smart enough to keep one for myself.

Nothing against Lee's presses, they are well built for the way they are intended to be used. I just decided I needed to own one press that was OVER-designed to take whatever abuse I could dream up. Fortunately, there isn't a big market for them around here since Herter's is no more and folks are looking for equipment that is green, orange or red.

Froggie

[r1kk1]

Cadillac Redding eh? About 4 years ago a friend was bragging about his brand new big Redding. Not 2 weeks later he broke one of the link pins during simple 30-06 resizing. But they do handle spent primers well

I was listening to a Personal Armanent podcast a few years ago. They were interviewing Redding. What I found interesting is they have one guy who's only job is to fit rams and final assembly. At that time the guy was at Redding for 25 years. I doubt seriously my Redding would fail sizing 30-06 cases, I do much larger stuff than that on the Ultramag. Now I'm doing some case forming duties on the Summit to see what it can do and the maximum case length I can use.

The fit and finish on all four of my single stages are very nice. Four companies, four different design presses, each a pleasure to own.

take care

r1kk1

[r1kk1]

Froggie you have a picture of that press?

thanks

r1kk1

[Green Frog]

It's on loan to a shooting buddy right now, but I'll try and get a picture of it to post.

Froggie

[twc1964]

+1 on the imperial sizing wax. I have sized thousands of lc 556 brass using this wax and graphite neck lube and havent stuck one yet. They go thru the sizer like butter. Not as fast as sprsying em with hornaday one shot, but darn sure easier on the shoulder muscles, lol

[45-70 Chevroner]

That certainly is not something to brag about...denotes poor judgement.

He probably has never used a Dillon. I own two, an RL 550 B And a square deal, I have loaded thousands and thousands of rounds on both of them. I had another 550 but I gave it to my grand son. When I ever had a problem, Dillon either guided me as to how fix the problem or sent me a new part to fix the problem at no charge.

[Motor]

I've had my RCBS RCII since 1985. I'm not sure of the round count but have kept records on component use and its seen a lot of action. You would have to do some serious abuse to hurt this thing.

I put a last word indicator on the top of it one day to proove a point to some idiot who claimed they flex. I put as much pressure on the ram as I dare (without ripping off the bench) and got it to flex around .0002" or .0003" inch.

I have no doubt it has at least a couple life times left in it.

Motor

[OverMax]

Oops!! Looks like a dandy (Strong like Bull) job done to it. Consider (Green) the next time you buy.

[bruce drake]

Folks, this shouldn't be diverted into a LEE versus other press bashing session as the issue really is the case lube. I still have the Lee C press I bought 20 years ago and I used it for rifle reloading up to 30-06 for many years.

The principle behind spray lubes versus the lubes like LEE's tube of toothpaste lube, Hornady Unique and Imperial Sizing Wax should be the consideration here. Using the proper lube will allow that C Press to do many years of good service. I tried spray lubes when I first started and got several stuck cases. Since that time and my switch over to Imperial and its generic version (Kiwi Mink Oil), I haven't had a stuck case in nearly a decade.

That LEE C Press will probably be handled over to one of my sons along with the LEE Challenger and the RCBS JR3 presses that I own. Properly used, these presses will last a lifetime. I'd hate to see what normal pressure is considered if this press is standard and not a defective one-off from the aluminum casting line. Glad to see LEE is replacing the press. All the Press makers honor their products quite well in my experience.

[flyingmonkey35]

As a update,

Went back to using my tub of hornaday unuiqe. Using my load master I sized and trimmed 50 cases with 0 zero issue's.

[josper]

Did anyone mention "use carbide dies and forget the lube" Didn't see the "stuck 30-30" was just looking at the brass in the op's picture. Yes in that case a better lube is needed.

[largom]

I own and use two RCBS Rockchucker presses. I also have a Lee Classic Cast press which I received as a gift. That Lee press is one STRONG press and half price of others.

Larry