Press choice

[kestak]

Greetings,

Which one works the best for you:

Redding Big Boss II?
RCBS Rock CHucker Supreme?
Lee classic cast press?

I have a Dillon 550B and I want to have a single-stage side press to resize 500S&W and .223.

Price difference is not an issue. I just want to know resizing functionnality wise which one would be the best?

Thank you

[dlb435]

I used an old C-H No. 444 H press and loved it. I foolishly sold it and am looking for an other. It's a 4 station press and can be used as a semi-progresive. Built like a tank and top mounts on the bench.
http://www.ch4d.com/

[rwilson452]

For me, in functionality it is a tossup between the RCBS and the Lee. Lee wins the race on price. As I have rather large hands I like the room the Lee gives me to manipulate things within the "O".

I own the LEE and you have more than enough leverage to resize either of those. With the Lee, you might even want to choke up on the lever arm to give you better feel.

Press choice
Greetings,

Which one works the best for you:

Redding Big Boss II?
RCBS Rock CHucker Supreme?
Lee classic cast press?

I have a Dillon 550B and I want to have a single-stage side press to resize 500S&W and .223.

Price difference is not an issue. I just want to know resizing functionnality wise which one would be the best?

Thank you

[kestak]

Greetings,

Does Lee take the RCBS and Redding shellholders? It is my understanding that those are standard like the dies.

Thank you

[rwilson452]

never used the Redding. The RCBS and Lee both use the standard shell holders and have the standard die hole. the Lee does use a bushing to do this ( it comes with the press) the bushing can be removed to accommodate the .50 BMG die.

[hornady]

If money is no concern, And you want new the RCBS will out live you. , But any will get the job done. I myself picked up a used C-type Universal. I like the open front

[hornady]

Yes years ago some presses had shell holders specific to there press, but today they are universal. they use different reference numbers for caliber but that is the only difference

[kestak]

Greetings,

I read also the Redding has a better primer catch system than the RCBS. Anyone has to complain about picking half the spent primers on the ground with RCBS?

Thank you

[Sevens]

I wouldn't put any C frame press up against a solid O frame press for durability and resistance to flex.

Between the Classic Cast and the Rock Chucker, the RC has a very nice toggle-detent feature at the end of the stroke that is nice, but the Classic Cast has a handle that can be adjusted in two ways. You can bring the lever out for full length, or you can slide it in a bit for a more compact lever throw area. You can also radically change the position of the lever to put leverage where you need it. When I am flaring case mouths, I rotate the lever up for a nice, short throw when I don't need extreme leverage. When I need to size cases, I rotate the lever down for maximum leverage with the least amount of physical strength. In this way, the handle makes a longer arc, but all the "work" is done as the lever swings well below the surface of the bench.

I'm finding this lever adjustment hard to explain in words, but it makes for a pretty versatile operation. The Rock Chucker lever is not adjustable, and sits right where it sits.

And unless the Rock Chucker has recently re-designed the handling of spent primers, the Lee Classic Cast kills the Rock Chucker in this regard, too. The RC flips them in to a plastic tray, residue and lost primers and all, the Lee handles all of them clean & easy through a tube down the center of the ram.

The green is a very nice color, but the red one has it beat in most every way. And it's significantly cheaper. And not that it's at all common... but the Lee Classic Cast can be upgraded to load .50 BMG with the die set and shell holder. The Rock Chucker can't do that, either.

Sorry, I have no experience with the Redding Big Boss II. I do think the RCBS green is a nicer shade than the lighter shade that Redding uses!

All of them use standard dies and standard shell holders.

[kestak]

Greetings,

Stevens, just I am sure. You are talking about that one right?

https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...sku=0000690998

It is half price of the Redding and about 40$ less than the RCBS. I just want to use that press to resize 500S&W, .223 and maybe 44 mag. I plan to use my first position Dillon die and install it into this press (RCBS for the 500S&W).

Do you see any issue or concern?

Thank you

[Ron]

but the Lee Classic Cast can be upgraded to load .50 BMG with the die set and shell holder. The Rock Chucker can't do that, either.


My Rockchucker Supreme will load .50's or at least the mamual says it will. I don't load for this caliber but could. It does spit the primers on the floor though, not that big of a deal. My son has the Lee press and likes it alot for the money difference.

[Sevens]

"Sevens", like "7's", no "t".

Yes, that's the one.

I would consider the Lee Classic Turret as an upgrade over the Classic Cast for a little more money.

If I had it to do over again, I probably would have bought the Classic Turret instead of the Classic Cast, but for my needs, it doesn't make enough sense to move to the Classic Turret from the Classic Cast.

Ron said:

My Rockchucker Supreme will load .50's or at least the mamual says it will. I don't load for this caliber but could.

Last RC I used was circa early 90s, so your experience is most likely correct and my info is dated. All I know about the RC I used is that it wasn't tall enough to accommodate the extreme length of the .50 BMG. The current version of the RC likely does.

[Sevens]

...forgot: Yes, the Dillon die from your 650 will work in the Lee Classic Cast. All dies from everyone will work in it, except for some antique hand-tool type dies and also the Dillon Square Deal dies, which are non-standard.

Any Lee, RCBS, Hornady, Redding, Lyman, and standard Dillon dies will work.

You will need standard shell holders. I would recommend the Lee set, simply because you get 11 different shell holders that cover most common rifle and pistol calibers. You'll likely need another shell holder for .500 S&W Mag, though, and anyone's shell holder is fine.

[CrustyFN]

If it was me I would go with the Lee classic cast. It has spent primer disposal through the ram and will keep them off the floor and bench. It also has the threaded insert that can be removed and you can use the Hornady quick change bushings, that will make changing dies very easy. I don't have one yet but everybody I know that does is very happy with it.
Rusty

[kestak]

Greetings,

I made my choce and I'll go with Less Classic cast. At worse, I don't like it and I am sure I'll find a buyer..

Thank you all for your help.

[thetoecutter]

If it was me I would go with the Lee classic cast. It has spent primer disposal through the ram and will keep them off the floor and bench. It also has the threaded insert that can be removed and you can use the Hornady quick change bushings, that will make changing dies very easy. I don't have one yet but everybody I know that does is very happy with it.
Rusty

I've been using one for stand-alone sizing/decapping for over a year. Have been thinking about getting the Hornady quick change bushings (which I guess are a little tuff to find right now) but am thinking I might need to get the top of the press machined to do so.

Some of my sizing dies (Lee) are screwed in to the point where the locking ring has about 2 threads to grab on top of threaded insert/bushing on the press. It looks to me like the quick change inserts will make this even worse. Am assuming that the press needed to be this tall to accommodate the .50BMG kit.

The only downside of the primer catching system is in my experience one of the priming arms needs to be in the ram or some of the primers will not go through the ram and down the tube-they ended up bouncing across the press.

It is a very nice press, I bought it for the positive ram/handle stop so I could consistently size .223 brass to spec. With the die hitting the shell holder the shoulder was getting pushed back too far.

Has worked perfectly for that.

TTC

[rwilson452]

Just a little word of warning on the Lee Classic Cast press.

DON'T DROP IT ON YOUR FOOT!

[BigJakeJ1s]

I wouldn't put any C frame press up against a solid O frame press for durability and resistance to flex.

The Redding UltraMag and the Forster Co-Ax (what I use & recommend) are both C-frame presses, but have somewhat unconventional linkage setups, which are anchored at the top of the press, near the die, for less flex than any O-frame press. There's more to the strength and rigidity of a press than simply the shape of its frame.

Dillon sizing dies will work in a single stage press, but you will want to replace their lock rings with ones that have a set screw, or better yet a cross-bolt, so they will stay put on the die when not in the press. If you are interested in using the Dillon seating die in a single stage press, it cannot be adjusted for seating depth without screwing the whole die in/out (and loosening/tightening the lock ring).

Andy

[James R. Burke]

RCBS

[zxcvbob]

I used an old C-H No. 444 H press and loved it. I foolishly sold it and am looking for an other. It's a 4 station press and can be used as a semi-progresive. Built like a tank and top mounts on the bench.

I have an older 3-station version of that press and I love it. I still use it as much as I do my progressive press. (Is there a primer catcher for the H presses so they don't drop all over the bench?)

[Unclenick]

You'll like the Classic Cast. For one thing it appears that it is actually stronger than the RockChucker. Though it is labeled as being cast iron in most of the catalogs, if you peruse the photos Lee published of the casting operation you will see it is investment cast from salvaged train rails. That steel is less brittle than cast iron.

We had one fellow on another forum break two Rock Chucker castings. He admitted to being "ham handed" and I forget what he was doing that he thought pushing harder would help, but he broke one, got the free replacement, then broke that one, too. Got the second replacement before starting to ask what he was doing wrong? I seem to recall it had to do with overcamming the linkage with a die screwed in too far, which the RCBS allows. The Lee has stops to prevent overcamming, instead giving you a lot of leverage from the handle. That positively prevents the problem because overcamming passes the linkage through a peak point where mechanical advantage is essentially infinite. That allows the damaging levels of stress to be applied. RCBS has great customer service and they never complained about replacing that fellow's popped presses, but if you want ultimate strength the Lee is just a more modern design and better thought-out in my estimation.

If you are loading for match rifle shooting, though, the Forster Co-ax is still number one. It's die quick change system allows the die to self-center and align with the case as they enter. It produces the most axially uniform cartridges of any of the presses I have.