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Yours may have come out easy, but my RC1 I bought 32 years ago the bushing is in there real tight. If I had a air compressor here then I'm sure my Mac .5" impact with a 1.5" Snap-On impact socket would take it right out. I'll worry about it when the Hornady adapter bushing kit gets here. Mainly I was interested in the build date of this press, right now.
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DILLIGAF
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice"
"Once is Happenstance, Twice is Coincidence, Thrice is Enemy Action"
"The flak is always heaviest, when you're over the target" -
If you don't have a 1.5" good quality wrench take it somewhere that does. I'd say don't try it with a big crescent wrench. Walmart sells a box end 1.5" in the auto section for changing trailer balls. You could buy one and return it if this is all you need it for. Keep it if you might need to change a trailer ball sometimes, too.sigpic
DILLIGAF
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice"
"Once is Happenstance, Twice is Coincidence, Thrice is Enemy Action"
"The flak is always heaviest, when you're over the target"Comment
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I have three turret presses:
Redding T-7
RCBS Pro 2000 Auto Progressive
Hornady L&L Auto Progressive
The Redding T-7 is the most useful and accurate. It replaced a 40 year old RCBS Rockchucker. Drawback was that the ram had to be modified by placing a piece of 3/8" diameter plastic tubing inside the ram to block the primer ejection slot, otherwise spent primers were ejected on to the floor instead of traveling down to the catch tube. I do not most presses for priming.
My friend passed on the Redding because he didn't like the way the turret moved during sizing due to the .009"-.010" clearance between the press frame and turret. I F.L. sized several different cartridges, loaded them and measured bullet runout, which was between .000" to .0015", with the majority less than .001". That is well within normal variation due to case neck thickness, so the T-7 is as accurate as any single stage press.
Real benefit is when I need to salvage old brass and bullets. Yesterday I set the turret up with a Hornady Collet Bullet Puller, and small and large RCBS depriming dies. Adding more bullet puller bodies allows the pulling of several different calibers by turning the turret between them. Some cartridges were so old that the bullets had become welded to the case necks by electrolysis and wouldn't pull before the extraction rim pulled through the shell holder. So I was able to add a seat die and break the weld by seating the bullets deeper until a loud "snap" revealed the bullet was free. I merely rotated the turret depending on which tool I needed.
Difference between the Lee, a good press for most reloading, and the Redding, is that the Redding will perform operations that will destroy the Lee, and the Redding will last a lifetime or close to it.
The RCBS Pro 2000 has been the least problematic of all the auto progressive presses I have used. It had two flaws or design deficiencies. One of which was a detent ball spring that was so heavy that rotating the shell plate would cause the detent ball to snap into place with enough force to pop powder granules out of the cases. This was most noticeable with straight walled handgun cases and case filling bottle necked rifle loads. When I complained, RCBS redesigned the spring and sent me a couple. The second peculiarity is that cases are not retained sufficiently so that working the handle with too much rapidity causes the cases to shake, loosing more powder. I solved this with some heat shrink tubing applied to the retaining fingers. This press uses the APS priming strips and is the most reliable press priming system.
The Hornady L&L AP Press I have was an early version and was updated by Hornady. Most difficulty lies in the indexing system which gets out of adjustment easily, and the constant breakdown of the primer feed. It has since been retired. If we had a press with the Hornady's shell holder and case retention spring, the RCBS APS primer feed and indexing system, it would be ideal.
So there is my take on all this. manually indexed turret presses are the most reliable and accurate, the Redding T-7 is the most robust and long lived, the RCBS progressive is good with the most reliable primer feed system, and the Hornady has a great shell plate and retention system, but is quirky in the indexing and primer feed.Comment
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While the OP probably got what he was looking for long ago, I thought I would give an update to a suggestion I made early in this thread regarding the Lee Classic Cast Breechlock press.
I received it yesterday. I bought it as a replacement to a Breechlock Challenger I had acquired inexpensively and had been relegated to collet bullet pulling and universal decap duties. I had broken one of the toggles on the linkage and the slop that had developed in the bushing setup made it useless for more precision tasks like shoulder bumps and bullet seating.
My thought was the heavier design of the Classic Cast Breechlock, coupled with its cast iron makeup might yield the ultimate single stage press.
First the good news, the press is a monster design from a stoutness standpoint, definitely on par with my Rock Chucker. The ram is so beefy the shellholder kind of looks comical sitting on top. It seems they also redsigned the primer arms with a little hook on the end, so it seems to stay put when raising the ram (a problem with this design on all Lee presses that use this primer catching approach, when things get sticky). The primer arm looks like it won't fall out as easily.
Now the bad news. The breechlock bushings are still too loose to do prescision tasks like bumping a should just .001" or tight bullet seating tolerances. Back to square one with that issue.
I plan to hang on to this press as it is a great hefty design. If I were looking for a really strong first single stage, I would recommend looking at the non-Breechlock version of this press over the more expensive Rock Chucker as it is as strong, has a better primer catching setup, etc.
I may try loctiting the bushing in the press and go back to my lock rings to eliminate the slop. Basically then returning to its original Classic Cast design. A press as strong as the Rock Chucker with a better primer setup, maybe perfect? Nah... not perfect, but better.When asked what qualities he most valued in his generals, Napoleon said, "give me lucky ones."Comment
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Return it and swap it for the non-breechlock model.Comment
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Good suggestion, unfortunately I have already mounted it up on the bench, so I have some fastener marks on it, recycled the box and am not willing to wait two eons for Midway to exchange it, things are kind of slow right now.
I think the loctite will work fine, I have some of that bearing mount stuff, it is pretty strong stuff.When asked what qualities he most valued in his generals, Napoleon said, "give me lucky ones."Comment
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Look on youtube for a shell ejector for the Lee Champion Breachlock, I bet it'll work on your Classic Cast, too. IIRC the poster is Left Field Engineering. Makes me want to pick up a Lee press and try it out. Found it.
Last edited by Sgt Raven; 01-29-2013, 4:48 PM.sigpic
DILLIGAF
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice"
"Once is Happenstance, Twice is Coincidence, Thrice is Enemy Action"
"The flak is always heaviest, when you're over the target"Comment
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+1 for the lee classicComment
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The Redding turret would be the next turret press that I buy, if I was ever going to buy another one.
Right now on the bench I have two Lyman turrets, a Lee 3-hole turret, a Dillon 450 B and a Dillon 550. Except for with the Lee, I'm too lazy to even change turrets.Frank
One rifle, one planet, Holland's 375
Life Member NRA, CRPA and SAFComment
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I don't know, but I think this turret press is dead sexy and cute as all get-out.
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DILLIGAF
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice"
"Once is Happenstance, Twice is Coincidence, Thrice is Enemy Action"
"The flak is always heaviest, when you're over the target"Comment
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Clever gadget that LFT ejector.
I discovered something which made a pretty big difference in my appraisal of the Lee Classic Cast Breechlock tonight.
The bushing if inserted according to the instructions is stopped before they fully lock by the stop button. I found if I insert the bushing one full notch back (such that the notch in the bushing never gets to the lock button), the bushing locks fully.
I just used an open end wrench off my Dillon set to snug the bushing in the press and it is totally solid now. I can switch just as fast as before (maybe a little faster as there is no fumbling with the lock button).
No need yet to loctite the bushing.
If I had it to do over, I would still get the Lee Classic Cast and use lock rings like the Forster/Hornaday style (split ring) and screw the dies in and out, but the Breechlock bushings work fine now that I stopped following the Lee instructions.
BTW, the loose bushings in the Challenger Breechlock are now tight by using the same technique. The toggle is still broken (awaiting a replacement part) and I do feel it is just a little too light to use on heavy cases/tasks, but all in all will probably hold onto it for lighter tasks (universal decap, collet bullet pulling, seating bullets, etc.).
I will know I have too many presses when I don't have to switch dies, at all.
Last edited by Bill Steele; 01-29-2013, 6:58 PM.When asked what qualities he most valued in his generals, Napoleon said, "give me lucky ones."Comment
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Aight, I'll give a shout out to my RCBS turret. Six positions lets me leave the most-used dies in place (.45) and it's built like a brick ****house.
I feel Lee products to feel cheap, and the Lee 1000 Progressive rig I had was Rube Goldberg-quality at best.Last edited by Full Clip; 02-11-2013, 6:58 AM.Comment
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