My Lee Press Broke, Help!!!!!!

[frt96]

Last night I was finishing sizing and decapping a few hundred .223 and the cast aluminum piece that holds the handle to my lee challenger press broke.

I have the old model with the little spent primer tray. and can't find a replacement on lee's web site.
I still have my original little lee press that came with the book. I tried decapping some more today and it sucked.

So I'm throwing it out there,

If anybody has a single stage in there garage collecting dust, PM me if you can stand to part with it.

[frt96]

pics

Here are some pics.

I am thinking of making a replacement out of steel, any thoughts?

[Dooder]

Send an email to lee with the photos and they'll probably just send you the part. Theyre pretty good about customer service there.

[Clownpuncher]

Call Lee, they will hook you up with a new one. If nothing else it will be like $10 for a new one but they will probably replace it for free.

[frt96]

Yeah I figured they would if I could get them on the phone tomorrow. I hope it doesn't a long time, their web site says they are behind right now.

[joearmstrong]

My Dad broke the pin on a decaping die a few weeks ago. New one with extras in 3 days straight from Lee.

[Divernhunter]

Toss it and get an RCBS press so you will never have to worry about a broken press again.

[Aleeex]

My friend might be able to CNC a new piece.. Considering Lee does not help you out

[bongfoo]

i just had the same problem... here is what happened:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=703305

[waawaaweenie]

Lee is a stand up company

my neighbor broke his decades old 3 hole turret main housing and they sent him a new one for free

after they had already sent him the steel linkage which connects the arm to the ram, which his was a cast aluminum part and is now steel

he basically has a brand new press now

[koehn,jim]

If all else fails there is always tig welding.

[frt96]

I emailed lee with some pics. My press broke just like Bongfoo's. I hope the stand behind it. not holding my breath after reading his link.
I would say that's why they beefed up the newer breechlock.
I was just checking out ebay and my favorite reloading sites..... Looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy locally, everyone is out of stock.

[M27]

not bashing on lee (they are great for what they charge) but that seams to be a somewhat common problem recently. I wonder if there was a bad lot of castings?

any ways, call lee like everyone says, they will hook you up

[Lead Waster]

Send an email to lee with the photos and they'll probably just send you the part. Theyre pretty good about customer service there.

Exactly. Customer Service in this particular industry exceeds pretty much all other industries you can think of. Not sure why, but at some point, some companies upped the ante with CS and now they almost all have excellent CS.

I lost some press part, I emailed RCBS asking what the part is called and where I could find one, the guy just said "Nevermind that, what's your address, I'm sending you one!"

Ditto Dillon, my indexing "star" got galled onto the press ram, they just said "smack it out, we'll send you a new one"

[Flyin Brian]

I just bought a FL sizing die from RCBS and it is putting strange ridges on the neck of my rifle brass. I called RCBS and they said the die just needs to be polished, so if I mail it to them with $5.00 they will take care of it right way. It kind of pissed me off when they mentioned the $5.00, after hearing everyone go on and on about how great their service is. Seems to me they should take care of the shipping since it is a brand new product... oh well.