What's your opinion on this Lee press?

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Or how about the massive B52 Bomber. It's wings would flex 22' from the at rest position to in flight position and these things have been in service for 50+ years. So again I do not follow your line if you want to discuss "High Stress".
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The full story on the B52 is that every part has been replaced many times. The wing spars and skin, the fuselage frame and skin, the landing gear and supports, the interior supports and even the seats. The current engines are much more reliable than the originals and they are routinely replaced.Aircraft are maintained on the basis of how many cycles the part has under gone. Aluminum parts can only be made to withstand just so many cycles before it fails whether it has been overstressed or not. Over stressing an aluminum part can cause immediate and total damage even though it was not stressed to the point of failure. Aluminum is a necessary "evil" in aircraft design and construction. It is the only material that is light enough and cost effective to use.

For presses you can use cast iron and steel engineered to last well beyond the life span in even hard use. There really is no comparison between a cast iron press and an aluminum press.

The aluminum bases on the Dillon presses fail after a period of use.
 
Both cast aluminum and cast iron can and do break and both are a pain to repair.
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I can repair an aluminum casting and in some cases is better than it was originally, much, much harder to do on cast iron. As long as it's clean, cast aluminum is as easy to weld as a billet of the same mass.

It's nothing to TIG up an aluminum cylinder head with the appropriate rod and remachine it. Some damage to cast iron can be repaired with silicon bronze rod but it's not going to be like it was originally. Cast steel is a different animal though and is much more weldable than cast iron.

In any case aluminum presses have been around for a long time. I have several that I have owned for more than 30 years and still load match winning ammunition.
 
ShootistPRS, in 1974 I went thru US Air Force Tech school at Chanute AFB for aircraft maintenance training on the lovely B52 and then went on to serve with C141 Starlifters and C5 Galaxy's. Know all about them and their history. The stress loads they face will never be matched by a reloading press.
 
No one has asked you, what are you loading handgun or rifle ammo ? I have a C press that has a universal decaper and I have decapped several thousands rounds of handgun and rifle rounds with no problems . If money is tight and your loading plinker rounds for handguns or smaller rifle calibers then buy it. Then later when you get the space buy a turret press and use the C press to decap.
 
I would buy it then if your just loading hand gun ammo.your not going to over stress that press enough or ever to have it fail.
 
rob-c said:
I would buy it then if your just loading hand gun ammo.your not going to over stress that press enough or ever to have it fail.
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And like I said, I'm likely only going to use it for mouth flaring and case charging, universal depriming, and possibly, but not likely, for Lee lube and sizing kits.
 
LEE Press

I bought the whole package on sale and I will not say where.
I then purchased the complete 4 die set for reloading for my .270 and to me
the press system works fantastic.
 
My opinion, which is worth what you paid for it, is that if it will work for what you want to do and you are happy with the price - then get it. From what you describe wanting to do, it should work fine.

I have a single stage of another design by another manufacturer - but I wanted a heavy duty do all single stage that could do just about everything and do it in perpetuity. There wasn't only one press for me to choose from in that category and I got the cheaper press - RCBS RockChucker Supreme than the Foster Co-Ax.

Lee makes very usable and affordable products - I love their carbide 45 ACP 4 die set. I don't think you can beat them for the price.

If I personally were getting a Lee press I think I would get the Lee Classic Turret - I don't own one but talking to people that do and reading all the reviews - I find it difficult not to agree that it is the best overall value in a press today.

I ended up with a Dillon 550 - but I paid a lot more.

My decision making on buying a press and reloading equipment is to wait and save for what I want rather than feel like I settle - and to buy something that I will continue to use and not have to replace later. But that's not the only or even the right way to decide. Plenty of people get what they can afford now and upgrade later. Not a thing wrong with that either.

Have fun and enjoy whatever you decide - there really isn't a wrong decision in your choices.
 
I have a Lee Challenger press from the 90's, works good/fine for 204 & 223. I bought one of the breech lock versions a few months ago, like it a bit better in terms of de-priming since this model has the spent primer tube vs the small tray on the Challenger model. The breech lock version does induce some slop in the die which may or may not cause problems.

I have the FA reloading bench, the legs fold up for storage, has 2 folding shelves for more working space, I have both Lee presses mounted to it on opposite sides, and can pick it up and spin it around when wanting to use the other side. Very stable for what I load for (204 & 223).
 
However, I've seen these Stack On benches and wanted to ask if they're any good? Given how small this bench is, I think I could find room in my tiny apartment to put it.
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I imagine you already have room to put it in your apartment all you need is a board and a c clamp or two.

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Another example that is cheaper and doesn't take up any additional space.

The top shelf of a closet is a goo place to put the press when not in use.

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OP- Don't do it.

Having a second press is *really* handy, but that C-frame is not very versatile, and is remarkably fragile. There are also dies that won't fit due to the depth of the throat, but not many.

If cost is the issue, I would look for used presses. They come up here and there.

The Lee turret is very nice. My only complaints are that the casting won't operate the eject collar on my RCBS primer swage, and like others noted- the auto index. It can be made to work, but it feels quite junky, prevents a little bit of flexibility. And for pretty modest benefit. Otherwise I am quite fond of mine.
 
I haven't bought either press yet, but I did decide to buy the Lee press stand from Midway. Used the birthday discount and got free shipping, so I figured that if I ever wanted it, now was the best time to get it.

And since I have the stand now, I think I'll go ahead and buy the Turret press at a later date.

I figured it was better to spend the money now on what I want and not something that's just a stop gap.
 
When I started loading there were lot's of C frame press's around. Everybody claimed they were fine except for heavy case forming. I used an old Pacific for a short while and never had a problem with it. The difference between that old Pacific and the Lee your looking at is the Lee is cast aluminum and the old Pacific was steel. The problem with the Pacific when reforming case's was the press could spring! I never did any reforming like that. Left an impression though and I've never owned one. Depending on what your doing, the Lee C frame might do what you want. Right now your loading everything on a Lee hand press. Anything you can do on the hand press, you can do on the C frame I'm sure. I don't believe your arm can apply more pressure than the press and you haven't broke the hand press yet. I would not attempt anything with it you wouldn't do on the hand press.
 
mikld said:
OK, K.I.S.S. Get the "C" press and load with it. If you have any problems (which I never had) you can get an "O" press later. And you are not locked into one press for the rest of your life (I've had mebbe 8 or 10 presses, still have 4, from gigantic cast iron "O" to lightweight aluminum "C" presses. All made good, safe accurate ammo, from start to finish, when I did my part.). Don't overthink this. You can load safely and accurately with the Lee "C" press. I have never experienced press "flexing" and prolly wouldn't recognize it if it did occur.
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This say's it all!
 
TruthTeller- I think your plan is good.

The turret is way faster and versatile than single stage. I do all my loading on a progressive and use the turret for other operations. But I *wish* my progressive worked as well as the turret does. ;) If you change direction to tack driving and get a single stage, or want more volume and go progressive, I think it's unlikely you will regret having the turret.

As far as "flex" I wouldn't worry too much about it. Or "slop" from the turret for that matter. SERIOUS tack drivers might take issue- but it sounds like you aren't there yet. The brass will have no idea how much flex or slop there is, it will only know if the die makes firm contact with the shell holder or not. Which will not happen if the paper thin webs of the Lee C aluminum investment casting break. :D
 
^ They aren't paper thin, but I get it. Ha ha.

You're right that serious tack driving won't be happening for a while and when it does, I'll probably get a Forster Co-Ax press to do it.
 
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