Who knew a Rock Chucker could break in half???

Mark, I think it is worth two dimes! Good for you and good for them standing behind the product!

I am betting on the USPS flat rate box. Glad to hear they are taking care of you.

Yes, with the press broken, it would probably fit in the USPS flat rate box.

Hold the post office to the "If it fits, it ships" advertising line.

I have to mail it back to them on my dime and they will send the new press. Gotta find the cheapest way to send a heavy broken press now...

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I'm really surprised they didn't email you a shipping label. If the press was new I'm sure they would have.
Beats the heck out of paying full price for a new one though, and they are still standing behind their older ones also.
Kudos to RCBS.

cfullgraf said:

Yes, with the press broken, it would probably fit in the USPS flat rate box.

Hold the post office to the "If it fits, it ships" advertising line.

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You don't have to hold the Post Office to anything. As long as it's under 70 lbs and you don't modify the Flat Rate box you're good to go. Many cast bullet makers utilize Flat Rate boxes to ship up to 70 lbs of bullets.

Texas10mm said:

You don't have to hold the Post Office to anything. As long as it's under 70 lbs and you don't modify the Flat Rate box you're good to go. Many cast bullet makers utilize Flat Rate boxes to ship up to 70 lbs of bullets.

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Just a bit of tongue in cheek.

My postman constantly ribs me for all the "it must be a box of rocks" (his term) that I get. Small town post office, you get remembered by all the staff.

Na, not a box of rocks, just Gold bars form my mine

Well, OK 60lbs of bullets
Almost felt bad, the last time I ordered, two boxes instead of putting them in the community mailbox package area with a key in my mailbox they delivered them to my door on a hand truck.

Post person didn't seem to mind though.
A few kind words seem to go a long way.

Its good to hear that they will take care of you. I'll 2nd the suggestion of the flat rate box. Take the handle off and wrap the parts in something to keep them from moving. Newspaper, bubble wrap, ect and tape it really well.

lightman said:

tape it really well.

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This is the key! As with others, I get bullet orders @ 50lbs + in a flat rate box.

That is a bit scary.
I have the same super duper Chinese model. I may rethink it altogether.

OP-

I have heard people absolutely rave about RCBS customer service. In this case, with an obviously catastrophic failure caused either by RCBS or you, I would sure as hell want it back ASAP to find out what happened. It would be a small price for them to pay considering it and its younger relatives are big sellers for the company. All they need is a few more before people go to another brand where there have been no reports of this happening. One might actually wind up with a press that has a working primer catcher. If RCBS remembers two words, Corvair and Pinto, they would give you a shipping label and a pick up at your home.

They might even tell you after detailed analysis that it was caused by a Redding or Lee shell holder.

That's crazy! I've never seen one do that before.

I wouldn't worry too much about the packing. It's already broke!

cfullgraf said:

Yes, with the press broken, it would probably fit in the USPS flat rate box.

Hold the post office to the "If it fits, it ships" advertising line.

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If not just break it into more pieces until it does fit.

mdi said:

Way back when, many years ago, we did not attempt to weld cast iron but only brazed it. I'm sure welding technology has improved, but I don't think the press would be strong enough (and the parts would have to be perfectly straight for ram to die alignment)..

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Welding technology certainly has improved, but at the welding shop I work for, we still won't weld anything that is cast. It just doesn't take a weld correctly. The cast iron just has too high of a carbon content to be weldable.

I believe cast iron needs to be pre heated before welding, and even then the results are not guaranteed. I recall this from my motorhead days and broken engine blocks

Two stress fractures happening at the same moment on opposite ends of the frame? Interesting....

I've got a friend thats a welder. I've seen him weld cast iron by preheating it with a torch and welding it while hot. He uses a nickel rod, about like you use for hard surfacing. I don't remember him welding anything subject to a lot of stress. Mostly things like exhaust manifolds and old wash pots.

Nature Boy said:

I believe cast iron needs to be pre heated before welding, and even then the results are not guaranteed. I recall this from my motorhead days and broken engine blocks

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I've seen several reports of cast iron presses blowing the tops off (not just RCBS...) over the years on the internet... it really isn't that uncommon. A buddy of mine that I used to shoot IHMSA with had the top of his RC blow off back in the late 90's while necking down brass. It's usually caused by a tiny, usually undetectable flaw in the casting, and over time and stress cycles a crack develops at the flaw, and once the crack propagates to the point that the remaining intact metal can no longer hold the stress, "BOOM"... it lets go. 'Tis the nature of cast iron... no matter the manufacturer. The only way to detect it would probably be X-ray NDT, but that would probably double the price of the press, if not more.

I think it would be safe to say that, if any of these presses snap in half, regarless of brand, the company will replace them

The industry is built on customer service

tightgroup tiger said:

All right guys, Let's not get any brand wars started here. We have been refreshingly absent from that for a few years now and I am grateful for that.
This is coming from a Hornady guy.
I remember the smurf,Hornady wars too,
There's nothing wrong with Dillon, Hornady, RCBS, Redding, Lyman, or Lee for that matter. They are all good for who's needs they are made to meet.

I keep wanting to hope that's all behind us now.

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Where have you been hiding? Years?? How many threads relating to any kind of press do not somehow get a Dillon plug by someone?

Plus it is not a "war" it was sarcastic.
Yes, it is about RCBS so how did Dillon even come up or Lee "for that matter" couldn't just be or Lee?