RCBS Rockchucker Single Stage Press Kit Or Lee Turret Press Kit

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tightgroup tiger said:
I normally don't like to do this because you said Lee Classic Turret vs Rock Chucker, but for the 9mms and other pistol rounds did you consider the Lee ABLP progressive press? I costs the same as the LCT kit , look for the Pro 4000 which is the kit form of it.
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That is also likely the direction that I would lean.

The only advantage of a turret press over a single stage, when it comes to production speed, is that you can stop midway through a batch of cases with all processed rounds completed
 
peeplwtchr said:
Hey guys, a couple things saved me. Obviously she didn't remember in time, because she only ordered it 3 days ago. Also, been married 25 years. :what:
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That's telling ...... I've been married for 48 years.... When you get to that milestone you will think your many stroke presses (single stage and turret) have become pain machines except for small batches. Progressive presses (even a Lee ABLP) as saviors to your hobby. We all wear out and many stroke presses encourage it.
 
GW Staar said:
I've been married for 48 years
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41 years here.
GW Staar said:
When you get to that milestone you will think your many stroke presses (single stage and turret) have become pain machines except for small batches. Progressive presses (even a Lee ABLP) as saviors to your hobby. We all wear out and many stroke presses encourage it.
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Amen to that!
I won't load on a single stage unless it's only 25 rounds or less. I bought both the progressives I own for 2 reasons.
1. I was a slave to my single stage. 9mm on a single stage? Forget it. That's progressive territory. The time I was spending loading pistol rounds was way to much.
2. I developed elbow problems from using a single stage to load about a 1000 rounds of month of 9mm and .357Mag and was using way to much time to do it.
4000 pulls to load 1000 rounds.

Elbow tendinitis went away when I bought my LNL-AP. Then I bought the ABLP for my .357Mags. (I originally bought it because I wanted a new toy, didn't take it seriously, then found out how good it worked.) 4 times faster than a LCT turret press. My OAL stays around .002-.003 as long as the shell plate is full and I have a seating stem that fits the profile of the bullet.

You can load all your rifle loads on the single stage and load pistol round on the progressive.

Like I said earlier, you can grow into it. I don't know if you can find one right now though, that's a concern also. Everything is sold out.

I know your just starting out so you really don't know what your needs will be in a year or two. But don't be afraid to look at progressives, the ABLP full kit is only $200.+ change and will do what you need until you decide whether your ready to take it to the next step and look at Dillon or Hornady progressive presses.
You already have the Rock Chucker which is a very accurate press for ram to die alignment. Perfect for rifle.

Just my opinion.
 
You have received great advice so far allow someone who owns two RCBS Rockchucker Supreme SS presses, one Hornady LnL progressive and one Lee Classic 4 hole turret press to share his experienced based advice.
I am basing my advice on my personal experience, what is in MY opinion the unquestionably the absolute best value for your money and shear unadulterated practicality.
Get the Lee Classic 4 hole turret press and here is why.
With the Lee Classic Press you get both the ability to use it as a single stage press and an auto or manual indexing press. I use mine to reload 9mm and absolutely love it. It is also the absolute without question the best bang for your money. No other press in it's price range offers so much. Don't take my word for it just do a side by side evaluation for what you get for under $230 for the Lee Classic Turret press kit VS a RCBS or Hornady single stage kit which both cost more.
Regardless weather you want to reload a 100 rounds a month or 500 rounds a month, the Lee Classic Turret press will allow you to do either much faster and easier than any single stage press, in my experience at least 3x faster for the same amount of time and effort VS a single stage press.

Don't get me wrong I still use my Rockchucker presses to reload my precision rifle ammo as I am not loading large volume for my 300wsm, 300wm, 7mm STW , 308win, or 35 Remington, but for high volume HG and rifle like 223 I would never return to using my single stage presses as I once did.
High volume reloading FOR ME now that I have both a progressive and a auto indexing Lee press is at least 300 rounds at a sitting. I can easily reload well over 300 9mm with my Lee Classic Turret press in under two hours, or about 170 per hour, no way I could ever come even close to that amount in that time with my Rockchuckers.

And my last reason for advising the Lee Classic press.
This reason or justification if you will is based on if like me your spare time is often limited.
For the last 10 but especially the last 5 years I have work on average 24 hours of OT every week and only get one week end off a month. Also additional OT opportunities come up constantly with little or no advanced notice and with two sons destine for collage I don't turn down OT often. As a result my spare time had become quite limited and I found myself unable to reload as much as I once did (due to a reloading mistake I made I will no longer reload under time compressed circumstances especially if sleep deprived) and If I wanted to keep myself and my sons shooting every week or at least 3x a month I found myself having to either buy factory ammo or not shoot as often. I was even having difficulty finding the time to reload the lower volume of rifle ammo we needed for hunting and practice.
Now that I own both a Hornady progressive press and a Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret Press I always have enough time now to reload more than all the ammo my sons and I need. I leave my Hornady set up for 223 and my Lee Calssic set up for 9mm and my Rockchuckers for my hunting loads.

We reloaders are VERY lucky in that right now there are really no bad reloading presses so what ever you choose will serve you well for your lifetime.
I personally see no down side to buying a Lee Classic 4 hole Turret press VS any other press only advantages, especially of you wish to shoot a larger volume of hand gun rounds and don't have a great deal of spare time on a dependable regular basis to do so.
Do a side by side evaluation of a Lee Classic Turret press kit, its 3x higher rate of reloading volume production, the cost of the Lee and what you get in the Lee Classic 4 hole turret press kit VS a RCBS and Hornady reloading kits and then make your decision.

Unfortunately right now you might be hard pressed to find a Lee Classic Turret press kit in stock for a good price. A month ago a coworker of mine bought one on my advice for under $210 delivered. Did a recent search and couldn't find one in stock at a decent price anywhere, but i didn't leave no stone unturned.
Best price i could find on one in stock:
https://kempfgunshop.com/Lee-Turret-Press-Kit.html
 
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I got my start into reloading with the Lee Classic Turret Press. It's the cat's meow. To add a caliber, order a turret and the dies. A shell holder will come with the dies. As other have said, the LCT can be used as a single stage, if desired. The Lee scale is the worse part of a kit, if purchasing a kit. It does do a good job, just a bit cumbersome to zero and read. Before touching a press, may I suggest that you purchase The ABC's of Reloading? Then read it!

Thank God for your wife. I would take, and use the RCBS before hurting her feelings.
 
Here's what it looks like now. Thanks for the add-on and mounting advice everyone! I have a primer feeder coming.

20200912_130235.jpg
 
That's a great start!......mine was a RockChucker back in 1973 I think......

Now look! .........like rabbits, the hobby grows and multiplies.....;)

IMG_3199.JPG

Don't show your wife this picture.........yet.....
 
Ask around for lee turret long term users, you get some interesting results. Mine has around 60-80K on it, just a guess, it may be well more than that. About 25,000 was .223, and about 4,000 was 9mm (both very stressful on the tools). Its been "overhauled" once. That equals a pull down, clean out, and replacement. I ordered every plastic part from Lee before starting. It cost around $12.00. I ended up replacing 1 screw with a bolt, nothing else needed more than cleaning. My safety prime wore out, and Lee does not support it anymore, and the new version is not as good, but works. Lee autodisk measures I believe are the best powder measure in the industry.
Lee turrets use a disposable sacrificial gear that costs 50c each, and are good for a few thousand rounds. If you get a good feel for the press, they last a lot longer. I have about 15k on mine now, and its still in good shape. These really are excellent presses, and they will load precision ammunition. I average 180 rounds per hour, but after the first hour, you slow down, it does take work to run it.

Anyway, these about the safest, easiest, most versatile presses out there. I have never met anyone who killed one, and never heard of a double charge in one. I have heard of that in single stages.
 
I will agree with all of the positive posts about the Lee Turret. It was the press that I started with fifteen years ago and then started to believe what all of the naysayers were saying so I sold it and bought a T-7. A year later I missed the LCT to the point where I bought another one. It’s seen 10-15k 9mm, 45 ACP and .223 rounds in both indexing and non-indexing modes and this time I won’t be selling it. I haven’t had to replace the little plastic bushing either. The people who bad mouth it are press snobs.
 
Hi...
I would recommend sticking with the RockChucker. A case kicker is a big help in increasing rounds loaded per hour.
I started with Lee products and quickly realized their C frame press and Lee 1000 progressive press just wasn't going to work for me. I don't own a turret press but I am considering getting one. If I do, it will be a Redding or possibly a Lyman.

I have two RockChucker presses on my benches and enjoy loading big bore handgun and rifle rounds on them.
I also run two Hornady progressive presses for semi auto cartridges and .357Mag rounds.
I own two Dillon 550s but haven't gotten around to setting them up because I am quite pleased with my Hornadys and RockChuckers.

I may get at least one of the Dillons running this winter to bulk load big bore revolver rounds.

My Lee equipment is resting in a box in the bottom of a cabinet in my reloading room.
That is the most useful place for it in my opinion.
 
I started reloading 1977 and I've always used a single-stage RCBS press. At this point, I can't imagine using anything else.
 
Late to the party but the Lee classic Turret is a dream for me. Many years ago I loaded 38 and 357 on a single stage press my neighbor had.
Decap/resize every round change die, prime every round add powder, bell every case add bullet change die, crimp bullet set in loading block.
Lee Press, load and set all dies in turret rotate each station by hand or let auto index do it for you. Just a nice way of operation.
 
peeplwtchr said:
Turns out the Auto Prime feeder takes more steps and time, then picking up a primer and setting it in the primer arm. I used it 20 times, then reboxed it, it's going back today. It has serious design flaws.
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I had trouble with the Safety Prime on my ABLP until I found I was using it wrong. I also loaded primers one at a time by hand and still do on my old 3 hole turret press.
 
I own an RCBS single stage and love it. I just cannot warm up to lee. Just my opinion....
 
As another new reloader with a single stage press, I picked up both the RCBS Universal Hand Priming Tool and the Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer for off- press priming. I'm sending the RCBS tool back. The Frankford Arsenal tool is way beefier and although it requires different shell holders than are used on a press comes with a set of those shell holders that cover all the cartridges I plan to load. It's at a good competitive price currently on Amazon, especially if you have Prime, $58 + tax.

https://www.frankfordarsenal.com/perfect-seat-hand-primer/110006.html#start=1

I found a NOS Lee Auto Prime II for $10 that uses the same shell holders the press uses for on-press priming using a device with a tray or tube where I don't have to handle each primer individually. It's like a Ram Prime system with a tray and trough / chute. Lee stopped offering this system 10 years ago. Like most Lee products for priming cartridges Lee disallows using Federal primers and by email correspondence with Lee only CCI & Remington primers are blessed by Lee for use with this system (the instruction sheet allowed limited amounts of Winchester primers but Lee no longer supports this). Around 75% of the primers I've been able to purchase are CCI or Remington anyway. Of course there posts on the Internet from folks saying they've used this device with all sorts of brands of primers including Federal. Anyway if you run across one of these at a decent price you may want to give it a try. Lee says the new folding trays will work with this if I break the original round tray and cover.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1013014880

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000O7B46S/

I'll still be able to prime on press one at a time using the swinging priming arm on the ram if I don't like these devices.
 
Whiterook808 said:
I use a RCBS bench priming tool and I think it is a really good tool. When I get the urge to prime on the press I use a Lee ram primer. I don't like seating on the down stroke.
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Just checked out the Lee Ram Prime, it looks cool, I cant seem to find anything wrong with it. I like the idea of putting the primer in a flat cup rather than the angled standard cup. Buying it, thanks!
 
peeplwtchr said:
Just checked out the Lee Ram Prime, it looks cool, I cant seem to find anything wrong with it. I like the idea of putting the primer in a flat cup rather than the angled standard cup. Buying it, thanks!
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$20 on amazon, CLICK
 
peeplwtchr said:
Just checked out the Lee Ram Prime, it looks cool, I cant seem to find anything wrong with it. I like the idea of putting the primer in a flat cup rather than the angled standard cup. Buying it, thanks!
Click to expand...
I've seen posts elsewhere while I was looking at different priming systems that indicate the Lee Ram Prime die is aluminum while the Lyman and RCBS Ram Prime dies are steel - but I don't know how accurate that information is.

My Lee Auto Prime II die is definitely steel.
 
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