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Posted: 10/17/2009 8:24:04 PM EDT
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Lee Challenger Kit = $105
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp;jsessionid=EWTZUBARQVMRBLAQBBJSCNVMCAEFIIWE?type=product&cmCat=Related_IPL_214924&id=0053986216575a&_requestid=160401 RCBS Supreme Kit = $290 Sale http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602007-cat20728-cat20847_TGP&id=0018937214924a&navCount=282&podId=0018937&parentId=cat20847&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=9IS&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20847&hasJS=true The RCBS Kit is almost 3 times the price and has just slightly less than what the Lee Kit Comes with. What is the deal?? Will the Lee suit me just fine, or is the RCBS a huge step up in performance. If its small then heck Ill save 180 bucks on the Lee. |
| I went Lee and don't regret it one bit. The price of the RCBS kits is flat out offensive to me, esp given how well my Lee equip. works. I know RCBS makes good presses but honestly its not worth 3x the price at all in my book. Not even close, I have a Lee Challenger kit and Lee Turret press kit, they are both excellent kits. FYI, I would not get the Lee Challenger kit, buy the Classic Turret press kit from Cabela's, I am not sure who sells it. Make sure its the CLASSIC Turret press, you can do single stage loading with that in addition to semi-progressive. It is nice to start out on a single stage but honestly If I could do it over I'd buy the Turret to start with and just disable the auto indexing and just use one position to start, it will work every bit as well on the Turret press than on the Challenger. |
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Coming from someone who had the Lee Challenger kit.....get the RCBS kit. The Lee Challenger press is made of pot metal whereas the RCBS is cast iron. You should get better longevity and strength with the RCBS. The Lee scale is a piece of crap, in my opinion, and gave me fits with repeatability. Resale on the RCBS will be better too, if you ever decide to sell it off.
I used the heck out of the Lee Challenger when I had it and eventually gave it away to a friend at work looking to get into reloading cheap. It worked well enough for the thousands of rounds of 9mm and 45 acp ammo I loaded on it, so I have no complaints, but there isn't anything left from that kit that use anymore. The press was starting to get a lot of play as it was wearing in the frame where the steel ram went through it. It's a cheap starter kit, but for the long run the RCBS would be my recommendation.....or at least the cast iron version Lee sells. |
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Granted The Lee breech lock might not be the best in 20 years, on the other hand to start of with it is probably the way to go. I myself have 2 single stage Lee presses. The one is a classic cast which is a big thing and quite sturdy, and the other is the breech lock. For pistol I don't think you would have any problems with the breech lock at all. Although you can tell the difference between the 2 presses easily. I plan on doing all the heavy work on the classic cast for my rifle like resize etc.
Once you are comfortable with the process of reloading take the money you have saved and get a better quality press (not that Lee doesn't have any quality) but something more advanced like a dillion or another progressive. Personally I would stand behind the Classic cast any day of the week for any loading. The Breech lock I would personally use for mainly pistol and already prepped rifle brass. Just my .02 |
| I have to agree with Sheldon. I started with the Lee and and wasn't very pleased. At least I got it as a gift so I didn't waste my own money on it. I also found the scale to be all over the place. It did get me into reloading so I'll give it credit there. I gave away the press itself but the scale I threw away because it was not consistent enough to trust. The powder measure found its way to the dumpster also. The RCBS kit is pretty nice and I plan to buy one for my lower volume reloading. I have a progressive that I use for 223, 9mm, 45acp, but I like the single stage for my less than triple digit reloading. |
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Coming from someone who had the Lee Challenger kit.....get the RCBS kit. The Lee Challenger press is made of pot metal whereas the RCBS is cast iron. You should get better longevity and strength with the RCBS. The Lee scale is a piece of crap, in my opinion, and gave me fits with repeatability. Resale on the RCBS will be better too, if you ever decide to sell it off. I used the heck out of the Lee Challenger when I had it and eventually gave it away to a friend at work looking to get into reloading cheap. It worked well enough for the thousands of rounds of 9mm and 45 acp ammo I loaded on it, so I have no complaints, but there isn't anything left from that kit that use anymore. The press was starting to get a lot of play as it was wearing in the frame where the steel ram went through it. It's a cheap starter kit, but for the long run the RCBS would be my recommendation.....or at least the cast iron version Lee sells. good stuff ^ I went with the RCBS over the Lee. I figured out after reseaching it a little bit that the RCBS stuff all has pretty much the "No B.S. warranty" that Dillon is famous for. I guess that is the reason that i went with RCBS over the Lee stuff because of the customer service that RCBS has. |
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For heaven's sake go Lee!!
The Lee people have perfected the powder thrower with their "Perfect Powder Measure." That little piece of equipment alone is worth the price of the Challenger kit. Best powder thrower on the market at any price. Their "Safety Powder scale is top quality. And anyone who poo poos the Breech Lock Challenger press is seriously not to be trusted. The same crowd who insists that if you don't buy a $400.00 cold hammer forged chrome lined 1:7 M4 feed ramped barrel or a $600.00 PRSCROBFEWAXZ sniper stock that anything else is junk. I've tried RCBS products and really don't like their design or functionality. I've tried a set of 7.62X39 dies and I've tried their hand priming tool and Lee simply blows RCBS out of the water when it comes to easy use, ergonomics, and price. I've got dies from Lyman, Lee, Hornady, and RCBS and powder throwers from Hornady and Lee; and Lee kicks their butts. Buy Lee and spend your money on new cases, bullets, primers and powder. |
| i have never used anything from lee but know after useing a rcbs for a while, i will never use anything else. if you ask around and look hard enough, you will find the rockchucker is the press that all others are compared to. and most will tell you the rcbs press is a much better unit. |
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I went Lee and don't regret it one bit. The price of the RCBS kits is flat out offensive to me, esp given how well my Lee equip. works. What I think you are missing is that while the Lee may indeed do a fine job now, the RCBS will still be doing a fine job 30 years from now. I know some people look at a single stage press as just something to learn on and use till they can get a progressive, but I promise you that no matter how much you eventually learn to love a progressive press your single stage will always be useful. |
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I have one of the Old Lee Challengers, The new one is quite a bit more stout than the old one. My old one is 19 years old and still going fine.
The RCBS press is a compound leverage design. This means that it "cams over" at the end of the press stroke. This makes resizing large brass a breeze, and it also gives lots of leverage for necking up or down brass for making wildcats or for making hard to find brass (good). Same if swaging primer pockets. The downside is that you loose a lot of feel for seating bullets (or primers if you do that on a press) The Lee press takes more effort to use, but you get a better feel, which I prefer. The real downside to the RCBS unit is the cost. I'd take the extra couple hundred bucks and buy compoentents. |
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Wow, I would not admit to not being able to use the Lee scale. Sure its not digital and it needs to be zero'd before each use, but its very accurate and very reliable. Those knocking it... well lets just say there are problems and the problems don't exist with the product. Same with Lee powder dispensers, the Auto Disk Pro is a great powder dispenser, for the money no doubt as good as it gets. The perfect powder measure as well is great and accurate but did leak a bit with Ball powders.
I can't imagine what problem anyone could have with all these Lee products. I think its stupid for anyone to start out with anything but Lee. Figure out reloading and what the equipment you want before you go and spend a ton. If you are one of us who are able to work with a manual scale then you will likely not even have a desire to upgrade at all. IMO everyone should start with Lee, you can not go wrong period. The equipment will always be useful, including the scale. Even if I upgrade to a progressive press some day I will for sure keep all my Lee equipment but my Lee Turret press works so well I have no desire to buy a progressive press any more, I load far faster than I can shoot it lately. |
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I pretty sure you could put the Lee inside the RCBS and break the Lee and still use the RCBS like nothing happened. And if you did damage the RCBS, they would probably send parts free of charge even after you told them what you did.  Its quite comical how people justify being seperated from more of their money than they should have been. There is a reason RCBS is green, its beceause they make a ton of green off of people under the illusion that you need to spend a ton to get good reloading equipment. Lee has blown that theory out of the water, dropped a nuke on that theory in fact. |
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I pretty sure you could put the Lee inside the RCBS and break the Lee and still use the RCBS like nothing happened. And if you did damage the RCBS, they would probably send parts free of charge even after you told them what you did. Its quite comical how people justify being separated from more of their money than they should have been. There is a reason RCBS is green, its because they make a ton of green off of people under the illusion that you need to spend a ton to get good reloading equipment. Lee has blown that theory out of the water, dropped a nuke on that theory in fact. I think what this thread proves is that a lot of folks have tremendous brand loyalty, unless the product they buy bites them in the butt. I haven't ever used a Lee press. I've used an RCBS press for 38 years. If you have questions about the Rock Chucker, and the scale and powder measure that come with them, I can probably answer them. About the Lee....how would I know? I can state that the green press lasts and lasts, that the mechanical advantage and heavy duty constructions of the press makes loading great big Weatherby cases possible, if not as comfortable as loading 9mm pistol. Past that I probably shouldn't go. I think a decision on buying a press should be based on what you plan to load and how much green you can justify. For example, a person who can't justify parting with the green to buy a progressive, or a Forster, or a Redding, or a RCBS, should buy a Lee. That's way better than not getting into the hobby, and the Lee, for many, is perfectly fine. And think about it, if that person can't justify the price of an RCBS or equivalent, he probably isn't going to be reloading rifles much bigger than 30-06. But, if he does, he might want to save up for the biggest heaviest, best leveraged press he can find, to keep the wear and tear on his body to acceptable limits.  Point is, if it isn't fun to reload, your longevity in the hobby will likely be short.
As for how comical things are...I don't think it's comical to suggest that those who choose buy a heavy duty product are dupes, wasting their money. |
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Glad to see nothings changed over the years. RCBS>Lee or Lee>RCBS.
I've used a RC since oh....1983 and I love it. However, now it has too much slop in it. Yes, these things do wear out within a lifetime, even the old models. I have worn one out in about 20 years (Subtracting about 6 years of non-use early on for a span when I first found out what pie was). I am pretty sure that if you gave 100 guys the top lee single stage press and a R.Chucker to use 1 month, 90% would keep the R.Chucker. If I were going to buy a new single stage press today, I MIGHT buy the Redding Big Boss II, or I might buy another RCBS RC. The thing that is worrying me now about RCBS, is that I am hearing they have gone to China for manufacturing. If true, which I suppose it is, I put them in the same class as Lee now. Redding, here I come. |
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