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Posted: 7/26/2012 4:05:14 AM EDT
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I am just getting into reloading and have read all the books I can find and a lot of the topics in this forum. My question is I have an opportunity to buy a RCBS Rock Chucker Master Kit for around $200 all new (friend of mine.) This is considerable savings but I don't know much about RCBS quality. Is it good to go?
Right now I am only reloading .223 for plinking and shooting barnyard varmints but might move on to .270 or 7mm mag for my hunting rifles. The next question (assuming I buy this kit) is how is the quality of the RCBS .223 dies? Should I look at another brand or are the RCBS dies good to go. I don't want to buy this kit just because it's cheap, I am more of a buy once cry once spender. |
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Quoted:
I am just getting into reloading and have read all the books I can find and a lot of the topics in this forum. My question is I have an opportunity to buy a RCBS Rock Chucker Master Kit for around $200 all new (friend of mine.) This is considerable savings but I don't know much about RCBS quality. Is it good to go? Right now I am only reloading .223 for plinking and shooting barnyard varmints but might move on to .270 or 7mm mag for my hunting rifles. The next question (assuming I buy this kit) is how is the quality of the RCBS .223 dies? Should I look at another brand or are the RCBS dies good to go. I don't want to buy this kit just because it's cheap, I am more of a buy once cry once spender. Buy the kit, that's a deal. You'll need to buy additional tools in order to load, but that is a great start. The dies are probably okay, but I would inspect the inside of the sizer, looking for obvious machining marks, especially if the date code on the top of the die is after about 1982. Even if the die is bad, RCBS will make it right. |
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Quoted:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Rockchucker/P2250793.jpg A Rockchucker is my single stage press. Quality is not an issue with this press. Close that deal that was offered to you. Just curious. Why is there live primers in your catch tray? To the OP. My first kit was the RockChucker II master reloading kit. If it was called that back then. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it back in the late 1980's. It has seen a LOT of action too. I've used well over 100 pounds of powder so far. All loaded on that one press. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Rockchucker/P2250793.jpg A Rockchucker is my single stage press. Quality is not an issue with this press. Close that deal that was offered to you. Just curious. Why is there live primers in your catch tray? To the OP. My first kit was the RockChucker II master reloading kit. If it was called that back then. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it back in the late 1980's. It has seen a LOT of action too. I've used well over 100 pounds of powder so far. All loaded on that one press. Looks like he's priming, the top basket has primed brass and the bottom one has unprimed brass... just my guess |
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Quoted: Quoted: http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Rockchucker/P2250793.jpg A Rockchucker is my single stage press. Quality is not an issue with this press. Close that deal that was offered to you. Just curious. Why is there live primers in your catch tray? To the OP. My first kit was the RockChucker II master reloading kit. If it was called that back then. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it back in the late 1980's. It has seen a LOT of action too. I've used well over 100 pounds of powder so far. All loaded on that one press. Had a batch that I was pulling down, yes live primers. I just go slow with light pressure on the press handle and deprime. (I know you know this, mentioned this for the new reloaders who may be seeing this.) |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
http://i250.photobucket.com/albums/gg272/dryflash3/Rockchucker/P2250793.jpg A Rockchucker is my single stage press. Quality is not an issue with this press. Close that deal that was offered to you. Just curious. Why is there live primers in your catch tray? To the OP. My first kit was the RockChucker II master reloading kit. If it was called that back then. It hasn't missed a beat since I got it back in the late 1980's. It has seen a LOT of action too. I've used well over 100 pounds of powder so far. All loaded on that one press. Had a batch that I was pulling down, yes live primers. I just go slow with light pressure on the press handle and deprime. (I know you know this, mentioned this for the new reloaders who may be seeing this.) Oh OK. I didn't think you were priming. You would have had the primers in the feed tube. I custom fit my feed tubes to Lee primer trays. My Lee Auto Prime was not up to priming GI 06's. That was a long time ago. 
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Rcbs is good to go. Just make sure the kit is complete. There are friends that give you a good deal because they bought it and didnt use it, and there are friends that will milk your money for a complete kit that wasnt complete, it was missing $89 worth of parts.. 
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| Thanks for all of your help. Picked up the kit and it is very much brand new. My next big purchase needs to be a tumbler or cleaner of some sort. A tumbler seems like a proven cleaning method but for a few more dollars I can get a hornady ultrasonic cleaner. I know that the ultrasonic cleaner will not polish the brass but is it better than tumbling? One of my reloading friends wishes he would have bought an ultrasonic cleaner instead of his tumbler. What is the arfcom opinion? |
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dcrocky81
I'm still using the Rockchucker press I bought in 1973 after getting out of the service and its still going strong. Someone in another forum stated he attached a torque wrench set at 12 inch pounds to his Rockchucker press to get uniform neck tension with his Lee Collet dies. I took this photo and told the OP I attached my torque wrench to my Rockchucker but I cant get the handle doohickey to click, what should I do. 
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