Aluminum or steel press

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Aluminum or steel press

Post by Wheeljack »

I've be using the aluminum press #90588, Challenger. I'm looking at the steel Breach Lock Classic #90999. What is the advantages of the steel press over the aluminum. Flexing, wear on threads, precision? What are the things that would make me want to buy the steel model? They look pretty much the same. Thanks
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by Ranch Dog »

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I've been using the Breech Lock Challenger press for quite a few years, and I would have a tough time justifying the additional expense of the Classic Cast if I were to replace it. The Challenger press has been around for a very long time, with or without Breech Lock, I use mine without issue.

It even took the old Automator and functions as a progressive without issue!

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Notice the handle; I shorten the length to provide a comfortable stroke resistance for whatever operation the press is involved in. The frame has a very large opening, and not everything needs to go the full travel. For instance, bullet sizing. The ram only needs to move back and forth about two to three inches so while doing that I decrease the throw of the handle as far as I'm comfortable with. You end up with a very short stroke which moves through the task quickly. Could be important if you are moving through a hundred of whatever. Of course, you can do this with the Classic Cast as well.

Yikes, just looked on Titan and the difference is about $41! Couldn't do it myself, that extra would buy a set of dies of any number of things.
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by mikld »

Steel or cast iron for presses is "supposed" to be superior because it won't flex. But I have been reloading for over 30 years, am a lifelong machinist/mechanic and cannot say I have experienced any press flex (reloaded 30-06, 7.62x54, 303 British, and occasionally steel cases). Also I have never experienced any quicker wear on the ram/frame or die threads on my original Challenger. I think it's just one of those theory vs. real life situations (and BS from Lee Haters). I have a C-H single stage manufactured in the '50s, as far as I can tell, that I bought used in '87 and used for several thousand rounds (tens of thousands?). It had a bit of ram/frame wear and I occasionally had to guide cases up into the die, but otherwise it's still a good press and it has a cast iron frame and steel ram. I ave no idea how much use it took to wear the ram/frame. But I also had an aluminum framed Challenger I used for mebbe 10 years with no noticeable wear or flexing...
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by akuser47 »

I have the aluminum breech lock and it loads my .308 all the way down to 9mm just fine. I keep saying someday I'll get a turret to make massive plinking batches of ammo. I'm still reluctant to speed up my process. +guns
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by JohnnyEnfield »

akuser47 wrote:I have the aluminum breech lock and it loads my .308 all the way down to 9mm just fine. I keep saying someday I'll get a turret to make massive plinking batches of ammo. I'm still reluctant to speed up my process. +guns
I am so glad you said this. I have been trying to decide if I want the turret press for a while. The new version of the "Value" turret press appears to be really nice. I just like the way my process is with the single stage and doing things in batches. I am also very careful with the powder charging and don't really want to do it on the press, automated. I have even toyed with the idea of getting another single stage and shell holders for the calibers I reload, so I can do two steps in a row, one on one press - the next on the other. Rather than doing it on a turret. But I also go back and forth - thinking the turret may be a real time saver.

I like to decap with the universal die then clean all the brass and make sure the primer holes are clean. Then resize the clean brass. Then I prime on the press. This is how I like it and it makes good ammunition. I do this for 9mm, 45 ACP, .357 magnum and now .303 British. It is slow and time consuming and there are ways I speed things up in batches but I think the turret would help if I could do seating and crimping on two stations in a row. I don't like the idea of decapping and resizing in one step and then putting a primer in the dirty primer pocket (the fast way on the 4 station press). So that is my thinking.

I think I will buy the new version of the value turret and see if I like it. With shipping it will be around $100 from Titan. Not sure I want to spend that much, but the time it would/could save is probably worth it.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, means- resize, reload, recycle.
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by Ohio3Wheels »

If I had heavy case forming to do I'd probably go cast iron or steel, but I suspect if would take a couple of life times or serious abuse to wear out an aluminum "O" frame. Truth in advertising I still load on a '67 vintage Rock Chucker. I also have a Dillon 650 that comes out once or twice a year to load a lot of pistol ammo. I bought that back when wife and I were shooting IHMSA 3 or 4 week ends a month and I needed a way to keep up.

I have given thought to the turret, but other projects need financed, so I'll stick to batch processing and the Dillon as needed.

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Curt.......makin' smoke and raising my carbon foot print one cartridge at a time +guns +guns
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by larryw »

I used the Breech Lock Challenger for many years without a single problem. Literally, thousands of rounds, & tons of brass forming.
The only thing I did not do on that press is deprime.
Keep it relatively clean & lube once in a while & I doubt you will
have any press related problems.
The Classic Cast is also a great press, it's a monster, an absolute
tank in Lee clothing. It is bigger & heavier & takes up a good
bit more space, which can be a problem if bench
space is at a premium.
Good luck & keep us posted..
A day late & A dollar short? Story of my life +guns
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by Macd »

I have the Aluminum Breech Lock Challenger press. It has given pretty good service but I had one breakage very early on and I believe the breech lock bushings are a weakness.

About a month after purchasing the press new the right side toggle link cracked in half. Examination of the break left me to believe that the links are cast rather than machined or stamped. I have always considered cast to be more brittle. Of course Lee sent me a new link without any question. I didn't even have to send the old one to them. Not sure if that means this was not uncommon a problem.

The breech lock bushings are necessarily what we called in the navy a "slack fit". This introduces a fair bit of thread lash. I know this is taken up when you raise the ram tight but I still wonder if some of the variability in bullet seating depth may be due to this looseness. I don't have another single stage press to make comparisons and the turret press that I have also has a fair bit of slack built in. The other thing I would like to see fixed is the ability to accidentally lock the bushing in place one thread higher than flush with the mating surface on the press. I discovered this while adjusting to neck size some rifle brass. I used a case to set up the sizing die and then switched to a universal depriming die to deprime the cases. When I reinserted the adjusted sizing die it pushed the shoulders back. At first I thought it was a mistake in adjusting the die but after some trial and error I found that it sized as adjusted when I turned the buhing one thread up from the where it should have been.
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by horseman »

Advantages of the Classic Cast single stage? It's bigger, stronger, excellent primer disposal (regular not the breech lock) and from what I understand is line bored for more precision. Not sure if the Challenger press is or not. My opinion, I'd buy the regular press and if wanted quick change bushings, I'd buy the Hornady bushings and use them instead. I owned a Challenger press a long while back and it seemed to do it's job. Ended up giving it to a friend to use as I wanted something a bit bigger. The Classic is a beast of a press (I still own one of those) and there would be very little (if anything) that it couldn't do as well as any out there.
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Re: Aluminum or steel press

Post by GasGuzzler »

I have an old school cast iron Lee single I got for $40 shipped and a Classic Cast Turret I bought new in kit form. No aluminum here but that in itself doesn't scare me. I had one of those really basic Lee tiny singles I used as a primary at home before the turret came back to me (the LCT used to be a shared press) but bought the old one as a primary then it moved to secondary when the LCT came back. (poorly written sentence I know). There's no way I could break the old one and the turret doesn't seem to have any victim traits either.

My old one doesn't look like either. It's offset at an angle.
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