Thread: RCBS or Lee

Have been slowly purchasing equipment to get into reloading. Want to buy a press, want to keep price under $200. Have found RCBS Partner press and Lee Breech Lock Challenger press for under this price.
Question is which one will be better and why. Not interested in 'it's shit', those sorts of comments seem to be common on here but are largely unhelpful.
Cheers

Stay away from the lee breech lock, I have one and they are just a bad design, it's not a matter of if it will fail but when.
I didn't take advice given on here and got bitten when the one I bought had stress cracks in the lever setup, sure was only $40 to replace those parts but that's a bit to swallow when it's only a $5 part but freighting out of the USA rapes you blind.
I could've bought a RCBS for not much more.......












In short "it's shit"

Save a little more , will be better in long run

Of the two I think the RCBS is better quality even if it is a bit dearer. My old RCBS press I bought in the early 70 s is still going strong many thousands of rounds later.

@longrange, when you say save a bit more. Do you mean more than $200 or go for the partner press. Happy to buy that one any way as it's under $20 and not much more than the Lee.

my LEE o ring??? press has never looked like letting me down,the dies screw into the frame,non of this quick release crap. buy the most solid one you can,they take a lot of punishment over the years,buy once cry once.

RCBS over Lee anything. My RCBS press is older than me, and I'm more worn out than it is

Is yours the Partner press or the rock chucker?

Lee is angry fire engine red, while RCBS is a calming, green colour.

The companies should merge, sell NATO green presses with red bolt fastenings. A cool combination.

The RCBS partner is better than the Lee but not as good as the Rockchucker my Rockchucker was born in 1965 still tight as ever
the Lee linkage on some models is prone to breaking as it is made from cast alloy
you won't good wrong with the RCBS partner

Right.. im gonna add my "its shit" opinion..

A few years back when I first started reloading I bought an RCBS rockchucker, supposedly one of the toughest simple presses out there.
It did about 100 rounds of 260rem before the complete body of the press developed a crack and broke right through.
I pissed around trying to get it replaced but it seemed everyone wanted to believe that I had run it over with a truck rather than it just broke (because it was shit...)
I bought a lee breachlock press to use in the meantime whilst still holding out hope the RCBS would be replaced or refunded.
The RCBS is still sitting in a box in my garage somewhere and I have now been using the "el cheapo" Lee press for about two years and have loaded a tonne of rounds with it without any problems.

Ummm

The thing to realise is that the Press is the " Heart " of your reloading system . And that you need to decide what you want it for ? . The two options are effectively High volume / Simplicity of some form of turret / multi station press or , Precision / Low volume setup of a single station press .
So if you buy once you will only cry once , a good press will outlast your lifetime . So one possibility is to buy the cheapest C press , Lee make a decent one , and use that untill the funds allow you to buy what you really want so that your not getting all frustrated waiting for that once in a life time buy .

The two you mention are both low end. Treated with care they will last, but as a beginner you often strain them more than once you know what you’re doing and have learnt a few tricks. Much of a muchness, but ideally get someone to help you along the way.

I also don’t understand the fascination with press tightness. Lee float on purpose (as do Forster co-ax, likely best there is), and with good reason.

Cheers for the replies. I want a single stage, won't be loading heaps maybe a 100-200 per year of 300wsm, want to load for my 223 also so maybe more rounds for that as my wife loves shooting it. I want consistency with loads. @tikka has been helping me with learning.