Lee Classic Cast Press for bullet making?

B

Bro.D

Member
Does anyone have any experience using the Lee Classic Cast press for making 30 Cal bullets? (.925 - 118gr)
How does it rate for strength, squareness and function?
How does it compare to other presses that are commonly used for bullet making? (Old Rockchucker, Redding Big Boss...?) Any other observations would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Bro.D
 
I believe George Ulrich is converting them for bullet making. maybe he will chime in.
30s need a lot of leverage my A2 does a good job but a bigger one would help a lot. Leverage is is the key.
I think George Is making a heavy B&A type press. Then theres the corbin hydro press and the Wallnut hill press.
I'm getting by with the A2 but plan to upgrade in the future.
 
You may as well just buy the purpose built Corbin swaging press and be done with it.
 
You can get by with one press but i use 3 set up. You need the heavy duty one for the pointing operation.
Seating and core forming can be done on a standard press with the proper rams made.
 
Bill Scheider said:
We use the RCBS A2's for 30 Cal.

MHO the Lee is very weak and does not oggle "over center" as most other presses do.

The CORBIN CSP-1 has the mechanical advantage with a very "loooong" stroke, but I cannot get my beefy hand between the bars comfortably for bullet making.

We currently own all of the above-mentioned presses..

Bill Scheider
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I think the Csp 2 press has more width between the bars.
I agree that the RCBS A2 is a better press than any Lee press and going over center makes it more useful .
 
Boyd Allen said:
Call Randy Robinette; he gives them top marks, and has a lot of experience with them.
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well here we go again lots of opinion's but not from people that really use them if we're luckey maybe randy will get on here and give actual facts about how they work .after all he's only made a few hundred thousand bullets on them.or maybe stu harvey will join in he has lots of experiance also.the internet can be usefull except when opinions are given instead of facts. george
 
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geo.ulrich said:
well here we go again lots of opinion's but not from people that really use them if we're luckey maybe randy will get on here and give actual facts about how they work .after all he's only made a few hundred thousand bullets on them.or maybe stu harvey will join in he has lots of experiance also.the internet can be usefull except when opinions are given instead of facts. george
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Goerge,
I think in some cases others may be referring to the Lee cast aluminum press, and not the Lee cast iron press. As we discussed on the phone, there is a 3 to 1 difference in elasticity between steel and aluminum. While cast iron is not steel, it will flex less than aluminum People need to understand that cross-sectional area of the cast iron is as good or better than the RCBS. If the Lee press not up to par, Randy would shy away from them.

Michael
 
I'm sure George knows what he is talking about. Don't be confused about lee presses. They are very good for general use.
The cast press is just as good as any of the other ones and maybe a tad better in some cases.
Thanks for chimeing in George.
 
Once, when I was discussing bullet making with Speedy, he mentioned that he had modified the linkage of a Rockchucker to improve the leverage. I believe that this also came up in my discussions with Randy about the Lee cast iron press. When you consider that both of these presses have ram strokes that are longer than is needed for bullet making, I am surprised that I have not heard more on this, especially with regard to making .30 caliber bullets. Have any of you had any experience in this area? Looking at the Lee, and given that it has a two piece ram, and the way that its linkage is designed, I would think that its design would lend itself to this sort of modification.
 
Right on the money

Boyd Allen said:
Once, when I was discussing bullet making with Speedy, he mentioned that he had modified the linkage of a Rockchucker to improve the leverage. I believe that this also came up in my discussions with Randy about the Lee cast iron press. When you consider that both of these presses have ram strokes that are longer than is needed for bullet making, I am surprised that I have not heard more on this, especially with regard to making .30 caliber bullets. Have any of you had any experience in this area? Looking at the Lee, and given that it has a two piece ram, and the way that its linkage is designed, I would think that its design would lend itself to this sort of modification.
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Boyd,
I had a lengthy conversation with Randy of BIB. He said that improving the leverage ratio on presses for bullet making is definetly the thing to do, especially for 30 caliber bullets. He said the Lee press lends itself to modification better than any other press. He said that it is extremely simple on the Lee to gain at least 50% more leverage.

Then Randy went on and on about the quality of the Lee press. He said that the radial and axial alignment was superior to RCBS and Redding. He also spoke about how the Lee press stays tight and accurate, even after 200,000 bullets.

Then Randy addressed the fact that it doesn't toggle over TDC, saying at first he wasn't crazy about that, but after using it he realized that this was an advantage in accuracy. He said it proved to make the most accurate cores and bullets of any press he's ever used.

Randy concluded the conversation saying he only had two complaints about the Lee press. It's painted red, and it says Lee on the side. Well, I guess if Mr. Lee did such an excellent job, it would be wrong to grind his name off the press, but repainting it is definetly something I would consider.

Now I think it's about time that we take our hats off to George Ulrich for trying to sell the best low cost production press made for swagging bullets. Are there better presses available? Yes, there are high dollar bullet swagging presses of hydaulic and mechanical designs, but do they make more accurate bullets? After Jackie Schmidt shot his .1118" agg., he and others would probably say they don't.

Michael
 
I have a Lee press on order. For bullet making.
Will give some opinions, also. Don't have to ask. :)

And this forum is not dieing.
 
New to the forum, good post, anyone have an experience using a Redding Ultramag for bullet making? How does one modify the Lee Classic Cast to make it suitable for use for bullet forming?
 
flashhole said:
New to the forum, good post, anyone have an experience using a Redding Ultramag for bullet making? How does one modify the Lee Classic Cast to make it suitable for use for bullet forming?
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George Ulrich does this kinda stuff. And Carbide dies.
Just click on his name. And send him an email.
 
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