RCBS Rock Chucker or Partener Press?

floorguy24

Which is better for loading 44 Mag & 44 Special pistol loads on a regular basis?

The Chucker is bigger/bulkier/stronger, the Partner is more compact.

I'll only be reloading pistol loads.

Any pros or cons for either?

DPHMIN

The Partner will work fine with straight walled cases, the Rockchucker makes loading bottle necked cases easier.

floorguy24

Good point, I assumed the Chucker was for rifle casings as well as smaller pistol casings.

The Partner looks fine, just wasn't sure which one to get primarily for pistol reloads.

Mk 19

As stated above, if you are only going to reload straight walled pistol cases then the Partner will work just fine. But if you might try to reload any bottleneck cartridge at any time in the near or distant future you would be better off buying the Rock Chucker now and save yourself from having to buy it later. I have been loading on a RC for 30 years and it has never let me down, it might be a little bit more money that the Partner, but it's worth every cent.

rsnyder55

My philosophy is to buy not just for today, but for the possiblities tomorrow. This avoids having to buy something later that will replace something I already have.

Rocky Raab

I bought a Partner kit in 1976 to load 45 Colt and 308. Since then, it has loaded uncounted thousands of rounds of 20 or so different cartridges. In another 35 years, it might begin to show some faint signs of wear. Maybe. For my grandkids.

But if I were buying a press today, it would be the Lee Classic Cast, hands down. All the good features of several other brands - at half the price.

floorguy24

Thanks for the above input all of you gave.

I just read through another post on a newbies progress with the Lee 1000 progressive, it only confirmed my choice to go single stage first.

However, I also read a post on things going bad during reloading. Loosing fingers, loosing hearing and getting brass im my belly are the types of things that steer me away from reloading.

So I'd like to ask all of you this- If I read through a good reloading manual, take my time to check everything and be as careful as possible, am I still risking injury?

If so, forget it. If not, let me know. I'm this close to buying the single stage stuff.

Rocky Raab

Reloading is about as safe as can be - IF you proceed as you described.

In that other thread, I pretty much laid out the steps to safe and successful reloading.

On your single-stage press, size and deprime all your cases. Examine them.

Now prime them all. Examine them again for anything odd that happened during that step.

Check the manual for the load. Adjust your measure for that charge weight and verify on your scale.

Charge one case with powder, check it visually and immediately seat a bullet. Admire and repeat.

If you haven't already done so, go read my little piece called Reloading 101. Do use Firefox to read my website. http://www.reloadingroom.com/index_files/Reloading%20101.htm

floorguy24

Thank you Rocky. I just want to make sure that I'm going in the right direction.

I'll check out your link as well.