RCBS Rockchucker Supreme Made in China

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Woolecox

New member
My wife and I were poking around in Academy yesterday. They had several Rockchuckers new in box on the shelf. I rolled the box over and there in the fine print it was: Made in China and Mexico.

The Rockchucker was the first press I ever bought and that was several decades ago. This USA made beast is still going strong and I am getting ready to pass it along to my son.

Over the years I have also ended up with the excellent Redding Big Boss II and a Forster CoAxe. Both made in USA and guaranteed for life.

This is sad. I will no longer buy RCBS products nor recommend them to others.

PS: I posted this on another gun forum and within minutes a moderator blocked and closed it. We are having a private discussion right now but so far he has only said he thinks the subject is “off topic”. We will see what happens here.

Cheers,
Woolly
 
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Unclenick

Staff
Old news.

RCBS moved all their casting operations out of country some time ago. Search for other threads mentioning this issue. They go back several years. The RCBS calipers and electronic scales have always come from China.

From a consumer standpoint, buying domestic vs. overseas has been an issue of home loyalty vs a more affordable path to a desired standard of living. This is gradually changing some. Some manufacturers have started coming home for a couple of reasons. One is quality. China got so many orders for things at one point that the factories there could turn work away that wasn't easy for them, and that lead to inadequate quality in some instances. With China's economy slowing, though, this may reverse. The other is that manufacturing has changed so much, with robots and CNC machines doing so much more making human labor a diminishing percentage of cost in many products, thereby making shipping from overseas a bigger percentage of cost than is saved by the lower labor rates.

We'll just have to wait and see what changes come. It'll be going back and forth, depending on the industry, for some time to come, I expect.
 
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Reloader270

New member
I can understand concerns of quality control, but as said many items are made with cnc machines and RCBS still does a proper check of all equipment I do not belief it is a bad thing. RCBS has the best guarantee of all reloading equipment. I think if we start investigating, there might be much more items from other Company's that are made in China.
 
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Woolecox

New member
I can understand concerns of quality control, but as said many items are made with cnc machines and RCBS still does a proper check of all equipment I do not belief it is a bad thing. RCBS has the best guarantee of all reloading equipment. I think if we start investigating, there might be much more items from other Company's that are made in China.
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I would bet you a beer that all RCBS products are outsourced now.
 
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T. O'Heir

New member
"...will no longer buy..." You'll be buying virtually nothing then. Most U.S. companies are either foreign owned or make stuff off shore. RCBS itself is owned by Vista Outdoor Inc. A big holding company(offices in Hong Kong, et al) that also owns Bushnell, CCI, Alliant, Hoppe's 9, Federal, Simmons, Weaver, Speer, Savage and a horde of other common brand names.
 
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FITASC

New member
RCBS still stands behind their products. Odds are your computer (or most of it) and your cell phone were made there, along with half your car's parts. Go look at all of the "American" brand names in Lowes, Target, etc - all made in China.
To utter such a blanket statement is not considering all of the facts. I prefer RCBS over most other makers of reloading equipment and have had never had an issue if needing a part or replacement.
 
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g.willikers

New member
If there's a complaint with Chinese manufacturing, it would seem to be inconsistency.
A relative works for a US shoe company that has most of it's stuff made there.
If he doesn't go there on a regular basis, quality suffers.
I've bought two Chinese air rifles.
One was so bad I threw it away.
The other is so good, it's hard to believe it came from the same place.
Different companies, though.
 
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higgite

New member
PS: I posted this on another gun forum and within minutes a moderator blocked and closed it. We are having a private discussion right now but so far he has only said he thinks the subject is “off topic”. We will see what happens here.

Cheers,
Woolly
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Kudos to that moderator.
 
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Woolecox

New member
"...will no longer buy..." You'll be buying virtually nothing then. Most U.S. companies are either foreign owned or make stuff off shore. RCBS itself is owned by Vista Outdoor Inc. A big holding company(offices in Hong Kong, et al) that also owns Bushnell, CCI, Alliant, Hoppe's 9, Federal, Simmons, Weaver, Speer, Savage and a horde of other common brand names.
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Interesting. I bet your average American does not know these things and I think they should. Sounds like you have done some research or are privy to information that other are not. What is your source of information on the companies you mentioned? Others?

It is time for a new American revolution, of manufacturing.
 
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Dufus

New member
It is time for a new American revolution, of manufacturing.
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Good luck with that. When the dollar is leading the way, it ain't gonna happen. That is what capitalism is all about and screw the workforce. The big boss man doesn't care any more.

Take a look at all the name brand knives that started out here and was proud of it and are now outsourced to China. I nearly swallowed by tongue when I learned that Buck was China made now.
 
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oley55

New member
I could go off on a wild tangent here (like my 1960's neighbor who used to show up at our family garage everyday and sweep the floors out of boredom just because he didn't know what to do with himself during his 25 week US Steel annual vacation). Guess what, that kind of labor greed managed to eliminate nearly all of the rust belt jobs. Add all of the US rules and regulations it's no wonder so much has been outsourced.

Don't take me wrong, I buy USA when practical. But the "how we got where we are today" is many faceted.

As long as RCBS keeps making good stuff and continues their superior warranty/customer service, they will keep getting some of my business.
 
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briandg

New member
I'm kind of diappointed to hear this.

I wonder, how many of you guys remember "made in japan?" back when I was growing up, japan was still recovering from the war, and every cheap piece of stuff was japanese, instead of chinese.

Regarding cchinese goods, I find them to be a necessary evil. I smoke cigars. I have purchased humidors made in china. The best ones came from a factory handled by a man named andy kossin. he took a personal hand in making and designing them, and believe me, those humidors that I own from his factory are wonderful. I spent $200 for one, another was gifted to me, it retailed for 1k. The point is that buying an american made humidor that wasn't hand made by the various cabinet makers is impossible. These guys can't do it for the price that a chinese machine shop with a dedicated staff can do it.

Shoot, the first one is bigger than a computer tower, and is hand painted with the Romeo Y Julieta logo, a limited edition of 1k. The second is a replica of the capital building, and no kidding, the thing is the size of a file cabinet.
 
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Chainsaw.

New member
Suprised? American's want it faster and cheaper. As stated about buying strickly from home would pretty much mean living a hippy type lifestyle, buy local only and from folks who hand make everything they use. The fact is we live in a global economy. Add to that all the trade deals our corporate...err..I mean corrupt government officials have leveraged against us and its easy to see.

And for the record china is perfectly capable of producing goods to the same level of quality we can make, but the companies who order from them set the tone of what level of quality is expected. People buy cheap junk so they'll keep making cheap junk.
 
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FITASC

New member
that also owns Bushnell, CCI, Alliant, Hoppe's 9, Federal, Simmons, Weaver, Speer, Savage and a horde of other common brand names.
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These are brands owned by ATK and spun off into the new company to segregate them from the defense units. Many items are still made here, others are sourced worldwide.
Example: ATK owns Federal, Federal bought Estate years ago. Now, Estate ammo that was first made in TX, then MN, is also made in France by Cheddite, an Italian company (along with their MN mfg plant.
It is a world-wide economy, and we are no longer the 800# gorilla in the room when it comes to manufacturing. US consumers want items as inexpensive as they can get them which is why Walmart, dollar stores, etc. all do well. Gun makers and related companies are going to do whatever they can to cut their overheads and still eek out a profit. If their quality suffers, customers will go to their competition - they KNOW that.
 
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pete2

New member
It's a sad world we live in. I'm not surprised that the Rockchucker is made in China or Mexico. I like made in USA on stuff BUT, Chevys and Dodges and Fords, made in Canada or Mexico, Chevy engines made in China. Gotta blame ourselves for the problem, we buy the stuff. My Chevy was made in Canada, my Honda made in usa but the money goes to those who bombed Pearl Harbor, I own Browning shotguns, all 4 are Japanese. It's our fault folks, we keep buying.:eek:
 
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reinert

New member
I've got a Rock Chucker I bought new in 1980; still working like a champ after many hundreds, nay, thousands of rounds reloaded. I started shooting a 45/90, B.P.C.R. some years ago, and though the old R.C. still works well enough for that long case when seating a 540 grain bullet, I thought that the new Rock Chucker Supreme, having a substantially longer frame vertically, would be a better ticket to reload the 45/90 and to stretch cases when needed for that caliber.

Thing is, I've had that new press for probably 4 years now and haven't had to use it yet, so it's been sitting on my garage shelf, N.I.B., since I got it. After reading the O.P. on the China thing, I went out to the shelf and took the new press down and checked it out. I didn't see China printed anywhere on the box, nor the instruction sheet within. It's just Oroville, CA, and Canadian reference. Not really important, but would my press still be American made? I have nothing but confidence in my RCBS stuff, and probably 95% of my reloading equipment is green. True, most of my green stuff is many years old, and still working fine, and I'm fairly certain it's all American made.

I had a RCBS vibrating case cleaner I used for at least 10 years before it quit me. I sent it to Oroville with a note to fix it, and was glad to pay a repair cost as noted in my note to them. Less than two weeks later, there was a box at the front door with a brand new vibrating case cleaner in it (this one is made in China; works just fine, too). There was also a note inside with an invoice that said no charge; under warranty. Thing is, I don't even remember sending a guarantee registration in to them. I call that fine customer service for certain. I have no problem continuing to use the green.
 
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swmike

New member
All to many people fail to see the big picture. China makes items, ships them to the US and takes money for their product.

China then spends that money buying things in the US that they can't make themselves.

Ask those at Boeing factories how they like their jobs building planes that are sold to China. There hundreds, if not thousands, of other examples where US jobs benefit from commerce with other countries.

As for RCBS quality? Doesn't appear to be any better or worse on items like a Rock Chucker. I'm sure that RCBS would be more than happy to source these mostly cast products here in the US but considering the regulations on foundry's etc placed by our government agencies I can see why they're cheaper from offshore.
 
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