How are they holding up after you use them for a wihile? Does the bushings stay tight or does the press get "springy"?

Well, I received mine in early January. It has performed well through more than 600 30-06 and 25-06 cartridges. It has re-sized about 60 .270 cases to the afore-mentioned alicbers - about 50/50 or so of each.

The only bushing that I'm aware of on the press is the die adapter bushing. I don;t think there is a bushing in the press body to hold the ram, though there might be. My Challenger came a tad "sloppy" in that area and hasn;t improved or worsened. It also hasn;t affected the quality of my ammo in any way that I can tell. I can say I had the oppurtunity to "play" with a Classic Cast and there was zero slop there.

The die adapter bushings (each one of my dies has one installed, and I have two extra in the parts box) have not worn nor do I expect them too. There is no "spring" in my press, other than there may be a tad of (un-noticeable) spring in the aluminum body of the press. I doubt that but I mention only because it could be possible. Where's this "springiness" thought come from? I never heard of that and certainly haven;t experienced it.

After 600 rounds, while that's not truly alot of cartridges, there has been no change in my press since it was new. Now, I have worn out a case trimmer (dulled cutters) and am about to dull the second one. Aside from that, the only thing showing any wear are some of my brass (a few split necks and a couple of split cases down near the head).

BUT!!!! - even IF my Lee Challenger started to wear out, I could call Lee Precision and get a new one without charge, even IF the press wore out after the two year warranty expired. And if they stuck to the "2 year" warranty and did not help me, I could still get another one at Kempf Gun SHop for $50 and still be way ahead of the competition. Or, better yet, I'd get a classic Cast for $80.

Stretch,

The spring is the press frame. They all have it in some degree because the metals they are cast from have some measurable degree of elasticity. As long as the stretch you subject the frame to does not exceed the elastic limits of the metal, however, it always returns to shape. It is too small to feel, but you'll notice instructions for sizing dies call for touching the die down on the shell holder then lowering the ram and advancing the die and additional portion of a turn? That portion of over-extension causes the press to stretch by that same amount when the ram is raised. The compression of that extra spring force ensures the case goes all the way up into the die, where otherwise the case sizing force alone would stretch the frame enough to create a small light space between the case head and the shell holder.

Well, I see that makes sense. I can;t tell mine is flexing or springy, it feels good to me.

I read where the Lee presses don't "toggle over" at the end of the ram stroke like other presses.Is that hard to get use to?

That's called camming over. It forces the press through a moment of infinite mechanical advantage, with which the occasional hearty soul has managed to break even an RCBS Rockchucker or two if he turns the die in too far. To prevent that, Lee puts a stop on the press so the compound lever stops just short of that high mechanical advantage moment. It puts less stress and stretch on the press frame which matters especially to the cast aluminum frames Lee mostly used to use. The investment cast steel "classic" frames would not be easy to break that way, but they have continued their use of stops even with those.

You have nothing to get used to since you still just push the handle until it stops.