Probably not, Ray. It's all relative, of course, and hard to quantify but if you look at the scads of pictures of other guys' benches on the web and follow their example, you'll be fine.
If he was having a hard time, maybe he did not have the cases lubed well, or the brass was work hardened. When setting up your press, use good lumber not pressed boards. I had an old kitchen table that I started out with and it worked well until I came into an old teacher desk that was getting replaced at a local school.
Yeah , I'm thinking over worked brass like you say, of course I wouldn't know anything about that just yet.
From what I've seen on the tube and the Web , he was using too much lube !
Those old school desks would be the bee's knees !
Thanks for the info Wisconsinteacher !
I have my press bolted to a 2x6 peace of lumber that I clamp onto a table saw. Easy to mount when I want to reload and only minutes to pack away when not in use.
Keith