Lee Breech Lock CC -vs- Hornady LnL Iron -vs- Turret

Scotty454

Scotty454

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
62   0   0
Location
Calgary
So I'm looking at picking up a press for loading rifle (Don't want to load .308/whatever on my Dillon XL650), and I'm deciding between a few things.

For single stage presses, I'm torn between the Hornady Lock-n-Load Iron press, and the Lee Breech Lock Classic Cast press. Basically wondering how the quick change system on both works. If one is better than the other- more repeatable, etc. The Hornady will be a bit more expensive, obviously.

Then I'm considering a Turret press, like the Lee Classic 4-hole Turret. The extra turrets are fairly cheap. Wondering if anyone has any real-world experience with a turret press, and the accuracy compared to a decent single stage, with all other factors being the same. I've read plenty of opinions, wouldn't mind hearing someone chime in that has or has used both.

Not thrilled about screwing in and adjusting every die, every time I want to load something. Hence why I'm looking at a quick change single or a turret.

Thanks!
 
I have a Lee press with the Breach Lock and and a Hornady LNL AP with the quick change bushings. Both an easily be changed. The Lee would be slightly quicker 'cause you don't need a wrench to lock it into place. I was looking at the Iron press myself to replace my Lee since most of my dies are on Hornady bushings but yeah, the price was up there if I wanted the priming attachment to go with it.
 
I have the same setup as trinimon. I like the Lee with the allen screw (they call them the eliminator), cause then you don't need a lockring on the die and you know nothing is gonna move. With the hornady and the normal Lee quick change, you need to tighten the lockring like your life depends on it. All in all they ain't really better than the hornady I think, but I like them more. They cost more at 10$ each however, compared to 70$ per pack of 10 for hornady. So depending on how many dies you have (so how many bushings you need), you might actually end up saving by using the hornady.

I use the eliminator on most rifle dies (especially the bullet seater) and normal quick change on dies like decapper and powder through.
 
The lee system works great (just a quarter twist to remove) EXCEPT if you have something like a bullet puller that needs to twist at the top to lock the collet and then the lee system is useless! LOL
 
I have a lee classic cast conventional threaded, with the hornady conversion for "lock and load"...the bushings are relatively cheap however some die threads are a little short and the lock ring is barely engaged. Overall it works for everything i'd rather not run through my dillon.
 
Fast Toys said:
The lee system works great (just a quarter twist to remove) EXCEPT if you have something like a bullet puller that needs to twist at the top to lock the collet and then the lee system is useless! LOL
Click to expand...

I use a Hornady collet bullet puller with my Lee CC Breech lock and haven’t had any problems. I’m not sure what the issue is. There’s a key on the press that lockable the Breech lock in place preventing any movement. The quickness of the breech lock system really shines when you need that bullet puller!

I’ve found lee classic cast to be an exlempary press. I really abuse it with sizing 500 gr .458 extra hard cast bullets down to .452 in one motion and it’s never shown any signs of even being stressed. The Breech lock system is not perfect as the button key doesn’t engage the bushings as much as I’d like but it works quick and is repeatable.

I have limited space and appreciate the breech lock system with my RCBS Uniflow. It’s so easy to just lock the powder throw in to the press for use, then unlock and empty the powder out back into the container. I don’t mind the on the press priming system too.
 
The Lee classic cast is an excellent, solid single stage press.

Having said that and although I like the QC bushings, I think they are some what a bit of a gimmick.

You end up buying the bushings for every single die you own and how much actual time do you save from screwing in a conventional die with locking collars.?

The nice thing is Lee offers the press in both versions.
 
MuthaFunk said:
The Breech lock system is not perfect as the button key doesn’t engage the bushings as much as I’d like but it works quick and is repeatable.
Click to expand...

I have thought about that more than once. But the tolerance/play is necessary for function and the repeatability is, as you say, repeatable.
 
I have used the LEE turret press for a few years and I can tell you that it is not a good choice for accurate rifle rounds. There are a few mm's of play in the turret disks which can lead you to either crush the shoulder or to not size it well enough and causing chambering issues (I always FL size my rifle brass). I now only use the LEE turret for my pistol rounds, which it does quickly and accurate enough.

Through advice from a few reloaders at my range, I bought a Redding T7 turret press to eliminate any play as this thing is built solid. I am quite happy with press, I had considered a single stage but I really didn't like the idea of swapping out each die, as I have 5 different rifle calibres I reload.
 
Actually you already have the "best of both worlds" in your 650. If you don't want to "progressively" load your .308 on it just disable the "auto-index" feature (take 30 seconds) and you have a completely usable single stage or a manually rotated rotary . All you really need is a tool head for the extra calibers and a shell plat if you don't already have one to fit (lots of them are interchangeable so don't buy a complete conversion kit if you don't need one).
 
Concerning the single-stages presses, here are a few important comparisons:

1) Design-wise, the Hornady is mechanically inferior to the Lee as it is a hybrid "C" press and the Lee is true "O" press. Hornady claims theirs to be an "O" press because that's what it appears to be when viewed from the front, but it is not. To prove this, simply view it from either side and it is obvious that it's a "C" press (albeit a heavy-duty version)

2) Next, both have ambidextrous handle mounting but only the Lee has a fully adjustable operating handle, both for length and starting angle (left or right). This feature allows you to adjust the overall stroke length relative to the calibre that you are working with. It is a great back-saver and speeds the process up considerably when you only have to stroke through a 30 degree arc.

3) Hornady wants you to fiddle with a plastic spent primer cup to empty it (and eventually spill, break or lose it). Lee sends them into a chute and down a tube straight into your waste bin.

4) Most importantly, The Hornady Iron Press allows a maximum case height of 3 9/16". The Lee Breach Lock Classic Cast allows a whopping 4 5/16"! That's 3/4" longer cases - why limit yourself?

This is just one of several negative reviews of the Hornady press that I found elsewhere:

"Decent press, but for the money I expected at least a good alignment....not the case, be better with a Lee classic, and it's half the price. Side to side alignment is perfect, front to back is tilted ever so slightly forward, and is exaggerated when using the bizzare stabilizer piece on top of shell holder, the weight of it tips the shell holder even more forward than it already is. It's bad enough where decapping the primers results in some dents unless holding up the front of the shellholder.
If that weren't enough, have to pay extra for pretty much anything, comes with almost nothing, no lnl bushing, a basic priming setup, and no frills for the extra price. The spent primer collector is a cheap piece of plastic that drags up and down on the main shaft of the press, annoying, and if you did utilize the top threaded mounts for mounting deburring and chamfering heads (not provided, another extra you have to purchase) you end up with brass shavings all over your press.
Think with products like this hornady may be losing customers left and right, I know they just lost me."

I could not find ANY negative review of the Lee press. Anywhere.

My advice would be to buy TWO Lee Breach Lock Classic Cast presses and you'd still be $80 ahead of the game! (Lee $ 180; Hornady $439)

Hope this helps you....
 
K-C said:
Concerning the single-stages presses, here are a few important comparisons:

1) Design-wise, the Hornady is mechanically inferior to the Lee as it is a hybrid "C" press and the Lee is true "O" press. Hornady claims theirs to be an "O" press because that's what it appears to be when viewed from the front, but it is not. To prove this, simply view it from either side and it is obvious that it's a "C" press (albeit a heavy-duty version)

2) Next, both have ambidextrous handle mounting but only the Lee has a fully adjustable operating handle, both for length and starting angle (left or right). This feature allows you to adjust the overall stroke length relative to the calibre that you are working with. It is a great back-saver and speeds the process up considerably when you only have to stroke through a 30 degree arc.

3) Hornady wants you to fiddle with a plastic spent primer cup to empty it (and eventually spill, break or lose it). Lee sends them into a chute and down a tube straight into your waste bin.

4) Most importantly, The Hornady Iron Press allows a maximum case height of 3 9/16". The Lee Breach Lock Classic Cast allows a whopping 4 5/16"! That's 3/4" longer cases - why limit yourself?

This is just one of several negative reviews of the Hornady press that I found elsewhere:

"Decent press, but for the money I expected at least a good alignment....not the case, be better with a Lee classic, and it's half the price. Side to side alignment is perfect, front to back is tilted ever so slightly forward, and is exaggerated when using the bizzare stabilizer piece on top of shell holder, the weight of it tips the shell holder even more forward than it already is. It's bad enough where decapping the primers results in some dents unless holding up the front of the shellholder.
If that weren't enough, have to pay extra for pretty much anything, comes with almost nothing, no lnl bushing, a basic priming setup, and no frills for the extra price. The spent primer collector is a cheap piece of plastic that drags up and down on the main shaft of the press, annoying, and if you did utilize the top threaded mounts for mounting deburring and chamfering heads (not provided, another extra you have to purchase) you end up with brass shavings all over your press.
Think with products like this hornady may be losing customers left and right, I know they just lost me."

I could not find ANY negative review of the Lee press. Anywhere.

My advice would be to buy TWO Lee Breach Lock Classic Cast presses and you'd still be $80 ahead of the game! (Lee $ 180; Hornady $439)

Hope this helps you....
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the replies.

I might end up going with the Lee CC non-breech lock, and adding the Hornady LnL bushing. I like the quick change option, but haven't read the best things about Lee's version.
 
K-C said:
Concerning the single-stages presses, here are a few important comparisons:

1) Design-wise, the Hornady is mechanically inferior to the Lee as it is a hybrid "C" press and the Lee is true "O" press. Hornady claims theirs to be an "O" press because that's what it appears to be when viewed from the front, but it is not. To prove this, simply view it from either side and it is obvious that it's a "C" press (albeit a heavy-duty version)
Click to expand...

Huh, never knew that. Thanks for the detail breakdown.
 
coreyd said:
Buy the RCBS Summit and get the Hornady LnL quick change collets for it. Much better press than the two you are looking at for $220 from Epps.
Click to expand...

I looked at the summit. What makes or a better press? The fact that the die moves up and down on a round shaft leaves all kinds of potential for misalignment and tilt.
 
I have the Lee Turret press and am happy with it. It has given me rather good accuracy with some rounds and is strong enough to FL resize any brass I have tried.

For storage, I pulled out one of the plywood shelves I sore my bullets on, drilled 3" holes just back from the front edge, and now store my Lee turrets in the holes. I had to reinforce the shelf but it made the turret storage a lot better.
 
Scotty454 said:
I looked at the summit. What makes or a better press? The fact that the die moves up and down on a round shaft leaves all kinds of potential for misalignment and tilt.
Click to expand...

No more chance of misalignment than on a press where the ram brings the shell up into the die, in fact most likely less as there is no side to side movement anywhere on the press. This thing is rock solid, nothing moves or wiggles, the ram doesn't wobble, the tool head doesn't wobble. The leverage you get is amazing. There's a reason why the Coax is so popular. The only thing the Coax has on this press is the integrated shell holder. I will never use another "ram up" type press again. Kinda similar to why the Dillon 1050 is the best progressive press out there. Bring the tool head down onto the cartridge.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom