Love the turret press!

Infantry-Soldier

Infantry-Soldier

CGN Regular
Rating - 100%
70   0   0
Location
Out East
So tonight I was bored, and drilled some new holes in my bench and got my new (to me) turret press set up.

I've currently been on a stint reloading some .45 ammo on my Lee Classic single stange.

Well holy cow, this Lee turret press kicks arse! Took a bit of time to get it all tuned in, had to replace the nylon bit on the auto index rod, but no biggie!

Anyways, I showed my wife how it works, and she proceeded to be awed and amazed... not...

But anyways, I cannot believe the difference going from a single, to a turret press, with the powder through expander,.... Hmmm, I think a progressive might be in the future for me?!

How hard is it to find the turrets for sale? I think it'd be sweet to buy a few and just keep them set for each caliber I load.

Also, is there an auto prime they make for the turret presses? Mine has the little one you manually have to drop one primer into at a time, and push it underneath the case on the upwards stroke... kind of a PITA if you ask me... I'd rather do them by hand w/ my auto primer...
 
MSG on this board has turrets for sale, as does Higgision powders, I have turrets for most of my calibres that works great. I like my turret press, you can take the index rod out and use it for rifle cartridges.
 
Infantry-Soldier said:
Also, is there an auto prime they make for the turret presses? Mine has the little one you manually have to drop one primer into at a time, and push it underneath the case on the upwards stroke... kind of a PITA if you ask me... I'd rather do them by hand w/ my auto primer...
Click to expand...

Yeah, there is a priming system that you can attach so you can prime on press. The name slips my mind right now.....auto prime? safety prime? A little bracket goes on the front right bolt (at the top of the press), and the primer system hooks up to it. It works pretty good.
 
I started with a Lee pro 1000, sold it and bought a Dillon 650 for pistol reloading.
I wore out a lee 4 hole turret press and bought a Lee Classic 4 hole turret press. I remove the indexing rod and use it as a single stage press. I have 8 -4 hole turrets with all my rifle caliber dies permanently mounted. It works slick!
I reload 7000 pistol rounds a year and almost 5000 rifle rounds this last year.
I have to cut back or I'll run out of primers.
 
I've gotten a fair bit of use out of mine, but I'm not a high volume reloader. I used to reload a fair bit of pistol and now mostly reload just rifle. Call me lazy, but I like leaving the dies in the removable turrets.
 
Over a month ago, I ended buying a Dillon 650 as my first reloading press. Waited for over a month to find primers. Loaded up my first batch (200rds) in no time flat. I was going slow and carefully, checking power every 10rds to make sure everything is good. I must have been pumping 1rd of 9mm every 4 seconds. On the last 100rds, I swapped out the dillon crimp die with a Lee factory crimp die since 7 of the first 100rds did not fit all the way into case gauge, but chambered perfectly fine in barrel of Sig P226. I like the FCD. Gives me piece of mind.

I also bought a lyman 2500 tumbler with auto flow. Can't say the autoflow is that good. It does dump most of the media out but I still have to take brass out and toss it around in a strainer basket. Tumbled 1000 9mm cases. At any rate, came out so nice and clean in 3-4hrs. I did another batch of 1000 9mm cases and left it on over night. 4hrs seems to be the sweet spot for dull looking cases.
 
blacksmithden said:
I've got a Lee 4 hole turret that I used for 44 mag. It works perfectly. I had a Pro 1000 and hated the damned thing. Life it too short to try and keep a Lee Pro 1000 working smoothly.
Click to expand...

:agree: I had two Pro 1000s. They worked OK but were finicky & required constant attention to the primer mechanism. That said I used these for over 15 years.

Two years ago I replaced them with the Classic Turret & have not had any regrets. The Classic Turret with it's cast iron base & large diameter ram has a solid feel that was lacking in the Pro 1000. The priming system on the newer press is a huge improvement over that on the 1000.
 
Last edited:
I went with Hornady LNL AP as my first ever press and IMO, if you can come up with extra money to buy a progressive press - do it, save your time and money in the long run. Set up once and crank the ammo; unles you enjoy the prosess of making ammo more than shooting...
 
:agree:

There's nothing wrong with starting out with a progressive press if you're willing to take the effort to learn to run it.

You should buy a press based on taking an objective look at what you think your ammunition quantity requirements will be and how much time you want to spend reloading. Although I find reloading to be an enjoyable hobby, I definitely prefer to spend less time reloading and more time shooting.
 
Been using my Lee Classic Turret for about a year now, and don't know how I lived without it. Use it for 9mm with the center rod in, and .308 with the rod out. Have turrets set up for both, complete with powder feeds and factory crimp dies. Great ammo quality and more than fast enough to keep my weekly trips to the range interesting. Still, can't help wonder how nice a Dillon 650 would be....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom