Lyman T Mag II ?

Alleycat

CGN Regular
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Location
Ottawa
Hey folks. Hate to hit you with another newbie, is this press any good question, but I just don't know enough about'em to make a decision on my own. I've been wanting to get into reloading for awhile now and a "T Mag II" just came up on ebay. Are these pretty decent presses? Or should I just take the plunge and get something brand new. I'll be loading .308, .243 for hunting and recreation to start but also have a few other cal I could try such as .300 sav, .250 sav, 7mm mauser, 7.62x39, etc etc
I like the idea of a turret press, Lee's new classic turret looks interesting, but am undecided if it's the proper choice or if a solid single stage would be better for me.:confused:
My cousin and I split on a lee hand loader in .30-30 many many years ago and we still have all our digits so I have a very basic knowledge of reloading.
Any advice welcome.

Cheers

Allan
 
They are very robust presses.Of course it will depend on whether it has loaded 10 or 10,00o rounds.It gives you the convenience of not having to unscrew dies in between stages just turn turret.
whether you go this way or single stage is up to you,personally I like single stage and have never gotten annoyed changing dies between stations.
Of course if you are loading for pistol and plan on shooting lots and lots a progressive is a better way to go.Just my opinion though.
 
I personally prefer the Redding T-7 turret press over the Lyman, but it is still a fine choice. You need to be careful of buying heavy items on eBay, especially if coming from the US. Shipping costs can quickly become prohibitive, especially to Iqaluit. Unless you get a really, really good deal, once you factor in cost of shipping, the $5.00 handling fee charged by CBSA & any assessed duty/tax you might be just as well off buying new here in Canada or off CGN's own Equipment Exchange. There are a number of decent used presses for sale right now in the EE that might meet with your approval.
 
I sold my Rockchucker a couple of years ago and bought an RCBS turret. I'm happy with it and wouldn't go back. Not sure how many holes in the Lyman, but the RCBS lets you mount 6 dies, so you can have 3 sets of rifle dies set up in one head. I can run about 200 pistol rounds an hour through it, using a case-activated powder measure. It gets pretty busy to keep this pace up continuously on a turret, so I use a Hornady Projector for my volume pistol loading. However, for low volume pistol and rifle, I think you'll be happy with the Lyman turret.
 
I've got the T-Mag II and bought a second turret for it. I've loaded many thousands of rounds of rifle and pistol cartridges. It's erved me well. If I had the cash though, and was starting over I would go with an a single stage 'O' shaped presss for rifle and a progressive for pistol.
 
The T mag sounds good but I think I'll let the Ebay one slide. I'll wait and see what comes out in the new catalogues. Le Baren, Wholesale etc.
Thanks for the input guys.
 
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