Progressive vs Turret?

na1lb0hm

na1lb0hm

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The time has come for me to have to upgrade my press for a little more production volume vs time.

I am on a budget, so not having to buy every accessory under the sun because I load multiple rifle calibers is a big plus.

Are there any advantages to turret preses or should I just not waste my time and move straight to a progressive?

Batches will prob be 100-250 in size, but I'd like to do it in a shorter amount of time.
 
Cost versus volume.

If you have a larger, robust single stage press, you may want to look into getting a set of Hornady Bushings to use for quick changing your dies out.
Not quite as fast as a dedicated turret press but once dies are set it is a simple matter of switching them out.

Otherwise Lyman, Redding, Lee, RCBS, etc... manufacture turret presses.
A turret press will 2x-4x your production output, and progressive is roughly 5x-12x.
So if you can make 50 rounds per hour in Single Stage, Turret will do 100-200 rounds per hour and Progressive is 250-600 rounds per hour.

How much you are willing to spend initially is a big concern as well...
Lee is the cheap guy on the block, but .223 is probably as large as you would ever be able to fit, and limits on powder variations suck for higher capacity cases (double disk)...

Plus if you already have a single stage with the standard shell holders, a turret will reuse those, whereas progressives will require new calibre (size) specific sheel plates.
 
of course, you can try to pick calibers that all use the same shellholder- like the 45 acp and the 308/06/8mm etc- that's a big help- then find an adequate powder measure- i have a dillon on my 223 b/c i didn't care to refill as often- sure it's funny lookin on a 1000, but it works- and there's NOTHING simpler to change calibers than a loadmaster- that's the press lee should have built instead of the 1000
and it will accomodate LONGER cases , or so they say " all including the magnum length"- however, i found that the longer cases ( 300 mag) take quite a bit of reefing, even on the dillon 550
 
Thanks guys.

Right now I'm doing .204, .223, 6.8, .243, .257 wby, .308, 30-06

and already have dies and shell holders for them and would prefer to still be able to use them TBH.

I think a turret is my best bet. Now then - the powder dispensers- are they all pretty universal? I assume spend the money and avoid Lee?
 
ok, if you go progressive, it's not a shellholder setup, but a shellPLATE
your 243, 308,and 06 all use the same plate- if you go for a turret( and i'm assuming you do far more rifle than pistol) it's pretty hard to beat a lee classic cast 4 holer- your 45 acp also shares the same shellplate- the reason i went with a dillon powder measure is so i don't have to "trip the lever"- think lee with a whole lot more capacity- there's probably others on the market that do the same thing for less money
in your situation, i would get the lee classic cast 4 holer, a bunch of extra turret and powder measures for each caliber- that way you don't have to mess around with measuring and setting once you get a load that performs for you- get a new caliber?- just get a turret and powder measure to match- they're not all that expensive
as far as avoiding lee goes, i have 3 1000s , a lee turret , and a lee loadmaster as well as a dillon 550
so you know what i'm gonna say- it's BUNK
i've been reloading for over 40 years, and it's the dillon that gets used the least- the 1000s are in 9mm, 45acp and 223( all on the same bench), the dillon is in 308, and the loadmaster is in 44 mag( different bench)
 
I have a couple progressives. And a couple turrets. And several single stages.

I only ever use the progressives for pistol ammo, and only when I'm doing more than about 300-500 rounds, otherwise the setup time is too much of an annoyance. I'll use the turret press for low-ish volumes of pistol ammo, and magnum pistol ammo when I'd weighing each charge.

Rifle ammo only ever gets loaded on the single stage, regardless of volumes. Single stage presses are sturdier and more robust for FL-sizing rifle brass, and even when neck-only sizing, I feel like less flex and play in my press is more conducive to producing accurate ammo.
 
I use my Lee turret press as a single stage press for rifle cartridges. It has no problem resizing 308, 300wsm, and 300wm. I also use it for handgun reloading, but confess it could be replaced by something faster, like a progressive.
 
after a doing up some .204 last night, The press isn't my problem.
it's my powder dispenser and scale.
I spent 3x longer trying to throw a charge and wait for the beam scale than I did switching dies.
 
and what are you using for a measure and scale?- and how "fussy" are you?- i can't get less than .2 grains either way with some powders and measures- on stuff like imr 7828 all it takes is a single granule to swing the scale .1 or so- if i were to "throw out" every pan that was less than perfect or .1 +/- i would spend a couple of days just throwing powder
charges
what i do is set up for .2 variance and let it go at that- don't even wait for the beam to settle- watch where the hi and the low are, and if it's between those marks, go for it
 
Turret press, powder-through expander die and an RCBS 1500 auto powder scale. It can measure out a charge in about as much time as it takes me to work a case through the stations, and I get nearly the same cycle rate as with a powder thrower; maybe 250 or so per hour. Which is pretty damned good for *measured* charges, all +/- <0.1gr. And when I'm loading magnum pistol cartridges right up near the top end, each .1 grain can dramatically affect pressure; with small charges right near max, I just plain don't trust volumetric measures.
 
t-star said:
and what are you using for a measure and scale?- and how "fussy" are you?- i can't get less than .2 grains either way with some powders and measures- on stuff like imr 7828 all it takes is a single granule to swing the scale .1 or so- if i were to "throw out" every pan that was less than perfect or .1 +/- i would spend a couple of days just throwing powder
charges
what i do is set up for .2 variance and let it go at that- don't even wait for the beam to settle- watch where the hi and the low are, and if it's between those marks, go for it
Click to expand...

I'm just using a lee perfect powder measure and the safety scale. - they were free from a friend who upgraded...and therein lies the problem.

not terribly fussy, but if I'm not going to be fussy, I'd like to be quick.
 
na1lb0hm said:
The time has come for me to have to upgrade my press for a little more production volume vs time.

I am on a budget, so not having to buy every accessory under the sun because I load multiple rifle calibers is a big plus.

Are there any advantages to turret preses or should I just not waste my time and move straight to a progressive?

Batches will prob be 100-250 in size, but I'd like to do it in a shorter amount of time.
Click to expand...

If you're near the US border and don't mind making a trip to the US to save some dough, Natchez sells the chargemaster combo cheaper than anywhere I've seen lately. h ttp://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?contentID=productDetail&prodID=RC98923&src=tpSlrHm

You can have it shipped cheaply to a ups store or equivalent and pick it up without huge import duties/brokerage fees.
I'll be getting one as soon as the wife isn't looking...
 
You can buy from Natchez and they will ship USPS and you will not pay any brokerage fees. As far as the Chargemaster combo goes, I couldn't load without it.
 
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