single stage or turret? Not even sure what a turret press actually does differently?

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JR Hartman

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So I want to get it going. I am going to be primarily loading for 7.5x55 Swiss and 8mm Mauser but I will do some .225/5.56 as well, and probably eventually .45acp.

I am not going to do a progressive right now due to cost and complexity. I have lots of pistol ammo and plenty of .223 as well, so its going to be low bolt action rifle rounds for now.

I was just going to get a quality single stage press and get going, but then I came across a turret press? Not sure what it does exactly? It costs more than a single stage, but quite a bit less than a progressive. What does it do better than a single stage? What does it do less well than a progressive? And why?

Gahh, this is getting annoying. I have wanted to get going for a while but I am so confused.

thank you. Again.
 
A turret press in between a single stage and a progressive . a turret press has all the dies mounted in the turret in the appropriate order .you work at completing one cartridge at a time . single stage you do step 1 for all cartridges then repeat for step 2 in the same manner then step 3 and so on until your done .a progressive press once all the stations are full will produce a cartridge with each cycle of handle .
 
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My t7 turret was the best reloading buy ever.

Set ur dies in and never have to change.

Get a second turrets head for another two calibers.
 
basically higher production rate. for non-precision shooting, the more you make per hour, the lower your cost will be. so, you either will save more money(considering the labor), or shoot much more than you normally would want to spend on ammo. with higher production rate, you might get slightly different load from cartridge to cartridge which in turn affects accuracy in long range shooting.


JR Hartman said:
So I want to get it going. I am going to be primarily loading for 7.5x55 Swiss and 8mm Mauser but I will do some .225/5.56 as well, and probably eventually .45acp.

I am not going to do a progressive right now due to cost and complexity. I have lots of pistol ammo and plenty of .223 as well, so its going to be low bolt action rifle rounds for now.

I was just going to get a quality single stage press and get going, but then I came across a turret press? Not sure what it does exactly? It costs more than a single stage, but quite a bit less than a progressive. What does it do better than a single stage? What does it do less well than a progressive? And why?

Gahh, this is getting annoying. I have wanted to get going for a while but I am so confused.

thank you. Again.
Click to expand...
 
JR Hartman said:
I am going to be primarily loading for 7.5x55 Swiss and 8mm Mauser but I will do some .225/5.56 as well, and probably eventually .45acp.
Click to expand...

A turret press runs about twice the production rate of a single stage. I really like my Lee Turret for handgun cartridges. I wouldn't recommend it for rifle calibers; the play in the turret can't be good for accuracy and the powder measure would have to be modified to dump larger quantities.

For where you want to start, I would vote single stage.
 
I would get a Dillon 550 if you eventually want to reload .45 ACP. It is still a fairly simple machine, but with better output than a turret press.
 
I have a very old cast iron turret press. It works very well. If you insist of having the head tension set so that it is easy to turn, there can be some erratic run out on your finished cartridges. I torque the center bolt down once the die I want to use is in place so there isn't any movement. I load at least 25 different cartridges on this press and the run out is as good as the RCBS Rock Chuckers right beside it and the RCBS Jr press I have on my loading table. Common sense and care are very important when hand loading. Consistency is everything. Repeatability with every cartridge is mandatory for good accurate ammo.

I mostly use my turret press for 30M1/223rem/7.62x39. I have loaded for every firearm I own on it though.

IMHO it really isn't any faster or even more convenient than a regular single stage because after all is said and done, it is a single stage with extra die storage capacity. You should just get a top of the line cast steel single stage like a RCBS Rock Chucker or something similar. Start out with the best and all should be well and you won't waste your money by later upgrading from the cast aluminum presses.

The fellows above advocating presses like the Dillon for pistol cartridges and even certain rifle cartridges for semi auto rifles are correct. Hand loading can get to be tedious after the first thousand rounds.
 
I would spend some time on youtube looking at some of the very good reloading vids. Guys like Jerry M. and Hickock 45 plus mnany others spell it out for guys with no experience but want to get into reloading. Better yet is find a local that reloads and can show you the ins and outs of different presses. I have started a few guys out myself, personaly i've been using a single stage for over 40 years but never got into a lot of handgun or semi auto stuff. I'm setting up a progressive for 223 now, but find that cheap norinco ammo is the answer right now till i build up a supply of brass.
 
The main advantage of the turret press is speed. Not as fast as progressive bit much faster than single stage. I started with a single for..223 and. 308 but when I started shooting 9mm and 45acp it was really slowed me down. I reloaded about 1000 rounds a month and the turret is about 3-4 times faster due to the fact that that you eliminate the extra handling of the cases in and out of the shell holder for every stage. I use a 4-hole turret and go from decapping to factory crimp in four pulls with only touching the case twice. I still use the single stage for my low volume rifle reloads.
 
I bought the Lee Classic Cast Turret Press Kit from Budgetshootersupply.ca ( by far the cheapest price around). I load 45-70 and 300win on this press and it works awesome. As for play in the press, ya there is some for sure but I haven't seen any negative impacts on the rounds I make. The main reason I went with the turret over a single was having all my dies set up on their own turret, makes changing from one cal. to the next very easy.
 
Most turret press's just offer you the ability to leave more then 1 die set up at a time. If you are loading small batches this can be a real time saver. The hornady lock and load system on a single stage will do much the same thing for you. If you are doing batches of 50-100, and processing as batches it won't be as time saving.

A turret press like the lee that auto indexes will save you quite a bit of time. I don't have one, but I know a few with them, and they say they can produce about 200 rounds an hour of pistol ammo with them. That said I don't believe they use them for rifle ammo.

If you buy a non index turret press such as the redding t7 or rcbs turret I don't think having a single stage press as well is nearly as important, as a non index turret can pretty much do anything a single stage can do.

My recommendation would be a redding t7, as even if you go progressive it's nice to have a single stage/turret around.

I have a dillon 650 and a dillon 1050 and I am upgrading my RCBS Rockchucker to a Redding T7 as soon as I can get to town to pick it up.
 
I got the Lee Classic Cast turret as well and so far works great. I load pistol only.

If you want to use it as a single stage only, all you have to do is to remove the indexing rod, very simple.
 
bearhunter said:
I torque the center bolt down once the die I want to use is in place so there isn't any movement...IMHO it really isn't any faster or even more convenient than a regular single stage because after all is said and done, it is a single stage with extra die storage capacity.
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This illustrates a point that we should make explicit to the original poster: there are two ways to run a turret press, and the two methods provide very different results.

The thing all turrets have in common is that your whole die set for a caliber sits installed and fully adjusted in the replaceable turret. Now you have two choices:

- You can use it as bearhunter has described. Move one die into position and lock it there. Run all your cases through that station. Then loosen the bolt, rotate the next die into place, and run all your cases through that die. This method will give you almost all the rigidity of a single stage, with a great convenience of having the whole die set installed into the press with one bolt, and a slight time savings of not having to screw dies in and out of the press and get them adjusted. Emphasis on slight.

- You can use it as a single cartridge progressive. Put a case in the holder, run it through the first die, then rotate the turret and run the case through the second die, then the third, and a fourth if necessary. Remove the finished cartridge and start again. This will actually save a lot of time, since if you closely analyze the time used in operating a single stage you will see that a surprisingly large percentage is lost in case handling, i.e. picking up the case, inserting it into the case holder, removing it and replacing it in the loading block. Using a turret in this manner will double or triple your productivity.

The Lee is definitely intended to be used in the latter fashion. From what I remember of the Lyman, it was really only practical to use it in the first manner. I have no experience with any other designs.
 
I have the Lyman T-Mag, I use it for precision rifle reloading quite successfully. I have multiple turrets so I never remove the dies. Makes like a lot easier. Ammo loaded on this press shoots sub 1/2 minute in several different calibers. I run batches up to 100 rounds, but often less when working up loads. Agree pretty much 100% with bearhunter.
 
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