Lee Classic Turrent

[Iwsbull]

It has probably been posted on before but here are my first impressions on it.
I received it this week with the other pieces I ordered. After prep and mounting it adjusting the dies and auto drum it was time to get to work or play. The primer system on it is a lot better than it used to be and the auto drum was spot on with the powder drop after drop. I did not have to add a riser to the auto drum as many recommend or have had to do. I opted to go with 3 stations instead of splitting up the crimp and put a powder cop in the empty hole for peace of mind. I know it has nothing on the progressive presses as far as volume but I can easily crank out over 100 rounds in an hour and that is with me only having loaded about 300 rounds so far. Will say the quick change turrets are sweet.Set it up and set it aside til you need it again and swap to the next caliber in a minute or less.
With Midways birthday discount the press was only a hundred dollar bill. Turrents are cheap and the only real cost is if you decide to put an auto drum on each turrent.
Almost forgot to mention the primers are escorted from the premises much better than the earlier models that spit them out like a 10 year old with a mouthful of watermelon seeds.
For my money and needs it fits the niche just about right. I am loading for my 44 magnum so between 1-200 rounds is about all I need a Saturday.
All in all if you don’t need the volume of a progressive press this one is simple, safe and almost idiot proof (except for the newer versions 2.1 idiot and above).

[poppy42]

I have the same setup, except I have a autodisk and love it!

[kmw1954]

Glad to hear that you are enjoying that new press. It should serve you well for a long time.

[Three44s]

I am really sold on the Lee Classic Cast Turret press as well. My only reservation that applies to all turret presses is bullet seating alignment in rifle rounds and in particular varmint rounds.

While my goal is to acquire a Forester Coax some day for my minute of fly shooters, I use a Redding Boss in the meantime.

The thing I notice with turret presses is that there is always a difference between the positioning of the turret at rest and then it’s location under pressure from an advancing casing entering a die. With a fly shooter the small bullet and case neck are too little resistance to cause the turret on the far side away from the bullet seating die to rise and level up before a now (about to be) slightly misaligned bullet gets seated.

In other words, the station with the active seater die rises at once due to the direct pressure posed by the bullet entering the case mouth but the leveling of the turret (the far side away from the seating die) occurs after the bullet has started.

A full load of dies in the turret would likely add to the delay of the turret itself leveling off as well.

I use a cartridge spinner on my “fussy” rifle rounds and find that bullet alignment is most influenced just as the bullet just starts into the case mouth. Even with my best single stage press (my aforementioned Redding Boss) and use of my best seater die I own (the Hornady New Dimension) I measure less runout using a trick I picked up many years ago from the Rick Jameson column in Shooting Times.

In that article Jameson stressed the importance of seating bullets for maximum alignment by starting the bullet and seating it home through two or three partial pushes while rotating the case in steps until one runs out of movement of the bullet.

Interestingly but not surprisingly I find with my dial indicator is that a bullet is not only seated in better alignment with the full support from a die like Hornady’s New Dimension and using the Jameson technique but furthermore, it is also very much influenced by starting the bullet ever so slightly, rotating the case and barely started bullet and just kissing the bullet and rotating the case and kissing the bullet once more ... rotate, kiss, rotate and kiss.

Each such kiss amounts to seating the bullet just a bit deeper but not significantly (we are talking a few thou deeper at each push here) and each rotation amounts to a quarter or a third of 360 degrees of rotation. I find the least amount of bullet movement deeper into the case mouth at each push the better. If your seating die seater punch does not fit your bullet nose well then you have a problem however (it may be counter productive with so many seating pushes in that situation).

One can scoff at the turret not being level as the bullet enters the case mouth of cartridges we like to fuss with (varmint calibers or larger long range rifle rounds) but for my money I stick with my single stages there.

Best regards

Three44s

[sghart3578]

I love my Classic Turret press. I load for several calibers and I have dedicated turrets for all of them.

In my long range Savage model 12 I use a Lee Classic Cast single stage. I shoot a much lower volume of these rounds so a single stage works.

You made a great choice with your Classic Turret.

[Iwsbull]

I think so. It is so much faster than a single stage freeing up more time for casting and powder coating and of course use of said product. My best friend was impressed by it enough that he plans to acquire one as well. About the only thing we load for is 44, 45 and a couple hunting rifles and it will more than suffice for our needs. It also makes it very hard to mess up and double charge a round especially with the powder cop.

[Three44s]

Iwsbull,

You will be in great shape then!

Best regards

Three44s

[onelight]

I hope you enjoy yours as much as I do mine , the classic cast is my favorite press.
Really quick to set up and simple to operate .

[BigBore45]

Good all around press. Best press for a new loader imo. I love mine and still use it for lower volume rounds. Also for all my cast rifle loading.

[T_McD]

It the best all around press IMO. Not the best ever, but it will do 99% of what the average reloader needs.

[Iwsbull]

That is kinda the idea I had about it. Great for my needs as a weekend shooter and hunter, simple , quick and easy set up and swap. If I were a fly shooter maybe not so much but I just like making a lot of noise and having fun with the steel targets and maybe a hog or deer on occasion if I get lucky. The cheap doesn’t hurt either.

[abunaitoo]

I still use my old Lee three hold turret.
If I could find a Classic Cast Turret cheap, I'm try it.
I do have a Classic Cast Press.
Got it to use to resize, form cases.
Broke the part that holds the handle three times.
Good press, but not strong enough for what I need.

[kmw1954]

My bench at any one time looks like this because I have a steel plate drilled to accept the different presses and each one of these presses has a specific purpose; Lee 3 hole turret, Lee Pro1000, Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro and an RCBS JR3.

All I ever load are pistol rounds and most everything is loaded using plain old everyday carbide 3 die sets. Only one round has a 4 die set and that is the reason for the ABLP.