RL 450 expensive parts/compared to Lee's 4hole turret

[georgeld]

Howdy:
A few months ago I bought an old rusted up RL450 from a member on A/R cheap enough I thought. All I got was the press, and .45 acp disk. The parts all polished up very well.

Have been sending $30-80 a month for more parts ever since. Looks like now I need to buy a powder measure from scratch for another $80. I'm about spent out on this thing and haven't used it once yet because it's not complete yet and it's not far from costing me what a new 550 would have. Do wish I'd known.

A buddy just gave me a Lee 3 hole turret & 2 extra disks, I've read they have a 4 hole upgrade for about $20, plus whatever the twist rod costs will be extra. They haven't replied to my two e'mails in over a week.

Just looking this over after taking it apart to clean the dried up grease out so it'll work freely. I'm impressed with it being so simple and well made. To change calibers just needs a disk, dies, & shell holder. Don't cost $60 for the change over kits plus the dies too.

What's your experience's with Lee's 3 & 4 hole Turrets??

Thanks much,

[Lloyd Smale]

there not near as well made as your 450 but are about the best thing lee makes.

[arkypete]

George
I've not used a Lee machine but I've used other Lee products. Stick with the Dillon.
I own and use four Dillon machines, a 300, the very first machine they made, two, no make that three Square Deals, and a 650. So actually I have five of the machines.
Once setup they just keep popping out the loaded rounds. The Square Deal that I set for 357 20 years ago has not been changed and just keeps working.
If you were buying an auto, which would be the better deal, a Yugo that runs or a Ford 250 that needs help getting it up and going?
Jim

[sundog]

I have 2 Lee Turrets, a 3 and a 4-holer. They work good. If I were loading volume on a monthly basis I would have a Dillon. The weak link in the Lee is the nylon bushing that makes the auto index work. Keep spares on hand. My 4-holer started life as a 3-holer. The conversion was quite easy. Changing turrets is quick and easy, and mostly no adjustments are needed from session to session. The powder through dies and micro adjuster are the bees knees. I don't care for the priming system, so I size on single stage, and prime by hand. My turrets are then set up with separate seat and crimp stations, as the fls station is not needed. sundog

[MT Gianni]

They work great especially if you want to reload less than 250 cartridges a year per caliber. You can set up your dies and load and then set up for something else that you shoot every month. I do not think that they are the best choice for 2000 rds a month of the same caliber but for most small batches they are great. Gianni.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

A buddy of mine owns an RL450B model. He didn't pay a lot for it back when and states he can load "about 200 rounds/hour" with it. I own a Lee Classic Cast turret press four hole turret. I can load between 200-300 rounds/hour depending on how hard I want to work.

I've used both and find the Lee to be a much easier press to load on. I don't know which 450 you have, but a 450 ain't a 550 for sure.

While the Lee aluminum turret isn't as nice as the Classic cast, it's not a bad press at all and provides a good bit of the load rate of the classic turret, if you add a Lee Safety Prime (a fairly new device put out by Lee, not the priming system the Lee's used to have) and a Pro Auto Disk powder measure along with Lee die sets. In this set up you get a pretty decent, easy to use priming system and with the Lee dies, you get automatic advance, powder through expansion and cast activated powder drop, both of which are necessary for anything like reasonable production. If I'm remembering right, I've read the weakness with the older turrets was the plastics of the automatic index. The newer classic I have doesn't seem to have any problems with the plastics I've seen to date. Perhaps they've changed the design some.

I'm willing to bet if you set that 3-hole turret up as a 4-hole turret and add the items I described, you could easily get 200 rounds/hour production out of it. You can get the 4-hole conversion from Midwayusa.com.

Regards,

Dave

[Sundogg1911]

I have 3 Dillon Progressives, but I like the Lee Turrets too! They're great for little $$$. I did have a Lee Pro 1000 that I had nothing but trouble with. (Mostly with priming) But the Lee 3 hole Turret I had worked well. I ended up giving it to a friend after I got the 2nd and 3rd Dillons from an estate sale . Now i'm kickin' myself for getting rid of it. It would have made a nice press to keep at camp. Now I keep a little Lee single stage "C" press there, and it's fine for that application.
(mostly case prep)

[Dale53]

I have a Dillon 550B and love it. However, I have used a Lee 3 hole turret for many years with excellent results. I, a few months ago, upgraded to a four hole turret set up. I have also purchased the new Lee Auto Prime set up. I use the Lee Pro Auto Disk Powder Measure. I work up new loads on the Lee. It takes only SECONDS to change calibers (the Dillon takes 15-20 minutes if you have to change primer sizes).

So, typically, I work up new loads with the Lee Turret. When I am satisfied that the new load will work for me, then I run a 1000 or so on the Dillon.

I also use several Lee Auto Disk Poweder measures on my Dillon (as well as use the Dillon on several different calibers). The Lee powder measure (be sure and get the Pro version) can be bought from F&M and Midway for less than thirty dollars. You WILL need the extension die on the Dillon to raise the powder measure above the other dies ($7.00 or so).

By using these fairly inexpensive but very good powder measures, I can have one on each of my major pistol calibers. The Dillons work fine but are expensive.

The Lee Turret and associated equipment is actually quite well thought out. It DOES sometimes require a bit of "fiddling" to get things working at top efficiency. Since I have that with most anything that I buy, I just DO it:-D.

Just a few thoughts on the thread...

Dale53

[mike in co]

why are you spending money on the dillon ???
it has a life time no bs warrantee.......
for less than you have spent on parts you could have dillon do the upgrade to a 550.
there is not that big of a difference in price of the tool heads/turrets if you compare the 4 hole lee to the dillon.
i get by the large prime small primer change out by simply having one dillon in each.

( i have two dillon 550's and a 3hole lee turret......i have a ton of tool heads/turrets for all three)

[mooman76]

I bought a Lee 3 hole turret used and like it allot. It's so simple to switch turrets to do another project even if you are still in the middle of a current one. I took the spindle out and just use it is a single stage but it's still faster than a single stage changing over.

[DLCTEX]

I still use my Lee three hole turret a lot, even after getting the Classic Cast Turret. As has been stated keep spare nylon bushings on hand, but the life of these is extended greatly if the moving parts are kept lubricated. I second using the Lee auto disc measure with your Dillon. DALE

[TAWILDCATT]

I have 2 lee 1000s 2 /3 hole turrets and 1- 4 hole turret and 5 lee powder measures/standard. I removed the center rod and use as single stage.I can load for 15 cal.I also use pacific/rcbs/lyman measures.I've had most for 30+yrs except the lees.my molds are mostly Lee now with lyman/ideal/modern bond. I enjoy these posts.I guess I've lived so long with little money that it amazes me to read of the moneys spent on tools. oh well