I went back to my Lee turret press

[abunaitoo]

I've tried different presses.
Lyman turret, RCBE RC, Lee Classic cast, Pacific "C", CH "O", and some others.
I find my old Lee, three hole, turret works best for me right now.
I only use it for loading. Sizing is done on the big CH "O" press.
Reason I went back to it, is the handle can be adjusted to be out of the way. Plus it's on the side.
Only thing that gets on the way sometimes, is the support pole.
Am I weird or what????

[jmort]

Makes sense to me. Lot of love for the Lee Turret presses.

[Dieselhorses]

Despite my progressive press being much faster, I still rely on the turret (3 hole) which I never got around to upgrading to a 4 hole. I feel more comfortable with it. I have to rotate it manually since I procrastinated on ordering more ratchet bushings. I can prime pretty fast, flare, seat and crimp with no headaches. I charge with an RCBS powder throw and then go to town with Lee!

You said the support pole gets in way, there should only be 3, which side is yours on in the front?

[Tom W.]

After I had a " tap & bang" Lee I bought a three hole Lee turret press. I had there or four extra turrets with different dies set up. It was a good press for loading pistol rounds. I foolishly traded it for a Lee O press, which I used until I bought a RCBS O press. I still use the rockchucker. I gave the Lee to a friend down in Mobile....

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I use my LCT to load pistol shells and my old Pacific Multi Power C to load rifle cartridges. They both work for me.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

[tazman]

I have thee Lee Classic Cast Turret press. I never had one of the three hole presses. I really like the fourth hole for an extra die. It allows more flexibility in seating/crimping options that way( I seat and crimp in separate steps).
I like the quick caliber change ability the extra turrets give me. I currently have turrets set up for 4 rifle calibers and 5 handgun calibers.
The press is very strong and large enough to handle the rifle loads with ease. I load my match rifle ammo on it.
It is capable of better speed than a single stage press and makes excellent ammunition.
I also have a turret set up with Lee boolit sizing dies.
My single stage press is currently used only for decapping military cases, pulling bullets, and swaging primer pockets.

[Dieselhorses]

I have thee Lee Classic Cast Turret press. I never had one of the three hole presses. I really like the fourth hole for an extra die. It allows more flexibility in seating/crimping options that way( I seat and crimp in separate steps).
I like the quick caliber change ability the extra turrets give me. I currently have turrets set up for 4 rifle calibers and 5 handgun calibers.
The press is very strong and large enough to handle the rifle loads with ease. I load my match rifle ammo on it.
It is capable of better speed than a single stage press and makes excellent ammunition.
I also have a turret set up with Lee boolit sizing dies.
My single stage press is currently used only for decapping military cases, pulling bullets, and swaging primer pockets.

Glad you mentioned "seat and crimp separately". For the life of me I don't see how you can do it simultaneously, unless you're really good.

[jmort]

It can be done easily and some prefer it. I like a seperate dedicated crimp die. There is no right or wrong, just a preference.

[dverna]

You might be weird....but so what!!!

Use the equipment you prefer and have confidence in.

BTW, I lusted for a Lyman All American when I was young and foolish. Never got one, but have no regrets. Still, for a low volume pistol reloader on a limited budget, or someone loading many different calibers the turret presses make sense. Not everyone needs or can afford a Dillon.

[MyFlatline]

My Hornady L-N-L sits idle and the Lee Turret see's most all the work. I do size on the LNL tho

[kmw1954]

I now have 4 presses. An RCBS JR3, Lee 3 hole turret, Lee Pro1000 and now a Lee Breech Lock Pro.

The 1st press I bought was the Pro1000 and I use it the most with no regrets, for me it was the best decision. Next was the JR3, I came across this for a price I couldn't refuse. I don't use it much but I'm glad to have it. Then came the Lee 3 hole turret with the Auto advance. I looked long and hard for this press. Found it on ebay, unused and still in the box. I paid as much for this press as I could have bought the same new 4 hole press for. Wasn't concerned about the price. I wanted this press to compliment the Lee Pro1000 I am using. They use the same turrets and the same plastic indexing parts. So now I use this 3 hole press to work up loads or to run small batches of 100 or less. This is the press that gets the second most use on my bench.

"seat and crimp separately". For the life of me I don't see how you can do it simultaneously,

It's really not that hard if you follow the directions. I own 5 pistol die sets and they were all sold as 3 die sets with seating and crimping all done with the same die. I also have one caliber pistol die set that has a 4th crimp die and I only purchased that to remedy a finicky gun, everything else get loaded with 3 dies with seating and crimping at the same time..

[tazman]

Glad you mentioned "seat and crimp separately". For the life of me I don't see how you can do it simultaneously, unless you're really good.

Actually, if you are doing things according to the books, all your cases are exactly the same length so crimping while seating would be fairly simple. I am too lazy to go through all my brass and trim each piece to the same length, so I seat and crimp in separate steps to avoid getting a thin sliver of lead in front of the case on a slightly long case. It saves me time and aggravation.

[kmw1954]

tazman I'm now lost and confused. Unless you are adjusting the die each time how does crimping in a separate step prevent over crimping on brass that hasn't all been trimmed? Can honestly say that I have never really noticed shaved lead or plating but then I can't say I've ever really looked for it either. Now I'll have to pay attention to that.

[tazman]

Let me try to be more clear. This is for taper crimp.
I seat the boolit to the proper OAL in the third station.
All the fourth station does is crimp the case mouth. I get some differences in crimp because of the difference in the length of the case. What I don't have trouble with is scraping a thin sliver of lead off the side of the boolit since the boolit isn't moving when the crimp is applied as it would be when doing a seating and crimp in a single operation if the case is a bit long.
The differences in crimp don't seem to be effecting the accuracy of the rounds produced this way. Or it may simply be I am not a good enough shot to tell that I have a problem. Either way, it works for me.
When I shoot my ammunition from a bench rest, the groups are consistent and have no significant flyers(other than the ones I cause with poor shooting technique).
Since I don't do any long range shooting with handguns, I don't worry about it.
Roll crimp is a different animal, and can be done either in one operation or in separate operations due to the crimp groove. The crimp groove has removed the lead you would normally scrape off the side of the boolit while applying the crimp if the groove was not there.

[kmw1954]

So how much of a case length difference does one need to see this?

Back when I got my 45acp Witness and started loading for it I was having all sorts of problems with my handloads in this gun. I was using the std. Lee Carbide 3 die pistol set dies and had been loading with those dies for a Springfield XD w/o any problems. One of the 1st things I found for this new gun was all loads had to be .010" shorter in length than what I was load or they would hit the rifling. I was still getting cycling and chambering problems and though some of it was the crimp. At one point I pushed the crimp so tight it looked like a revolver roll crimp. Still didn't see it shaving copper from the plating. I even pulled a couple of these and seen the heavy line in the plating from the crimp. With this gun I also tried seating and then crimping which didn't make any difference in function.

I'm not arguing that this doesn't happen, only that I haven't seen it. Also not advocating bullet seating should be done one way or the other only what I've been doing. 3 die sets were made to seat and crimp at the same time. At least with the Lee and RCBS dies I've used. If someone else feels that it should be done separately then by all means do it that way.

[powwowell]

I started reloading with the Lee Classic Turret press. I've since had a Pro 1000, and sold it. Got a Hornady LNL and now have it stored in the closet. Works good, but more press than I need. Then I got a used Dillon Square Deal. Having some issues with worn parts, but Dillon's warranty is as good as claimed. Have caliber changes for 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 Colt and .45 ACP. I have replaced enough parts that I can now load 9mm and .45 Colt. COL is not as consistent as I expected for .45 Colt.

Ain't had any problems with the LCT! Still on my bench. I only load pistol calibers . . . .380 ACP, 9mm, .45 Colt, .45 ACP, .38 Special and .357 Magnum. Have turrets, dies and powder throwers for all six. It just works as expected.

[tazman]

You are very unlikely to scrape a sliver of brass off a plated boolit. I have only seen it happen to lead boolits when the boolit was still moving when the crimp was tightened at the end. It only happens when the case is longer than what the crimp is set for. How much it would take, I have no idea. Rifle cartridges are a whole other thing.
My fourth stage has a Lee factory crimp die in it. For whatever reason, the FCD that I have does not size the boolits down. The carbide ring barely kisses the sides of the case. The crimp part of the die only works on the very end of the case and can be adjusted. I crimp fairly heavy with it. With the longer cases it crimps a bit more than the short ones. With this system, there is no scraping the sides of the boolits.
As I said in an earlier post, I do it this way because I am too lazy to go through all my brass and trim each piece to exactly the same length. If you trim everything the same, you should never see the sliver of lead at the crimp if your dies are adjusted correctly.
Something you will find about pistol brass is that it gets shorter with repeated loadings instead of longer like rifle brass does. I am not certain how long it takes but it can be significant if the cases last long enough. There was an individual on this site that did a test on this very thing not too long ago. Here is a link to the test.
http://www.massreloading.com/loading45ACP.html
Because of this, you don't want to trim your brass too short to begin with or you will be throwing a lot of them away before too long for being too short. Of course this depends on how picky you are about case length. I am not very picky at all. I want function with decent accuracy. I am not a good enough shot to appreciate the accuracy of match pistol ammunition. I have proven this beyond a doubt by buying and shooting top quality match ammunition and testing it against my own reloads in shooting sessions, in several different handguns, over a period of weeks so the good days and bad days even out. My scores and group sizes were essentially the same with both kinds of ammo.

[kmw1954]

tazman, thanks for the discussion, I understand everything you've explained. Don't follow that line of thinking but I understand it.

I use a wide assortment of different head stamps but I do sort them just for the consistency or differing wall thickness and primer pocket size. I don't trim my pistol case lengths either. I also feel there must be a reason, other than just cost economics, why almost all pistol die sets only come with 3 dies and that they have been that way for as long as I can remember. My 1st set of dies back in the 1980's, RCBS 357 pistol, came as a 3 die set just as they do today.

First die has always been a depriming and sizing die, the second was a flare or the Lee Flare /powder thru die, third was the seating and crimping die. Which is just the way I have always used them. It's the way they were designed to be used and who am I to go against the designer?

But I too am a lazy reloader, which is why I use a Pro 1000 press even though I could use a turret or even a single stage press. Many less strokes involved with a progressive press. I don't use the Pro1000 for speed because the way I do it and the constant checks I do I am only producing about 150 rounds per hour on it. The Pro1000 also only has 3 die stations in the turret. One for each die. Thinking about it the Dillon SDB really only has 3 dies also because it uses a separate station for the powder drop so it really is much the same as the Pro1000

I have tried the seating/crimping in separate steps and didn't see any advantage to it. Didn't increase my consistency or my accuracy in any of the pistol I load for. But again that is just my own personal experience.

[tazman]

Use what works for you. What I do works for me so that is what I do.

[kmw1954]

You bet! That's part of the beauty of this hobby. We can tailor it to fit our own needs.

Right now I really need more time to unload some. Haven't been out to shoot since the beginning of July!

[TNsailorman]

I have climbed many a mountain seeking the one perfect load (you know, the one tht works in all pistols or rifles) and have not found it yet. Along the way I have encountered more than a few short comings in some of my techniques and even a few in my equipment. What I have come to believe is the following statement. There is NO perfect piece of equipment on the market as yet and I have found no perfect all around load. I am getting too old to chase dreams now (78 years old and 58+ years reloading), so I am gradually going back to basics and basic equipment. I started out loading on a Lee Loader in 1962 after getting out of the Navy and am gradually headed back to that now. I say, buy what equipment is comfortable to you and stick with it. Being familiar with your equipment brings skill and a certain comfort in ones mind. Experimenting with loads is a good thing as long as you don't get too carried away with it. When you find a good accurate load for the firearm you are working with, stay with it. New is not always better, just different. My take on it anyway, james

[tazman]

You bet! That's part of the beauty of this hobby. We can tailor it to fit our own needs.

Right now I really need more time to unload some. Haven't been out to shoot since the beginning of July!

You must be suffering from serious withdrawal symptoms! You need to take care of that right away. Your realize you could go blind from that?

[kmw1954]

You must be suffering from serious withdrawal symptoms!

Absolutely. We went to a Meet and Greet shoot with some members of another forum in July and haven't shot since. Partly because my best shootin partner just had her knee replaced about 10 weeks ago. Recovery is going well and she's mentioned getting out to the range. I've got a ton of loaded 45acp that hasn't been tested yet.

TNsailorman, completely agree. No such thing as Perfect! The presses are nothing more than a tool to do a job. No tool does every job Perfectly. Every pistol caliber I own there are at least 2 samples of that caliber. I try to find a load that works best in both. Is it Perfect for either one? No, but it's pretty close and I can shoot it in either gun reliably and accurately.

[tazman]

I am not about to say all my ammunition will work in any 9mm. I have ammunition at home that only part of my 9mm collection will accept. Usually this is due to boolit diameter but there are a couple of examples where OAL is the difference.
I have other ammunition that will work well in all of them. It may not be the best in that particular pistol, but it will work well and reliably.
I have too many barrels with different diameters to ever have one boolit load be the best in everything.

[abunaitoo]

"You said the support pole gets in way, there should only be 3, which side is yours on in the front? "
It's not a real problem.
Sometimes when I load I use two hands.
Left hand to put the case in. Right hand to place the boolet in.

[tazman]

"You said the support pole gets in way, there should only be 3, which side is yours on in the front? "
It's not a real problem.
Sometimes when I load I use two hands.
Left hand to put the case in. Right hand to place the boolet in.

Sounds like you are using the press in single stage mode. I can see how the issue you state can take place.
When I use mine in single stage mode, I put the case in with my left hand, use pressure on the handle to hold the case in place in the shellholder, and place the boolit with my left hand.
Not saying what I do is better, it is just how I operate the thing.

[flashhole]

I have two Lee Classic Turret presses. Love them. One is on the main bench. The other I take to the range for load development. Simple matter of swapping out turrets between presses when everything is set up.

Sold my Redding Model 25 Turret press. Couldn't warm up to the backward slant. Who decided that was a good design? Stupid if you ask me.

[dragon813gt]

There are two presses I use all the time. Well honestly I don’t have much time to reload anymore but the two presses I use when I do are a LCT and a 550B. I can load everything on the 550 but I only use it for large runs. The LCT is faster and easier to setup. The only thing I don’t like doing on it is full length resizing or rifle cases. It’s more than capable but I prefer to use a single stage for this.

I’m sort of invested in the LCT
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4422/36458639792_430bee4e09_b.jpg

[abunaitoo]

Sounds like you are using the press in single stage mode. I can see how the issue you state can take place.
When I use mine in single stage mode, I put the case in with my left hand, use pressure on the handle to hold the case in place in the shellholder, and place the boolit with my left hand.
Not saying what I do is better, it is just how I operate the thing.

Yes, single stage.
More than enough room to do rifle as a single stage.
I have the shells on the left side, and the boolets on the right side.
I thought the Lyman turret would work better because it's open.
But the handle is in the middle, and the throw is longer than the Lee.
I just didn't like it.
Maybe if it were mounted on a loading table it would work better.
I have it on a portable table. Not much room and it's low.

[JeepHammer]

I've been reloading for 45+ years, owned every color & type at one time or another...

This is my loading bench station, (case processing done elsewhere)

http://i1298.photobucket.com/albums/ag58/JeepHammer1/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsfdtjlssm.jpg (http://s1298.photobucket.com/user/JeepHammer1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsfdtjlssm.jpg.html)

I HATE hip & elbow busting handles,and getting the presses inset keeps them from cantilevering the bench.

I do have my old Rock Chucker for bench rifle rounds, but virtually everything gets loaded on either the Dillon or Lee manual 'Turret' press (even though it's actually a tool head press, not a turret) loads pretty good, and it makes for instant teardown & tooling press, no 'Mystery' rounds on my bench!
('Mystery' Rounds being one of my pet peeves! :( )

[tazman]

I like that inset press idea. I have never thought of that. It should work as you suggest.
What I did was build mine extra heavy so the bench would not move. It still wiggles slightly but it doesn't cause a problem.

[Petander]

I bolted an old Lee 1000 to my (heavy) computer desk for temporary 9mm test load purposes last spring.

It's still there,I temporarily use it every week.

229290

[ReloaderEd]

Hey if it works and you get good reloads, go for it.

[kmw1954]

I bolted an old Lee 1000 to my (heavy) computer desk for temporary 9mm test load purposes last spring.

It's still there,I temporarily use it every week.

229290

Do those 9mm temporarily stay loaded too?
I am temporarily caught up with my reloading at the moment.

[kernal_panic]

I started reloading with the Lee Classic Turret press. I've since had a Pro 1000, and sold it. Got a Hornady LNL and now have it stored in the closet. Works good, but more press than I need. Then I got a used Dillon Square Deal. Having some issues with worn parts, but Dillon's warranty is as good as claimed. Have caliber changes for 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 Colt and .45 ACP. I have replaced enough parts that I can now load 9mm and .45 Colt. COL is not as consistent as I expected for .45 Colt.

Ain't had any problems with the LCT! Still on my bench. I only load pistol calibers . . . .380 ACP, 9mm, .45 Colt, .45 ACP, .38 Special and .357 Magnum. Have turrets, dies and powder throwers for all six. It just works as expected.
I bought my LCT press the summer they came out in 2005. other presses have come and gone, but the LCT stays.

[RogerDat]

The LCT 4 hole in single stage mode is great for larger rifle loading, drop the index rod in and can smoothly crank out lots of smaller rifle rounds or pistol round. It just works.

I do sizing on the LCT before trimming on a single stage. I put the sizing dies on single disk so I can size before trim. Using the freed up hole in the 4 hole disk for NOE expander plugs to control neck tension.

Singe stage sees action for pocket swaging, push through sizer, and Lee trim dies. I would sort of like to replace my small C press with a Lee Classic O press. Figure nothing I wouldn't be able to do between the two except swage form bullets. Which I don't anticipate doing.

[tazman]

The LCT 4 hole in single stage mode is great for larger rifle loading, drop the index rod in and can smoothly crank out lots of smaller rifle rounds or pistol round. It just works.

I do sizing on the LCT before trimming on a single stage. I put the sizing dies on single disk so I can size before trim. Using the freed up hole in the 4 hole disk for NOE expander plugs to control neck tension.

Singe stage sees action for pocket swaging, push through sizer, and Lee trim dies. I would sort of like to replace my small C press with a Lee Classic O press. Figure nothing I wouldn't be able to do between the two except swage form bullets. Which I don't anticipate doing.

I agree with everything except the push through sizer. I have those on a spare turret also. I use this press for everything except primer pocket swaging, case trimming, and bullet pulling

[Ole Joe Clarke]

I have a solid core door, (32" x 80") as a table top, and I have various presses and tools mounted on 3/4" x 12" x 12" cabinet grade plywood. Since I don't change out much, it works for me.

Have a blessed day,

Leon