So what about a short stroke Lee Classic Turret Press?

[Cosmic_Charlie]

For pistols and AR length cartridges? If you shortened the three risers supporting the turret head along with the top of the index rod and ram I think it would work well. You would still have that compound leverage at the top of the ram travel but you could adjust the handle so it was roughly horizontal and keep the same nearly vertical handle position while seating a primer. The press would be much less taxing to use then.

Lee could make these changes easily. Doing it at home would require removing the shell holder portion of the ram which looks to be held in place by a small roll pin. Then the top of the ram would have to be shortened and machined to accept the shell holder again. That would be somewhat challenging. We have short action rifles, why not a short action press?

[Winger Ed.]

why not a short action press?

I don't think there would be much of a market for them.

After you had one-- that cost the same as the regular ones, there'd be a lot of buyer's remorse going on
when someone wanted to reload longer cases, and had to buy a second press.

Then, there's already plenty of people who would pass on it because they know they'll want one
that can load long action cases and don't want to buy two presses.

For a manufacturer of anything they have a threshold of how many of something they need to make for it to be profitable,
and for it to be a sustainable item worth keeping in production as opposed to making something else that is more profitable.

[William Yanda]

Thinking out loud here, would it be possible to get similar results by limiting the travel of the arm? Add a new part instead of modifying the ram and the bolts that support the top.

[Winger Ed.]

Add a new part instead of modifying the ram and the bolts that support the top.

It might get rather involved for progressives, but for the ram on a single stage-
some sort of adapter thing to space up or raise the shell holder might be practical.

Or, offer a longer ram that sticks up higher then the standard one.

[Bmi48219]

Don’t know f it would help but Hornady make a Universal Extended Shellholder that looks like it adds an inch & 1/2 to the ram length. Actually thought about getting one myself.

[frkelly74]

There was the cute little press that Lyman had with a turret. It was small and handy and just right for 45 and 38 loading . And discontinued, but you can still find them. I think some were threaded for the 7/8x14 thread.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

When the handle is nearing all the way down there is mechanical advantage with the linkages ( more handle movement, less ram movement ). This comes into play when you are sizing cases and also keeps collision between the shell holder and die light. As for people not wanting to use a different press for rifle calibers, lots of people already do that by choice. Not suggesting Lee stop making the original classic turret, only adding one aimed at pistol and AR reloaders.

You could easily do it yourself without shortening the ram but you would lose that nice feel at the top of the ram stroke. Many users report taking the indexing rod out and rotating the turret by hand and I 'd bet they do this so they don't have to lower the ram all the way to rotate the turret. There is a heck of a lot of arm movement when reloading pistol cases. Shortening that up would make a nice ergonomic improvement.

[Harter66]

I've mused about such a beast ,
It needs to go full stroke to the cam over stop , but the full leverage of say a Partner wouldn't be needed . A simple 2/3 scale of the of the throw to get a 2" throw vs the 3.5" standard .

Lee is the only one that has an adjustable handle that would allow one to short stop the ram .

[Cosmic_Charlie]

The total throw on the handle is about 135 degrees. I'm suggesting making it closer to 90 degrees. This could be done with a redesign of the linkages I suppose but that would appear to be more complicated. I need to take a look at how the link arms attach to the bottom of the ram and what is involved with removing those. I know a machinist who could do the work so unless I think of something that I overlooked I may go ahead with it.

[Hamish]

Re: The CCTP, you’ve got to have room to place the projectile in the case mouth. I don’t see any way around it. You can however shorten up the rod making for a shorter stroke. Depends on how much leverage loss is acceptable to you,,,,,

[Cosmic_Charlie]

That press can handle 3" cases so if I shorten everything by an inch it should be able to handle .223 which are 1.76". I did not check the 458 socom or 450 BM etc. but I'd wager it would handle those as well.

[onelight]

It seems you could make a custom rod to index and figure out a stop and possible reshape for the operating lever and possibly leave the rest of the press as is .

[Cosmic_Charlie]

When I study the link plates that attach to the ram it looks as though each has a short pin pressed in and the ram has holes bored on each side to accept these pins. If that is indeed the case one could simply bore two new holes an inch above the existing ones and that would be the only work necessary on the ram.

This project looks very possible. The safety prime system should still function because it operates at the top of the ram travel. You would lose a bit of "feel" while seating primers because you would lose the compound leverage that the unmodified press has at the bottom of the ram travel.

[ulav8r]

Haven't seen one in person but just looked on Titan Reloading. What about a block or slotted tube around either the ram or the indexing rod to limit the downward travel of the ram? That would retaing the the compound leverage at the top of the stroke.

[KLR]

I like this idea. Looking at mine, I think it could be done by:

Drilling a hole in the ram and insert a bolt to serve as a stop.
Cut the top of the indexing rod off an amount equal to the amount the ram travel is reduced.
Bolt a piece of metal or hard plastic on the base of the press for the indexing rod to ride on. (Or weld the piece you cut off the top to the bottom.)
Bend the press handle to make it straight up when the press is in the bottom position.

I don't prime on the press so I don't know or care how that would work.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I just mounted a Lee Saftey Prime unit on the press and discovered the riser tubes thread into the cast base at the bottom and insert into the turret head and are threaded for those bolts on top. So those pieces could be chucked up in a lathe, shortened an inch and re threaded at the bottom. The two holes 1" higher on the ram could be done nicely on a vertical mill and shortening and re threading the index rod would be a snap. A handy machinist could do all this inside an hour I'd bet. I'm going to find one!

[mdi]

So far, for me at least, the best idea is an extended shell holder. Case is closer to the dies, handle movement considerably shorter, no need to modify the press and can be easily switched back to load your 300 Magnums...

[Cosmic_Charlie]

So far, for me at least, the best idea is an extended shell holder. Case is closer to the dies, handle movement considerably shorter, no need to modify the press and can be easily switched back to load your 300 Magnums...

You would lose the compound leverage at the top of the ram stroke then. That not only helps with sizing cases, it makes seating boolits and crimping them more precise. And as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I load rifle on my Rock Chucker.

[mdi]

A shorter stroke lessens leverage?

[Traffer]

I agree with this assessment. I also agree that it would be nice to not have to have such a long throw to the stroke. So ...gonna look into it. Just like shortening the stroke of an engine, shorten the crank travel. The "crank" on a press is the linkage.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Well, I just discovered that if the press is shortened, the auto indexing function will not work. The rotation of the turret begins well before the ram approaches bottom. So the cartridge in many cases won't have cleared the die body. It might work with 9mm , 380 and 45 acp but not .357 or .44 mag. Many users report not using the auto indexing feature preferring to rotate the turret by hand. I'll have to see how I like doing it that way.

Update; I was mistaken about the auto indexing feature. Looked at it again this morning and it should work fine.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

A shorter stroke lessens leverage?

When the ram approaches the die, the linkages begin to become more vertical so there is more handle movement and less ram movement. Pretty much all presses are designed this way.

[Traffer]

On my Lee Classic Cast both the length and angle of the handle can be adjusted. So by just adjusting the angle of the handle it can be made to bottom out when the ram is half way up. Effectively halving the length of the stroke. Wouldn't work for a progressive press but for a single stage it is fine.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I set up the Inline Fabrication case ejector this morning. Works fine. Also I was mistaken about the auto indexing not working with my intended modifications. Must have been too tired last night. Should work as intended.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Had a machinist friend all set to do the work but I could not remove the ram from the press. The long links that attach to the bottom of the press casting are pinned in such a way to defy easy removal. Just not worth the effort. What I settled on instead was to adjust the handle shorter. I am really enjoying the press and the ease in switching calibers this turret offers.

[nvbirdman]

Shorten and modify the bottom part of the ram. Any machinist could probably do that in five minutes and it would be much easier than doing the shellholder part.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Shorten and modify the bottom part of the ram. Any machinist could probably do that in five minutes and it would be much easier than doing the shellholder part.

That is what I had decided on but the ram will not be removed easily, at least as far as I can tell.

[john.k]

Lee advise that the long link upper pivot pins are removable......firstly: one pin is drilled ,a long drift if run through the drilled pin,and used to drive out the solid pin opposite.....then ,preferably,a larger diameter drift is used through the other side (where the pin is gone) to drive out the first (hollow) pin.Both links fall loose....I wouldnt do this too many times,as the pins are only friction fitted by a bit of a knurl.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Lee advise that the long link upper pivot pins are removable......firstly: one pin is drilled ,a long drift if run through the drilled pin,and used to drive out the solid pin opposite.....then ,preferably,a larger diameter drift is used through the other side (where the pin is gone) to drive out the first (hollow) pin.Both links fall loose....I wouldnt do this too many times,as the pins are only friction fitted by a bit of a knurl.

Found the solution here. At about 6:33. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZEzO-taBuM&t=473s
So I can go ahead with the project.

[Geezer in NH]

I would buy a Dillon if I wanted to go faster, just IMHO. Re-designating presses nope.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

I would buy a Dillon if I wanted to go faster, just IMHO. Re-designating presses nope.

My intent was not to go faster, just to reduce the distance the lever ( and my arm ) had to travel. These things make a difference when you repeat the movement hundreds of times. I think it would be more pleasing to use with a shorter stroke.

[john.k]

In fact ,to shorten lever travel ,what you need is to install a travel stop to the press ram.......limit the downward travel ,so that the clearspce is only whats needed to get the round in and out.....A stop would,IMHO,take the form of a split collar ,and clamped by one or two socket screws to hold position on the ram......a cheaper fix would be to cross drill the ram for a pin to limit downward travel.

[AABEN]

Why do any thing jest do not bring it all the way down!! I only bring it down enough to put the case and bullet it I have loaded thousand,s of round for years one year I loaded 3000 round of hand guns and rifle on that press with no trouble

[kywoodwrkr]

Have been going to make a single station press out of a Classic turret I have so decided to shorten as well.
Wanted a forming capability and wasn't sure the turret mechanism had the strength.
Second top plate scheduled, post covid, for Herters shotgun dies.
Here are pictures of current result.
Starting to have problems from a crushed hand from auto accident and this seems to be much easier on the paw.

272923

272924

272925

[jmorris]

The original RL1050 was a short stroke press, .223 was the longest round intended for it. The Super 1050 came about because people wanted to load longer rounds.