Lee disappoints......

[Martin Luber]

I would bet the originals are Delrin and the replacements just plastic. My original lasted 20 years, the replacement, one week.

[Joel Chavez]

I have yet to replace the ratchet on my indexing turret press. I read the directions carefully so I do not damage it by improper use. If you are damaging the ratchet it is your technique. Review your setup & method.

lol, my technique? I suppose I need to sit down when cranking down on the lever versus standing up? Or perhaps I should listen to Raygay music instead of Oldies? Or maybe, just maybe I should chew gum, sit down and listen to Cuomo while attempting to reload ammo?

[Targa]

Yeh....not much technique in pulling the slot machine handle and turning the turret plate. I like Lee and the majority of my reloading equipment consists of Lee products but they do have “throw”away parts but the parts are cheap enough to replace and I just keep extras.

[onelight]

I had a 1000 from when they came until a few years ago and had spare parts but I must have included them with my 1000 when I gave it away if still had them I would send them to you but no luck I know I had a few and don't think I ever replaced the one that came with the press . All the parts I have now are for the LCT and ABLP .
Maybe some one else has some hiding in a corner

[Joel Chavez]

Maybe some one else has some hiding in a corner

So to load 1k rounds I would rhetorically need 140 ratchets at $8.50 shipped for (2) which would bring the total cost of approximately $595 in plastic ratchets lol. Yeah, the lady at Lee said their machine that makes the part has been down for some time now and didn’t know when it would be back online. I’ll just leave it be and hope the 4hole Classic will auto index longer than this 3holer did

[onelight]

Having used a press with the same indexing system for more than 20 years I know they will work better than what you have experienced but if you have a 4 hole turret coming then it does not matter much . I find the 4th station very handy and the classic cast turret is one of my favorite presses to load on , 0 problems with mine only mod I have done on it is a rubber band to keep the primer feed tilted away from the press
Hope it works good for you.

[Joel Chavez]

Having used a press with the same indexing system for more than 20 years I know they will work better than what you have experienced but if you have a 4 hole turret coming then it does not matter much . I find the 4th station very handy and the classic cast turret is one of my favorite presses to load on , 0 problems with mine only mod I have done on it is a rubber band to keep the primer feed tilted away from the press
Hope it works good for you.

Yeah I’m gonna set up all my rifle dies on the 3holer and manually index it like i have been doing for the last 20yrs or so. The 4holer will be set up for my pistol dies. I’m looking at those bullet feeding dies for it too.

[gwpercle]

There is a lot to be said for manual indexing ... the least of which is ... no ratchet required !
Gary

[Soundguy]

Pattern one out of aluminum.

I don't count on lee indexing. I pulled my rod on my 4 hole the day I got it.

[jim147]

Pattern one out of aluminum.

I don't count on lee indexing. I pulled my rod on my 4 hole the day I got it.

I think my wife bought me a four hole around twenty years ago. I've loaded more .45 both ACP and LC than I can count. 9 and .38 got run for a bunch of rounds a few times.

I have always loaded more in my single stage presses but I'm a rifle shooter. The four hole works the best when doing 200-500 plus. I go stready on the handle and it indexs everytime.

[John Boy]

Been manually turning the 3 hole plate for over 20 years. Never even considered using a ratchet

[GregLaROCHE]

Maybe Lee knows there’s a problem and that’s why their machine making them is down, until they solve the problem.

[Soundguy]

Probably a 3d printer....

[onelight]

I have never run my Lee turret manually except when adjusting the dies in the turret.
I clocked 50 rounds of 44 special on it one time after refilling powder and primer feed .
Not trying to go crazy fast , but at a quick pace the 50 rounds took 16 min , that is priming on the press and using the auto index . I consider that pretty good for a single stage press.

[William Yanda]

I wonder how that part, if made of powdered metal instead of plastic, would hold up.

[Joel Chavez]

I wonder how that part, if made of powdered metal instead of plastic, would hold up.

well, it couldn’t be worse lol......

[Soundguy]

I still think some aluminum billet and cnc magic or even brass and casting sand and some hand polishing would be light years ahead of the plastic jobbers.

[Joel Chavez]

I still think some aluminum billet and cnc magic or even brass and casting sand and some hand polishing would be light years ahead of the plastic jobbers.

questions is how to even start lol.....

[Soundguy]

Pattern one. Casting sand and low temp melt is easy. Even use tin.. Pattern, melt, pour. Set, cleanup.

[1hole]

I wonder how that part, if made of powdered metal instead of plastic, would hold up.

Lee makes some plastic parts, not to be cheep but to be the weak link that strips or breaks to avoid damage to other more costly parts. That's not a bad thing, some reloaders can (and do) damage steel and cast iron parts.

Lee molds some plastic parts but they don't make the plastic itself. If they have a batch of brittle parts I'd bet it's because their plastics supplier sold them a bad batch.