Ammunition & Hand Loading > Cartridge and Shotshell reloading
Lee Turret Press Question
DenmanShooter:
Does anyone use the Lee Classic Turret Press?
I load 9, 40 and 223, thinking about getting a Lee Turret press. (Not a progressive, I cannot afford, nor justify it).
From Lee's site it says it auto indexes, which I take it to mean the turret will move (rotate to next die) with each pull of the handle.
Other literature I have read says you have to manually rotate the turret.
I know Lee is on the cheap end of the scale, but I have been using a single stage Lee press and it works just fine for me.
But I seem to let my brass pile up rather than reloading when I have 50 or so and I thought a turret might be better for me.
What do you think of the Lee Turret press?
shooter:
the few that I have seen have been total garbage, the bolt it rotates on wears on the top plate, I wouldn't waste my money on one,
SemperFiGuy:
Figgering here that you're talking about the Lee 4-hole Classic Turret Press.
First of all, you've gotta like Fords, Chevvies, Nissans, etc. It's that kinda press. But it's not down to a Kia and certainly not up to a Toyota Avalon. Sort of in between somewhere around the lower middle. And likewise priced.
It's a reasonably good compromise between a single-stage and a progressive setup. The interchangeable die plates are nice if you switch calibers. And don't mind paying a small bit for the extra die plates. And it does index. And hand priming will still be a better alternative than picking up the teeny primers and loading them into the press with your fingers.
Plan on breaking the plastic indexing plate with the square hole from time to time, like Shooter sez. Or wearing it out so that it gets loosey-goosey. If you want, you can just buy 3-4 spares and stash them in your parts bin on your reloading bench.
John Lee sez that this press is The One above all others to get. Of course, he's the Lee of Lee Precision.
It ain't no RCBS Supreme press for macho strength, but many folks who own and use them think they are just the berries. Go read the reviews for this press; you'll see.
Like anything Lee, its price won't dent your wallet too badly.
sfg
Famous556:
Agree with the above except I didn't know a Toyota avalon was fancy ;D . It's a fine press for what you pay. I've had good luck with mine. The reason you've been getting conflicting information is you can remove the indexing rod and manually turn the turret if you wish. As SFG said buy some extra parts because they're plastic and cheap and keep them on hand. Extra turrets make switching between calibers a breeze. 10 mins and you can switch from .40 to .223. I got the feeder for primers and it works well. Not a bad setup for what you have to have into it.
JAK:
I started reloading with a Lee Turret Press, currently there are two versions one with 3 dies and one with 4. I didn't have much luck with the auto index and ran the press without it for the majority of the time. I did not use the press for priming as I did not like how it worked. Best thing was the interchangeable turrets, I had one set up for each of the calibers I reloaded so I didn't need to adjust the dies each time. The only reason I moved up to a progressive is that I was reloading .300 Win Mag and the press was too short. In order to seat the bullet, I had to remove the brass, place the bullet on it, and slide it up into the die while seating the brass on the shell holder.
John K
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