NFOA MEMBERS FORUM
Ammunition & Hand Loading => Cartridge and Shotshell reloading => Topic started by: DenmanShooter on December 10, 2014, 09:28:01 PM
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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?
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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,
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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
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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.
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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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I know there is a Classic and a Deluxe. The Deluxe is the cheaper and has the plastic parts, correct? I was under the impression the Classic was all metal so maybe I am wrong.
Thanks for all the comments and the input.
I'll let you know if I get one. Won't be until after Christmas sometime.
Thanks again.
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I had the regular 4 hole press instead of the Classic until I bought a progressive. Never had any problems with it. You can either auto index or manually index, but as has been said above you'll need to remove the auto index to load longer cartridges and some rifle rounds will just be too long no matter what. It works well for pistol cartridges, about 200 rounds per hour. The nicest feature IMO was the ability to leave all your dies mounted in the turret plate and just swap out the plate when changing calibers.
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I've used a 4 hole Lee turret press for loading 9mm for the last couple of years. I load 100 an hour and usually only do that many at a time with several length checks and powder checks. I don't see me getting anything else since I easily load more than I shoot.
For the money it's hard to beat.
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After watching a couple videos on it, I see there are a couple plastic parts. Seems to me the plastic is there so a very cheap and easily replaceable part wears out or breaks in order to protect from more serious damage. The design would be seriously in trouble with metal to metal in those areas. And at the price of the parts, I think it is easy to have plenty of spares around. Even the metal parts that might wear are inexpensive to replace.
I think I might just go ahead with this purchase.
Thanks, again, everyone, for your input.
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After watching a couple videos on it, I see there are a couple plastic parts. Seems to me the plastic is there so a very cheap and easily replaceable part wears out or breaks in order to protect from more serious damage. The design would be seriously in trouble with metal to metal in those areas. And at the price of the parts, I think it is easy to have plenty of spares around. Even the metal parts that might wear are inexpensive to replace.
I think I might just go ahead with this purchase.
Thanks, again, everyone, for your input.
s
The only part that broke for me was the small primer arm. Sent Email picture to Lee and they sent me a new one.
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I made the jump and purchased the Lee Classic Turret Press.
Rather than buying the kit, which is a good deal, I bought the components separately since some of the pieces that come in the kit I already had.
I purchased the press, 2 additional turrets for a total of 3, 2 powder risers, a rifle powder die, the pro auto disk powder measure, the double disk expansion set, the Lee Safety Prime, the Lee quick change base, 2 Lee die storage boxes and since I had the credits, the Second Edition Lee Reloading manual.
I have reloaded 250 40 cal, 100 9mm and 10 .223 on the new system.
Overall, I am very satisfied.
Plusses:
Setup was easy, although the dies needed a little adjusting from the single stage press.
I had no trouble at all changing turrets easily.
It is easy to check for powder drop to assure each case was charged and not overcharged.
The auto disk measure works well and as expected but I was surprised the disks are calibrated differently than the dippers.
I usually use the .5 dipper of Bullseye for 9 mm and .5 of HS6 for 40 cal. I had to adjust that for the powder measure to achieve the desired grains. I did not have the double disk set yet when I loaded the 223 so I measured each load individually for that since it was only 10 cases to fill.
It measures consistently ( I tested several powder drops on the scale to calibrate and took a random test occasionally).
Minuses
The primer system is difficult to get used to after using the ram prime. I ended up on the first round with a primer way out of seat because I did not think to check to make sure it was seating properly. I just trusted the system. I found it VERY difficult to apply the proper amount of pressure to seat the primer. So much so I contacted Lee and they actually sent me a new primer arm. It seems to work better, although I do not know why as it looks exactly the same and laid side by side has the same profile and outline. Lee customer service said it could have been a bad spring or slightly out of shape cup or any of a number of things. I'll see how that goes with the next batch.
The auto disk measure is almost impossible to adjust properly to avoid hitting the safety prime even with the extension. Two extensions makes it more useable. They really should tell you that. I was hoping to just leave one extension mounted to each caliber. As it is I will either have to buy two more or just swap them between die sets. No big deal, just inconvenience. Luckily they are relatively inexpensive.
The Lee Reloading manual is a really good $20 paper weight. It does a good job of explaining some of the history of reloading and works as a catalog of sorts for the Lee products. As far as actual loading data, I was seriously disappointed. I expected much more considering a lot of people have recommended it. Most of the reloading data I could get from powder charts for free and from the instructions included with the Lee dies. I guess I was just expecting a lot more information on various loads. There are gaping holes in data for some popular powders and some powders and loads missing completely. I am thinking of returning it. Or maybe donating it. But that's kind of like donating dirty underwear to Goodwill.
On a scale of 1 to 5 I give the whole system a 4.5 with the caveats of the priming system and the need for the extra riser.
Your mileage may vary.
Thank you to everyone who gave your opinions and experience. Feel free to chime in on my review and add comments or corrections.
Happy New Year! (almost)