Lee Turret Press - How Good?

Yorric

Well-Known Member
I have a friend who is going to start loading for 243, 7mmRem Mag & 9.3x63. He wants a cheap press that he can leave his dies fixed in, all set up.

On paper the Lee 4 hole Classic Turret press looks like it may do the job for him, if he gets a couple of turrets for it.
Does anyone have practical experience using one & what are the positives & negatives of the design? - He doesn't want to use it as a progressive press - simply as a turret that can be manually indexed.
I've never had a good look at one of these presses & wonder how rigid & repeatable the indexing turret system really is. The base & toggle system is quite good I think - comments are invited.

I'm more in favour of a single stage press as these are most rigid by design, a possible variant would be one with "Breech Block" inserts. The trouble with this option is the cost of the adapters - my friend would need nine or ten to have one for each die that he will use.

Ian
 
I have a friend who is going to start loading for 243, 7mmRem Mag & 9.3x63. He wants a cheap press that he can leave his dies fixed in, all set up.

On paper the Lee 4 hole Classic Turret press looks like it may do the job for him, if he gets a couple of turrets for it.
Does anyone have practical experience using one & what are the positives & negatives of the design? - He doesn't want to use it as a progressive press - simply as a turret that can be manually indexed.
I've never had a good look at one of these presses & wonder how rigid & repeatable the indexing turret system really is. The base & toggle system is quite good I think - comments are invited.

I'm more in favour of a single stage press as these are most rigid by design, a possible variant would be one with "Breech Block" inserts. The trouble with this option is the cost of the adapters - my friend would need nine or ten to have one for each die that he will use.

Ian

Had one. Gave it away to a newbie.
I would advise a single stage without inserts. It only takes seconds to screw in a die to the stop ring. Practice makes perfect and soon it will become like second nature. I have one turret press permanently set for 357 magnum and 38 Special. The closet thing I have to a press with 'inserts' is a pair of Forester Co-Axials that I just push the pre set die into from the side.

Keep it simple.~Muir
 
I agree Muir - I too only use single stage presses - I have 5 -- Lee hand press, Pacific ("O" frame), Lyman Spartan, RCBS (RC2) & Forster Coax & am more than happy to reset the dies each time in any of them, although it isn't necessarry on the Forster - My friend has a bit of a hang up about setting dies so I'm trying to find out which way to go for him. I may end up insisting he uses his brain a bit more, teach him how to set dies up & give him the Pacific!

Ian
 
I agree Muir - I too only use single stage presses - I have 5 -- Lee hand press, Pacific ("O" frame), Lyman Spartan, RCBS (RC2) & Forster Coax & am more than happy to reset the dies each time in any of them, although it isn't necessarry on the Forster - My friend has a bit of a hang up about setting dies so I'm trying to find out which way to go for him. I may end up insisting he uses his brain a bit more, teach him how to set dies up & give him the Pacific!

Ian

Ian,
Truly. Make him man-up to the task. If he can't get the mechanics of setting up dies in order he's going to be lost down the road. It's not hard and really, locking die rings work; even the O-ring seated Lee units. The best thing you could do for him at this juncture is go over his place with the Pacific (I had one of those when they were painted red -before Hornady took them over) and have him put on a pot of coffee. Then show him how to set up dies, explaining the logic behind the settings and the relationships of each die part to the others on that particular die. Get the first set locked as he likes them....then trash the settings and explain it to him again as he readjusts the dies, repeating with all his die sets until he is tired of it! I mean, screw the expander ball stem out of place as well.(if possible)

It will be tedious for you but it beats the frantic phone calls when the die goes the least bit out of adjustment. Ask him to explain the purpose of each part of the process to you as he does it. He will remember it always and on some windy cold night when he's got a brand new set of dies for an untried cartridge, he'll thank you for the hard lessons.~Muir

(I love teaching newcomers.)
 
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'He wants a cheap press that he can leave his dies fixed in, all set up'.


​Nice idea but doesn't really work well if you want to produce good ammunition. A single stage press is much much better....follow Muir's advice. ATB
 
I have one. It is gathering dust after now as I decided that it wasn't up to the task when I wanted more out f my ammo. I'm also planning on getting rid of it. My main press is a Co-Ax now.
 
I have one, it came with 2 rifles I bought. It's all i've ever used and I don't have any complaints. I can see how accuracy could be better, for my purposes it's fine I don't chase extreme accuracy. My BLR 243 and cz 22H are sub Moa with my home loads, and it's quick to load 3 different caliber's when your short of time.
 
The classic (cast) turret is a pretty decent press and has the headroom to produce .308 etc using the indexing option that the standard turrets don't have. If he's producing ammunition for hunting it will do a perfectly acceptable job.

However, as has been said above, a good quality single stage press is simplicity itself and more consistent in operation. I use a Lee Classic Cast Breech Lock Press for my larger rifle rounds and it gives excellent results. The breech lock feature is handy for quick changes and gives very consistent die placement.

As to the cost of the breech lock adapters, even here in the UK they're only £7.50 for a pack of 2 :)
 
Chuckle!
I haven't even told my friend that I am even considering the turret option - He just keeps mentioning it.
I suppose I just want confirmation whether the turret indexing mechanism is accurate enough or not & that it is man enough to resize his biggest cases (7mm Rem Mag). With that question answered I can point him in the right direction.

Murrayb - in which way did you find the turret press inferior? Can you measure the difference in results when comparing it to the "better" press?

Trouble is my friend is a very slow learner & can forget details if he doesn't think about or apply them regularly. We live 650 miles apart & our time together for me to teach him is limited.
I'll be giving him a thorough going through the reloading course that I use to do training for the BDS. After a day at that I think he will be ok. --- The one saving grace is that although he is a slow learner he does remember safety related stuff very well. - I will obviously concentrate on die settings for him. It will be fun whichever way it goes.
Muir - I too like providing the training - It's how I keep myself updated. The questions that newbees ask always stimulate me to learn more - You never learn more than when you teach!

Ian

p.s.
I do like my Forster a lot but there are a couple of areas that I want to improve on it & will get round to doing soon.
The side toggle links get in the way & I will replace them with some bannana shaped ones to give better side clearance / access & the cast iron platen edges are a bit sharp & need filing round. Both minor annoyances - It's a pity that Forster don't make the press that way - It wouldn't cost them much.
To make it better ergonomically, I plan also to make a base to lift the press up higher off the bench & get it set back from the front edge.
 
Murrayb - in which way did you find the turret press inferior? Can you measure the difference in results when comparing it to the "better" press?


QUOTE]

Basically everything was more or less fine until one day I was shooting at 100yards. Nice quiet day in the woods, no wind, shooting prone with home loads I thought were pretty ok. I just couldn't a group. Constant horizontal stringing and I was sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. Thought sod it - tried some factory Hornady loads and promptly put 5 though one ragged hole.:eek:
A more knowledgeable friend immediately knew that the seating depth was different and upon measuring he was right. The same batch I'd made hade a VISIBLE difference. I worked out that there was some play in the disc that you put the dies in. :doh: This was as I was moving away from "good enough" target shooting.

Why Forster as opposed to another single stage press? I liked it and it had a primer seating facility. But it does give accurate and repeatable results.
 
Only have the Lee classic cast turret press set up for pistol ammo which it produces without fault, I never bothered with it for rifle ammo.
Dillon progressive for churning out rifle ammo and RCBS / Redding presses for other stuff or when I want to relax!
I recently disposed of my co-ax, just couldn't live with it. Accuracy wise it certainly did not produce anything better than any of my other presses.
 
Chuckle!
I haven't even told my friend that I am even considering the turret option - He just keeps mentioning it.
I suppose I just want confirmation whether the turret indexing mechanism is accurate enough or not & that it is man enough to resize his biggest cases (7mm Rem Mag). With that question answered I can point him in the right direction.

Murrayb - in which way did you find the turret press inferior? Can you measure the difference in results when comparing it to the "better" press?

Trouble is my friend is a very slow learner & can forget details if he doesn't think about or apply them regularly. We live 650 miles apart & our time together for me to teach him is limited.
I'll be giving him a thorough going through the reloading course that I use to do training for the BDS. After a day at that I think he will be ok. --- The one saving grace is that although he is a slow learner he does remember safety related stuff very well. - I will obviously concentrate on die settings for him. It will be fun whichever way it goes.
Muir - I too like providing the training - It's how I keep myself updated. The questions that newbees ask always stimulate me to learn more - You never learn more than when you teach!

Ian

p.s.
I do like my Forster a lot but there are a couple of areas that I want to improve on it & will get round to doing soon.
The side toggle links get in the way & I will replace them with some bannana shaped ones to give better side clearance / access & the cast iron platen edges are a bit sharp & need filing round. Both minor annoyances - It's a pity that Forster don't make the press that way - It wouldn't cost them much.
To make it better ergonomically, I plan also to make a base to lift the press up higher off the bench & get it set back from the front edge.

Make sure he has a good reloading book with the die set up (and other operations) cleanly outlined. Reference the book as you teach him. Understanding the operation of each part of the individual dies, and their relationship to each other when properly set, is an important aspect of teaching the set up. When I gave RCBS's class back in the eighties it was emphasized as an important facet of the teaching. It helps the learner recognize when one part of the die is not coordinating with the other. Good Luck.~Muir
 
I've used a Lee turret 4 die unit for 23 years and load for 6 different calibers. Each one has a its own turret and the .223 and .222 both shoot sub .5 MOA, so accuracy isn't an issue. I don't shoot benchrest but will soon be doing some long range shooting at steel plates so I may look at a different press for that.
Being able to leave the dies in place is a Godsend. No faffing about screwing dies in and out, no nagging doubts, like "is the height is the same as last time"?
I don't use the progressive function. I don't load more than 50 or 60 at a time.
It has excellent leverage in fact it will crush almost any case if you get enthusiastic and careless. The largest case I load is the .35 Whelen. I've sized down cases in it too, 308 to 243 in one pass (not recommended if you aren't prepared to lose the odd squashed case).
I bought the press 2nd hand from a friend who had bought a 'Rockchucker'. He asked if he could buy the Lee back 5 years later. He has 5 presses all lined up on his reloading bench. I have 1.
The service from Lee is outstanding too.
 
I've used a Lee turret 4 die unit for 23 years and load for 6 different calibers. Each one has a its own turret and the .223 and .222 both shoot sub .5 MOA, so accuracy isn't an issue. I don't shoot benchrest but will soon be doing some long range shooting at steel plates so I may look at a different press for that.
Being able to leave the dies in place is a Godsend. No faffing about screwing dies in and out, no nagging doubts, like "is the height is the same as last time"?
I don't use the progressive function. I don't load more than 50 or 60 at a time.
It has excellent leverage in fact it will crush almost any case if you get enthusiastic and careless. The largest case I load is the .35 Whelen. I've sized down cases in it too, 308 to 243 in one pass (not recommended if you aren't prepared to lose the odd squashed case).
I bought the press 2nd hand from a friend who had bought a 'Rockchucker'. He asked if he could buy the Lee back 5 years later. He has 5 presses all lined up on his reloading bench. I have 1.
The service from Lee is outstanding too.

That's pretty much how I was using it. I had 223, 243, 303 (with two different loads and bullets so two complete turrets) 45-70, 357mag .. all was well until I wanted it to be accurate. It should have been. I was just shocked at the stringing when I was SURE I wasn't doing anything wrong. It COULD have been user error (not the shooting bit - I had time to settle down properly and you know when you've messed up) but I doubted the press so much at the end it has to go. To be fair it was within sub MOA no problem... But when I opened the box of Hornady and shot one ragged hole I was a happy chappie.
 
"A more knowledgeable friend immediately knew that the seating depth was different and upon measuring he was right. The same batch I'd made hade a VISIBLE difference."

I'll take that on board and check all my finished lengths.
I don't recall any visible differences with any cases but it is worth a look see just in case.
 
I have a 4 hole turret that I got 2nd hand a couple of years ago for doing pistol calibres and quickly found it was a bit slow for that and upgraded to a Loadmaster for my 38 special and 9mm (but don't get me started on the loadmaster, it almost went in the skip several times until I tuned and trimmed many of the parts, now it runs fine).
I've just started using the turret press for rifle rounds so can't really comment too much but I was warned beforehand that its not the best for doing accurate rifle rounds on due to the fact that you have a small amount of vertical movement on the die plate and press body which you can see and feel and i have found very small variances on the seating depth, but due to other problems with my rifle I've not had any chance to put my rounds through it at decent distances, when I do I I will be able to see if these small variances make any/much difference to the grouping but for hunting its doubtful that tenths of a millimetre (that I've found with my rounds) will be of any consequence.
 
Murrayb - in which way did you find the turret press inferior? Can you measure the difference in results when comparing it to the "better" press?


QUOTE]

Basically everything was more or less fine until one day I was shooting at 100yards. Nice quiet day in the woods, no wind, shooting prone with home loads I thought were pretty ok. I just couldn't a group. Constant horizontal stringing and I was sure I wasn't doing anything wrong. Thought sod it - tried some factory Hornady loads and promptly put 5 though one ragged hole.:eek:
A more knowledgeable friend immediately knew that the seating depth was different and upon measuring he was right. The same batch I'd made hade a VISIBLE difference. I worked out that there was some play in the disc that you put the dies in. :doh: This was as I was moving away from "good enough" target shooting.

Why Forster as opposed to another single stage press? I liked it and it had a primer seating facility. But it does give accurate and repeatable results.

Would seating depth effect horizontal POI? (this is a serious question as reloading for rifles is new to me)
Of the few rounds I have tried that I made on mine I am only experiencing vertical POI change and that is with up to 4mm difference in seating depth (trying to improve on the poor cartridge neck obturation on my reloads) and increments of powder charge.
 
Would seating depth effect horizontal POI? (this is a serious question as reloading for rifles is new to me)
Of the few rounds I have tried that I made on mine I am only experiencing vertical POI change and that is with up to 4mm difference in seating depth (trying to improve on the poor cartridge neck obturation on my reloads) and increments of powder charge.

Seating depth for me is important if I'm loading the bullets into the lands a few thou. This has been my practice for 30 years when I'm chasing accuracy (.222R, 6mm BR and .223). Seating into the lands will raise pressures. If the bullet is seated out too far it will raise pressure more and if like me and you occasionally sail close to the wind with maximum velocities (if thats where the 'sweet spot' for accuracy is) that could be interesting or worse dramatic. I have not had an issue with variations in depth as I check the length at the start and periodically. I know how far out each projectile has to be seated and stick to that. Keeping cases trimmed to the same length is very important. I neck turn all my cases to achieve consistency. Not for the tightness of the grip but to keep the necks concentric. These 2 factors have more affect than you would think.
 
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