Bought a new loading press..

[jhrosier]

.. and I'm impressed with it.

It is the Lee Classic Cast turret press.

I had a Dillon Square Deal B for .38, 40 S&W and 45 auto, and a Lyman AA turret press for the rest of the handgun calibers. The Lee will replace both.

The Lee press is well made and runs smoothly. I've loaded a couple hundred 45 Auto to get a feel for the press. Without rushing I was loading a little more than 100 rounds per hour.

I could not try out the auto primer feed as my Lyman powder measure sits too low. I will get a riser made for the powder measure this week.

The design of the press makes it easy to see the powder in the case at a glance.

I just added a spacer to raise the press 3" so I don't have to bend down at the end of the stroke.

I like the auto index feature, and that it can be disabled by simply lifting the indexing rod out of the press.

The quick change turrets are a real winner, an eighth turn and lift the whole die set out of the frame. If the dies are already set up, it shouldn't take more than 10 seconds to change calibers.

I bought four extra turrets for a bit over $9 each. I will set up my four most used calibers in their own turret and keep one free for the others.

Jack

[Mescalero]

I like.

[Chuck 100 yd]

COOL ! Looks like a beast. I still load on a single stage and have no intention of speeding up. Heck I am retired, what would I do when I am done loading???

[Blaine]

I bought that press, and agree with the quality that you saw. However, I removed all the automatic stuff, and manually index the dies, and manually do powder, and use a hand primer that works very well, indeed.....I have a nice Dillion that was gifted to me, but, I have not set it up yet....

[AJMD429]

Mine has become my 'go-to' press, but I still keep the RockChucker handy for depriming military brass and other single tasks, and the Dillon RL550B is waiting for when I need to crank out a BUNCH of something.

[jhrosier]

.... what would I do when I am done loading???

The sooner that you finish loading, the sooner that you can take a nap.

I like the turret press for handgun loading because a fired case goes in and a loaded round comes out, no partially processed cases to keep track of.

Jack

[CowboyTutt]

I have a Dillon B and a Lyman Turret that was gifted to me from McPherson. The Dillon works pretty good but needs a lot of attention at times to work smoothly if you change cartridges a lot. Its mechanical powder drop is very dependent on grain shape for consistency. I have gradually come to the conclusion that a turret press with a digital powder dispenser is the best option overall. You get the most accurate powder drop and you can visually inspect the powder dropped cases before seating the bullet and avoid an "over charge" or "double charge". I think this is the best for accuracy as well as safety. Just my humble opinion. -Tutt

[shooter]

I love my Lee turret press. I like a Dillon as well, but it's a bigger pain to fix a mistake on one than it is on a turret. I know some here are not big on Lee products, but all of mine work as advertised. I have Lee, RCBS, Redding, and Lyman products, plus several other brands if you count bullet molds. I would probably wager that the other brands are more durable over Lee in the long run on some things, but each one serves their purpose and works just fine for me.

[mikld]

I've had a Lee Turret for several years and I've done everything on it I have done on any other press I've owned. I disabled the auto index mebbe 11 years ago and prefer to hand index my press, mostly because I batch load. Great press...

[pokey]

yeah baby!

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[2571]

I like your setup. I reload on an ancient Pacific C or my RockChucker.

Dillon is absolute king on local gun forum here but I think my 550 is too complicated. Interesting to see Dillon challenged here as not the Almighty's go-to reloading press.

[Mac in Mo]

I also have a Lee Turret, bought in 1988. It was my first press and is still my main press for handgun loads. I use the micrometer powder measure. No complaints yet on the press. I do have one minor issue with the powder measure. If I am loading with Accurate #9, the very fine grains will leak from the measure. It's not a lot that comes out but enough that it is irritating.

Kevin

[LeverDud]

I wont say anything bad about that press since I've not used it and as with all things Lee there sure seems to be a lot of people who like their gear. I am not one of them, so I will say something good about this press here while wishing you well with yours:

http://www.redding-reloading.com/online ... ding-press

A remarkably stout turret press.

[Griff]

I also won't say anything bad about your Lee. I don't particularly care for the turret design in general... figure that if I'm getting a tool head, I might as well get a revolving shellplate and do the progressive thing.

I have 2 Dillon 550Bs. One is over 28 years old. Even when I break or damage something, Dillon won't let me pay for it. My other 3 presses (metallic cartridge) are RCBS & Lyman. None of them have anything wrong with them... I still use the RockChucker and Lyman "Bonanza" presses for rifle cartridges (except the .223). One is mounted on the reloading bench, the other is mounted on a separate board for portability and range use.

I will say, to run a Dillon 550, you have to be prepared to adjust things... wear from constant use will change tolerances. And most of that can be accomodated, before you need to replace a part. The hardest thing to adjust on a 550 is the primer slide. But... once adjusted it tends to stay in adjustment until you change primer sizes. Then, the new primer slide will need adjustment also.

I just upgraded my two 550s with a "torrington bearing" kit that fits under the shellplate bolt, aids in smoothing out the turning of the shellplate, and allows for a tighter adjustment without being sticky. Having it adjusted properly and running smoothly allows me to crank out ammo at a pace I find comfortable. Which is about 300 rounds an hour. I have the low primer warning system on each machine; so when it goes off, I just grab an already filled tube and dump in a 100 more. I usually load up 3 primer tubes before I ever start producing any ammo. That way I can concentrate on watching the powder dumped in each case, which, with an LED light on the front support is clearly visible. At the 300 round mark, I'm usually ready for a break anyway. I may switch over to the other machine & load more, or go to the RockChucker and load some rilfe ammo.

As others have said, if you're in a hurry to get your ammo loaded; that's usually when mistakes are made. I ain't doin' this for a living, and keeping the pace leisurely, and keeping to the same movements, keeps me from making those little mistakes. It's not really any different with either a single stage or a progressive.

It all depends on what your purpose in reloading ammo is. If you want finely crafted, match grade ammo, you can either reloading it yourself, or buy it. And, IMO, the best way to reload it is on a single stage. One that has no movement between any parts that can affect your adjustments. That sorta does away with a turret... I haven't seen one yet that holds the dies from tilting somewhat when sizing or bullet seating. Yes, a progressive does the same, but at the shellholder plate. (Hence the torrington kit in my Dillons). But, when going to production numbers, this is where a trade-off between quality and quantity is made. I know that the ammo crafted on my Dillon is not the quality of stuff I load on the RCBS. But, I can load sloppy ammo there also, if I don't pay attention to the details. And reloading is ALL about the details.

Ammo quality is all about the tolerances of the machine it's reloaded on, and the tolerances of the individual doing the reloading. I prefer working toward minimizing the tolerances of both!

I've had folks tell me they can load ammo as fast on their turret as I can on my progressive... to me, that's an inane claim. It certainly leads me to question the quality of the ammo they're loading...

I can certainly appreciate where a turret press would be preferable to the Square Deal with it's requirements for Dillon dies and up until the "B" model, no interchangeable toolheads, especially if one loads a number of calibers. Again, if production numbers aren't the goal.

But, I still gotta say, that Dillon warranty just beats all. But, in closing, please accept my sincere wishes for good luck with the Lee. For regardless of what brand of equipment, if you're loading quality ammo... you've achieved the primary goal.

[madman4570]

Cool, good deal.



Had a Dillon and a Rock Chucke, daughters boy friend,s now.
Bought a Lee Challenger 50th anniversary special and two of their little Reloader mini presses.
With a boat load of all stuff from them.


Under 300 bucks.

Love them.

[GoatGuy]

Think you're right on with your selection. Good rig! I have the Lee Turret and have no problems. I highly recommend it and a couple of my buddies have bought one and they like it as well.

Once got a Dillon 550B as a Christmas gift. Think price was about $350.00. Of course, it was worthless without another couple of hundred $ worth of stuff. Hated that ***, nothing but problems with it. Finally put it back back in the box and it was in storage for about 5 years before I hauled it all to a gun show where I had a table. Sold that thing for what I had in it and was never so glad to get rid of something in my life.

[Ben_Rumson]

I batch load mostly with my old lightweight aluminum LEE Turret press...About the only thing I found I couldn't do with that press is pull bullets with an RCBS collet style bullet puller as the turret wants to rotate when I twist the collet handle to tighten it down..But the cam over type collet pullers work fine made by Pacific IIRC
Another thing I like about these presses is the way the ram can be used to align the turret holes perfectly over it by actually pushing it up into the die hole threads and adjust the turret head on the columns...

[msmith1228]

I have one, I think it's great.

[jhrosier]

Well, I'm encouraged by the number of folks who have found the Classic Cast turret press to be a good tool.

It seems that many agree with me that the increased fuss and bother to keep a progressive press going is not justified by the increased speed of output.

I've already sold the Dillon Square Deal press with 3 die sets for enough to pay for the Lee press, 3 new die sets, and a bunch of Lee factory crimp dies. Not a bad return for a 23 year old press. And I still have enough left over to buy a couple thousand primers and a couple new 6-cavity bullet moulds.

I'm going to set the Lyman All American turret press on a shelf and look at it for a while. I've had it for over 40 years & have grown rather fond of it.

Jack

[2ndovc]

Griff I'm with you and you said it perfectly. I've had my Dillon 550 for 15 plus years and still love it.
I use my Grandfather's ancient Hollywood Gun Shop for large rifle stuff but the Dillon does everything else.

jb

[rbertalotto]

The Lee products are soo good, and so inexpensive, that you can buy multiple presses and not have to mess with switching shell plates and powder dispensers. Changing shell plates is a real PITA! On all brands of presses

All my Lee presses, set up permanently for various cartridges cost less than one Dillon with the necessary accessories to make it work.



I've never paid for a replacement part for a Lee in 40 years! Although I've only broken one or two things in all these years and I load thousands of rounds a year.

I had two Dillon Square Deals that I sold as I didn't like having to use Dillon dies.

I have a Dillon 550 set up for 223 only. Good press but not as good as the Lee 1000 in my opinion.

The Lee 1000 progressive presses come complete with dies for $180! I've loaded hundreds of thousands of rounds on them for my training courses without as much as a hick-up. Use silicone spray instead of oil for lube, keep the primer tray full and they run great.

My go to press for load development is a Lee turret three hole. Love that press!

The Rock Chucker gets use for big rifle cases and for reforming tasks.

[jhrosier]

It seems that we thrive on choice.

I am still tweaking my setup. The 3" riser under the press got it to a comfortable working height.
I made an adapter for the Lyman #55 powder measure to get it above the dies but it will still not allow the Lee auto primer feed to work without raising it too far to suit me. I used my old Lyman turret press for many years by putting the primers in the punch one at a time with my fingers and it is really not any bother, nor does the auto primer feed significantly speed up the process.

I only made one powder measure adapter for now, so I will have to swap it between die sets until I get around to making more. I got a 3 foot length of 7/8-14 threaded rod for a bit over 20 bucks. That's enough to make 8 or 9 adapters.

One issue that I have had to deal with is that the spacing between the dies in the turret is so close that I have had to swap the locknuts on some of the non-Lee dies for the smaller Lee ones. The Lee locknuts are only a buck each so I'll order a handful next time I order from Midsouth. The Lyman die wrench is small enough to work well with the Lee press.

I have never liked the goofy o-ring that Lee puts on the locknuts and have removed them and flipped the locknuts over for many years. I suppose that the o-ring arrangement suits the way that some folks work, but I find that the o-rings make it difficult to adjust the dies precisely.

I went to the gun show in Marlboro, MA on Saturday morning to deliver the Dillon press to its' new owner. While there I bought a few thousands of primers for $39 per thousand. I was not terribly happy to pay that much, but glad to find mostly what I needed. It also beats the $47 per thousand price that the local gun shop demands. There is still no choice of brands and I had to take Winchester, which is my last choice. There was no powder that I wanted available. I use mostly Bullseye and Unique for handgun and a lot of 4895 for rifle. The fellow that I usually buy from usually brings about a pickup truck load of powder to the show but he had maybe a couple of milk crates full this time.

I noticed that a lot of the folks were leaving the show empty handed.

Jack