Picking a Turret Press

O

Ozark Charlie

New member
Any reloaders have any experiences good or bad and comments good or bad about any of the current crop of turret presses--Lee, RCBS, Lyman, Redding. Thinking about buying a turret press and I am doing my homework.
OC
 
They are all cheap imitations of a Dillion, which is of course a "real" progressive" press. I wouldn't waste my money on that turret crap, spend it once, adn get the big blue machine.
 
I know a guy with a dillon and it cost him a brand new 7 Shot smith and plenty of bullets getting stuck in his rifles. I personaly think Dillon is over priced. Hornady offers a progressive press that does as much as an XL650 with a cost lower that a RL550B.

That being said You are looking at Turret Presses. The RCBS is a fine Press very well build and backed by a good bunch of people. The Redding is a massive over built brut of a machine that is of high quality, The lyman if not as brutsh as the redding or the RCBS but is still well built. I have never seen a lee except for on midway usa.com. I you ae looking in to seeing if you like it go with a lyman t-mag. If you are going to buy it an work with it no matter how you feel then go RCBS or Redding. One thing i seen with the Lyman T-mag is it has a little more play (side to side) that either the redding or RCBS....
 
Not to hijack the thread or anything,just out of curiosity, has anyone had any bad experiences with any of the other brands besides the XL650?
 
Quote:
They are all cheap imitations of a Dillion, which is of course a "real" progressive" press. I wouldn't waste my money on that turret crap, spend it once, adn get the big blue machine.



Kind of a funny response, as Redding, Lyman and RCBS were making quality reloading stuff before Dillion ever thought of providing reloading stuff for the his special market. "Cheap imitations" I don't think so. It certainly is not true that the other brands are crap. Dillon makes a fine machine, but it lacks the versitility of a good turret press. For turning out lots of spray and pray blasting ammo the Dillon can't be beat, but I was asking about current Turret presses to replace a 40 year old Lyman Turret.
For the rest of the comments. Thanks for your imput.
Ozark Charlie
 
Hey OC,

If you have an old Lyman, you will love the Redding! I still have two old lymans that I used and a newer Redding turret and for long range hunting rounds and near benchrest quality reloads go with the Redding! I added a longer lever arm and a large wooden ball for a handle and it is fantastic for ease of use even when forming cases.(the only thing that they don't come with that they do need, in my opinion)

I like the "Spray and Pray" analogy... Dillion's make lots of ammo but not the kind I want to put through my bench rifles in competition!

Nikonut /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
The Redding is a Tank...and the RCBS is close behind...and RCBS has cutomer service that is second to none, the Dillan 550T is also a good press...Redding and Dillon both have good customer service...but the price of the RCBS, quality, and customer service...would have me buying the RCBS if I were in the market...good luck to you.
 
I have an older Lee Self Indexing Turret Press. Now I see they've come out with the Clasic Turret Press with the auto indexing feature, too. The classic looks much better than the one I have and has better features to it, also. Am I sold on the Lee? No. It was what I bought 15+ years ago. The Auto indexing has never been reliable for me. The nylon bushings keep stripping out so it has to be a full hand opperation. It works well enough when I occasionally use it but next to the Dillon 550 press attached to the bench next to it is incrediably slow and ackward. I'm sure that any of the other turret presses you're looking at will work very well.
To address the issue of bad reloads from a Dillon here is my experience. A friend of mine originally purhcased the Dillon when he became a LEO. He had no clue how to reload and no place to mount it. We set it up at my place and I tried to teach him the basics of proper hand loading. Knowing everything and not having patience to read the instructions thouroghly his handloads were terrible. He almost lost an eye due to a squib load in his .40 S&W. I couldn't even chamber many of his .223 reloads in to his mini 14 or my Savage. When he lost his position in the force not long after he started his desire for shooting and loading disappeared. Thus the local populace can sleep easier at night and I have a dandy 550 in my loading room. I don't shoot benchrest but have put together many sub 1/2 moa groups by cranking the handle of the blue machine 200 times an hour. Man, I hope he never wants it back!
 
I have the Lee Classic 4-hole Turret Press which I really like, Especially on sale for $71.99 from Midway. I got extra turrets for each caliber I load ($8.00 each) for easy no fuss die changes. Also the Lee Saftey Primer feeder ($11.96) is a very slick idea. This is my first set-up so I have no experience with any others, but this is so easy, fast and inexpensive for a first timer like myself everything about it just made sense. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif

Note: it will not auto index when I load 30/06 (to long) /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif. After you seat the bullet it starts to advance before the bullet is completly out of the die, so you have to remove the shaft that rotates the turrets and turn turret by hand, Which is no big deal. I still would have baught it if it did'nt auto index for any caliber.
 
Ya can't beat the LEE series of presses. For the money they function okay. I use the Lee Load Master and love it.
It takes a little bit of getting accustomed to it but that's any press you buy. LOL
Frankie B.
 
While I don't own a turret press, I feel obliged to interject here because I own both a Dillon XL650 and a Lee Classic Cast single-stage press.

The Dillon XL650 -
The upside:
-May be the sturdiest press on the market.
-Incredibly fast when equiped to the max (casefeeder, strongmounts and bullet tray are a big plus)
-Powder dispenser works great with ball and flake powders.
-I personally feel it is the best non-commercial handgun (see below) loading press on the market.

The downside:
-Expensive - all of my startup costs came in around $1100 if you include the scale, tumbler, Hornady manual and other accesories needed to get up and running with the press.
-Not ideal for rifle loading (in my opinion) - while it works, the powder dispensing in not ideal for extruded powders and runout is nowhere near as good as with a single-stage press in my experience.

To put this into perspective, I bought (actually recieved for Christmas from my wife) my little Lee Classic Cast press after owning my XL650 for 3 years. This is because I had primarily been a pistol/revolver shooter until not so long ago. Once I got serious about my rifle loading, I began to question the ability of a progressive press for the job. Runout was not so hot and extruded powders did not dispense well at all.

Lo and behold, the Little Lee Classic Cast press combined with an RCBS Uniflow have been far better suited for the job of rifle loading: runout has averaged around .001" on the single-stage Lee vs. .003" when I load rifle loads on the Dillon. This is a BIG difference when you're talking about small varmints. Also, the new Lee design is MUCH tougher than the old Lee stuff you're probably used to seeing. The Classic Cast press is a tank by comparison. While a single-stage is certianly not ideal for high-volume handgun loading, it is great for rifle loads - I do them by the bushell on that thing. Regardless, they both have an important place on my reloading bench and live in harmony together. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif

QYRVF-Workbench.jpg
 
Sixgun strikes a very important distinction.

What's your game ....... precision rifle or volume loading like handgun or plinking rifle?

I am a confirmed single stager .... been that way for 30+ years.

But, recently I bought the new Lee Classic Turret .....

I like it very much.

I have not done any rifle on it yet but will to see about the runout. My single is not going anywhere though.

Three 44s
 
Three 44s -

I'm glad you brought up the Lee Classic Turret press. I've been thinking about getting one after seeing that the basic setup resembles the quailty of the Classic Cast press (same base and cast iron body). The price is definately right, but like you, I enjoy my single-stage results so much, I'm hesitant to try anything else.

To be honest, if you told me 3 years ago that I would own a Lee press, I would've laughed at you. I'm not laughing anymore. They really have upped the quality 1000% in my mind with their new presses.
 
Have been loading since 1968. Have had turrets from the little Lyman of old to a Hollywood Turret (wish I still had that one). Found that the new Redding a friend has is fantastic. Now I'm going to have to spend money on one. Its what all turrets should have been. Solid and dependable.
 
Well, for whatever it's worth, I have an old Lyman Spar-T press - the only one I've ever owned. Have been using this press since way back in the mid 1970's. I have loaded thousands of rounds and some very darn good ones with this press, so I can't complain. As to the other presses out there, I have no personal experience. There's been a lot of newer stuff added to the market since that time. Given my postive experience with the turrent press, I would not think twice about getting one vs a single stage press. Of course, either will do a good job, I think, but the turrent just makes things so much easier and less time consuming.

Good Shooting.
 
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