| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 02:04 PM |
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9secondsflat
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i am just getting back into reloading after 20 yrs of buying ammo. I have a rcbs rockchucker press and was considering getting a turret style press. The lee see very reasonably priced as compared to rcbs and dillon and would like your opinion. I would use it for 44 mag, 223, and 308. thanks in advance
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 02:25 PM |
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Busted
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Well, the various Lee pressses have a large share of the market and have had for a long time. Must mean something?
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 02:49 PM |
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fryboy
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bluntly stated for some reason alot of people seem to bash lee ( perhaps they just see red ? lolz ) with the calibers u list that leaves out the pro 100 ( the 308...)that press works great for me .. i have 3 of them ...i just received a project loadmaster so i cant say anything about it except that people seem to either love them immensely or hate them intensely ...the turret type press.... i love ! period ! i dont care what brand it is altho the lee's are very easy to change the turret for
some people say because lee is cheap it's no good ...ummm ok that's faulty reasoning especially as alot of people who take glee in bashing lee say that their crimp die is second to none ( draw ur own conclusion from that ...)
some say that aluminum isnt good for a press to be made out of .... umm ok what is dillon's made out of ? yup aluminum,lee now makes the classic cast both in single stage and turret ,if and when i ever wear out my old aluminum turret i hope the lee cast classic turret press is still around
most current manufacturers make great stuff,the lee turret can be used with or without auto indexing ,most my rifle rounds are done without and the loads that i'm developing for pistols i often use the auto index feature ,when finished developing they go to the progressive
the one thing a turret press does do ( in any persuasion) is let u have more dies set up at once, i like the 7 holes of the redding ,one can fit 3 rifle 2-die sets in it as well as a powder measure or a de-priming die and leave it set up ( or two 3-die pistol sets )of course keep in mind that these are my opinions only but one that about everybody agrees on is that the cash outlay is less than about every other company's
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 02:54 PM |
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Bigdog57
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For us that reload a lot of calibers, I like the Lee Turret Press, for the fact that I can set up a turret for each caliber, and it becomes simply a matter of "Plug&play". I currently have fourteen turrets each for a different caliber. The press does everything I need it to do. I don't often load high quantity, so I usually just leave the indexing disconnected and run it 'manually'. Another advantage is, if I crunch a case, I can quickly prep and load another without having to swap out and readjust the dies.
This press is just a tad short when loading longer rifle cartridges - .30-06, 8mm Mauser, 7.5 Swiss. I have to tilt the case and bullet up under the seating die. But I don't see that as a big problem.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 02:57 PM |
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9secondsflat
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what do you mean by "auto indexing" thanks
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 02:59 PM |
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fryboy
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auto index automatically turns either the turret or a shell plate advancing it to the next station ,ie; first pull sizes,second drops powder or seats ,third seats or crimps..etc ,manual indexing ( such as the redding turret or the lyman turret) u turn the turret by hand to the next die
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 03:24 PM |
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fryboy
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Bigdog57 wrote:
This press is just a tad short when loading longer rifle cartridges - .30-06, 8mm Mauser, 7.5 Swiss. I have to tilt the case and bullet up under the seating die. But I don't see that as a big problem.
try the long h&h cases lolz but by taking off the auto indexing base u gain about 5/8" more clearance (this applies to the older aluminum - not sure on the newer cast steel one- but it has even more clearance to begin with i believe )
" Deactivate the Auto-Index and cases as long as the monster 50 BMG can be loaded."
http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1255530139.4464=/html/catalog/turretpress.html#ClassicTurretPress
i have to assume in this case deactivating means removing the auto indexing base as well
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| Posted: Wed Oct 14th, 2009 05:57 PM |
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Charley
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The Lee turret presses are not really prgressive presses. They are faster than a single stage, but are not as fast as a true progressive press, like Dillon's line.
That said, they are, IMO, an excellent value. The bulk of my loading is done on a Lee Classic Cast turret, even though I have a Dillon 550 on the bench. The Dillon gets used when I need to load a bunch of handgun ammo, the Lee gets almost everything else.
I suggest the Classic Cast Turret, not the "Classic Turret. It does have an aluminum frame, and will wear eventually. I wore one sloppy, but it took about 15 years and thousands of rounds, both handgun and rifle. I doubt the Classic Cast will show any wear in my lifetime.
I also never could get that damned Lee auto index to work properly. Maybe operator error, but I simply chucked that part in the trash, and batch procesed everything.
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| Posted: Thu Oct 15th, 2009 03:13 AM |
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daboone
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I have owned 3 different progressive presses. Somehow my sons now are now in possession of them
On my bench now are the Lee turret and Loadmaster and an old Herter C-frame. I'm about to remove the Herter and put my lyman 450 sizer there. Why Lee, because of the low cost and I love to tinker with mechanical stuff. The Lee turret is a master of ease of use. Very straight forward and it just works both with the auto-indexer and with out. It's so multifunctional.
The Loadmaster requires some patience to set up and work out the kinks. It's needs the owner to think about what is going on. But once you get the hand on it and do a little "Leementing" it pump out ammo as fast as my friend's Dillon and LNL with no difference in quality. For me that the bottom line. I saved more $$ to buy other toys! I do like the Loadmaster better than the Pro 1000 but only because of the extra station.
All that being said I am glad it took me 20 year to move up from a C-frame to an O-frame to the stuff on the bench now. I guess thing are different now but for me with the total vacuum of available information and choices of equipment allowed me the time to do thing slowly. Had a few screw up which taught me to double check and then recheck ever step. I don't care who it is that a GOOD habit to have with this hobby....? is it a hobby or something much more?
If anyone is interested in the Loadmaster the best site I'vefound for tip, tricks & fixes is:
http://loadmastervideos.com/
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27th, 2009 03:19 PM |
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malingering marv
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A co-worker barrowed a Lee 1000 to try before buying. Three of us, one machine repairman, and two electricians, played with it for about three hours. We all made suggestions about why it didn't work but in the end it did work, made good .45acp ammo. Bill rnded up buying it. Hardly a glowing indorsment. But for the price...
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OldStuffer
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Bought a Pro 1000 in 9mm on e-bay about 5 years ago, works good, once set up and adjusted right.
The ratchet mechanism is a wear item, but, teh center piece that wears is $.50 each, in a 3-pack, it's not expensive to replace every few years. Nylon or some plastic. The hex center rounds out, and skips.
Bought a factory refurb Loadmaster this spring in .45acp, love it.
I had been loading .45 on my Challenger single stage, so I already had Hornady Durachrome dies, added the neck-exmand die to the loadmaster (comes with 3 dies, holds 5) to make perfect alignment for primer seating, just handy to do.
Added the seat/crimp die, and backed off the lee die, because the hornady is set up to taper-crimp the auto-case, so I seat with the lee die, taper-crimp in the last station (backed off the seating).
The primer feeds are, IMO, their biggest flaw, they don't keep the delivery schute filled on their own. Every 5 shells or so, side-tap the tray a few times, to re-fill the schute, and keep going.
I have the case feed on both, not the bullet feed, on either.
There's my experience.
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daboone
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OldStuffer wrote: The primer feeds are, IMO, their biggest flaw, they don't keep the delivery schute filled on their own. Every 5 shells or so, side-tap the tray a few times, to re-fill the schute, and keep going.
If you disassemble the primer feeder arm you will notice mold line/burrs. Take a small file and smooth them out. That should help out the need for tapping the chute.
Take a look at theses video: http://loadmastervideos.com/29THEORY1.WMV
hope that help
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swampshooter
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I never could get my Lee auto index to work properly either, finally gave up and took it off. I use my Dillon 550 a lot more than my Lee turret press, but I'm not ready to give up my Lee turret press either.
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daboone
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Maybe you should paint it blue...lol
I don't use the auto indexer much either as I work up batches. I also keep a turrets with item like my hardness tester, a universal decapper, bullet puller and another with just frequently used sizers.
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fryboy
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i cant help but wonder ....if the new 4 hole can be converted to the ummm old three hole .....( i kinda have bukoo turrets)but the cast steel turret looks so sweet but i also have to admit that i feel the pro 1000 would of benefited more from a four hole upgrade as opposed to the turret,understandable that that ones a lil more difficult being a true progressive)the top of the new classic cast does look like the upgrade kit ...
i hear ya swampy ! ( i dont want to give up mine either)
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OldStuffer
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daboone wrote: OldStuffer wrote: The primer feeds are, IMO, their biggest flaw, they don't keep the delivery schute filled on their own. Every 5 shells or so, side-tap the tray a few times, to re-fill the schute, and keep going.
If you disassemble the primer feeder arm you will notice mold line/burrs. Take a small file and smooth them out. That should help out the need for tapping the chute.
Take a look at theses video: http://loadmastervideos.com/29THEORY1.WMV
hope that help
Man, I have 3 to look at tomorow while downstairs now, the L/M, the P/1000, and the "Auto-Prime 2" for the single-stage. 
Thx for the info, much apreciated. 
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miestro_jerry
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The Lee Presses have their place in the reloading world. I owned a real Lee loader many years ago, they now call them classic loaders.
I also have owed some Lee stuff from around 1980 and then again in 1989. But I have my Rockchucker, 2 Dillon 550s and a Dillon Sqaure Deal B. I am happy with them and have most of the plates and die sets that work for me on the 550s.
The Lee priming tool is tough to beat for the price. And I have the hand press for being mobile.
Jerry
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MontanaShooter
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all products have there ups and downs, i own alot of lee dies and a auto primer. I love them. I have a hornady press and scale, trimmer. But i dont like hornadys dies, the decapping pin set up. I have RCBS dies, Lyman Dies and someday i hope to own a lyman turret press. But i dont like RCBS's autoprimer and other things. So you just have to pick and choose. No one companies product will do you bench justice.
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OldStuffer
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Agreed Montana. While you can load a bench and do fine work with a "1-vendor bench", everyone is different, and like different methods, different features.
While all 3 of my metalic presses are Lees, the single stage Challenger is starting to show it's age, the thousands of pistol rounds, and quite a few hundreds of .308 rounds, mostly in the aluminum handle to shaft linkage piece (cracking of the cast Al., for the seccond time). Have not decided on it's replacement yet, am looking fondly @ a Redding.
Really like my micrometer-adjust scale from RCBS (no longer made), as my Lyman #55 powder measure, I have dies from Hornady, Lee, RCBS, and Bair, both my bullet pullers (the collet in the press and the hammer ("inertial")) are RCBS, MTM Case Guard universal loading blocks (along with several shotgun shell plastic carry cases and trays), MEC shotshell loaders and Universal charge bars (both single-stage and progressive).
My list is certainly not "the best of it all", but, it met whatever criteria I made most important at the time of each purchase, often, to get the most out of limited funding, value per dollar spent. Not always "the cheapest item", but, the item I felt did the most per dollar for what I needed.
Everyone has to make those choices themselves, based on their own criteria, thus why everyone's loading setups look so similar, yet, are so vastly different at the same time.
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miestro_jerry
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Oldstuffer and Montana,
You are correct, I like the dies, including the profile crimp die and the hand primers.
My bench is multi manufacture and even some of my die sets are multi manufacture.
Jerry
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