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March 17, 2014, 08:45 AM | #26 |
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Join Date: March 18, 2013
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I use mine in its intended mode for plinking ammo, meaning no flash hole deburring, no primer pocket cleaning or uniforming. I tumble clean without decapping, and use the safety prime/priming arm on the press, it took about 20 rounds to get used to seating them, now I've got a pretty decent handle on that part.
I am still having some growing pains with the priming setup on the press, but using HS-6 powder the Autodisk is working very well, and last night I was able to load 300 rounds in the time it took to listen to the race (after the rain delay), that included setup time (filling the autodisk and the primer feed) and checking charges and COAL every 25 rds. That's a lot faster than my old single stage method, which yielded about a hundred rounds in an afternoon. I did learn that it is much faster if the bullets are in one of my plastic tubs rather than still in the package, I can retrieve them faster. I had trouble with about 10 primers out of the batch not feeding from the primer feed to the priming arm, I think that's just me still getting a feel for using the press, I've only had it a couple of weeks.
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March 17, 2014, 10:02 AM | #27 | |
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March 18, 2014, 10:35 AM | #28 |
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Join Date: March 12, 2012
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I don't know about the Lee (I have a Redding turret press), but never remove the case from the shellholder until it becomes a cartridge.
Now this is for pistol ammo: I start with clean brass from the tumbler. Cleaning primer pockets is not necessary for pistol/plinking/practice ammo in my opinion. Carbide dies so no lube is necessary. My Redding press has a primer arm design which is likely as fast or faster than loading primer tubes and futzing with an auto prime gadget. I use a Lyman 55 powder measure which screws into one of the stations on my press via a 310 die to standard die adapter. Here's my process, and it's more than twice as fast as a single stage press. I use my right hand to operate the press handle only, and my left hand does everything else including turning the turret. I'm right handed, but the only thing I can't do well with my left hand is write. Case in the shellholder and resize. While resizing I place a primer into the primer cup, which is conveniently facing me at a 45 degree angle. Push the lever up and gravity puts the primer cup under the resized and deprimed case. Push the handle to seat the primer. Flare. Charge. My powder measure is operated manually, but some (like Lee) can be automatic while flaring. Place a bullet on top of the case and seat Crimp, separate die. Remove cartridge and install the next case. It takes me 10-15 seconds per round. Last edited by Axelwik; March 18, 2014 at 10:56 AM. |
March 29, 2014, 12:02 PM | #29 |
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Join Date: November 19, 2009
Posts: 3,283
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I use a Lee classic 4 hole turret for all of my pistol cartridge reloading and love it. This is what I do . .
I deprive cases with a universal depraver on an older RCBS single stage press - if you don't have a separate single stage - you could do the same on your turret press. After de-priming, I hand prime them with a Lee ergo hand primer - put them in a container. I have my 4 place turret heads wet up with Lee 4 die sets. 1st die - I size the case and rotate to next die 2nd - the powder through die/mouth expander die - I raise the case up into the die to slightly bell - on my powder through die, I have a Lee Perfect Powder Measure mounted to the die - I bought an adapter off of flea bay fro about $15 - it screws on to the measure and inserts in to the top of the powder through die and remains there - after raising the casing to slightly flare the mouth, I hit the Lee Perfect Powder Measure lever and drop a charge in to the casing 3rd - rotate to the seating die - I use bullets I cast - I put the bullet in the casing mouth (very slightly flared mouth) and raise the casing to seat the bullet to the correct depth - lower and rotate to the Lee FCD 4th - raise the casing with seated bullet up in to the FCD and put a crimp on the cartridge - for 38s, I use a very moderate roll crimp - for 9mm - I use a taper crimp Remove loaded cartridge and rotate back to the first die to start over . . . This makes for some fairly fast reloading. Of course I randomly check the charge being dropped with my digital scale to make certain the charges remain consistent. I use a separate turret head for each set of caliber dies - that makes an easy changeover and I don't have to reset the dies each time. If you get in the habit of preparing your brass prior to using the turret, you'll get the full use out of it without any delays for priming (if you hand prime), etc. I usually will de-prime about500 or so cases and then prime them so I have plenty of "fodder" for the turret press. If you could find an older single stage to set up for de-priming, sizing your bullets (if you cast), etc. it would help but you can still do those things on the turret press. Since I use the single stage press and universal de-primer die (Lee), I pull the de-priming pin out of my sizing (case sizing) die on the turret head. I also much prefer using the #3 seating/crimp die as a seating die only and the 4th FCD for crimping - doing those operations separately for all the calibers I reload.
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