Lee turret press speed

[300winguy]

How many rounds an hour (handgun) can those of you with lee turret presses put out. I want to upgrade from a single stage press, but inexpensively. I just can't keep up with my shooting habits anymore on a single stage press.

[butchb243]

The lee turret press is somewhat faster but it wont do what most people want , who want to speedup the process . I've had 2 friends who bought turret presses only to give up and buy progressives just a few months later.
The lee pro 1000 doesn't cost a whole lot more & it speeds the process ever so much more ( 200 RPH not hard at all). For my money get the progressive & save in the long run.

[Sisco]

I could probably do 200 rounds of 45acp an hour, maybe more if I pushed it but hurry leads to error. I rarely load more than 150 rounds of anything at one sitting - not that high volume of a shooter.
Note that I prime using a Lee hand prime, not with the press itself, so I'm talking about sitting down with 200 primed cases.

[Mike Irwin]

I also start with pre-primed brass, but I've easily hit speeds of 300 to 350 rounds an hour with the Lee turret.

It requires some logical layout of your components so that they are close at hand, but once you get into a rhythm, you can get cranking.

[300winguy]

If I can get around 150 rounds in an hour that isn't bad, but if it is with the brass primed already that isn't much faster than my single stage press. Now I can't decide whether I should get a turret press or wait and get a progressive confused: Hmmmm, thanks for the input this is what I wanted to know.

[dfm]

I average 200-225 per hour but did hit 300 a few times when really pushing it. And I load from start to finish with the press. No pre-priming or such. A great tool for someone on a budget. Splits the difference nicely between single stage and progressive.

dfm

[Bogie]

FWIW, I can clean a rifle, to benchrest standards, and load 20 rounds, again to benchrest standards, in 20 minutes. This is with a single-stage press, a hand priming tool, and a hand die for seating. Includes cleaning primer pockets, necks, etc...

When loading "bulk" rounds, I size them all, then I clean 'em, then I clean the primer pockets, prime 'em with a Lee autoprime, then finally I charge them and seat the bullets. Not sure how many rounds I average per hour, but it ain't bad. I load to blocks, and inspect for consistency of powder level.

[nyetter]

The Turret is an improvement mainly because you can mount a powder measure, such as a Lee Pro Auto Disk, on the press, and because you don't have to swap cases at each stage. I find loading on the Turret quite a bit faster than loading on a single stage. Here is how I use it:

1. size a bunch of brass on the single-stage
2. prime it all
3. place a case, expand & charge, turret auto-indexes
4. place a bullet, seat, turret auto-indexes
5. crimp, place round in box, turret auto-indexes
6. short-stroke press, turret auto-indexes

#6 is only necessary because I have a 4-hole press, I wish I had just gotten a 3-hole.

I'm considering buying a progressive now, but more out of my acquisitive nature than because the Turret is lacking. Lately I haven't been loading more than 50 of the same load, so I couldn't even guess what my loading rate is.

My advice is, if you really are starting to shoot a lot, just get a progressive. If you just can't afford one, get the (3-hole!) Turret and a Pro Auto Disk measure, but bear in mind you will replace it later.

[Sisco]

I do it pretty much the way nyetter does it but with a 3 hole press. I keep sizing dies in a seperate turrent and disable the auto-indexer. I can then size three cailbers and only change shell holders. That still leaves me with an empty hole except on the calbers that I use the factory crimp die on.

[Yodar]

NYETTER & SK think like I do, but I have added thoughts/

I reloaded 9mm and 7.62 x 39 weekly to support my sunday shoots...a couple hours work with a dual-head setup permitted me to load 300-400 rounds WITHOUT RUSHING.

I had a seperate powder measure on each head, all the dies, yadada yada...Everything worked smoothly even checking charge weights and COAL's

But occasionally, Lee would throw a curve at you as it's mechanical parts would start to "move about a bit' eg: Self tapping screws into plastic powdermeasure hoppers...sheet metal screws into nylon or alumiumumum, c-rings, rubber o-rings in hollow-die-nuts, all sortsa' mechanical variables exerted themselves at their own inexplicable rates.

Powder measures would start leaking, I hadda' fix that. Double disc would start to loosen up and leak. I fixed that. Auto index would start fussin' with me. I'd fix that. Cartridge OAL would start to drift, I'd fix that.

Virtually every design element in the system would go out of tolerance and I'd have to fuss with it to bring it back into spec.

I used it for several years, and I hadda' fuss with it more and more to keep dimensional and charge weight criteria to MY requirements as it received more use.

I GOT WHAT I PAID FOR...I WASN'T CHEATED , but I finally got irrigated at it and bought a Dillon which has retained MY settings to MY reloading spec's for 8 YEARS.

Nuff'sed!

YODAR

[300winguy]

Thanks for the help all. I think I really want a dillion 550b, got to try one this afternoon. No way I can afford that now though! I think for the price I will give the lee turret press a try. Looks like it won't be a huge loss money wise if I don't like it or it is too slow for my shooting habits.

[Sisco]

Another nice thing about the Lee turrent is that if after buying one and are still not satisfied and want to load more faster you can still afford a Dillon. That is if you could afford one in the first place.

[snuffy]

I've had mine,(a four hole), for about 2 months. By all means go with a 4 hole model, this gives you the option of adding the factory crimp die. The FCD is the best thing to happen to handgun reloading since carbide dies. Also order a pro-upgrade for the auto disk measure right away. If your sure you will ONLY be loading for ONE caliber, the standard auto disk will work fine. The problem comes when attempting to move the auto disk to another turret for another caliber. You HAVE to remove all the other dies in order to turn the auto disk measure off from the powder through the expander die. Oh and another thing, if you have dies from a manuf. other than lee, you will need to get their,(Lee), powder through the expander die. The pro auto disk has a swivel nut that screws into the expander die without turning the whole measure.

As far as rates go, I've been able to get 100 an hour consistantly. This is from a fired empty to a completed round using four dies. I'm no speed demon, but the shells all go BANG!

There are several faults I wish wern't there. They have poor control over the spent primers after being deprimed. They sometimes drop behind the primer arm, preventing it from going forward to reprime on the return stroke. The spent primers accumulate in the base of the press, requiring the press to be dissmounted to remove them. The wood knob came off the handle, a dab of JB weld fixed that!

All in all, I'm satisfied with the overall performance of this press. As others have said, I will someday go to a true progressive.

[300winguy]

Hey, I am on the verge of ordering a lee turret but one thing is tripping me up. What powder measure do I order. The standard, pro or deluxe. I will reload multiple calibers within the next few months.

[nyetter]

The "Pro" is definitely the best of the Auto Disk measures. I feel middling about my Turret Press, but I love my Pro Auto Disk. Don't bother with the adjustable charge bar though, it doesn't work very well at all.

[Mike Irwin]

"Don't bother with the adjustable charge bar though, it doesn't work very well at all."

You're not kidding.

I got one of those a couple of years ago. With the disks I have virtually NO variation in load weights with my primary powder, WW231.

With that bar in place, I was getting some rather large and disturbing variations.

[Sisco]

I've never used the disks, bought an charge bar when I got the press. I weigh every tenth round and they've always been consistant - at least with the powders I use.
The spent primer discharge is my gripe with the press too. Since I don't prime on the press I've found if I remove the primer arm 90% or more of the primers fall through the slot. Just set a trash can under the press and let 'em fall.

[TGS]

I forget how many years ago I bought mine.
By now you have probably already made a purchase and if so and it was the Lee Pro you may have already discovered:
(1) Never let your primer tray "chute" get below 3/4's full. Its the weight of the primers that keep it feeding smoothly and dont over fill the tray. I keep the chute full and load 50. 100 seems sometimes to be a little to heavy but I have got away with it.
If you are going to be changing the shell plate use the utmost caution not to over tighten when over snugging. I guarantee you will damage it and it wont time. By snug I mean very very gently and watch that it doesnt unscrew itself when your working. iIt Will !!!! If you see the plate "rising" stop and snug it up very very gently.
the lee 1000 can get you cussin and swearin and then again when you learn its "idosyncracies" you can move right along. dont be afraid to take it all apart on accasion and clean out the powder. If you fail to seat a primer and add powder to the case it makes a mess and be sure to clean it real good before you continue.
Good Luck

[LAH]

I use a Lyman All American 4 station turret press. I can do 150 straight walled pistol cases per hour.

[gmeister]

I only do about 100 rounds per hour with primed 45 ACP brass. (I'd rather take my time and get it right.) I weigh every 20th round and inspect all the brass as I load (for splits). I've been using the Lee 4 hole turret with FCD for about a year now. I'm happy with the quality and speed.

Alan W.

[gmeister]

snuffy posted:
-snip- "Also order a pro-upgrade for the auto disk measure right away. If your sure you will ONLY be loading for ONE caliber, the standard auto disk will work fine. The problem comes when attempting to move the auto disk to another turret for another caliber. You HAVE to remove all the other dies in order to turn the auto disk measure off from the powder through the expander die." -snip-

There's an easy solution to this. With a shell in the expander die and the lever down, the powder measure raises enough to unsrew it and clear the other dies. You just have to hold the lever down while unscrewing it.

Alan W.

[DAL]

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but I had my Lee Turret press for less than a month before I broke down and bought a Dillon SDB. The Lee TP worked well, but it was still too slow to make the amount of ammo I wanted/needed to practice with, especially with a limited time to reload each week (honey-do list).

I still have my Lee TP, as well as a Lee single stage press and a Hornady single stage L'n'L press for low-volume work, but my SDB can't be beat by any of them for sheer rounds-per-hour output. I'm still slow on the SDB--I haven't had it all that long--but I can load all I need for a day's shooting (about 300 rounds) in just over an hour.
DAL