How many pulls of the lever does it take to...

[Wayne02]

load one complete round from start to finish of the following calibers, 9mm, .38/.357, .45, .223, and 30.06 on the Lee classic turret vs. the Dillon 550, or 650?

Yes, I fully understand there is much more than the number of lever pulls to the reloading equation, and I understand it may not be an apples to apples comparison. This question deals simply with the number of lever pulls to create a complete round...

 

[strat81]

The benefit of progressives isn't necessarily the number of lever pulls, it's that they hold more rounds. So, on a turret you'll only have one round in the shellholder, whereas a progressive will generally hold 4 (give or take).

But, on a Lee Classic Turret, it takes 4 complete strokes (4 down, 4 up) for 9mm and .223.

 

[Car Knocker]

On a progressive, once all the positions have been filled, it pops out a complete round for every pull of the lever. If it is a four-station press, it takes 4 pulls to fill the shellplate with rounds, 5 pulls with a 5-station press. Thereafter, one completed round per pull.

 

[RustyFN]

Read the new reloader stickie at the top. It will answer that question and a lot more. If you are thinking about buying your first press, there is a lot more to consider than how many handle pulls. There is a lot of great information in that stickie.
Rusty

 

[Roccobro]

Don't forget to take into account what else your hands have to do for each round on the different kinds of presses (and accessories!)

Justin

 

[Car Knocker]

Good point, Justin.

I've got an old Hornady Pro-jector. My right hand never leaves the handle. Brass is just to the left of the press and bullets are outboard of the brass. Left hand reaches out and grabs a case and then a bullet. I visually check the powder even though I use a powder lock-out die and place the bullet, place the case and then the right pulls the lever. Repeat.

 

[kestak]

Greetings,

Dillon 550B: Once all the shells are loaded, you pull to do the following functions:
Position 1: Resize the brass
Position 2: drop the powder and create a bell
Position 3: "slide" the bullet into the brass
Position 4: Crimp

THEN you have to push so in the position 1 the primer is set.

Thank you

 

[The Bushmaster]

On a Lee turret. If you have a three hole (like me) three pulls provided you have preped the case and cleaned it first and you use Lee die set. One completed handgun round.
1. Resize/decap
a. Priming must be done on another press (hand press or single stage (like I do).
2. Bell case mouth and drop powder charge.
3. Seat and crimp bullet.

If you use the four hole Lee Turret four pulls will net you one round (handgun). Again if you have cleaned and preped the case first.
1. Resize/decap
a. You could eliminate the FCD and prime at this postion.
2. Bell case mouth and drop powder charge
3. Seat bullet (if you used station 2 to prime the case this stage would be #4 and you would sear and crimp the bullet).
4. Crimp case mouth using a Lee FCD.

However...This is not how I do it. As I resize/decap on another press and prime on another press. I only use two stations of my three hole Lee turret. Unless I am using the Lee FCD. Then I use all three stations.

Rifle...One less pull for each press...Depending what all you want to do...

 

[RustyFN]

For me on my classic turret for pistol I,
1: resize/decap and prime on the down stroke.
2: expand the case and add powder.
3: seat the bullet.
4: crimp with the FCD.
I can load pistol at around 200 per hour.

For rifle I,
1: resize/decap, use the press like a single stage. I don't know how many I can do in an hour but it's a lot.
2: trim and swage primer pockets.
3: prime with the press like a single stage, again I can do a lot in one hour.
I will get one to two thousand cases ready then when I load,
1: drop the powder.
2: seat the bullet.
3: crimp with the FCD.
When loading the rifle rounds I can load around 300 per hour.
Rusty

Edit: I forgot to add that all of this is at a comfortable pace. I'm not trying to break any speed records.