Lee Turret Press

[M2HMGHB]

Well folks I have found something wrong with another product of Lee's that I bought. The 4 hole turret press bulges the cases when seating the bullets, that is why I originally bought the Factory Crimp die, see my other post. Well it appears that the reason for the bulge is that when the ram is raised it tilts the turret up and back so there is a 19 thousandths of an inch(.019) gap in the front, making a corresponding bulge on the front every case. I emailed Lee yesterday afternoon and will post a reply, if I dont recieve a reply by noon their time I'll call them and post the results. Oh yeah this is with all four (4) of the turrets I've purchased.

 

[WhoKnowsWho]

I e-mailed them about the tiliting of the turret, they said it is absolutely normal, since it needs some play to be able to easily rotate.

I have no problems with bulges.

 

[Arub]

I have been using the Lee 4 turret for about a year now. Have some slop in the fit of the turret to the frame/mounting. Figured it was necessary for easy indexing. No problem with extreme bulging. I reoad .357magnum, .38spl, .40s&W, .45auto and 9mm.

What caliber are you having difficulty with and what diameter bullet are you trying to load?

 

[M2HMGHB]

Calibers are 45ACP with .452 inch bullets, 38 special and 357 magnum .357 inch bullets and 40 smith wesson with .4015 inch bullets. The problem is with all 4 turrets, it's not the dies, they load fine on a single stage press.

 

[mtnbkr]

Have you got your dies adjusted properly?

I've been using a Turret press for 5 or 6 years now and the only time I had problems with brass deformation was when a die wasn't adjusted properly. Otherwise, it's worked well.

Chris

 

[M2HMGHB]

dies are adjusted according to instructions, besides which the chance on screwing up 4 bullet seat dies is pretty slim, would you not say so? I also took out one of them to re adjust with no results.

 

[Archie]

I used a Lee turret press for 15 years.

I finally wore out the frame where the bolts holding the levers screw in. I used it for both rifle and pistol ammo, and in good quantity.

I never noticed a problem from bulged cases. The rounds that wouldn't feed were those I put the bullet in cockeyed and screwed up the case. Or over crimped and buckled the case.

Do the bulged rounds you have not function?

 

[M2HMGHB]

They function but I'd like to find out why it's happening. The bulge is only on one portion of the brass and the brass that has been used includes Fiochi Winchester Federal Magtech and PMC all with the same results. This never happened on my lee challenger single stage press.

 

[Renegade]

I sometimes have the same problem with my 3-hole turret press. Found that the majority of the time I had this problem was because I didn't flare the case mouth enough.


Later,

Dave

 

[M2HMGHB]

I've adjusted all of the expander/powder dies both ways, it doesnt help, I've tried all of the trouble shooting tips listed and it doesnt work. Also if it was case flare would it also not occur on the single stage press?

 

[g56]

When I first started loading I bought some Lee equipment, every single piece of Lee has been replaced with better quality equipment. I have learned thru experience that cheap stuff is more expensive in the long run.

 

[Papakeith]

Is your seating die the seat/crimp die from Lee? I found that if I try to crimp more than .471~2 with the seat/crimp die on my pro1000, I can bulge the case, or get a bit of a roll crimp started.

Just a thought.

PK

 

[M2HMGHB]

"They function but I'd like to find out why it's happening. The bulge is only on one portion of the brass and the brass that has been used includes Fiochi Winchester Federal Magtech and PMC all with the same results. This never happened on my lee challenger single stage press.They function but I'd like to find out why it's happening. The bulge is only on one portion of the brass and the brass that has been used includes Fiochi Winchester Federal Magtech and PMC all with the same results. This never happened on my lee challenger single stage press. "



Also i used to use the factory crimp size die which i no longer do, and the bulge is in one spot, the spot facing away from the press.