Lee Classic Turret Press: A Love Sonnet

Well, not really. I can barely write legible English, let alone a Sonnet (whatever a Sonnet is).

But I gotta say, I seriously love the Lee Classic Turret Press.

Not too long ago, my wife gave me a small room in the house for my very own reloading room, my first ever. I was no longer relegated to mounting either my Hornady 366 shotshell press or my lowly RCBS Rockchucker to a Black & Decker Work Mate and loading in the family room.

So I went big, buying a Dillon 1050 for the two calibers we shoot a lot: 9mm and .223. That left me with the Rockchucker for the other calibers.

After reading about the LCT here and on other forums, I decided to retire the Rockchucker for good, and use the LCT for the stuff I don't shoot in volume.

I'm rather surprised by the result: I'm having much more fun with my LCT press than I am with the 1050 (which is a fiddly, cantankerous machine. Works well when it's running, but requires a lot of tinkering to keep it in the game).

I've found myself loading up calibers I have dies and components for that I no longer even have the guns to shoot.

I must admit, the build quality of a lot of the Lee stuff (the Safety Prime system and Auto-Drum measure come immediately to mind) gave me pause, but so far everything made by Lee has performed flawlessly.

My only gripe, albeit a rather small one, is that the .380 Powder Through Expander die shaves a bit of brass, regardless of how small I adjust the bell to be. Doesn't seem to be a problem in other calibers, just .380 Auto.

When I get "in the grove", I can put 200-225 rounds per hour through the little press. Not quite progressive levels of production, but not bad at all for a hundred and twenty buck press.

I had serious reservations about the Auto-Drum measure. It looks like it might very well fall apart in your hands. It would have to prove it's mettle with 25 consecutive charges weighing not more than .1gr difference in order for me to trust it with non-weighed charges. Using CFE-Pistol (which is a very consistent throwing powder), I proceeded to weigh 25 consecutive charges, weighed as the press cycled around to the powder throwing station during the loading process. I never had one charge throw over the .1gr variation limit, equaling the results of my RCBS Uniflow and Dillon measures. Pretty darn good for a thirty five buck powder measure.

I am beyond pleased with the little LCT, and I would like to express HUGE thanks to those of you on the forums who have shared their knowledge of the LCT... you guys are the reason I was able to find this little gem of a press.

@Splattergun - Thanks for the high school flash back!

@gspn - Same here.

@ReefinMike - The 550 is such a sweet press! Eventually, you'll develop a feel of what the press is doing, and just like on your LCT, you'll be able to tell exactly what's wrong just by the feel or sound. But I completely agree... caliber changes are just stupidly expensive.

@Compounds8.0 - Thanks for that, I'll give it a try.

@SARuger - Your LCT setup is just fantastic. I see you have a lot of the previous version of the Safety Prime. I've read in a few different places that most people prefer the older version. I don't have an older one to compare it to, but other than primer loading being a bit fiddly, it works just fine.

@double bogey - I've considered that, but have decided that I'm not going to let the 1050 best me.

MarshallDodge said:

I can't say I feel the love for an LCT but I do like all my Dillon presses- 550, 650, and 1050.

I agree that the 1050 can be a pain to setup but it does such a great job loading 223, including removal of the primer crimp on military brass, that once it is setup and running, it is well worth it. There is no way you are going to load 400 rounds an hour of 223 on the LCT. The ammo is quality as well. Shot a .38 MOA, 5-shot group with that ammo last weekend.

The 650 is a solid choice for loading pistol calibers

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I do agree that for high volume runs, the 1050 is in a class by itself. The first day we had it, my son and I loaded 1.4k of 9mm. It did, however, take us all day to do it.

The 1050 has a learning curve to it, and I think once a user gets good and comfortable with it, it's a great machine. Just don't expect to mount the thing to your bench and rip through a bunch of loads. Ain't gonna happen. But that's exactly what you *can* expect with the LCT: instant gratification.

I have three toolheads for the 1050. One for .223 prep (universal decap, primer pocket swage, rt-1500 trim/size, resize/decap die set to run the neck expander only through the case), one for loading .223, and one for 9mm.

My current issue with the 1050 is the infamous powder jumping out of cases issue. I have a lower mass ball installed. I have also tried tightening the shellplate, as well as the roller bearing fix. The problem is that if I tighten the shellplate to the point that no powder hops, the indexing pawl won't come up through the shellplate to index.

It seems that with the Dillon (so far, at least) it is just one issue after another, whereas the Lee stuff just *works*.

I was initially turned on to Dillon by my Father's 550. I loved how it "just worked". Keep the powder and primers full, and just let it rip. It was rather shortsighted of me to expect the same from a much more complex machine of an entirely different design.

I'm 2.5k of 9mm and around 800 rounds of .223 into the 1050 so far, and as of now, it's still throwing powder out of cases. It's not so much of an issue with my prefered 9mm loads, but it is a real problem with .223. I'm sure I'll get it worked out eventually; there are a few threads around various forums about indexing issues on the 1050 when the shellplate is snug. I just need to work my way through them.

I had unrealistic expectations of the 1050; it's not Dillon's fault that I'm not entirely happy at this point, it's mine. I'm still optimistic that I'll get it fine tuned and running like a race car.

But for immediate gratification (and low cost of entry), the LCT is the clear winner.

alexcue said:

Phlier, just so you know how much I enjoy the Auto-Drum... I use it on my XL650 to load .380 ACP. The loads are so small with the Auto-Drum after I set it up for my LCT, I figured what the heck lets try it on the XL650. Works perfectly! I cranked out 300 rounds in under 30 minutes... Most of my problems were with the small cases not with the Auto-Drum (mixed brass can be problematic sometimes from the casefeeder to station 1!)

The LCT is perfect for load development in my setup, but I have no problem doing a couple of hundred of them on it.

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Alex, thanks for that! I just swapped over my Dillon measure (which I only have one of) to the large powder bar for .223, and it won't throw low enough to work for 9mm. Rather than go through the hassle of losing my .223 setting on the Dillon measure, as well as having to switch back to the smaller powder bar, I think I'll just use the Auto-Drum for 9mm on the 1050.

Do you use the Dillon Powder Through Expander die with the Auto-Drum, or are you using Lee's?

Toprudder said:

I started with a Dillon 550 and use it for all my semi-auto pistol rounds (380, 9, 40, 45). I have an LCT at the other end that I use for rifle and revolver ammo. I also use it for decapping ALL of my brass before I wet tumble. I picked the LCT because of the way it handles spent primers. I will always have a spot for the LCT on my bench.

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A perfect example of Lee's simple, yet elegant, solutions. Their Safety Prime system and Auto-Drum fall in the same category.

I had been using a hand deprimer to decap brass before wet tumbling, but inevitably primers went where they shouldn't. Think I'll start using the LCT for pre-tumble decapping, too.

tcoz said:

I'm going to second everything Phlier said about the Auto-Drum. I was using a Chargemaster for my 9mm and .45 pistol loads as well as all of my rifle until I bought a CZ Scorpion 9mm carbine and started going through a ton of 9mm. The Chargemaster was just too slow to push out large quantities of 9mm so I started looking for a reasonably priced powder measure just for the 9.
Initially I was also a bit skeptical of the $35 Auto-Drum but I did a 25 round test using HP-38 and came up with the same results. Not a single charge varied by more than 0.1gr.
Since I began using it I've loaded around 1500 rounds of 9mm and I think I can remember three charges that varied by 0.2gr, weighing every fifth charge.
At this point I'm ready to start weighing every tenth one.

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That's what I'm doing at this point, too. Every time, my son rolls his eyes at me like, "Really Dad?" It may not happen soon, but at some point he'll understand exactly why I'm teaching him to check, double check, random check, then check again after the fact during reloading. I'll just put up with the eye rolling until then.

gspn said:

Just put 2,000 rounds in a bucket and tell him you found one with a double charge. Hand him a kinetic bullet puller and tell him you now need to pull them all and start over.

The expression on his face will change as the magnitude of the problem sets in. Then tell him "just kidding. That's why I check as i go."

All you're doing is running a small factory. Good factories have good quality control procedures in place for a reason. Good job teaching him the right way!

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LoL, that's just too good. I may have to pull this on him. He's been wanting me to get a collet puller. Maybe I'll run out and get one today...