Lee turret or hornady progressive

easiest answer, if your not changing calibers, and can afford it, get the progressive. If not, the lee turrets are great. You said you have one, so we can assume you know their.... personality.

My friend bought a Lee Turret, it's too short for his 300 Win Mag loads. It would work wonders loading handgun or short action rifle.

Unless you want to reset all of your dies each time you change calibers, you'll need to factor in the cost of the quick change Hornady setup. I don't know how much that is, but I can bet it is more expensive than a Lee turret.

For that matter, you could bring all of your Lee turrets with you since they aren't doing anything when you are at school.

Honestly I believe the biggest difference in these two presses is that the Lee LCT is an auto-indexing 4hole turret press while the LnL AP is a 5 hole, true progressive. That means 1 loaded round per 4 handle strokes with the Lee vs. 1 loaded round with 1 handle stroke with the LnL AP.

I've used a LCT for a number of years, loading mostly pistol rounds and found it more than adequate; capable of loading around 150-175 pistol rounds/hr. The Auto-priming accessary can be a bit "fiddly" to setup, but once it's dialed in, pretty reliable. The Pro Powder measure is fine for pistol cartridges, but in-adequate for the typical rifle powder charges. That requires, for me, to drop powder charges off-press, which slows down that rate by a big margin. Buying extra turrets for each caliber will really speed up any changes. Lee customer service is very good.

The Hornady LnL AP is a true progressive and can easily reach 300-350rounds/hr, even without a shell or bullet feeder. Adding those options would speed up production even more. The primer feeder and Hornady powder measure are really superior to the Lee and can drop what-ever charge you desire. The Hornady collet die holders make caliber changes very fast and repeatable. Hornady warrenty and customer service is top notch.

Yes, the Hornady LnL AP is more expensive out of the gate, but with 500 free bullets, that eases the blow. FWIW, I moved from my LCT to the Hornady LnL AP early this year and am very happy with that move.

I've had both. I had a single stage, and updgraded to the turret and then the Hornady LNL for more volume and never looked back. Get the progressive, you won't regret it. When it's running right, I can get a cyclic rate of 4-500 rounds per hour, usually a practical rate of about 200.

I too moved from the LCT to the LNL and I really like it.

I reloaded for many decades on an RCBS Rock Chucker. Last year I was given a 550B Dillon press and love it. You do have to buy the conversion kits for each caliber (about $45 each). It is a manual progressive, meaning you have to turn the wheel (or stations) with a flip of a finger, as opposed to an actual progressive in which the press moves the wheel automatically.

I have been loading on he LNL for about 4 years, first thing is to strip and clean.. then set up per YouTube Highboy videos good to go great press...

Thewelshm

I have both and like both.
For a known load when I am loading a bunch the LNL is great.
For small batches and things I don't shoot as much of I use the Turret. (old 3 hole deluxe style)
I prime off press when using both. I can sit around and watch football or the news and prime cases. Not having to prime while loading gives me one less thing to worry about and I can fill the Lee hand primer and prime 20 cases in the time it takes me to fill the tube on the LNL. (and yes I know I can buy tube fillers and more tubes but that's more $, and I tend to think of loaded tubes not in the safety shield of the press as an accident waiting to happen)

I do a quick clean resize and deprime then do another clean. I found the manual bullet feeder for the LNL (tube type from Hornady) to be a good investment.
If you buy the progressive I would suggest you pick up a powder check die or a lockout die. I didn't when I bought mine but decided I really wanted the powder check after I started using it.

Either choice is a good one.

I have a Classic and it's good. But the turret or progressive advantage is really with pistol, not rifle. As of yesterday I'm beginning to dislike Hornady brass but haven't used their reloaders. I'm sure either is fine.

bang_bang said:

My friend bought a Lee Turret, it's too short for his 300 Win Mag loads. It would work wonders loading handgun or short action rifle.

Click to expand...

It reloads .30-06 just fine so I have to really wonder how you decided that.

I have a Lee Classic Turret as well as a Dillon 650. No doubt at some point you'll want to go to a progressive. Assuming cost is important, and you can currently meet your ammo needs with the turret, get another one for school. It would be easy to carry your turrets and shell holders from home to school, and back home as needed. Very minimal investment, and efficient. The initial investment, is just the beginning with a progressive. You'll need shell plates and other caliber conversion parts that can add significant cost to your loading system. When you get out of school and settled in, then get your LNL, sell one of your turrets, (You'll want to keep one) and enjoy!
Good luck, and study hard!
str1

If you can afford the LNL get it and leave it at home and move the LCT to school with you if you want the simpler one there.

I left my presses at home when I went to school. If I were young again I would do the same, you'll have plenty of time to load when you make it back home.

That said. If it's less expensive, more than adequate, take up less space and not weigh as much moving it around the Lee sounds like a winner, in this case.

My advice is:

get another LCT

OR

get a LNL-AP

I have to say that you ewlyon are my personal hero. Why you ask? Because you are able to juggle your demanding academic pursuits and continue to shoot a wide range of firearms, which is fantastic.

While not in grad school myself, I do work full time and currently I'm taking organic chemistry 1 (an undergrad course) in the evening and the work load is sufficient to keep my shooting activities to a bare minimum. This in spite of the fact that I have available to me enough handloaded ammo to get me through this semester and next (when I take ochem 2). If it were not for the fact that I have a large amount of vacation time accumulated that I can take in 1 hour blocks, I would be unable to do any shooting at all this academic year.

Why not load up enough ammo right now on the bench you already have to get you through the year?

I (as well as others on THR) wrote some poetry on the LCT which appeared in this thread:
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=810476

Here is a sample...

In the beginning Richard Lee created the LCT

And it was good.

Not as good as a Hornady LNL-AP but still good

You'll need to factor the learning/adjusting curve for the progressives into your thinking. Progressives take more care to get/keep running right. As for 500 free bullets, that's utterly inconsequential over the long term(long defined in weeks)

The 300 mag loads were a 220 gr SMK and running long, his competition load. Had to fit the projectile into the die then set it on top of the brass.

I am having trouble deciding between a Lee classic turret press and a hornady lock and load progressive.

Click to expand...

Yes that's a real head scratcher for sure.

I have a Lee Turret (3 hole) for over 35 years. Yes same press.

I have turrets for .380 acp, .38 S&W, 9mm, .38 spl., .357 Magnum, .40 S&W, .44 Spl., .44 Magnum, .45 ACP, and M1 Carbine.

I also have a Lyman turret (six hole) set up for rifle rounds including .223, .243, 7.62x39, 30/30, 308, 30-08, .300 WM, .338 WM.

And that press I've had for over 20 years to!

I'll just say they have paid for themselves. Paid off long time ago.

Deaf

I bought a LNL last year and love it. I reload multiple calibers. I will tell you that you will need to purchase shell plates and bushings for every caliber you plan on loading at about $32-35 each for the plates and I forget what it cost for 10 bushings. The nice thing is once you have your press set up and dies dialed in they are quickly changed for the next caliber you plan to load with the LNL system.

You can also buy the quick change powder drops for each caliber and have them dialed in pretty close to the amount of powder you want to use with minor adjustments.

Its expensive to get started but once you get it you will enjoy it. 500 free bullets to get you started and if you use their dies its a 100 free bullets for each set you purchase. That is a nice bonus.

OP


"I think I will just get another turret and stick with the press I know and already have have things set up for."



Its your decision, of course, but if you think you will be reloading for the foreseeable future the AP would be my choice. I have both, and if one had to go it would be the Lee, in a second. The Hornady is a great press for me. I load mostly small lots and I almost always prime off the press. Changing dies on the AP is very fast. I just prep brass whenever I have a little time and load whenever I need some rounds. Works great for me.