Turret presses vs single stage presses?

The thing I like about a turret press (I have the LCT) is as much an organizational thing as it is operational. What I mean by that is that all the dies for one caliber are together in the turret. Swap turrets to change calibers. I have cut short pieces of PVC pipe to store the turrets on.

For most of what I do on the LCT, I do in single-stage mode and batch process. But, for a few things (357mag plinking loads, for instance) I use the auto-index feature and crank out about 200 rounds per hour. And one plus for the LCT is the cost of the turrets - they are only about $12. The downside for something like the T7 press is the cost of the extra turrets (but they do hold 7 dies).

Toprudder said:

The thing I like about a turret press (I have the LCT) is as much an organizational thing as it is operational. What I mean by that is that all the dies for one caliber are together in the turret. Swap turrets to change calibers. I have cut short pieces of PVC pipe to store the turrets on.

For most of what I do on the LCT, I do in single-stage mode and batch process. But, for a few things (357mag plinking loads, for instance) I use the auto-index feature and crank out about 200 rounds per hour. And one plus for the LCT is the cost of the turrets - they are only about $12. The downside for something like the T7 press is the cost of the extra turrets (but they do hold 7 dies).

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I've never used an LCT but in way you use yours, you may have the best of both worlds!

A substantial part of the time-savings offered by a turret is in reduced brass handling, not just die installation. Picking the brass out of the tray, putting it into the shelholder, and putting it back in the tray to await the next step - that adds time on every single cartridge.

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Yeah, what ATLDave said. Having a Lee Classic turret and removing the autoindex makes no sense to me at all; the time saving is all from decreased case handling, and, if you add the primer handlers and an on-press powder dispenser (I prefer the Lee Pro Auto Disk with a riser), you never handle a case except to put it on, and pull it off as a finished cartridge.

Milt1 said:

If I'm moving my turret head, after resizing, to the expanding die it only moves one and 1/2 inches but you are moving it back and forth for each shell to complete two operations. After these two operations are complete and you move to the seating die, that die stays in place until you seat every shell. I'm 76 and having to move the turret doesn't bother me as its well greased and moves easily. I don't see having to move the turret as a problem because I researched turrets and progressives at length before I decided to buy the Redding. My thought process was when I bought that I wanted to control every step to make it as accurate as possible and I didn't want to do it on a single stage or a progressive press. You have to research and decide what's best for you.

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I like using a Turret Press as well.

I am actually thinking about a progressive to do case prep work.
The new Lee Breech Lock Pro seems to fit the bill for being able to grind out a box of primed & sized brass that is ready to load.

tranders said:

I have the Lyman TMagII turret. It does speed up the process some,but if you had the Hornady quick change bushings on you dies you can change dies on a single stage press pretty fast. I personally see no point in 7 or 8 stations on a turret. I have never used all six stations on my Lyman.
I am seriously thinking about getting a progressive press for pistols and getting the Rock Chucker back on the bench for rifle.

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That’s my exact set up, way to go mate.

Thewelshm

That is how I am set up as well, a Dillon 550 for pistol and a Rock Chucker for rifle rounds.

Livin_Cincy said:

I am actually thinking about a progressive to do case prep work.

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Although seldom advertised, you can do all sorts of 'phases' on a progressive .
As few or as many as you like, all the way up to 'full progressive'.
On pistol, I'm 'all stages done at once'.
Lately, w rifle, I'll start with decapped, tumbled, and sized brass. 1. Prime, 2. Charge (individual charges weighed by my dispenser and dumped through a Hornady powder funnel die) and 3. Seat, all with (1) trip through the press and 1 pull per round.
Just about anything you can do to combine phases and limit repeated handling helps speed things up while still taking it at very relaxed, methodical, enjoyable pace.
Get tired of that? Mix it up some other way.
(About the only thing I do on a SS anymore is decap/size rifle, but even then,my LNL AP is quicker as I don't have to 'unload' every single piece of brass out of the shell holder.)

I've had a Classic Turret for several years and I use it for .357 and .44 while I use a Dillon 650 for .38. I really like the Turret and the Auto Drum has been fantastic until lately. I have a separate Auto Drum on each of my turrets. They are so cheap, didn't make sense changing the Powder Drum every time I changed the turret. Lately, the one on my .357 Turret has been giving inconsistent charges with several different Powders that normally meter well. Is there a way to "clean and lube" them as normal maintenance or would I be better off just ordering a new one. I don't know if the Auto Drum has a life expectancy and maybe I have worn it out. It probably has 5k rounds through it. For the most part, my .357 loads are hand thrown since I'm pushing close to max for hunting loads, but there are times when I will load up several 100 rounds and I have no confidence in it right now. It might throw 30-40 perfect and then get one that is way off. Most of the time it is short, but on occasion it will throw too much. . Any suggestions?

All Rockchucker for me,with a little Inline fabrication mods. Really all I need. I do shoot often but load often as well. I enjoy my time in my reloading room so speed is not important to me.

Livin_Cincy said:

I am actually thinking about a progressive to do case prep work.

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On a progressive press, I resize, decap, and expand the mouth of handgun cases. I then clean the cases and set them aside for a future loading session. I do the prep on cases shortly after shooting them and it does not take very long.

When it comes time for a loading session, I prime off the press, then charge, seat the bullet and crimp on the progressive.

Operating a progressive provides lots of flexibility in how many operations you want to do at one time. With some cartridges, I do case prep on one brand of progressive and load the cases on a different brand.

Lots of folks think I'm wasting the benefits of a progressive. Regardless, I'm a happy reloader and still load more ammunition than I can shoot.

On a progressive press, I resize, decap, and expand the mouth of handgun cases. I then clean the cases and set them aside for a future loading session. I do the prep on cases shortly after shooting them and it does not take very long.

When it comes time for a loading session, I prime off the press, then charge, seat the bullet and crimp on the progressive.

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My sequence as well.
I hand prime while watching the TV and to me it's nice not to have to mess with the primers when I am loading. This also lets me clean the deprimed cases, of course the trade off is more handle pulls.

Eddietruett said:

I've had a Classic Turret for several years and I use it for .357 and .44 while I use a Dillon 650 for .38. I really like the Turret and the Auto Drum has been fantastic until lately. I have a separate Auto Drum on each of my turrets. They are so cheap, didn't make sense changing the Powder Drum every time I changed the turret. Lately, the one on my .357 Turret has been giving inconsistent charges with several different Powders that normally meter well. Is there a way to "clean and lube" them as normal maintenance or would I be better off just ordering a new one. I don't know if the Auto Drum has a life expectancy and maybe I have worn it out. It probably has 5k rounds through it. For the most part, my .357 loads are hand thrown since I'm pushing close to max for hunting loads, but there are times when I will load up several 100 rounds and I have no confidence in it right now. It might throw 30-40 perfect and then get one that is way off. Most of the time it is short, but on occasion it will throw too much. . Any suggestions?

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I am going to guess that the sizing die needs cleaned good.

• The light throw makes me think that it is not going all the way up on the up stroke and you are not getting a full charge.
  • It could be jammed with powder.
• The occasional Heavy charge makes me think the accumulated powder is pushing past and into the case to force its way out.
  
• The tension set by the knob could get loose. So the drum may walk out ever so much and not be seated flush.

I move my AutoDrum from Turret to Turret and replace the insert.
I clean the sizing die when I have the riser removed.
I dump it out, clean it, and give it some Hornady One Shot (a dry lube).
This seems to make is slide smooth in the die.

Livin_Cincy said:

I am going to guess that the sizing die needs cleaned good.

• The light throw makes me think that it is not going all the way up on the up stroke and you are not getting a full charge.

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That would be my guess as well. Make sure that the die and the AD's attachment to the die are both correctly tightened/set such that the ram is getting the Drum to fully rotate. If it's getting less than all the way, erratic charges can result. Also check to make sure the hopper hasn't gotten slightly turned, partially choking off the flow of powder from hopper to the drum.

^^^^ all these suggestions^^^^
Take it apart, clean thoroughly, assemble properly, and it should be good to go.

If it is still giving problems after all that, try switching to a new drum...

Since I bought my turret press, my old single stage press is relegated to other duties like primer pocket swaging, collet bullet pulling duties and sometimes universal depriming of brass purchased in bulk.

Everybody has different needs and desires, though.
I keep my powder drops separate, but that's just personal preference.

I have a RCBS Rockchucker and a Lee LCT. Iike most, I use my Rockchucker for my rifle rounds and my LCT for depriming and my pistol rounds. It is significantly faster for me using the LCT on pistol rounds as I handle the brass less. I also use inline fabrication quick mount system, which makes swapping presses easy.

Livin_Cincy said:

I am going to guess that the sizing die needs cleaned good.

• The light throw makes me think that it is not going all the way up on the up stroke and you are not getting a full charge.
  • It could be jammed with powder.
• The occasional Heavy charge makes me think the accumulated powder is pushing past and into the case to force its way out.
  
• The tension set by the knob could get loose. So the drum may walk out ever so much and not be seated flush.

I move my AutoDrum from Turret to Turret and replace the insert.
I clean the sizing die when I have the riser removed.
I dump it out, clean it, and give it some Hornady One Shot (a dry lube).
This seems to make is slide smooth in the die.

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I really appreciate the suggestions made my you and also ATLDave. When this heat lets up and I get back into my poor mans reloading cave with no a/c I will certainly give it a good cleaning.

Pistol cases-
Cases get a quick wash in a bucket of water to get major crud off.
Then a 1/2 hour run in the wet tumbler.
Dry cases, deprime, resize, flare
1 hour in the wet tumbler again. Dry, prime so I have primed brass ready to load.

I have dry tumbled deprimed cases. (vibe type)
Usually no issues with corn cob sticking in pockets, sometimes walnut would stick, so when I was using dry I always used corn cob if I had deprimed cases.

jski said:

I've always cleaned my cases with the fired primers still in the case. I was told from when I first started to do this to prevent corn cob or walnut shell pieces from getting stuck in the case's primer pocket. Evidently others choose to ignore this.

How does it work for you folks ... running your deprimed cases thru the vibrator?

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Unless the cases are very dirty coming off the range, I tumble the cases after sizing and decapping. (If they are very dirty, they get tumbled before and after sizing).

I like to have the cases cleaned after much of the handling is complete and then they are put into storage for a future loading session. Also, these days, I am using lubricant during resizing of hand gun cases even with carbide dies. It makes the resizing process go very slick. Post sizing tumbling cleans off the lubricant. And, tumbling after decapping at least gives the loose primer dust a chance to get cleaned out of the case. (I know, all the famous gun scribes say priming pocket cleaning is not necessary, but it makes me feel good)

After tumbling, I do poke a wire through each flash hole to make sure no tumbling media is caught in the hole.

I generally resize, prep and tumble cases shortly after shooting. Small batches. generally 100-200 cases, get processed quickly. Not counting the time the tumbler runs, I can process 100-200 cases in 10-15 minutes or so including inspecting all the flash holes.

I then store the cases away for a future reloading session. Reloading sessions can be small, 100 or so rounds, or large, up to a couple thousand rounds.

This works for me but it is by no means the only way.

jski said:

I've always cleaned my cases with the fired primers still in the case. I was told from when I first started to do this to prevent corn cob or walnut shell pieces from getting stuck in the case's primer pocket. Evidently others choose to ignore this.

How does it work for you folks ... running your deprimed cases thru the vibrator?

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I never had a problem with corncob plugging flash holes, but I only use the 20/40 mesh which is small enough to flow through it. Besides I have never seen a primer that did not have enough energy to blow the blockage way. As you know the primer has enough energy to move the bullet into the barrel without any powder. So a small spec of corncob does not have a chance.

jski said:

I've always cleaned my cases with the fired primers still in the case. I was told from when I first started to do this to prevent corn cob or walnut shell pieces from getting stuck in the case's primer pocket. Evidently others choose to ignore this.

How does it work for you folks ... running your deprimed cases thru the vibrator?

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I use a small awl type tool to poke out anything in the pockets or flash holes after tumbling. It looks like a miniature scratch awl and comes to a sharp point. It works very well, and it's quick too. Sometimes corn cob will fill the pocket, and this tool takes care of it.

The problem with using walnut shell media with deprimed cases is that the primer hole often gets a piece of walnut shell stuck in it so will have to deal with that. Also for future reference you can get walnut shell media at a pet store. It's called lizard bedding or something similar and is much less money.

I use a Lee Universal deprimer for all cases. Then I soak them in water and a little Dawn dish soap. Rinse and dry. Ready to resize,prime and load from there.
I want the cases clean,but couldn't care less if they shine.