Turret Press Question

Personally I prefer use my turret press to complete one round at a time, but have used it in single-stage fashion also. I use a lee classic turret with the auto indexing feature. Pull out the auto index rod and it's a single stage.

I suppose it's up to you. I use a Lee Classic Turret, and although you can manually indes on it, I use the auto feature and do one round to compleation. Another reloader that I know has a T7 and does one step on all of his loads and then moves on to the next step.

Dave

If you're manually indexing a turret press, you've basically got a single stage press with rapid die changes. The only time I've used my turret (LCT) in this fashion is for resizing rifle brass where some or all will need to be trimmed.

I do not understand the point of a non-indexing turret press... it's going to kill the production rate advantage that a turret should have over a single stage. The primary advantage of a turret over a single stage is being able to keep the round in the shellholder until the round is complete. Eliminating a bunch of handling of the case is where the time savings comes from.

The only time I use mine without auto index is when I am sizing boolits. Other than that I Would only se myself going manual is if the rifle round was too long for it to auto index.

I have an old style 4 hole Lee turret press. I prefer to batch load and hand index. Normally I would size/deprime and flare in one setting. Prime in another session, or often hand index to a ram prime and prime. Next group I'd charge and seat and crimp. I usually have a lot of primed and ready brass handy so if/when I get an idea or need some of my tried and true loads I can quickly finish a batch of handloads. If I wanted speed or a complete round falling out after a few pulls of the handle, I'd get a Dillon. IIRC, the Lee is the only auto-indexing press in production today. When I got the press I was having a bit of trouble adjusting dies as the turret would index when I didn't want it to so I removed the auto-indexing hardware. I hand indexed for over 20 years and it fit my style much better than using the press semi-progressive...

I like reloading and am never in a hurry needing more, faster, more, faster, faster. I have no quotas to be met and this has been my reloading style for over 35 years. Works quite well for me...

I do both. Rifle - I like to clean after sizing, and I drop powder off the press, so I just short stroke so the turret doesn't turn.
Pistol, I cycle through all 4 dies with one round.

Cemetery21 said:

I do both. Rifle - I like to clean after sizing, and I drop powder off the press, so I just short stroke so the turret doesn't turn.
Pistol, I cycle through all 4 dies with one round.

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Same, except I do leave the indexing rod in for rifle. I start with prepped/recapped/sized/trimmed/gauges brass, then prime on the press, charge off the press, then seat on the press.

Of course the correct answer is it depends For pistol I leave indexing rod in and cycle though same round until complete.

Rifle is a little different. For most I use it as a single stage, I'll size all my brass. For most rifle cartridges I weigh the powder for every round so that is a manual step. Probably because I usually do not do more than 20-50 at a time. I'll then index the press and seat bullet then crimp if needed. For .223 I also start with sized brass done as a single step, but I'll prime, charge, and seat with the index rod in. My .223 is higher volume for AR mostly so I'm doing minimum 100 or more.

-Jeff

I have a redding T-7 Turret press and I love it. Its quite pricey but it works well. The only time I use it for more than one stage is seating and crimping. This is usually for .300 blackout! otherwise its one stage at a time.

I do it in batches vs complete one round at a time, then again I pretty much quit using my turret presses.

I use a Lee classic turret and use the auto indexing all the time when actually reloading. Once a case goes into the shell plate it doesn't come out until its a finished bullet.

When doing rifle l’ll remove the indexing rod when I'm resizing/ decapping before I trim/debur. Rod goes back in once i start reloading the cases though.

I started in the early eighties with a Lyman T Mag.
First step was to make a set of 50 round wooden blocks. I’d do each step in batches of 50 or a hundred. As I use a progressive now the turrets die stations have a universal decapping die, several Lee bullets sizer dies and the Lyman powder measure

Just adding to the consensus. I use an old Lee 3hole turret with all three pistol dies installed. All I load are pistol/revolver calibers as I do not own or shoot any rifles.

I use the press with the indexing rod in place and a case goes in used and empty and comes out complete unless I am doing a check. The idea being to reduce the number of times I am handling each case. Not looking to speed things up or increase production just reduce movements and handling. If I want speedy production I use the progressive press. This is not single stage reloading and nor is it progressive reloading. It is making one bullet at a time.

I use this method of the turret press for working up new loads were I am adjusting seating depth and powder charge and weighing each powder charge and measuring each finished bullet before it goes into a box. Otherwise I use this turret press for short run sessions were I may only be doing a box or two or less. Like when making an adjustment to a load for testing, adding or subtracting powder, adding or subtracting length.

I use the Lee classic turret for most of my pistol shells, (lots of 9 mm), and my old Pacific Multi Power press for bottleneck cartridges. Works for me, I'm to old to change now, besides, I don't want too.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

.I am not sure which is faster, batch loading or manual indexing. I never timed it. However, with the LCT you can auto index and that is definitely faster. The LCT also has an excellent primer catching system. I use it for pistol rounds. I can load 50 rounds in about 15 minutes without rushing. I am just starting to reload rifle rounds so I removed the auto index feature for now.

You did not ask for a press recommendation, but some unsolicited advice...

I learned to reload on a T Mag. I did not like the primer catcher and priming system, though I am sure others will disagree. The new Lyman and RCBS Turrets look to have the same issues. The Redding T7 is the only other common turret press I would consider over an LCT. However, if you are looking for efficiency in loading common handgun calibers you have to give the nod to the LCT as being "better" due to the auto index.

Since you already have a progressive you may not care about the auto index. If so, and if your budget is not an issue, most on this forum would agree the T7 is an killer product.

I use my rcbs auto 4x4 as a single stage for rifle because I weigh each charge especially when doing load development. For pistol I just run it as a progressive.

I generally run mine from start to finish in one sitting. If I am going to clean the brass, I'll pop out all the primers and then run it in the tumbler then use the auto index to finish the rest.

Hmm - life long single stager here -
What is the difference between an Indexing Turret and a Progressive?

I can get my head around a "traditional" turret (Redding T7 for example) where I have all my dies in the head. I would single stage this - resize all cases, rotate the head, flare all cases, rotate the head....etc
If you rotate each time you resize a round, flare a round etc you will spend an exorbitant amount of time rotating the head.

Edit: On the lee turret presses the dies go into a removeable aluminum puck and press has a twisted rod that turns the puck with the dies to next die position every time you work the handle.
If you remove the rod then it behaves like a redding turret in that you have to rotate the dies by hand.

Depends on how I am charging powder.
If weighing each charge treat it as a single stage and do batches with loading block.
I like looking over all the charged cases.
If using powder thrower on turret I auto index.
Best thing about the lee turret is cheap tool heads.
I have about 12 set up for calibers that I only load a box or two at a time.

I think you've phrased the question in such a way that you'll never get a clear answer. Lee has muddied the water so much by calling their very popular Auto Progressing Tool Head press a "turret" that no one in the hobby is clear as to what a "turret press" is anymore.

I always use auto-index on the Turret. Why else would you buy a Lee Classic Turret? When I want to batch process with quick die changes I use my Lee Breech Lock Challenger.

(you can probably guess that most of my pistol dies are 4-hole Turrets, while most of the rifle and miscellaneous dies are in quick change individual bushings. With the except of 223 and 300BO which I own two sets of; one in turrets for production, the other in quick change bushings for load workups).

that no one in the hobby is clear as to what a "turret press" is anymore

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It's clear to me; Lee has the only turrets...because theirs are the only ones that auto-index, The Lyman, RCBS, etc turrets are just single stage presses with a lot of holes.

Progressive presses make a bullet on each stroke of the handle. With a real turret press you don't have to handle the case more than once but you pull the handle more than a few times so that you get to watch it go around to each station while it matures.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I disconnected the index rod on my Lee Turret press, my reloading process is similar to mdi’s. There are still advantages to the Lee ‘s if you don’t use the indexing rod, the turrets are cheaper than dirt which allows me to have a turret set up for each of the calibers I reload for, takes ten seconds to go from loading .357mag to .44mag for example.

I bought a Lee Classic Turret Press because it had auto-indexing. Moved up from a single stage to get a little more production while not having to figure out how a progressive did all that stuff on one pull of the handle. I love watching a cartridge progress to a completed round. For 9mm I've moved on to a progressive. But for all the other pistol calibers I reload I use the LCT. I've watched a number of reloading videos where a manual only indexing turret was used, but it never made sense to me (hey that's just me). All in all a great learning and progressing process. Love that there are so many choices!
Be safe, and have fun!