Alignment issues with Lee Classic Turret

[Dill]

I've had those press for awhile and have just been dealing with this, but it really is annoying. It's almost as if the base was machined at a slight angle. I've had this same issue loading 9mm, 357 mag, and 300 blk, and I have shell plates for each one so I know it's not that. I've totally disassembled the press several times and it goes back together doing this same thing. It's far enough off that the case moves slightly outward when I size it, far enough the primer won't seat correct. Any thoughts before I call Lee?

 

[Livin_Cincy]

It is either the Turret or the Ram. Or you are not using the correct size of hammer...

Call Lee, they will make it right.

 

[ray15]

You sure you don't just need to adjust the index rod?

 

[higgite]

It's a simple fix.

 

[kcofohio]

It's a simple fix.

^^this^^

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

I had this exact problem with mine. I won't bore you with everything I tried, but I'll tell you how I fixed it.

The top section of the turret wasn't parallel with the bottom section. I had to look very closely at it, but merely loosening the three bolts that hold the top section of the turret, and seating it correctly solved my problem.

Once I figured it out, it took 2 minutes to fix.

 

[joeanybody]

I had a similar problem with mine but mine would stop prematurely when it was indexed. I just had to get a new square piece of plastic that sits on top of the index rod.

https://leeprecision.com/square-ratchet.html

I doubt that this is the issue but if it is its a cheap fix.

 

[sparkyv]

The top section of the turret wasn't parallel with the bottom section. I had to look very closely at it, but merely loosening the three bolts that hold the top section of the turret, and seating it correctly solved my problem.

I haven't seen or had this issue, but ^^^ this ^^^ seems to be a logical approach, based upon your images, Dill.

 

[GBExpat]

Mine was a little bit "out".

Using a Lee bullet resizer to determine center, I loosened & tightened the 3 bolts to get the assy squared.

That was over 3 years & many thousands of rounds ago and the LCT is still well-adjusted.

FWIW ...

 

[Gottcha]

I had a similar problem with mine but mine would stop prematurely when it was indexed. I just had to get a new square piece of plastic that sits on top of the index rod.

https://leeprecision.com/square-ratchet.html



I doubt that this is the issue but if it is its a cheap fix.

I modified mine with a steel square nut and a dab of loctite so I'll never have that problem again.

 

[Dill]

I've replaced the square plastic deal once already for another reason, it's not that. I have torn the top half off the press twice already (including the uprights) trying to get it aligned to no avail. I'll try the timing fix this weekend and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[warnerwh]

The turret should stop at a notch so that it can't move either direction. There's a spring loaded ball bearing to hold the turret in place near the upright that holds the Safety prime. If that ball bearing is missing that could be causing the problem.

 

[greyling22]

Now this was 10 years ago, or whenever the classic turret was released, but when I bought my classic turret the shellholders wouldn't snap into the ram. I called Lee and they said a batch of the (whatever the top part of the ram that the priming arm and she'll holder snaps into ) had been made out of spec and they would send me a new one. It fixed my problem. The moral is that it could be a machining flaw. It can happen. But the classic turret was fairly recently released when I had my issue.....

 

[higgite]

I've replaced the square plastic deal once already for another reason, it's not that. I have torn the top half off the press twice already (including the uprights) trying to get it aligned to no avail. I'll try the timing fix this weekend and let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion.

Fixed?

 

[Dill]

no, but I admittedly haven't had a ton of time to work on it. When I attempted to index it, the case was lined up on the rotational axis, but was too far 'inside' if that makes any sense? It was late, and I was frustrated so I went to bed.

 

[higgite]

So, solving the original problem created a new problem? Got pics?

 

[splattergun]

The pics in your OP look exactly like the index rod needs adjusting as in posts 3 and 4. Nearly all LCTs need to be adjusted a bit. If that didn't fix it, call Lee.

 

[Dill]

this is looking from the front of the press, upwards (after trying to adjust the indexing). Looks like I'll be calling Lee.

 

[VoodooMountain]

Mine does that too just not nearly that badly. The slop in the shell holder allows for good alignment when the ram is raised on mine

Looks like your ram/ shell holder is off center with the turret but I admittedly could be missing something

 

[koz4guns]

In the 3rd picture it doesn’t look like the brass is seated in the shell holder all of the way.
What size shell holder is that, I’m guessing that’s 300 blackout brass?

Kurt

 

[Dill]

it's 300 BLK, it's not seated all the way because it was showing how far off it needed to be to enter the die correctly

 

[Dill]

so it's been a busy couple of weeks, so when I had a few minutes and went to load last night, I tried a couple of things. I disassembled the press, and put the uprights back into a different order. This actually helped a little bit (they must be slightly different lengths) so the thought occurred to me to just shim the forward one a little at a time until the ram and die line up perfectly. I used a couple small thin fender washers, and now it's perfect. Sure, there is a washer under the front upright, but who cares? It works perfectly now.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

So.... Apparently the top plate of the press wasn't parallel with the bottom section.....

Glad it's fixed.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I just love a happy ending. I'm glad you found the fix. Sounds like a manufacturers defect.

 

[Dill]

or a tolerance-stacking issue that happened to manifest itself just perfectly.