How many round per hour with Lee turret press?

[actionflies]

I hear people said they can load 250rd. per hour with their Lee classic turret press but I find it heard to believe because I have loaded a few thousand rounds and I can only get 150rd. per hour loading 45acp. So post your personal best here using the Lee classic turret press.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I load 200 rounds of 38/357 per hour on a Lee Classic Turret Press without rushing or compromising quality control.

 

[strat81]

I'd say between 150 and 200 per hour (closer to 200), depending on:
-how many times I need to fill the primer tray or powder hopper
-how many times I need to add bullets or brass from the supply piles
-if I've lost my pencil that I use to label the boxes (grr!!!)

 

[dafitch]

My turret loading sequence doesn't include the decapping, as I like to deprime prior to tumbling (clean out the primer pockets, etc). Skipping the decapping, really paying attention, and developing a nice rhythm, the best I've been able to do is 500 .45ACP in 2.5 hours. For short bursts, I can load about 200 .223Rem in an hour.

If I didn't check each powder throw, prime on the turret, or factory crimp the bullets I'd be faster.

I guess we need to remember that it's not a race, and we're doing this because we like it. The cleaning and case prep are the parts I'd like to speed up!

 

[HiWayMan]

I can get 200+ an hour when doing 9mm. I average 13 minutes per 50.

 

[RustyFN]

I am close to 200 per hour. I load the primer tray with 200 primers so I don't have to reload it during the hour. It's a comfortable pace and not rushed.
Rusty

 

[Sistema1927]

About 200 rounds of .45 Colt in just under an hour. Recognize that I am loading a tried and true load with Trail Boss, which meters very consistently, and only weigh at the beginning and at the end of my session.

 

[Rod B]

200 rounds per hour is a comfortable speed.

 

[xsquidgator]

I'm curious what ya'll are doing!? I'm still kind of new but now I'm comfortable with my Lee classic turret (maybe 4000 rounds loaded since I started 4 months ago), but a little over 100 an hour without hurrying is all I seem to get. I weigh each 20th charge or thereabouts to make sure my adjustable charge bar hasn't drifted, I wonder what else I'm doing is taking me so long? I keep one pile of brass, one pile of bullets, and use the safety prime thing to do everything starting from decapping to priming and everything. It feels like I'm pulling the handle up and down in a good rythmn, do you continue to get faster the more you do?

 

[jfh]

I currently run at about 200 per hour on

my updated Lee Turret. However, it's that new primer gizmo--it got dirty, or something, and it inserts a primer properly less than 50% of the time. I haven't taken it apart yet, simply because I am trying to diagnose the exact problem.

Two issues seem to exist--one, the actual primer insertion is unreliable. And, the "height" seems to be hanging up on the primer tool. I think I can just readjust the whole die set lower to resolve the height problem, but if anyone has insight into the tweaking for this tool, please post it.

Like RustyFN, I set up the primer tray with 200 primers. I also check the charge weight, a max cartridge gauge drop and a caliper LOA check about every 50 rounds.

I used to routinely load 225-250 with manual / hand primer insertion. That was, however, with little or no checking.

Jim H.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

xsquidgator,
I was loading ~200 rounds per hour after only loading about 1,000 rounds. If you are loading 100 rounds after already loading 4,000 rounds I would say that's your pace. There are days I can load only 150 rounds per hour for one reason or another. This isn't a race, if your pace is 100 per hour and you are making quality rounds then don't think you are doing something wrong, it's just your pace.

 

[rdhood]

About 200 per hour for me.

 

[xsquidgator]

ArchAngelCD,
Actually I'm doing a little better than I thought. Last night once I got set up, I started a stopwatch and timed myself making 100 rounds of .45acp. 42 minutes which comes out to a little over 140 an hour, and that was with quite a bit of measuring and QA in there too. So once I get going I think I can make about 150 an hour, which is a lot more than I thought I could do and I'm happy with it. As you say, too, that's about my pace and it's enough to keep me in practice ammo . I don't think I could afford to keep a progressive press fed.

Best thing I did though was getting the safety prime thing so I didn't have to hand prime - being able to use all 4 turret stations in order cut down a lot on the amount of handling casings, when I was hand priming it was more like 100 an hour or less.

 

[The Bushmaster]

I have never tried to see how many rounds I can load with my Lee turret. I would guess that I do around 100 +/- 50 if I prime them first. Really...I don't care how many I can load in one hour as I load quality rounds and that requires a meticulous inspection of every round including weighing every powder charge I drop...But who am I to say that you can't race everyone else to see who can load the most rounds in an hour. I guess I'll loose every time...Shuckens...:banghead:

 

[benedict1]

The secret is to organize your components. I have two Acro bins mounted on the front of my bench next to the Classic Turret and another bin sitting on the bench next to the press on the left side. I fill two primer trays, I bought some extras. Bullets are in one of the front mounted bins and brass in the other. The brass is cleaned and lubed, if it's 9mm. For .38 aor .45 I don't lube.

Get a little rhythm going and you can pick brass then bullet and drop finished round pretty smoothly.

I routinely load 200+ an hour this way. I have loaded over 250 per hour but that pushes it.

It is not a speed contest but I have only so many hours per week to devote to reloading. Now I only use the turret for lower volume requirements or load development. I have a Lee Load Master for 9mm and 45 ACP high volume stuff. With it 500+ rounds per hour is very easy.

 

[LubeckTech]

I can get about 300 rounds in about 1 hr 45 min on a 3 hole Lee turret including facrory crimp. First I size and deprime then I prime using a lee autoprime II press mounted priming tool which is fast and allows me to control the primer seating depth and is 100% consistant. After I have prepared the brass as a batch I bell/prime the cases using lee dies and the lee auto disk powder measure then seat next factory crimp. I rotate the turret by hand as I have too many problems with the auto index. This process is fast and produces great ammunition with NO high primers. I can't recommend the AutoPrime II highly enough!!

 

[SSN Vet]

Now why on earth would I want to mess up a perfectly good re-loading session by doing something as silly as looking at the clock.

I'm perfectly content to "muse" over my re-loading....this way, I learn something in most every session. I keep my callipers out and frequently make and compare measurements, I weigh charges frequently, tweek my setup, etc...

Same goes with cleaning my firearms....who's in a hurry.

When I get a chance to sit down at my bench (desk actually) it's my time.

I'm sure most all of you guys re-load and shoot a lot more than I do.

I got into re-loading for economy reasons, but I enjoy it just about as much (if not more) than shooting, and I don't have to drive all the way down to the range (2-1/2 miles ) and it doesn't matter what the weather is.

 

[trickyasafox]

i'm closer to 150-175 per hour.

 

[The Bushmaster]

Well...Hello trickyasafox. Where have you been lately??? You speed demon you...

 

[Hook686]

50-100, but then safety is more important to me than speed. I watch each step carefully and discard powder, or bullet, if something did not seem to go right ... like my mind wandered and I can't remember if I looked in the last case before adding the bullet. I even look over each cartridge after the last step, which is Lee Factory Crimping, to check overall appearance.

I figure a bad load could ruin an otherwise fine day. Being able to carefully examine each step is the main reason I like the Classic Turret more than the Progressive. Under a smooth operational scenario, I might crank out 200 rounds per hour with the progressive, but with 3 steps happening with each pull of the handle, at that speed, I sure do not examine each of the operations. I'm trusting to luck under that condition, and am just not comfortable. In 40 years, I've experienced too many things that, "Just can't happen" ... low and slow is my motto these days.

 

[trickyasafox]

hey bushmaster!

i've been on castboolits a lot lately. trying to feed a new addiction! i pride myself in being as slow as continental drift.