Is it bad that I already want a turret press?

[ddgarcia05]

I just bought the hand press about three weeks ago and now I want something faster.

I could probably get by with a powder charger. Measuring my hand takes forever, even with a digi scale.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Not bad. However, you will get the turret and then want a progressive...skip the turret and go right to progressive.

 

[HJ857]

I started with a single stage and almost instantly moved to a turret. That was around 10 years ago and I've so far not seen a need to move past the turret. I still have the single stage mounted right next to the turret and use it for special purposes and I'm glad I have it.

 

[kostner]

Have a turret press for many years and still use it for rifle ammo. Have a couple SDB's for hand gun reloading. Welcome to the club.

 

[david bachelder]

+ColtPythonElite

Started with a single stage, went to a Turret, wound up with a progressive.

Skip the bull, get the progressive and save a few bucks. Keep the Single Stage, you will always have a job for it.

 

[WestKentucky]

What are you loading for that you want to build in bulk? I'm considering a turret but hate to make the jump. I had a shotgun turret once and despised it, but a turret I could run 357 through would be nice.

 

[ddgarcia05]

9 and 223. 308 later

 

[WestKentucky]

Yep...skip the turret. Go to a progressive, and start doing push-ups to build up your endurance.

 

[1SOW]

As you're finding with the single stage, your likely "future demands" on quantity drive what press-type to buy now.

On a turret press, you can easily pump out 100 rds/hour average. You can produce more, especially with straight walled pistol calibers, when you get skilled with that process.

If this fills the bill for next year, go for it. If it doesn't, look at the progressives where you can produce a lot more per hour.

I've been loading and shooting well over 1K/month with a turret press for years. If I wasn't retired, I'd have been happier with a progressive.
If you outgrow a turret press, the turret press could be kept set up for the rifle if the demand wasn't as high as the pistol ammo.

 

[hartcreek]

The only advantage of a turret press is that all the dies are attached. It still takes so many strokes to produce a finished round. I am on the verge of changing to a progressive press but i have to wonder about being able to feel all the actions at once and still have enough leverage to get the job done.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

First get a good powder measure. I recommend the RCBS Uniflow with a micrometer. It does a good job measuring the difficult handgun powders, 700-x, 800-x Unique, Alliant's Dot line. Then start saving for more press.

I have a turret and it does go faster than a single, but nowhere as fast as a progressive. But it does offer more control.

 

[ddgarcia05]

I only need about 100 rds of 9 a week and about 200 .223. Then maybe 50-100 308.

I can't really see myself ever needing 1000 of anything a week.

Purely range plinking for my fiancé and I. Although, the 308 will most likely be precision.

 

[BCRider]

If you go with a Dillon 550b progressive you have the option of simply removing the little keeper buttons and you then have a 4 position turret press. Slip the buttons back in and you're back to being able to use it as a manually advanced progressive for handgun ammo or some higher volume rifle ammo such as 5.56.

The idea of loading a couple of thousand rounds at a time is so we don't NEED to load 100 or 150 every few days. Go crazy for a couple of days and then you have ammo for a few months or even a year depending on your needs.

 

[Havok7416]

If you go with a Dillon 550b progressive you have the option of simply removing the little keeper buttons and you then have a 4 position turret press. Slip the buttons back in and you're back to being able to use it as a manually advanced progressive for handgun ammo or some higher volume rifle ammo such as 5.56.

The idea of loading a couple of thousand rounds at a time is so we don't NEED to load 100 or 150 every few days. Go crazy for a couple of days and then you have ammo for a few months or even a year depending on your needs.

This has quite a bit of merit IMO. I don't want to reload every day. I will reload cartridges as a I run out for a week or two until I have enough piled up to last me awhile - usually one year for pistol rounds and 3-4 years for rifle rounds. I would go crazy if I was reloading every day.

 

[Walkalong]

I did the same thing. I got a single stage kit, started loading ammo, and then realized right away I wanted something faster for pistol calibers. I got a used Lee Turret press out of the local bulletin board sales flyer, and used it two or three years until I was able to save up my pennies to buy a Projector. I also picked up a Hornady pistol powder measure in the turret press deal and adapted it to work automatically on my LNL and used it for many years until I bought a Redding 10X. A powder measure is a good investment. Weighing each charge is a pain. I know some like to do that, but I am happy dropping charges with my measures.

 

[hartcreek]

You and I are close to the same boat for quantity except at times I need to be able to run 1000 cases at a time. I just got finished with 1000 .40 cal cases and I sure could tell witch ones had been fired from a Glock.

I use a Rockcrusher and it has enough leverage to get the job done but if I had been using a progressive I think that I would have been SOL.

I like to use a hand primer as I can feel when the cases are properly primed and I never could feel that when I used a ram primer.

I see that the Lee 1000 has problems with its priming system and the other Lee has problems with certain types of primers so what I am thinking is that I will use my Rockcrusher to size and deprime and then handprime and use a Lee 1000 to finish loading pistol cases. Rifle loads I will continue to load with my Rockcrusher.

 

[RealGun]

I use a Rockcrusher and it has enough leverage to get the job done but if I had been using a progressive I think that I would have been SOL.

Someone doing that many .40 reloads needs a Redding G-Rx or a Lee Bulge Buster, preprocessing all your brass, spent primer still intact. Then you have the productivity and evenness a progressive should provide. This BTW assumes brass is cleaned first, not necessarily polished to bling status. This 40 brass problem is not unique to Glock, and it is not necessarily a "Glock bulge".

 

[ddgarcia05]

What progressive press would you all suggest one get? Let's say $600 out the door price.

The lock n load press isn't priced bad at all. $379

 

[JWH321]

Its very bad. It proves that you are just lazy and would rather spend your time shooting than to do really useful and rewarding work. You should be ashamed.

But I can cure it. Just send me all of your guns, and then you won't be tempted anymore.

 

[RussellC]

Nope. I bought the Hand press first, figuring, correctly that it would be a handy little motor scooter at times. Same reasoning as you, led me to the Classic Breechlock Press....then, you guessed it, the Lee Turret Press.

Oh, my following purchases you will benefit from as well, the safety prime and the pro auto disk...you will like!

Party on,

Russellc

 

[Gtscotty]

I have used a Lee single stage press for 3 or 4 years and just last week decided to step up to a progressive. As my life has been getting busier, I've decided that I'd rather spend my gun related time shooting than loading. For speed, a progressive seemed like a no-brainer, and my decision was between a Dillon 650 and the Hornady LNL AP. After reading a bunch on both, and playing with my buddy's 650 I went with the Hornady. I unpacked it last night, and the quality and machining all look really nice, hopefully it runs as well as it looks.

 

[BCRider]

What progressive press would you all suggest one get? Let's say $600 out the door price.

My reply in post#13?

Most other progressives are auto indexing. And some of them, like the Hornady, cannot be easily turned into manual indexing.

 

[RussellC]

The only advantage of a turret press is that all the dies are attached. It still takes so many strokes to produce a finished round. I am on the verge of changing to a progressive press but i have to wonder about being able to feel all the actions at once and still have enough leverage to get the job done.

A few more advantages besides having all the dies there is that you can stop anytime within 3 or 4 strokes without having a bunch of case, possibly charged laying around. Unlike the progressive, you can see each stage happen.

Single stage means batch work...say 50 at a time. With the turret, you finish a bullet before beginning the next.

Russellc

 

[Drail]

The only warning I would have for someone looking at turrets or progressives is that the reason you want one is to go faster - which is a good thing but going faster means you have more chances to make a mistake and not catch it. Progressives a require pretty fair amount on concentration. Loading live ammo is not something you want to do in a rush. Turn off the phone turn on some music and enjoy the experience. I enjoy making quality ammo as much as I do shooting it.

 

[ddgarcia05]

The only warning I would have for someone looking at turrets or progressives is that the reason you want one is to go faster - which is a good thing but going faster means you have more chances to make a mistake and not catch it. Progressives a require pretty fair amount on concentration. Loading live ammo is not something you want to do in a rush. Turn off the phone turn on some music and enjoy the experience. I enjoy making quality ammo as much as I do shooting it.

With that said I decided to just buy a lee perfect powder dispenser and just buy dies that I need for my rifles. After having all the dies I need and a trimmer I'll upgrade my press. This way I don't have to be in a rush buying dies after getting a new press.