lee classic turret press kit

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I have wanted a Lee Classic turret press for a couple years now. I procrastinated for a long while as I bought other things I wanted, and now that I'm shooting my pistols again I really wish I'd gotten one while they were findable. Of course now I can't get one, and every time I get ready to put one on backorder I talk myself out of it and buy ammo for other guns or primers instead. Lol
 
There is also the Classic Cast Turret press. I have the 4 hole, and I think there is an older 3 hole version. (limited edition maybe)

That's the one I have...mine is the four hole turret.

And I agree...clearly Lee could use some help in the "naming of things" department.
 
I'm another one who started with the LCT. I only got into reloading last year, but with several thousand rounds down the pipe, it's been working well so far. I don't think it's any more inherently difficult or prone to foul-ups than a single-stage. Since it's only working on one cartridge at a time, it basically is a single stage with dies that change themselves.
 
All of the Lee stuff is a compromise. It is certainly value priced. I mean you do get good bang for your buck, but there is always better stuff out there. I would recommend Lee for any beginner, because you can learn without a huge investment, but you will want to upgrade soon if you find that you like reloading. For example I started with the Lee Anniversary Kit. I loaded some very accurate rifle ammo on it but when I started loading pistol I found that the powder measure leaked fine powders and was very inconsistent. I never liked the scale and upgraded to a Redding Scale and Lyman Powder Measure at the same time. In other words there is nothing wrong with starting with the Lee kits, just don't expect that you will be happy with everything included, but if it turns out that reloading isn't for you, then you haven't dumped nearly as much money into stuff that you will never use.
 
All of the Lee stuff is a compromise. It is certainly value priced. I mean you do get good bang for your buck, but there is always better stuff out there.

I think not.
That is definitely not the case for a lot of Lee's stuff. As far as the LCT I don't think it can be outdone by any other brand of turret, nor single stage press.
There isn't anything better out there, at three times the price.
 
True day. I will never shoot enough to justify a progressive, nor would I trust one.

The LCT is the best and safest press for anywhere between 100-900 rounds a month.

Sent from my CZ85 Combat
 
All of the Lee stuff is a compromise. It is certainly value priced. I mean you do get good bang for your buck, but there is always better stuff out there.

I disagree. Each maker has it's advantages. I did shop around a bit, and I did not find another turret press, at any price, that delivers what the Lee does.

Now if I were looking at a progressive press, I probably would pass over the Lee in favor of a Dillon.
 
All of the Lee stuff is a compromise. It is certainly value priced. I mean you do get good bang for your buck, but there is always better stuff out there.

I would disagree with this because everything is a compromise and this statement tries to paint the Lee equipment as somehow inferior. I've got years of experience on my Lee with lots of calibers and the ONLY reason I bought a Hornady LNL was for volume. It had nothing to do with the quality of the reloads I put out with my Lee Classic Cast turret.

I got the Hornady because I needed to reload a LOT of several calibers. The Lee still sees weekly service on all of the other calibers and cranks out great ammo.

If you shoot a modest amount then the Lee could be a perfect fit for many reloaders for their entire lives. I'll have mine on my bench until I'm dead or done reloading simply because it does it's job exceedingly well.
 
I have been reading here for years. I have only posted several times. Every brand of equipment has it's champions and detractors. Over the past 20 years I have produced tens of thousands of rounds with a Lee 3 hole turret press, Lee dies, Lee Auto-disk pro powder measure, Lee hand primer, - rifle and handgun calibers. All of it 20 years old. While my buddies are fiddling with the adjustments on their progressive setups, I am cranking out hundreds of rounds for Saturday at the range. The ammunition I produce must be at least as accurate as everyone else's. Don't see many people, field or range shooting any better than me. Equipment from all of the manufacturers makes good rounds. Lee included. - bp
 
I don't agree with the "compromise" observation either, or atleast not today. Years ago....maybe.

But I've owned and loaded on Lyman, Pacific, RCBS, and Lee Presses. Every one of them did the job but for years the RockChucker's stood out with their smooth powerful operation. Today all I own is the Lee Classic Turret and it is every bit as smooth as the older American made RockChucker's I owned and much more convenient.

I like my Lee dies as much as any I've owned and those include RCBS, Lyman, Hornady, Pacific, and Forster. If I were still using a single stage press I would change out the lock-rings but on the turrets Lee's o-ring lock-rings work great.

And lastly to my knowledge Lee is All-American. How many others can say that?
 
I've been using the LCT for handgun reloads and have been satisfied with the result. I was able to recover investment cost within about 1300 rds. However you mention rifle and hunting loads. I have been loading 300 wby mag in mine but it is somewhat of a chore as the turret cannot rotate with the longer cartridges. I plan in the future to purchase a challenger for the longer rifle cartridges. The turret press also has less leverage for sizing larger brass. If your primary focus is going to be on rifle cartridges, a Challenger or comparable single stage press may be better suited. The LCT will do the rifle cartridges, but I feel I'm pushing the limit of the press when I do.
 
The LCT IMO is one of the best presses a reloader can own for the money.

It works each and every time without fail.

Those that have had issues with the LCT have issues overcoming minor issues/problems.

The LCT is one press I will never get rid of. I have the LCT, Lee single stage, Lee Load-All and Hornady LNL AP with case feeder.
 
I've also loaded 300 wby on my LCT without issue. (And 270 wby all the way down to 40 S&W). I just take out the cam rod and use it like a single stage press. That's the beauty of this design.
I also tend to use a batch method, so I've got allot of my brass prepped & primed, but not loaded. Again, if you take out the central rod you can rotate the turret by hand for the drop, seat, & crimp processes. If you are knocking out a bunch of pistol ammo, then leave the cam rod in and go to town.
All your dies are already set up (if you have enough holders), so allot less fiddling & adjusting. If you need more leverage, get the roller handle.

I love mine...
 
All of the Lee stuff is a compromise. It is certainly value priced. I mean you do get good bang for your buck, but there is always better stuff out there.

Well that;s the usually normal statement from somebody that has never owned or used a Lee press. That's how they justify spending three times more for what they have. That's why you see threads where people have had a RC press on thrie bench for years and wanted another SS press so they added a Lee CC. After using the CC for a while they have taken the RC off the bench.

OP the classic turret is a great press for a beginner or experienced loader. I have had mine for seven years and loaded thousands of rounds of 9mm, 38/357, 45 auto and 223. I bought a Dillon 550 last year to speed up a couple of calibers and while the Dillon is also a great press I still used my classic turret just as much as the Dillon.
 
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I too started on a lee classic turret. For the money even with the kit you won't go wrong. Will you want to upgrade some of the items? Yes. But it get you started and you can lean what upgrades you want to make down the road. Is it good for the beginner? Absolutely. You can use it in single stage and as you grow pop in the indexing rod and move a little quicker. It's the best of both worlds.

The lee scale is quite usable. I will not be upgrading any time soon. The slider is quite stiff new but breaks in and gets smoother with time. I'm cheap. I can't justify spending spending 75+ on a scale to get the same results and I do not trust a digital. Not for pistol loads anyway.

I have only been loading a couple months and have already gotten several others involved. Once they see my setup and research on their own they all have ended up with the same setup. I'm not saying others aren't good and usable the value is just awesome. My dad actually bought me the kit on a whim. He likes it so much he's going o get one for short pistol runs and for his 308 reloading. He bleeds blue too.
 
He likes it so much he's going o get one for short pistol runs and for his 308 reloading. He bleeds blue too.
Now THAT's a testimonial! A Dillon user adding a Lee Classic Turret.

The Turret cannot keep up in production with a good progressive, but for ease of caliber changes and simplicity of operation it is the perfect machine between single-stage presses and progressive presses. It can do batch processing and continuous processing with equal ease.

I have used a couple of single stage presses, Lee Pro-1000 presses, researched other progressives and turrets and have come to the conclusion that for 80% of handgun shooters who shoot less than 3,000 rounds a year, one or the other of the two Lee Turrets is the best choice. If the shooter would load more than 3 chamberings, that percentage would go up to 95%.

My opinion. And the percentages and ammo consumption figures are estimates based on what I shoot and conversations I have had and overheard (overread?) on these forums.

But here is one unarguable fact. The Lee Classic Turret press is the best auto-indexing turret press in current production in this country, if not on the planet. Of course, there are only two autoindexing turret presses in current production. The Lee Classic Turret and the Lee Deluxe Turret.

Thanks for reading.

Lost Sheep
 
The CLASSIC press is a GREAT choice of press.
Especially for a beginner!

If you want you can remove the auto advance rod & begin to learn in single-stage mode.
Then when you understand what's going on, put the rod back in & crank away.

While it's not the speed of a progressive press, I think progressives have WAYYYYY to much goin on all at once for beginners.

I hope you have a reloading manual or three to go with that press.
There should be NOTHING more important than several reloading manuals!
 
I'm new as well and have had my LCTP for about 2 months. I did lots of research before I bought and decided on the LCTP kit and so far I am glad I did. Everything is quality but not overbuilt. I got mine here: http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=0000690304
The kit is a good value IMO. The scale works just fine for what it is, but you are going to want a digital scale if you are loading handgun in any quantity. You can spend a lot more money but IMO it would be for marginal benefit if any. Granted, I am a noobie to reloading, but I know a value when I see one. Good luck.
 
Gadawg88-- why would one need a digital for pistol loading? The lee beam is quite fast once you've weighed the first charge. And if using the auto-disc i don't feel one needs to weigh as many charges. When I started loading a couple months ago I weighed every 10-20 charges. What I found was that I needed to keep the hopper full. Other than that I never threw a charge that was more 1/10th of a grain off and always low. Probably even less than that. Now I weigh every 50th pistol charge. Granted i dont have the experience of others but after 3-4000 rounds its incredibly consistent. The beam is more than adequate even weighing every 10th. That and I don't trust electronics. Probably bc I'm a computer guy by trade. But pistol charge weights have a vary small margin of error. I cannot trust that an electronic is working all the time. Especially at these very small charge weights.

To each there own.

That's mid south price is phenomenal. I hadn't seen it that cheap yet.
 
I love mine and use it for rifle and pistol calibers. I've used Lee components for years, especially their dies. In fact, I used a Lee Load-All in the beginning. I have some components from other makers too (RCBS,Lyman,etc.).

I've adjusted the handle on my LCTP to allow me to use it as a single stage for some repetitive operations, like when I just want to decap and size some cases. But a full stroke of the handle still allows the turret to rotate through stages like you would normally. If you want to do this, you'll need to experiment a bit with handle position and angle, through the stroke. But it was worth it for me. I don't do powder charging through the dies, so that gives me some extra handle room at the top of the stroke. Other people just remove the rod that moves the turret.
 
The only major caveat to the Lee Classic Press....is never turn the turret manually by hand UNLESS you raise the ram about halfway first! There's this little square black plastic doodad that's a vital piece of the indexing stuff, and if you turn the turret by hand with the ram all the way down it'll ruin that little doodad. Just raise the ram some first and all is good, it'll last for years.
 
I bought a half dozen of those little black plastic ratchet squares thinking omg, I'll break one a week after reading about people snapping them. I think they cost 39 cents each or some such.

I found the little ziploc bag of them the other day looking through my Lee supplies. Still running on the original after a few thousand handle pulls.
 
To what Rondog said--- that only applies if you have the indexing rod installed. Just wanted to clarify that. I'm sure he was thinking that too.
 
Best part of this machine is the primer catcher----the old turret press dumpted primers all over the floor---this machine is great---:)
 
Tcanthonyii: I am new at this so I don't profess to have it all figured out. When I start my reload session, I calibrate the electronic scale with a test weight, then I check a load on the Lee scale and then on the electronic. So far it has always been right on. I just find it much faster and I have not had any reason to doubt it...yet. I would classify it as a convenience not a necessity.
 
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