RCBS competition dies and Lee Turret presses

[ATAShooter]

I have been using a Lee turret for years and no problems. Now that I have gotten into target rifle, I bought a set of RCBS competition dies ( you know, the ones with the mirometer on the seating die ). My question is this, on a lee turret, you have a touch of verticle play between the actual turret and the press body. Not alot, just a touch. Is this enough that it will effect a big swing on OAL trying to use the micrometer? Should I get a single stage so it will eliminate this ?

 

[presspuller]

If I was going for accuracy which obviously you are I would get a single stage. That is all I use for rifle rounds and it is rock solid.

 

[Chief 101]

RCBS competition dies and Lee Turret presses

Now that just sounds like an "oxymoron". Chief

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Simplest thing to do would be to try it and see what your results are. Since the play is vertical, I suspect it won't have a lot of effect one way or the other. There are certainly single stages out there and it's never a bad idea ot have one on your bench. A good companion single stage would be the Lee Classic Cast single stage.

Regards,

Dave

 

[Matt-man]

Yep, just seat a few and measure them. Note that if you're using typical HPBT match bullets like Sierra Matchkings, measuring to the tip of the bullet will give you erratic results because the bullets' lengths all vary slightly. Use a bullet comparator like the one from Sinclair to measure to the ogive and you'll get accurate measurements.

 

[cracked butt]

A lot of its going to depend on whether or not the die crimps or not.

If the die does not crimp (like a Lee dead length seater) set the seating die up so that its in firm contact with the shell holder. As long as the shell holder is pressing against the bottom of the die at the top of the stroke, everything should be fairly consistant. If your seating die is similar to the standard RCBS seating die where its backed out a turn or so from the shell holder so that it doesn't crimp, all bets are off.

If you have a single stage press, I would use it for seating anyhow. You'll want to use flat pieces of metal of consistant thickness (washers) to square up your seating die to the ram before locking it down.


I'm glad someone brought this up as I just got a cast turret press a few weeks ago and have been banging out a lot of cast rifle loads since. I haven't thought about checking OAL as that isn't too critical for me as I'm soft seating my bullets. The turret does have a bit of slop in it, on the other hand a single stage press that is not correctly set up might give you consistant oal, but could give you terrible runout, which is worse.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

Ask the gun. Load up a batch and see how they shoot. If you get the accuracy you expect, you saved some money. If not, and your rifle shoots better with ammo loaded on a single-stage, you can buy one with confidence your money will not be wasted.