Turret presses. Do you prefer to load 1 cartridge at a time or do them in stages?

[owenbright]

I was curious what most people prefer.
Do you prefer to load one cartridge at a time (3-5 presses per)
or do each stage in batch as if you were using a single stage press?
Which do you find faster?

 

[Eagle103]

Doing one cartridge start to finish is way faster and that's what the press is intended to do, at least for pistol rounds.
For rifle I still do batch.

 

[Eric F]

Well when I started doing 45-70 I did the whole process for 1 bullet at a time. Now with 50-90 and some diffrent methods I do it like this
1. size/prime
2. bell case and remove
repeat 50 times
3. drop powder 50 times then back to individual cases
4. compress charge
5. seat and crimp

 

[dwave]

I make one at a time with my pistol bullets and I do my rifle bullets in batches.

 

[fecmech]

I've used a Lyman Spar T turret for over 30 years with a Redding powder measure on the turret between the expander die and bullet seat die and turn the turret. I load each shell to completion. This press has an auto primer feed and I load as follows. Insert empty shell resize and deprime. Index turret, expand case mouth and reprime. Index turret dump powder charge. Index turret seat and crimp bullet. Remove completed cartridge and repeat sequence. I can load 100-120 rds per hour at a comfortable pace on this press. IMO it's a better way to load than putting shells back and forth between a loading block and the press. Also next to no chance of a double charge. That said I usually use this press now for load development or odds and ends. My volume loading is done on 2 CH Auto Champ progressives which easily put out 400 rds per hour.

 

[HJ857]

I de-prime/size, clean and re-prime in separate steps. So when I load I'm starting with finished, primed brass. So on the turret I drop powder, weigh, trickle if needed, seat bullet, check length, adjust if necessary, crimp. I can do around 2.5 rounds per minute. I use the Lee Classic, but with indexing disabled.

 

[rero360]

I have the lee classic as well and the RCBS charge master, I did my first 1000 rounds of .45 in stages, tumbled all at once, the resized all of them, so on and so forth until powder, then I broke it down into batches of 100, took me about 9 hours not counting tumbing, over the course of about two weeks.

 

[rdhood]

I do all of the decapping at once, and put it away until I get ready to assemble. When on a roll, I can decap about 1000 cases an hour.

Then I do the prime/powder/bullet/factory crimp in 4 pulls. This makes absolutely sure that there are no empty or double charged loads. I can assemble about 200 cartridges an hour.

This is all on a Lee Classic turret.

 

[mallc]

Mixed Mode

Redding T7 Turret

In Batch:
1) Clean and tumble
2) Lightly spray lube and allow to dry
3) Decap and size, and then bell
4) Hand prime

Then complete one at a time
5) Charge
6) Seat
7) Crimp

Scott

 

[RB98SS]

I double up some of the stages but I prefer to view and compare all the loaded cases in the block before I seat and crimp.

1. resize
2. trim
3. bell
4. prime
5. charge
6. seat and crimp

I do bell, charge, seat and crimp one round at a time if I'm using one of my powder thru expander dies.

 

[nitesite]

Originally posted by mallc
In Batch:
1) Clean and tumble
2) Lightly spray lube and allow to dry
3) Decap and size, and then bell
4) Hand prime

Then complete one at a time
5) Charge
6) Seat
7) Crimp

That's close to what I do on my Lyman T-Mag Turret press.

I size/decap and flare/prime in large batches, doing both steps before I pick up another case. Most of the time I put them up in ziploc bags for later, labelling them with the primer I used.

Then anytime I want to load pistol rounds, I first set up the powder measure and then charge the cases "off press" and place them in loading blocks. They get one last examination, plus along the way I occasionally double-check charge weights. If things seem "off" I start backing up by checking a few more charged cases on a digital electronic scale.

When I have 100 done to my satisfaction I then seat a bullet and factory crimp before picking up the next charged case.

I can do about 100 pistol rounds in under 30 minutes if the cases were previously flared and primed. I like the leisurely approach.

And for rifle rounds with long extruded powders like Varget, I get out some primed cases and use a digital powder measure/scale to charge them and then bring them back to the turret press for bullet seating.

This works especially well when I want to ladder a new load, making ten before entering a new charge weight on the keypad.

 

[Walkalong]

Back when I had a Turret, I used it as intended.

 

[nitesite]

Walkalong~~~

I'd like you critique on how I'm doing things on my turret press. You are welcome to PM me if you don't mind taking the time...

 

[nitesite]

Walkalong~~~

I'd like you critique on how I'm doing things on my turret press. You are welcome to PM me if you don't mind taking the time...

 

[stubbicatt]

I let it automatically progress to the next step, and use it in that fashion when reloading cartridges.

If resizing bullets, I just use the one stage.

HTH

 

[Walkalong]

Hello nitesite, my fellow Alabamian

Your load procedure is just fine. I just liked to get em done in a hurry.

I was loading rifle on a single stage RCBS, but cranking out pistol rounds on the Lee Turret press. It was kind of funny watching the powder measure go round and round with the turret.

I replaced it with a Hornady Projector. The Lee was a good little press. I was just lusting for the Hornady.

The Lee Deluxe 4 Hole Turret Press kit has got to be the best bang for the buck going these days. AC

 

[Vitamin G]

Batch for Rifle, but i do turret style for pistol.

 

[JDGray]

Handgun Loads

I have 2 presses, a single stage that I use only to size and decap, and a Lee 4 hole turret that I load on. I like keeping primed brass, ready to load, in bulk. When its time to make ammo, I can turn out 100 cartridges in less than 15 minutes. The auto indexing, ensures no double charges, the Pro Auto Disk powder measure is very consistant, turns out quality ammo pretty fast.

 

[PotatoJudge]

Same as Vit G. I get about 150-200 rounds/hr working at a reasonable pace.
I can't clean primer pockets or throw charges for rifle powders on the turret, so they get done single stage.

 

[RustyFN]

I load on a Lee classic turret. I load pistol one case complete and then start the next. When I load rifle I size/deprime and then prime as you would on a single stage. After I have about 1,500 ready I will finish loading each one complete, powder, bullet then crimp.
Rusty

 

[owenbright]

I've also been doing 1 cartridge to completion at a time using a Lee Classic Turret.
I'm thinking I should try doing it the way JDGray does.
I was curious if doing them in batch is faster since you repeat the same
thing over and over, but I guess not!

 

[kir_kenix]

i use the turret to complete one cartridge at a time. ill do batches for plinking rifle rounds sometimes, but by and large i use the turret as it was intended.

 

[SSN Vet]

I can't abide batch loading.....

start to finish and one box min., that's my mind set.

Even for rifle....

1. size/deprime
2. pull the case and zip trim, chamfer and wipe
3. back on the press to charge, seat and crimp.
4. check charge weight ever 10 or so
5. off the press, final wipe/inspect and into the box.
6. log the job details in my spiral binder and label the box.

keep a turret set up for each caliber and swaps are SO easy.

some guys even buy an extra Auto Disk for each caliber and keep it set up for their favorite load right on the turret.