Upgrading from the Lee Classic Turret

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I also have “case-kickers” on my LCT’s.

In general, I don’t reset my presses for high volume loading, I just end up buying another press. Especially my progressives.

So that 500rnds in 2-3 hours you mention was about 45min on my 650, about an hour on my LNL-AP. Even with a cartridge change, I’m done with 500rnds in less than half of the time on either progressive as I am on the turrets.

We’ve been down this road many times. The turrets just aren’t progressives, no matter how much lipstick we put on the pig. I love my LCT’s for how I use them, don’t get me wrong, but for high volume reloading, they’re still like running a marathon carrying a boat anchor compared to the progressives.
 
Got my LCT press about 4 years ago. The primer trays are round. At first I would drop 7 or 8 per hundred but with a little adjustment I am down to 1 or 2 out of 500 or so. I have loaded close to 20,000 rounds on it
 
Well I guess I’ll keep my LCT and just figure out a way to hand prime or something off the press. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.
 
I have a LCT that I use for "short run" mostly .357 magnum hunting loads. I use a Dillon 650 for .38 which is the bulk of my shooting. As far as the primer feed that came with my Lee, I finally got so mad trying to make it work that I threw it on the floor and stomped it into pieces. I just keep a primer try on the bench and hand feed a primer for every bullet. When I get into a sync, I think it is just about as fast as the few rare times that the Lee thing did work right. I put the case in and while I'm stroking depriming and sizing, I pick up a primer and bullet and it goes pretty fast. I normally load up about a 100 at a time just to keep in practice with. I also use the disc powder drop as I've found this to be accurate enough for practice loads All of my bullets I actually hunt with are individually loaded and weighed just to be as precise as possible. For those, I still use the turret but will size about 100 cases them prime them all at one time and so forth just like using a single stage press. I just disconnect the spiral rod that advances the turret each stroke
 
You may want to contact Lee and make sure you have the most recent version of the reservoir/tray. Let them know it's jamming and they'll likely send you a fresh one. I agree the round ones are far superior. I hate when Upgrades are actually downgrades and superior technology is made obsolete by bean counters. I love the Safety prime system. With round trays.
 
I hand feed primers on my LCT. After years of playing the drums, I can do one thing with my left hand while my right hand does something different, so it never seemed worth the trouble to me to get the primer feed system sorted out. Primer feeding is not the limiting speed factor for me on the LCT.

As for suggested improvements.... nothing is going to be faster than an LCT except for a progressive. And you already have one of those.
 
I've considered upgrading from my LCT as well, but every time I go there I end up determining it is not worth it. I have the old round style primer trays and they work well enough. Very few issues. Speed is generally my concern. I've determined though I generally do not shoot enough for me to justify something else. At least not at this point in my life. I shoot 300-600 rounds/month of 9mm. I can generally load 150 ish in around an hour on my LCT. That seems good enough for me. If my shooting volume goes up I may have to reconsider.

-jeff
 
Bartojc said:
I've considered upgrading from my LCT as well, but every time I go there I end up determining it is not worth it. I have the old round style primer trays and they work well enough. Very few issues. Speed is generally my concern. I've determined though I generally do not shoot enough for me to justify something else. At least not at this point in my life. I shoot 300-600 rounds/month of 9mm. I can generally load 150 ish in around an hour on my LCT. That seems good enough for me. If my shooting volume goes up I may have to reconsider.

-jeff
Click to expand...

I think 150 an hour on a LCT is pretty respectable. I can do 200 in the summer when I am loading all the time but I'm happy with 150.

I shoot about 300 rounds a week in the winter and 600 in the summer. People have told me 600 would justify a progressive press so I've tried friends Dillon 550 and 650. Nice machines and a single pull per round is impressive but, by the time I do all the round checking that I do with my LCT I don't think I'm gaining anything. And if something like primer feed is off I know it on the LCT, I have to catch it after the fact on a progressive and that can involve more than one round if I'm taking advantage of the progressive speed. I think an experienced person on a progressive that they trust will always produce rounds faster that I can but I'm happy with the way my LCT is functioning. Just a personal preference.

Dave
 
The dexterity required to hand feed individual primers with a ~reasonable~ rate of speed and finesse eludes me,,, (Kudo's to those who can!!!)
Priming off the press would certainly be an option.
I have no problems priming 'on the press' with my LNL AP. Been using it for quite a few different things, and not just as a 'full-on Progressive'
My Single Stage seems to be getting used less and less as time goes by.
 
Skgreen said:
The dexterity required to hand feed individual primers with a ~reasonable~ rate of speed and finesse eludes me,,, (Kudo's to those who can!!!)
Priming off the press would certainly be an option.
I have no problems priming 'on the press' with my LNL AP. Been using it for quite a few different things, and not just as a 'full-on Progressive'
My Single Stage seems to be getting used less and less as time goes by.
Click to expand...

I've been interested in the LNL but have never seen one in operation. The Dillon guys I've talked to told my "they heard of" primer seating problems with the LNL but I don't know if that's correct or not. Looks like a nice press and a good value.

Dave
 
Been following this thread since the beginning and it's been very interesting.

I too am in the mist of changing presses or an upgrade/lateral change. Currently using both an old 3 hole turret press and a Pro1000 press and just received a new Lee Breech Lock Pro to allow the use of the FCD in the same press. The BLP uses the same Safety Prime as the Classic Cast Turret. So far I have not tried the Safety Prime as it does not work on the old Lee 3 hole press so I've been hand placing primers on it. If the Safety Primes is as big a hassle as I keep hearing I will hand load primers as before and don't think it will slow me down any.

Now as for production rates Lee estimates the BLP is capable of 300 rounds per hour. Well that's much faster than I need to go but then I'm not looking for production rates. I'm looking to reduce work load, number of strokes, that is required to complete what I am doing. Even on the Pro1000 I was only turning out 125/150 per hour because of the way I was using it and the number of checks I was performing. And Yes I do prime on the press with the Pro 1000. The biggest reason for the upgrade to the BLP is the addition of the 4th hole.
 
Two different items here! Problems with the priming system aren't because of the press, it's because of the priming system, and perhaps, how it's adjusted.

Lee's priming system is rather touchy about how it's adjusted. I also experienced dropped primers until I looked real close at the system and adjusted it just about the width of a red hair, now it performs great. I suggest taking a step back and a deep breath, then take a look at things with a fresh eye.
As for the knob popping off, maybe a call to Lee will get that fixed for ya. Or use a touch of epoxy. Or maybe an aftermarket ergonomic arm could be the right answer for you.
 
Every lee press I have had has had the ball pop off. I just jbweld.ot back on and never have a problem.

My round tray safety prime works great for me.

You could lean hard into a 550. I abandoned the Dillon rube Goldberg inspired powder drop very fast and run Lee auto disk or drums in lee dies in mine. And I just run small primers. Caliber change is fast at this point since I don't have to screw with primers or powder. My uncle just runs 2 550s, 1 set up for small primers, the other for large.
 
I have an old Lee Turret (3 hole) and an LNL Progressive.
I like to deprime my brass, wet tumble it, then prime off press with a Lee hand Primer.
That way I have primed brass when I go to load. I just prefer not having to deal with priming while loading.
I can hand prime while watching TV etc. (wear safety glasses!)
 
I also already have a Dillon 550, but it takes me a long time to get it all set up to run a new caliber, especially if I have to switch from small primer to large primers.
Click to expand...

I use mine for runs that are larger than I want to do on a single stage or turret but smaller than I think it’s worth it to convert a 650 or 1050.

I also don’t switch from small to large the way Dillon suggests, I found this to be much faster.

 
I tried the priming in a separate step so I could remove the sizing die and add a FCD on my Pro1000 for a 45acp I load for. Only ran it for 2 sessions then went back to normal setup. It just didn't feel comfortable or natural. So I was using the FCD in a single stage press for this but now I have a new Breech Lock Pro 4 station press and I think I'm going to enjoy it!
 
I have a lct and like it very much but I hated the safety priming system on all presses so I chucked it into the nearest garbage can. So I prime offline and it works just fine for me. I also have a 1970's era lyman spart-t press that does great too.
 
jmorris said:
I use mine for runs that are larger than I want to do on a single stage or turret but smaller than I think it’s worth it to convert a 650 or 1050.
I also don’t switch from small to large the way Dillon suggests, I found this to be much faster.

Click to expand...


That's definitely an improvement over the way I've been doing it.
 
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