I have been reading reviews about this press and find many people complaining about the plastic indexing "gear" breaking. Numerous folks wondered why it was not made of metal. The latest reviews were in 2011. Has this problem been resolved? It seems to me this is to important a part to have been built so cheaply. Anyone have experience with this.........your thoughts?

I have one that's going to be delivered today. I can check it when I get home from work.

I doubt they've changed it, if you dont short stroke the press you'll have very few if any problems, I own 2 turret presses and have only messed up a couple in tens of thousands of rounds, I ordered 10 from Lee when I bought the first press for 50 cents a piece and still have all of them I think, the presses come with 2 new for the learning curve, not a big deal. Sometimes reading too much internet info has it's drawbacks. Nothings perfect.

I did away with the auto index feature, i like the control of moving it myself.

No problems with mine. I grease the turret and the index rod and things move real easily.

Andy

Thousands of rounds on mine with only one change of the plastic piece. Its not really a big deal it takes 30 seconds max to change it out and like everyone else said once you get use to the press you won't really mess them up.

The new presses are still the same, if you ask Lee they will tell you the part was specifically designed to be the weakest link so that one small, cheap, easy to change piece is sacrificed instead or breaking more difficult to change or more expensive pieces.

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Drew

They do wear out but they last quite a while & don't cost very much,I do keep spares on hand,The way it is designed I am not sure they could be made of metal.

Steve in Vermont,

I bought mine just over a year ago and have use it (almost) non-stop since. I load for calibers 380, 9mm, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 44 Magnum & 45 ACP.

I to have read a lot before I bought mine both good & bad. I have loaded a ton of ammo and still runs as good as the day I took it out of the box. I do clean it after each reloading session so I am ready to go for the next use.

What else can I say, mine runs great, and for the money... Buy it and have fun loading.

I have stacked them one on top of the other and it seemed to index better. They have lasted much longer for me after I have learned how to run the press. I have been through 8 of them in over 20,000 rounds loaded.

You get what you pay for!

I've had mine for a couple of years and have had no problems with it. I change over frequently between calibers, too. I think that if you use care, it shouldn't be a problem.

Tightgroups already said it best. Don't short stroke the arm and the plastic bit may out last you.

I have a Lee Turret press at least 25 years old, and have loaded thousands upon thousands rounds on it and still using the original plastic indexing gear that came installed on it. (Has 2 spares hanging on upright from factory unused) I believe I read somewhere in the Lee instructions, not to tighten the clamp on the ram too tight to avoid breaking these.

That is correct if you overtighten the screw the auto index will not work right and the nylon ratchet will be ruined in short order, The screw should be just snug.

As mentioned, they are supposed to break if you screw up. Kind of like a breaker in your electric system.
Couple of years and several thousand rounds on my original one, and I suspect several thousand more.

I have a Hornady Classic and don't plan to change; however, a friend asked for an opinion on the Lee and I told him I'd enquire. Thanks for all the good information, it will help him in his decision.

I had one of the early ones, and each ratchet only lasted a couple of days. The replacement only lasted a few more. I even greased the turret race, which made things messy. It found a new home at the next gun show.

Never wore one out, but I read the directions and did some research first. If your friend hasn't the ability to read, and comprehend directions I'd stay away from handloading. If he pays attention to what he's doing, the LCT would work well for him.

I broke one when I first started after I put a new one in and seen how it works I have not had a problem.I found nthis to be a very good reloader for the average reloader and I like mine very much. Also lee is a very good company to deal with.

i don't use mine...a turret press isn't a progressive, plus lee's priming accessory is temperamental.

for handgun, 4 stations won't let me set up a sizer, belling die and powder measure plus a separate crimping die. for rifle i have to get the lube off, so where's the advantage?

handgun: size/bell on-press, prime and powder off-press, then seat/crimp.

rifle: size on-press, tumble, prime and powder off-press, then seat/crimp.

hope this helps

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budman
ignorance is fixable

As I understand, the indexing "gear" is made of plastic as a "sacrificial" part. If the press is "short stroked" or the turret binds for some reason the easily repaired/cheap to replace part fails before real damage is done to other parts of the press. I took out the auto indexing "gear" long ago 'cause I like to reload in "batches" and do 2 operations at a time (size/deprime and flare, or seat bullet and crimp). I choose to do some operations off the press; ram priming on my single stage, and charge w/powder in a separate step.

i've owned and used a lee classic turret, with turrets for .38spl and .45acp. one of the first mods i made was to remove the auto indexing "feature" - not worth using, at least for me. you have more control by manually moving the turret as need be. lotsa times you don't wanna use the press in some sort of "semi progressive" mode, too. their on-press priming system is a bit dodgy and always needs a bit of tweaking. their 4 die pistol sets are purty good. that lee press is the best of all their presses, imho. it will more than get the job done. their analog beam scale is the pits, but their on-press powder charge system works fairly well - just weigh throws for a long time 'til yer SURE it's throwing the right grain weight.

i sold off all my lee presses and invested in a redding t-7, along with their carbide dies. with 7 stations on this turret, i've got it loaded for both calibers. this press is a monster and should be called the "t-rex" of all turret presses. i no longer use a powder thrower and rely on an rcbs full race chargemaster. now, what a pleasure it is to reload!

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I'll shoot my eye out!