Lee 4 Hole Turret Press ?

[HillTop]

I am looking at getting into reloading. I have loaded a couple times with my friend's Lee single stage press and it does the job. What do you guys think about Lee's 4 Hole Deluxe Kit? It seems like for a little more money I could get a Hornady single stage kit.

What do you recommend for someone getting into reloading?

Thanks

 

[Rule3]

I use one.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page/thread and there are several threads on this
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[AABEN]

I have the three hole only reason they did not have the four back when I started to reload. That is a very good start. GOOD LUCK load like the book says. Watch the over all length on the different bullets!

 

[Maximumbob54]

I am looking at getting into reloading. I have loaded a couple times with my friend's Lee single stage press and it does the job. What do you guys think about Lee's 4 Hole Deluxe Kit? It seems like for a little more money I could get a Hornady single stage kit.

What do you recommend for someone getting into reloading?

Thanks

Skip the Deluxe and get the Classic. With the Classic you can at least pull the rod that makes it auto indexing but you can't get auto indexing with the Deluxe. Buy the Safety Prime, PRO (not regular) Auto Disk powder measure, riser for the powder measure so it doesn't whack the primers as it rotates, and a set of Lee's carbide dies. I love Lee stuff but I don't care for that odd scale. I would buy a RCBS 505 or Lyman 500 whichever you can find a better deal. And buy a shelf full of reloading manuals.

Unless you are going to feel a need for full length sizing thick walled magnum rifle cases or trying to swage bullets then you shouldn't ever need a single stage press.

 

[GyMac]

Get the Classic. I used to own the 3 hole turret (gave it to my brother) and a friend has the 4 hole Deluxe. They are both great presses, but the Classic is that much better.

 

[WoodSmith]

I had a Lee Classic but sold it because one of the holes in the turret were slightly misaligned - it was probably insignificant, but it really bothered me. I now use the Lee single stage and run ammo by the batch (one operation at a time). Also, the RCBS electronic balance is highly recommended.

 

[Titegroups]

The 4 hole classic has a cast iron base and the primer collection is much better. I have both. The Lee turrets are the best value to the reloader of moderate amounts(<200/week) of handgun ammo out there IMO. Haven't loaded any rifle on it as of yet. Max realistic production rates are around 150-200rds/hr. Unless I was loading rifle ammo I'd skip the single stage presses.

 

[Skip Sackett]

This is the place that all should start. Anything less than this is foolish. This press is the best of both worlds for needing more ammo at less of a cost per round.

I whole heartedly agree, get one. Get a few extra turrets too, they can be bought through ebay, used and cheaper.

kempfgunshop.com is the first place I would go to price them out.

Don't delay one more day to get started. One day, and it may be soon, we might not be able to get started.

 

[HillTop]

Thanks everyone for the help.

What do you guys like the Hornady presses?

Hornady Lock-N-Load Classic Single Stage Centerfire Reloading Kit

 

[SMSgt]

I've been using a single-stage press for more years than I care to count, and other than the 30 seconds it takes to swap out a die, I haven't figured out what the advantage of the turret press is.

Someone clue me in as to what makes them "faster."

 

[HillTop]

This is the book I got.

Cabela's: Speer Reloading Manual, No. 14

 

[TrueTexan]

Get the Lee classic easy to use and if you reload for diffent Calibers you can set up your dies and then just swap the turrets. Fast and easy.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I've been using a single-stage press for more years than I care to count, and other than the 30 seconds it takes to swap out a die, I haven't figured out what the advantage of the turret press is.

Someone clue me in as to what makes them "faster."

It's not that a turret press is faster. It's that the Lee Classic Turret press is faster. I can take two hundred tumble cleaned cases and an hour later have two hundred loaded cartridges. And that's not at some kind of break neck speed. Yes that means eight hundred throws of the arm to get that number and that would be the same as a single stage press. But with the Classic Turret the first pull sizes and deprimes with Safety prime means priming in about one second on the upstroke, the next down stroke flares the case mouth and the Pro Auto Disk powder measure auto drops your preset powder volume at the same time, down stroke to the next station where you drop in a bullet, up and then down again where you seat the bullet, up and then down again and you have now crimped the bullet which means you have a reloaded cartridge. It makes for a very long winded sentence that would have loaded a cartridge in less time than it took to read that. It doesn't sound faster until you actually do it and then you can't figure why you didn't start with this press in the first place. Factor in the ten second caliber change out, the low cost of all the extra turrets you want, ease of die storage in the turrets, ease of dialing in powder charges with the Double Disk Kit or Adjustable Charge Bar, and the realization that you can do all this and still spent less than two hundred dollars and you should be pretty happy.

 

[HillTop]

Does Lee make the Classic Turret as a kit? I could only find the press.

Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret Press

 

[TAROMAN]

I got a Classic Turret kit from Cabelas a few years back, guess they're still offered.
That said, while the press itself is superb, I found the scale and powder measure to pretty minimal and quickly replaced them with better grade units.

 

[HillTop]

I got a Classic Turret kit from Cabelas a few years back, guess they're still offered.
That said, while the press itself is superb, I found the scale and powder measure to pretty minimal and quickly replaced them with better grade units.

What kind of scale and powder measure did you up grade to? I might just peace a kit together.

 

[snowman]

I've been using a single-stage press for more years than I care to count, and other than the 30 seconds it takes to swap out a die, I haven't figured out what the advantage of the turret press is.

Someone clue me in as to what makes them "faster."

Sgt.:

I'll see if I can add anything helpful to what Maximumbob said. I started with a Lee single stage "Challenger" press(I think that was what they called it), then went to a Classic 4 hole Turret and found it to be much easier and considerably faster. The main advantage is not having to change a die -ever. With the Lee single stage I was always having to fuss with the die adjustments a little bit every time I changed them(seemed that way, anyhow). Adjust the four dies the first time in the turret, tighten down the lock nut, and forget it. Forever thereafter all one needs to do to change calibers is lift one turret off and stick the other one in.

Another advantage is not having to handle the case more than once from priming to crimping. Once you place a case in the shellholder you don't need to touch it again until it's a loaded round. Maybe you've never had this problem, but I tend to have dry skin, which makes it easier to drop the case, particularly when I bang it against the edge of the loading block, fail to align it properly with the hole in the loading block, and so on. When I was using a single stage I dumped more powder on the floor via the foregoing foibles than I care to admit. And of course all that nonsense slows things down.

That's what I think of off the top of my head. For the OP, I along with many others here highly recommend the Lee Classic 4-holer. If you find later on that you're burning up ammo faster than you can load it, you can move to a progressive without having invested a lot in the turret.

Best wishes in your new endeavor.
Andy

 

[snowman]

What kind of scale and powder measure did you up grade to? I might just peace a kit together.

HillTop,

Pardon me for answering a question addressed to another member, but I also upgraded these tools and am satisfied with my purchases. My beam scale is a Redding #2, and my measure is a RCBS Uniflow. I have both elevated to levels just above that of the powder funnel on the turret so that moving the tray from measure to scale to funnel is easy and swift.

Hope that is helpful.
Andy

 

[gdnagle]

If you are interested in Lee you might check here https://fsreloading.com/ but as always before buying do a google search for lowest price and don't forget about shipping. Lower price with shipping could cost more the one with initial higher price with free shipping. You could check some videos on youtube to see the different presses and how they operate.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I will confess that at first I wasn’t very impressed with the Pro Auto powder measure. The Lee manual tells you want cavity to use on the disk but it always seems to drop a pretty light starter kind of load and the next cavity drops a load that is higher than max. Then I bought the Adjustable Charge Bar. That works pretty good with most powder but the disks seem to be more consistent with more powders. So I bought the Double Disk Kit that allows you to stack two disks so you can have a larger cavity below a smaller cavity (not the other way around or you make a shelf for powder to get stuck on) and found that really lets you dial in on a charge and is very consistent I think because of the rotation of the powder measure as the turret spins around each time. It’s easy to shut down from a run of reloading and dump and fully clean the powder measure, it’s easy to record what cavity selection gives what load for what powder, and it’s not that expensive if you want to just start having a powder measure setup on each turret. I can’t say that about any other powder measure.