press upgrade

[imakmst]

I’ve been reloading now for about a year on a used (not cast iron) single stage Lee press.  I’m looking to upgrade to speed up my process.  I’m thinking about a turret press or maybe Lee’s breech lock press with the bushings.  I’m looking at reducing my die fiddling times.  Any recommendations on a “next step-up”
 
Thanks.
 

 

[Dave]

I’ve been reloading now for about a year on a used (not cast iron) single stage Lee press.  I’m looking to upgrade to speed up my process.  I’m thinking about a turret press or maybe Lee’s breech lock press with the bushings.  I’m looking at reducing my die fiddling times.  Any recommendations on a “next step-up”
 
Thanks.
 

I have had very good results with the Lee classic turret press.

 

[Hunt200]

The breech lock system is great, set the die in a bushing and you are good to go. They will be exactly as you set them the first time every time after.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Ima,

How fast do you want to go? What do you want to load? Only pistol? Rifle too?

The Classic Cast Turret from Lee is a good press for the money. Maybe, 150 rounds an hour or so, not 100% sure of that. I have one and still use it for small batches when one of the other presses isn't set up for the caliber I want.

I also have 2 Square Deal B presses, one set up with small pistol primers and one with large. Then there is the XL650. I can run a "gazillion" rounds an hour on that thing. (A little bit of exaggeration there!)

What I am trying to say about choosing a press is this, it all depends on your needs. How much ammo do you need and how much time do you want to spend loading it?

If I was just going to load pistol ammo and for maybe 1 or two calibers, I would get another Square Deal B in a heart beat. I would buy used though. They can be found, and so can almost any other kind of press, on ebay. Check other gun sites too, they usually have a "sale" section to their forum.

Hope this helps.

 

[Marksman]

Hornady Loc-N-Load bushings make changing dies a piece of cake, 1/4 turn is all it takes to install or remove from the press. Adjustments stay set too, try them you'll like them.

 

[imakmst]

I load for pistol only, .38 and .45 acp. and if I moved to anything else, it would be .357.

 

[Carnage_7]

How many rounds do you reload per week?

 

[imakmst]

right now about 100-200

 

[SMSgt]

I don't think a turret press is going to make a big increase in production. How much time is really involved in swapping out a die? Size 50 cases (100, 200, whatever you normally do in a batch), swap out die. Expand 50 cases, swap out die. Prime, powder and seat 50 bullets, done. Two minutes max spent swapping dies.
If you want to increase loads/hr, move up to a progressive.

 

[dave b]

The Lee classic turret press works great for me. Kind of a middle volume loader that is easy to set up. You need to get spare turrets for each cal. so you don't have to re adjust.

 

[440turner]

I really like my lyman T-mag 2 turret press, holds six dies so I keep my two most commonly shot calibers, 45acp and 44mag dies both set-up ready to load. You could get a press like this and put three diff. calibers in the turret and use your single press for sizing and de-priming only.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Someone loading on a Square Deal B:

YouTube - Reloading 9mm on a Dillon Square Deal 'B'

On an XL650:

YouTube - Loading 9mm on Dillon Precision XL650

Lee Cast Classic Turret Press:

YouTube - Lee Precision Classic 4 hole Turret Press

Hornady L-N-L AP Press:

YouTube - Hornady LNL-AP Reloading Press Overview

RCBS Pro 2000:

YouTube - RCBS Pro 2000 Demonstration


All you have to do now is get the checkbook out!

 

[GyMac]

I like my Lee Classic Turret. It's very simple and easy to use. I can sit down when I have a half hour available and load a hundred rounds. I don't feel like I have to "set up" for reloading. I usually shoot twice a week, about 300 rounds total. I can easily accomplish that with my Classic Turret.

 

[Skip Sackett]

I like my Lee Classic Turret. It's very simple and easy to use. I can sit down when I have a half hour available and load a hundred rounds. I don't feel like I have to "set up" for reloading. I usually shoot twice a week, about 300 rounds total. I can easily accomplish that with my Classic Turret.

I would say that is quite dooable, Gunny.

 

[noylj]

What are you loading and how much are you loading?
For rifles (bottleneck cartridges), I like the Lee turret. There is a lot of case fiddling that people like to do and it is easy to do on the turret and still reload faster than a single stage.
For straightwall pistol cases, I went to a Hornady progressive when they first came out in the late '70s, I think, and never looked back. Great press. I used a friend's 650 years ago and it sucked (the empty cases enter the shellholder from the right rear, while all the stations on the Hornady are right where I WANT them and all case and bullet handling is done with the left hand while the right stays on the handle). If someone gets a 650, they are going to want the case feeder very quickly.
You have done the simple single-stage press, and the Lee Breechlock will only save you die adjustment time. The best single-stage press purely for reloading (I consider the RockChucker to be overkill unless you are swaging bullets, and the spent primer catcher is a joke) is the Forster Co-Ax. Universal shell holder and the dies simply slip into a groove for them. There are no additional bushings to buy. Great press.
Those are my recommendations: Lee turret with auto indexing, the Forster Co-Ax, or the Hornady L-N-L. Go to the manufacturers' sites and read the manuals and watch any videos. Go to YouTube and watch the various videos of the presses and see what you like.

 

[Titegroups]

Lee classic turret would be the way to go, $100, great value, takes me 40 mins. to do a hundred checking charge weights once in a while. Could do 150 and hour. If you are shooting any type of competition or expect to need more than 300 a week I would step up to a dillion progressive. I've done 10,000 in a year with my lee turret, no real problems, change calibers super easy, the extra turrets are $10-$12ea. Huge step up from a single stage.

 

[Bullseye Smith]

The Dillon 500 is the best built for the bucks, I sold my 650 because it was a pain to switch from one cal. to the next. The 500 is 5mins and you are done. Cheaper to run and you are only 300-500 rounds per hour. So in two hours you can load 1000 rounds, Taking your time it takes about 3 hrs to load a 1000 rounds.