School Me About Turret Presses

[Coaltminer]

I've been loading for many years. Have a Dillon SDB and an RCBS Jr. single stage. A lot seem to like the turret press. Don't know much about them except obviously you save a little time by rotating the head to the next die, instead of unscrewing and replacing with another die for the next operation. Is this the only difference, or am I missing something? Thanks.

 

[KLNC]

A turret is a lot faster--didn't realize how much until I went to a Redding T-7 from my Big Boss. The great thing, at least on the Redding, is having two gauges on one turret. Makes switching calibers a breeze, with no die changes.

 

[TAROMAN]

The great advantage for me is having all my die sets ready to go in (cheap) turrets. I even have 2 different .45 Auto die sets, one for autos and one for revolver loads. Ends a lot of fiddling to just drop the turret in and go.

That said, I disabled the auto-advance "feature" on my Lee Classic and just spin the turret by hand.

The Lee through the die powder measure is pretty handy, too.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[bobsmith]

All the turret presses I have used, Lyman and Lee, allow either doing batch processing through one die station as with your RCBS or taking one cartridge case through all the stations in sequence. Other than that it is still all up to you how the loading works out. I don't know if it is possible to have too many presses. Enjoy. Gary

 

[DRSNINER]

I have the Lee classic turret and I really like it.I use auto index for 95% of my reloading but I like the option of being able to disable it for rifle rounds if needed but thats what my Lee classic breech lock press is for. Bobsmith is right if one is good more is better.

 

[elundgren]

I have an RCBS turret. Never have used any other turret press but it works great. It did worry me at first how the turret moved a bit at the top of the stroke but doesn't seem to effect the finished product. It doesn't have any fancy auto advance or self indexing features but I don't think I would want them anyway. I like to do one step on all cases at a time, it is too easy for me to screw up otherwise.

 

[k22fan]

I also have a Redding turret press with an extra head so that I can leave multiple handgun die sets locked in place and ready to go. The main reason I like a turret press is so that I can load a small number of cartridges quickly. For example, if I decide to add an additional powder weight when working up a load, with a turret press it is practical to load the additional 5 cartridges. Like C presses turret presses make it easy to see if a bullet you are seating is aligned straight by looking from different angles. I usually performe one operation at a time on all cases because I think loading single cartridges is unsafe. I consider viewing the powder charge levels in multiple cases sitting in a loading block to be an essential safety step in non progresive press use. I do have a more rigid single station press for resizing rifle cases and a progressive for volume handgun reloading.

 

[BoDog]

Turret presses

Sierra used to have a video showing Palma Match ammo loaded on a Dillon Press for the actual competition. I have loaded thousands of rounds on my two Dillons. Ammo quality seems on par with my RCBS and Hollywood presses with the same dies. That is even in my match rifles.
A good turret press makes your attitude change as to it is just there to burn. You will become a much better shooter.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I've been loading for many years. Have a Dillon SDB and an RCBS Jr. single stage. A lot seem to like the turret press. Don't know much about them except obviously you save a little time by rotating the head to the next die, instead of unscrewing and replacing with another die for the next operation. Is this the only difference, or am I missing something? Thanks.

That difference alone is huge. I use a Lee Classic 4 hole turret press and I can load 180 to 200 handgun rounds an hour safely. There's no way to do that on a single stage press. I use a single stage press or the turret press minus the auto-index rod for rifle ammo and speed things up with the turret press when loading handgun ammo. A Lee turret press is the best of both worlds IMO.

 

[JohnnieB]

......Don't know much about them except obviously you save a little time by rotating the head to the next die, instead of unscrewing and replacing with another die for the next operation. Is this the only difference, or am I missing something?............

Hi Neighbor,

When you are batch processing, rotating the head to the next die is about the only time savings.
However, sequential processing is where the turret type presses offer significant time savings.
Put a fired case in the shellholder and three or four stokes of the handle later you have a completed round.
(With progressive processing, you get a completed round with each stroke, except for first and last few strokes.)

Here's a video showing sequential processing:
YouTube - ‪Reloading the .45‬‏

Here's a video showing 5 rounds per minute being loaded on a turret press:
YouTube - ‪Loading on the Lee Turret Press‬‏

I use a Lee Classic Turret Press set up as shown in the videos and can easily turn out 100+ rounds per hour, which meets my needs.
More of a convenience than a time saver, I have a separate turret with dies and powder measure for each caliber I reload.
Only takes a minute to change from .38spl to .357mag or .45acp.

Hope this sheds some light,
John

 

[Coaltminer]

Thank you kindly for taking your time to respond. I think I will stick to what I've got, for now. I have 3 caliber setups for the Dillon, I use the single stage for rifles and also use it for 44 Special cause I don't have a setup for the Dillon in that caliber. The SDB is a great machine, but caliber setups(with tool heads) get expensive. My Dillon is 20 yrs. old, everything cost about half of what they are now. In hindsight, I would have gone with the 550, but I didn't think I'd live this long! Again, many thanks people. Reloading is the way to go, been at it 44 yrs., still learning and enjoying. BTW, you owe it to yourself to check out graf&sons in Mexico, Missouri. Their prices are competitive and they pay shipping, like Midway USED to do.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I just love the option on my Lee Classic Turret of having all my dies set into different turret heads. They are left dialed into each load and go into red, clear, plastic holders when I'm done. None of the Lee stuff costs and arm and a leg either. I already owned a Rockchucker but all it does it collect dust now. I guess at some point I will start loading rifle on it but I'm sure that will go to the turret as soon as I get used to rifle loads. Like many, I worried about the slight amount of give from the turret movement, and like many I found it to be a non-issue.

 

[dla]

The best of breed turret IMO is the LCT. Cheaper, removable heads(cheap too), clever design. About 1/4 the speed of your SDB but about 2X faster than a single stage.

 

[papajohn428]

Everyone has to decide how to best utilize what they have according to how they reload, and it can be a little different for each reloader. I've been using the Lee Turret for about 30 years, neutered to single stage. I prep and reprime my brass off-press, then load in batches. With prepped brass I can easily crank out 300 rounds an hour.......I use the powder-through flaring dies, and have powder measures set up for the ten calibers I load the most. For rifle calibers I either use a (separate) powder measure or the RCBS Chargemaster. It takes longer, but the ammo is first-rate. Caliber changes take about 15 seconds. For the way I load, it works just fine.