Has anyone seen Lee's latest advertisement for their Turret Press?

There is some guy, name Benson, who claims he loaded and packaged 250 rounds in an hour!

I just gotta see this in person! I gotta see some guy de-prime, resize, bell, re-prime, measure and load the case with powder, seat and crimp the bullet, on a manual single-stage press, and put them in boxes at the rate of one every 14 seconds!

And they expect us to believe this?

[ 08-20-2002, 23:49: Message edited by: ricciardelli ]

I can do 100 in 4 hours,
1 each 2.4 min

[ 08-21-2002, 00:10: Message edited by: kromer ]

Rici - Maybe some of us are just slowing down in our old age?

Actually some one might be able to do this but I wouldn't want to shoot any of the ammo slopped together like this and he almost surely had someone helping.

Besides, I've never looked at reloading as a competition sport like racing.

I believe that they are referring to a turret press with the auto indexer installed. The turret press has an optional piece that indexes the ring on top.

Safe Shooting!
Steve Redgwell
303british.com

I'm with Steve--seeing is beliving. What is the hurry,it no contest. Today eveything has to be the fastest,I don;t get it.

Some people just like to see what they can accomplish. If you are loading pistol cartridges, people tend to shoot a lot more of them.

Lets see -- put cartridge in shell holder, upstroke deprimes and resizes. Put primer in priming arm. Down stroke primes and indexes turret. Upstroke bells case and charges case with powder. Down stroke indexes turret. Put bullet in case mouth. Upstoke seats bullet and crimps. Downstroke indexes turret. Remove loaded cartridge.

It seems to me all of this could easily be done in 10 - 12 seconds, if one is well organized with the components and concentrating on the task at hand. The real problem is running out of components! I have often reloaded ammo at the 500- 600 round per hour rate with my Lee 1000 presses, but they have automatic primer and case feeds, and automatic ejection of loaded rounds.

Yeah. And the Pinto could run the quarter-mile in ten flat.

If it is capable of 250 per hour, I'll bet it has to be rebuilt after every run. Fast or slow a POS is still a POS.

Eddie

I've got a Lee Loadmaster that I use to put together 9mm and .357Mag loads.

I can easily produce 250 rounds per hour. That is less than 5 per minute.

The only thing that slows me down is keeping the primer tray and case feeder full.

Perhaps mine is a different turret press than what you are referring to.

MM

I have the loadmaster also. In 9mm and .45 I can get 250 an hour. It isn't match grade, but it isn't sloppy ammo either. I bought extra primer trays and feed tubes. It keeps the production up for quite a while.

If you do the math its quite possible. Using MTM boxes thats a round every 14 seconds.

That's not really that unbeliveable.

Some people just need to pay a lot of money to feel that they have something "good". Lee has always been on the cutting edge of producing excellent machinery by out-engineering the competition.

It takes little or no talent to make a product that does well when price is not an object. It is real engineering talent to make a product that both works well and costs less. 90 percent of engineering is finding ways to make things both better and cheaper.

The problem, though is that better and cheaper does not have snob appeal, and in an affluent society, there will always be those who inflate their egos by buying the most expensive product, whether it is better or not. Lee reloading equipment is like Ruger handguns. They both work, and cost less because of better engineering.

Right On "Desert Rat".Some people just cannot allow themselves to think that cheaper is better!!

Uh, I kinda hate to mention this, guys.......

But 250 rounds in one hour with a Lee Turret Press is not only believeable, but quite attainable. How?

First, assume that you have the turret already assembled, with dies in and properly adjusted. Forget about the powder through die, and the press mounted primer seat. Acquire instead the Lee Auto-Prime II, that screws into the top of the press. Set and adjust it for proper seating depth.

Next, set a regular, bench-mounted powder measure up, with your charge weight set.

Finally, get 5 loading blocks.

To start, select the sizing die. Size each case separately. With a little bit of digital manipulation, this will take no time.

Next, break out the Auto-Prime, fill the tray with your primer of choice, and commence!!
Select the expander die, and bell all the cases. Set up the cases in the loading blocks. Now, charge all while in the blocks with the bench mounted measure. Check the powder level with a strong light.

Seat and crimp, and box the rounds up. Total time should be around 45-50 minutes--and that is cruising through the process.

Oh yes, by the way.........

I use a bit of Lee's tools. For instance, my target bullet of choice, a 200 grain HG 68 SWC in .45 is cast from Lee molds.

The Auto-Prime II is quite possibly the most consistent primer seater I have ever used. I seat primers with it for my .300 Win Mag, and my M1A NM.

Oh, and for the M1A, when it's match ammo time, I have a Lee Factory Crimp set up.

90% of my reloading dies are Lee dies.

They really DO make good stuff!!

I have been burned with cheap:
1) Adams and Bennett barrels
2) Federal Arms Corp pistol barrels
3) B-Square FAL scope mount
4) Core-lite synthetic stock
5) Ramline synthetic stock
6) Berry's sintered bullets
7) VietNameese red jungle stock
8) Chineese wood SKS stock
9) Tasco World Class Plus scope
10) Sarco flash hider
11) Hoppe's benchrest
12) plastic red hunting vest
13) RCBS trim pro
14) SKS scope mount
15) Numerich.

But I have never been burned with the cheap Lee products:
1) dies
2) rifle factory crimp dies
3) pistol factory crimp dies
4) Auto Prime II
5) Reloader Press

I like dies from Forster better, and the RCBS press better, but Lee gives real value for half the price. His designs are the model A Ford of the reloading world. And just like Henry Ford, he is #1 in the world because of it.

I truly like their crimp dies but thats about it. I've stuck on RCBS for years and lately REDDING dies. For presses I use a Bonanza Co-Ax , an old RCBS and a Dillon 550B for handgun. As long as YOU are happy with LEE products thats all that matters.
That's another one of the great things about America, one guy can wear a Timex and be happy, yet another wears a Rolex. Its called freedom of choice.

FN

I agree with Moremonte, cheaper is cheaper and cheap is cheap. I never had any luck with lee products after the brothers broke up years ago.

Cheap is Cheap, you get what you pay for. It only hurts once to buy the best. I've been real happy with my Dillon gear. That's just me and that's what makes a horse race gentlemen.