I am looking to get a turret press to load handgun calibers with - I already have been loading several calibers with a RCBS Rock Chucker II and want to go to a turret to speed up some but still use my old 7/8 x 14 dies. I have read some of the old posts about turrets but wondered what the current members think about - the Redding T-7, Lyman T-Mag II, and RCBS Turret press.

I starting reloading in 1980 with a Lyman "Spar T" turrent press. Loaded every thing from 38 spec to 375 H&H with it. I up graded last year to a Redding T-7. Its a GREAT press !!! Turrents are hard to beat IMHO. This T-7 seems to have the strength of the large single stage presses that I have used. Index's precisely, and is making 1st class reloads. Easy to use and has the best primer feed I have used yet.

I load my rifle ammo on a Turret (T-7). I love it. I would recommend looking at a progressive for pistol ammo. It doesn't make sense to me to pull the handle 4 times (size, flare, seat, crimp) to load a pistol round other than the first 20 or so loads to work up a load. I have seen youtube videos of turrets for pistol.

There are some conveniences with a turret but I don't think that you get much speed out of them.
It may look cool to spin the turret but you still have only one ram.

I think that once you have the turrent press set up you can save a lot of time. If you load for more than 1 cartridge you save lots of set up time. Just set the lock rings on the dies and run them home. Your good to go. Or keep the turrent head filled with various dies and just replace the head. Takes a second or 2. Best part is if you goof up. you can just swing the turrent back to another die and re do it then and there. Progressive presses are another story all together.........

I've replaced my turret with a Forster Co-ax press, very convenient especially no shellholder and easy change dies. Use a Lee Classic Cast for large nitro cases.


Cheers, Chris

I have also looked over some of the progressives - problem with ones like Dillon is that they don't work with the 1/2 dozen calibers of 7/8 x 14 pistol dies that I already have. I understand that progressives can turn out ammo faster, but I'm only doing 100rd batches. Does the Hornady LocknLoad require different dies, or just bushing adapters?

For moderate volume reloading you want to stay with a single-stage (non-progressive) press.

The Redding T-7 is the best made turret press available. If you want a turret it's the one to buy.

I have 2 turret presses a 7 hole Texan I belive a six hole lyman. one single stage 3 lee 1000s I use the 7 hole for all most all my rifle loading some pistol. For my blasting pistol ammo the 1000's.

I use the single stage and lyman for speical stuff.

I like the Texan as I can leave 3 sets of rifle dies in in and still have one hole available. Or leave two rifle and pistol set.

If one does any volume of loading say over a couple thousand rounds a year a progressive is nice.

The 1000's give me 300 to 500 a hr thats nice when per calilber one is shooting several thousand rounds a year for each cailber.

The lees are cheap enough I might buy a couple more just so I don't have to change out shell plates and die heads.

If I were loading 10000 rounds or more of one caliber per year. I would think hard on buying the best Dillion I could afford.

For loading pistol with a turret press it is really handy to have auto advance to the next die. I have a Redding T7 and an ancient Lee 3 hole turret. For pistol the Lee turret is much faster than the manual turret Redding. For rifle I much prefer the Redding. I also use a progressive for 45 ACP and single stage for miscellaneous work.

Lee turret is also handy as I can have a separate turret set up and ready to go for each cartridge I load (.38S&W, .38 Special/.357 Magnum, .45 Colt, .44 Special/Magnum, 9mm Luger) and the turrets are cheap, about $8. With three, or four dies per cartridge that's 15 to 20 dies which would require three turrets for the Redding to keep them set up A turret for the Redding is almost $60.

Now the Redding is the class of the manual turret presses. It is just the best. I love mine. The Lee presses are best termed as cheap, or perhaps, inexpensive but they work and they work well and I would not be happy if I had to move my pistol dies to the Redding.

Jerry Liles

Hornady progressive beats them all. I have one and have friends with others like Dillons and Lees. I also had a Lyman turret once and for not much more money you can get a good progressive. Hornady definitely beats Dillon in spite of its popularity. Most of that comes from its aggressive advertising. Oh, my Hornady was made before the adaptors and they use standard dies.

Anyone who tells you that a turret press isn't faster is full of baloney. Single stage press: screw sizer/decapper dies in and peform operation on all the cases you intend to do, unscrew sizer/decapper and screw in expander/bell die and go through all the cases again, unscrew expander/bell die and screw in bullet seating die and again go through all the cases. That's not counting charging all the cases with powder. Turret press: all the dies and powder measure on are the turret. Yes may be one ram but it's faster to turn that turret then it is to screw a die in and then out. Each case you go through is a finished round of loaded ammo.

Don't let anyone tell you different, it's faster, the only thing faster then that is an automatic indexing press.

I,ve got a Redding T7, for my purposes it has worked really well. Lets me fool around with switching dies back and fourth pretty easily. As far as switching dies, Lee, and Hornady, I think, have the quick change die systems. Might be worth a look...

One of the big selling points for me at the time I bought the Redding was the open space for the cases. Having fairly large paws, I get tired of reaching through things fairly quickly.
Guess a person could pick up a C frame press for 20 bucks and still have plenty of space.

For me, good solid press, does everything I want it to, little machine shop mod to a turret lets me use bigger dies if I want and keep a fairly small footprint. I,m not a high speed reloader, kind of enjoy doin things one step at a time. Easier to catch any little mistakes before they turn into big ones.

For a lot more rounds cranked out, a progressive might be a better way to go. If a turret does what you want it to, you might want to take a good hard look at the Redding.

Good feedback all, thanks for the advice - hearing about the Lee presses, I went to the Lee website and they had this to say:

quote:

There is no reason you can't start with a progressive press, but unless you go through over 250 rounds per week, a progressive press is not really necessary. The Turret press is both less expensive and easier to set up, and (once set up) will reload up to 250 rounds an hour in experienced hands. Setting up a progressive press requires patience and attention to detail.

quote:

Lee Reloading Website - Progressive Presses

I will continue to look them over. Not buying a new press just right now as that dough got eaten by having to get a new fridge.

Damn, don't you just hate it when you have to spend good money for kitchen appliances? My wife uses our garage for a spare fridge until about April. You could have tried to sell her on that concept. I like Lee products and have a lot of them but their progressive I helped a friend with (he later dumped it) was too complicated and flimsy. For your limited needs, a turret will work fine.

I got myself a Lyman T-Mag II and I expect the Redding is probably a bit better, but I think the Lyman is the best value. They are both very solid and I like the Lyman press very much.
I have a Lee auto-prime II that stays mounted on the T-mag at all times and at the opposite end is a powder measure. It is a pretty slick setup. Just those two items alone have simplified my process quite a bit, it has cut down on set up and time spent priming cases considerably.

I typicaly do my FL resizing on my Rockchucker and then the rest of it on the Turret. But the Lyman press is solid enough that I wouldnt hesitate to do any of my reloading on it.

I doubt if I will ever go to a progressive press. It doesnt really make sense to me because of the need to trim, clean and inspect cases after resizing. But if I did it would probably be a Lee or an older Hornady just for pistol loads.

quote:

Damn, don't you just hate it when you have to spend good money for kitchen appliances?

quote:

True! On the other hand, if I get the wife the fridge she wants, I won't hear about it later when I pick up a new press, spotting scope, new 1911, etc. what else am I needing...

Had an old Redding Turret with 6 holes. The another guy advertised a Redding T7. I sold mine and added a few bucks and now I am the proud owner of the Redding T7. Solid and very strong. I use it for 2 X 3 Die set Pistol and one Decapping Die. What works nice is that all primers are spend in a tube. No more falling all over as with my Rock Chucker.

I owned a lee turret press and used it heavily for 25 years. It was definately faster than single stage once I set up an autodisk powder measure.....I upgraded to a Hornady LNL progressive.


That said, turret presses can be surprisingly fast, and they are MUCH easier to set up than a progressive, where all actions must work exactly right at the same time. If you want a turret press I suggest the T-7--very high quality.

I like the Hornady progressive very much. It does take all my normal dies, but requires shellplates for each case-head family. I consider this much better than the Dillon method
which wants a new shellplate and stud set for every caliber.....

I prefer Hornady to Dillon because it is much easier to use in a "part-progressive" manner. When resizing rifle cases or something that requires trimming I separate the resizing step from the rest. (Dillon has the only progressive size/trim gadget I've seen.....expensive and only for a few calibers) Also, the powder measure system for Hornady I find superior to the Dillon plan if you load multiple calibers.

Regardless of which method you choose, I've had very good success with the lee auto-disk pro powder measure. It's cheap, but works well and is very consistant and repeatable.....has become my go-to for all pistol loads. With the double-disk kit and rifle charging die I use it on all rifle cases up to 308 size. I mention it because it will work nicely in conjunction with a turret press if you go that route.

Cheers,

Dan

I wouldn't mess with a manual turret

I will one day get an auto indexing progressive in the likes of a Dillon or Hornady

I think many folks misunderstand the utility of a turret press. It is for holding various dies at ready and pre-adjusted, not for attempting to mimic the sequential process of a progressive press.

It seems from reading these posts that a lot of folks attempt to reload each shell in sequence, i.e., resize, expand/deprime, reprime, charge, seat/crimp one case before starting on the next. That is certainly the way you would do it with a "progressive" press; however using any other press, including a turret press, in that manner is extremely ineffective. It is much more efficient to perform each single operation on the entire batch of cases rather than shift from one operation to another five or so times for each single round.

Let me explain: Say you have a batch of 200 cases to load. The more efficient operation is to resize all 200, deprime/expand all 200, reprime all 200, charge all 200, then finally seat all 200 cases. This involves only changing operations five times for 200 rounds, not one thousand times for 200 rounds.

The only time you should attempt to load sequentially is when you are working with a true progressive press which turns out a loaded round with each pull of the press handle (because it does all of the operations simultaneously).

What easier. spinning the turret or taking the case in and out of the shellholder 5 times

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
What easier. spinning the turret or taking the case in and out of the shellholder 5 times

You still have to index the turret and you have to put the case in the ram.
If you don't have a powder measure mounted on the turret you have to put the case in the ram at least twice.

And with the powder measure mounted on the turret your indexing causes variations in the amount of powder dropped.

I have a lee and have no problems with it and don't understand paying more money for others. I think it's a culture thing, like ford vs. caddilac.

I am using the Redding T-7 and am completly satisfied. I load as though it is a single stage with my dies always ready to go. Also you can get multiple turrets, one I always have 45acp and 223 set up, the second is open.
Doug

Are you thinking about the breech-lock/bushing concept?

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I think many folks misunderstand the utility of a turret press. It is for holding various dies at ready and pre-adjusted, not for attempting to mimic the sequential process of a progressive press.

It seems from reading these posts that a lot of folks attempt to reload each shell in sequence, i.e., resize, expand/deprime, reprime, charge, seat/crimp one case before starting on the next. That is certainly the way you would do it with a "progressive" press; however using any other press, including a turret press, in that manner is extremely ineffective. It is much more efficient to perform each single operation on the entire batch of cases rather than shift from one operation to another five or so times for each single round.

Let me explain: Say you have a batch of 200 cases to load. The more efficient operation is to resize all 200, deprime/expand all 200, reprime all 200, charge all 200, then finally seat all 200 cases. This involves only changing operations five times for 200 rounds, not one thousand times for 200 rounds.

The only time you should attempt to load sequentially is when you are working with a true progressive press which turns out a loaded round with each pull of the press handle (because it does all of the operations simultaneously).

I fear that I must disagree with you, Stonecreek.

With an auto-indexing press, it is simplicity itself to insert one case, stroke the ram a few times and retrieve a completed round.

A great time savings is achieved by eliminating multiple insert/retrieve cycles between operations.

Batch processing, you are obviously familiar with. (For pistol) Size/deprime and prime 50 rounds, then switch dies and bell and charge 50 rounds. Inspect the charges in a batch and switch dies. Seat and crimp 50 rounds. Batch is done.

Continuous processing: Put the empty case in the press and do all the operations (size/deprime, bell/charge, seat/crimp) and remove the finished cartridge only when all the steps are done. This saves a lot of handling the cases (at least three insertion-removal cycles) and amounts to a lot of time saved.

The only drawback I have found (continuous processing on a turret vs batch processing on single stage or turret) is that you're not able to shine a light into 50 cases all at once to check powder charges side-by-side, but have to check powder charges one at a time.

The first time out with my auto-indexing turret, I was able to load 100 rounds in 47 minutes. That was the first time out and included keeping components replenished. On a single stage that would have been a full 110 minutes. (OK, I am slow, but very careful). I have credible reports of 200 rph with a turret and somewhat incredible reports of 250. Not progressive speeds, but clearly more efficient than your description of turret operation.

I can only suspect that you have mis-read the original post as referring to a bushing-equipped press, not a turret press.

Lost Sheep

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:

quote:

Originally posted by richj:
What easier. spinning the turret or taking the case in and out of the shellholder 5 times

You still have to index the turret and you have to put the case in the ram.
If you don't have a powder measure mounted on the turret you have to put the case in the ram at least twice.

And with the powder measure mounted on the turret your indexing causes variations in the amount of powder dropped.

I can charge the case with powder manually.

If you have a station available at which to charge the case with powder through a funnel, you can use a standalone powder measure (off to the side) to dump powder into a cup, then pour the powder into the (still in the press with the ram in the raised position) case.

Lost Sheep

I am currently the satisfied owner of:
1 Lee Classic Cast
1 Redding Boss
1 Hornady LNL Progressive
1 Redding T7

In the past, I have owned a couple RockChuckers and the 1st generation RCBS progressive.

The T7 isn't really faster, but it is exceedingly convenient to leave a few dies ready to go when testing ammo for several calibers at once; or at least, I find it so.

The Classic Cast is for muscling big cases, the Boss is for smaller cases, and the LNL is for mass pistol production. I can't say that I really like progressives, but they have a place.

quote:

Originally posted by sputster:
I am looking to get a turret press to load handgun calibers with - I already have been loading several calibers with a RCBS Rock Chucker II and want to go to a turret to speed up some but still use my old 7/8 x 14 dies. I have read some of the old posts about turrets but wondered what the current members think about - the Redding T-7, Lyman T-Mag II, and RCBS Turret press.

Please add the Lee Classic Turret to your list of candidates. It is superior to the Lee Deluxe Turret and unarguably the best 4-station auto-indexing turret press currently made anywhere in the known universe.

Of course, it helps that the two Lee turrets are the ONLY auto-indexing 4-station turret presses currently made.

But the auto-indexing feature is really worth looking at and the cost of the Lee Turret disks is about $13 each. If you can get by with just 4 stations, it is worth a look, especially at around $110.

By the way, all the presses named so far use the 7/8x14 dies except one Dillon model (the Square Deal). Dillon's 550 and 650 use regular 7/8x14 threaded dies (but the Forster doesn't actually USE the threads, the locking ring does), though the bodies of the Dillon dies are longer, so fit may still be an issue.

Good luck.

I bought the Redding T-7 turret and could not be happier with it. Things works like a champ and I also like the primer feeding system. You could do far worse.

I have a Lee Classic Turret and am very satisfied with it.

Own two Reddings (a 5 & a 7) and the new Lee.
All work great althogh the Redding is more precise (based on runout) and the Lee has the best priming system and the quick change die turrets.
The Lee also has a sprial rod driven turret rotator, so you can use it as a "semi progressive" with the Lee press mounted powder measure.
If you can live with 4 stations, the old Lyman Oragnge monster (no longer made) is also a fine press and can be found on Ebay often.
If you want to get REALLY serious look for an old Hollywood super model. I think it had at least 12 die stations and when I sold it, I had to ship it in a drywall bucket !

quote:

The first time out with my auto-indexing turret, I was able to load 100 rounds in 47 minutes. That was the first time out and included keeping components replenished. On a single stage that would have been a full 110 minutes. (OK, I am slow, but very careful). I have credible reports of 200 rph with a turret and somewhat incredible reports of 250.

How many credible reports of handguns being blown apart by people that were so time conscious?

I still consider the index between strokes and a single ram a very weak way to use a turret.
Why not just buy the basic Dillon 550B is you are so speed concious?
All you are going to do with that handle pumping is give yourself tendonitis someday.
When you are young it only takes about a year to get over it.

quote:

Originally posted by SR4759:

quote:

The first time out with my auto-indexing turret, I was able to load 100 rounds in 47 minutes. That was the first time out and included keeping components replenished. On a single stage that would have been a full 110 minutes. (OK, I am slow, but very careful). I have credible reports of 200 rph with a turret and somewhat incredible reports of 250.

How many credible reports of handguns being blown apart by people that were so time conscious?

I still consider the index between strokes and a single ram a very weak way to use a turret.
Why not just buy the basic Dillon 550B is you are so speed concious?
All you are going to do with that handle pumping is give yourself tendonitis someday.
When you are young it only takes about a year to get over it.

The indexing between strokes (when processing in continuous mode) does slow things a bit, but it is still faster than batch processing. Auto-indexing takes no time at all.

I considered the Dillon 550, or even the Dillon Square Deal. (The 650 is just too expensive and large.)

I have no idea how many guns destroyed (or injuries caused) by the desire for speed. I will heartily agree that a race to load as many rounds per hour as possible is insane. I will also admit that speeding on a progressive or turret is more likely to be disastrous than it is on a single stage, but insist that speeding on a single stage or any aspect of loading or shooting is dangerous.

My real reason for not going for a progressive press is that I feel much safer monitoring one step at a time. Monitoring simultaneous multiple steps made me a nervous wreck by the end of a loading session (back when I did use a progressive).

I am not time conscious, but I am conscious of time, if you get the distinction. I monitor my speed at loading just as I do my gas mileage driving.

What I am trying to say is that my concern for safety ALWAYS takes precedence over speed. My concern for quality and uniformity of ammunition also takes precedence over speed. Even convenience of operation takes precedence over speed. But speed is of interest to me, as a diagnostic tool.

I'm 64. I had tendonitis once (tennis) when I was a teenager. I don't want to do that again.

Actually, I have been thinking of a way to make my press foot-operated. Freeing up one hand might increase my speed.

Lost Sheep

I was going to ask another question in a separate discussion but I may as well ask now. I have heard of putting the powder measure onto the turret; such the Lee Auto-Disk. Does this make problems for indexing the turret or inconsistency in powder throws? The second sounds like a reason (among the others given) to stick with batch processing with a turret press and stick with my RCBS Uniflow powder measure mounted on the bench.

Sputser,

I use the Lee Pro Auto Disc on my Lee turret for pistol loading. I tried checking the weight of powder throws when I first started with this setup and after the first three or four cycles they were very consistent. The movement of the turret actually seemed to help the powder settle in the measure, especially for flakes like Unique, not so much for ball like AA5,, and improve uniformity. So I always run the press for three complete cycles with a case without seating a bullet and weigh the powder thrown to confirm the charge then commence to load.

Jerry Liles