Lee Precision Classic Turret Press

[smohmand]

I use the classic turret press to reload .223 and am very satisfied with it so far. I am a beginner to reloading and have only loaded a couple hundred rounds so far but this press has been great to learn on. I definitely recommend it to any beginner.

[smohmand]

Another vote for wet tumbling. I use the Frankford arsenal platinum wet tumbler setup and it's the best. Steep investment at first but no consumable media to upkeep and the cases come out super clean and shiny.

i am sure this is yet another topic of great debate.

I personally don't like the idea of dry tumbling (have to buy consumable media, dust everywhere, larger footprint of equipment (plus the media separater)), so i first got the ultrasonic. It cleans well, and is quick, but the brass casing doesn't come out shiny, which is not necessary and just a matter of personal preference. I end up getting the harbor freight dual drum tumbler for wet tumbling (without the stainless steel pin) just to make them look shiny (and... as a last stage of cleaning, or so i convince myself; the water from the tumbler after comes out quite clean, meaning the 'first stage' ultrasonic is doing its job well).

So, to answer your question, Ultrasonic will work well.
But, wet tumbling WITH stainless steel pin will be the best. Clean inside and out, and brass will look shiny.

[SixPointEight]

Keep used up duct tape and box tape rolls for storing turrets. The turrets just fit inside and it keeps decapping pins from hitting the shelf.

Love my LCT. Great press. The priming system can be a bit finicky but it's really not too bad. For me the tube that guides primers is a little weird. I zip tie the top to the press, then guide the bottle into an old spaghetti sauce or pickle jar under the bench and that works pretty well.

I had good luck with the powder measure when loading with the indexing rod in place. Jolting the powder measure 3 times before it has to dump powder seems to settle the powder pretty consistently

You'll be happy with the press. I'm getting a Dillon 550 now after many years of service from the LCT, and I'm pretty sure both will live on my bench

[tonyjr]

stilly
Yes , the desert eagle 41 mag .
Can't use lead or plated / coated . Depending on loads , not a big difference between the 357 and 41 .
I picked it up on a whim - 1200 at gun show - did not have one .
It is old enough that parts are hard to find - they sold a 10 inch barrel for it , but I can't / could not find one a couple years ago .

[Capybara]

A few more months... Okay, maybe around 8 more months and the NEW Lee Progressive flagship press to end all presses and stop world hunger will be out...
AND Donald Trump will be raving about it because it is a Red item that will make America Great again!

Stilly, if this is true, will it replace anything in the lineup? Hmm...in a blue world of Dillons, this is an interesting strategy. They will have to either offer features that big Blue doesn't or make it cheaper and comparable. Based upon what I see here and the half dozen other reloading forums I frequent, I see few non-Dillon progressive press users, seems like they kind of own the medium to high end progressive markets.

[stilly]

stilly
Yes , the desert eagle 41 mag .
Can't use lead or plated / coated . Depending on loads , not a big difference between the 357 and 41 .
I picked it up on a whim - 1200 at gun show - did not have one .
It is old enough that parts are hard to find - they sold a 10 inch barrel for it , but I can't / could not find one a couple years ago .

You can shoot plated and PC out of them. I have done it with over 8k rds through mine.

Now I have put about 300 PC through it.

Sorry Capy. They hardly let that info out... Honestly though I can see it replacing the Loadmaster.

[Joezamboni]

I load 380 ACP, 9mm, 38 Special, 223 Rem and 308 Win on my LCT. All have their own toolheads with autodrums although for my match rifle loads I dump them from the case onto a scale, add with a trickler (usually .1-.2 grains off with stick powders like varget) pour back in case and continue. With H335 in my 223 loads it's rarely off by more than .1 grains.

I also have a separate toolhead for my Lee quicktrim dies. It works well for the single stage processes for the rifle rounds.

[tonyjr]

I was given 5 pills for the 44 and 50 at a gun show [ samples ] Since 5 of us went , we got 357 , 41 [ they had lots of them ] 44 , 45 and 50 .
Both the 44 and 50 had clouds and left residue on end of barrel .
After 2 magazines of 5 they went back to normal reloads [ 44 and 50 ]
I ran the parts thru the sonic - while not much . it did look like I put glitter in the water .
While the 45 was not as dirty , the 357's went thru a revolver - was O K .
To be honest , I did not want to take a chance with the 41 and swapped 10 cartridges for 20 M T's .

[stilly]

I was given 5 pills for the 44 and 50 at a gun show [ samples ] Since 5 of us went , we got 357 , 41 [ they had lots of them ] 44 , 45 and 50 .
Both the 44 and 50 had clouds and left residue on end of barrel .
After 2 magazines of 5 they went back to normal reloads [ 44 and 50 ]
I ran the parts thru the sonic - while not much . it did look like I put glitter in the water .
While the 45 was not as dirty , the 357's went thru a revolver - was O K .
To be honest , I did not want to take a chance with the 41 and swapped 10 cartridges for 20 M T's .

Wow. Sorry to hear that. What SAMPLE brand was it? Home made?
Wait a second- Did the guy mention anything about using a propane grill to cure them? (wink wink JWest...)

Just for you tony:

They shoot nicely out of mine and 20gr of Enforcer will tear the plating off the pill, but not the PC apparently.

[tonyjr]

Not sure of brand name .
H110 powder and CCI mag primers [ all I use is Hodgdon ball powders - except vargent witch is a stick and does not meter as well ] I am still using the plates [ ? ] for lee loadmaster - I reamed and polished the plastic and marked for 25 , 32 and 380 ACP's . The rest I use the the micro charge bars -
one for the 357 and 41 another for the 44 and 50 .
So far I have been hand feeding the 30 carbine , 270 - etc - but 3 nephews got in under the wire with the 308 and 762 AW's and have gone thru a lot of rounds .
CCI primers are all I use . I have not poked a hole decapping or had them bend on me .
As for powder coating and plated - not worth it - sizing and handle lead to PC or cleaning the " plate out of barrel / parts - not worth it to me for the little I save per round .
BTW someone posted -

http://sleepinggiantbrass.com/_catalog_grid/pistol

They have 41 mag brass - no pills I need .
I did buy another frankford tumbler and don't know what pins they give you so I will probably need ones for the 308's

[RiskyBusiness]

I use the classic turret press to reload .223 and am very satisfied with it so far. I am a beginner to reloading and have only loaded a couple hundred rounds so far but this press has been great to learn on. I definitely recommend it to any beginner.

why do some here say rifle rounds are best reloaded on single stage presses over progressives/turrets? Can't you use the turret in the ss manner as well?

[slayer61]

why do some here say rifle rounds are best reloaded on single stage presses over progressives/turrets? Can't you use the turret in the ss manner as well?

I bought the single stage to load 357Sig. It was my first experience with a shouldered round, and wanted to go slowly as I learned the process.

1). Tumble clean
2). De prime and resize
3). measure for OAL on brass
4). Tumble clean again....

Didn't make sense to me to do it on a turret press.

[tonyjr]

RiskyBusiness
Most want a better powder drop .
My Lee can vary as much as .02 on the 50 AE . So I check every 10 cartridges or so .
Same with all my rifles . I use the older Lee on any round smaller than 357 .
I use the newer / better powder drop for any thing 357 or over and all rifle rounds .
For me I had to many problems with both flack and log powders .

[stilly]

why do some here say rifle rounds are best reloaded on single stage presses over progressives/turrets? Can't you use the turret in the ss manner as well?

Because when shooting bolts and precision rifles, you want strict tolerances and no play, you want everything the same, same size for sure.

There is too much slop in a progressive press or turret to give it the SAME every time. Maybe the T-7 has no play, but it moves, so there IS play. If there is play and flexing and movement at the dies, then that will affect your oal.

HOWEVER, there are no issues loading rifle ammo on a Turret. I load .223 and .308 and 7.62 on a turret and I am not complaining. For my go fast shoot em up semi auto style it works great.

[tonyjr]

There is too much slop in a progressive press or turret to give it the SAME every time. Maybe the T-7 has no play, but it moves, so there IS play. If there is play and flexing and movement at the dies, then that will affect your oal.
--
This is one of the reasons I use washers between the dies and tool head .