Lee Turret selection and setup help

8860 Views 88 Replies 22 Participants Last post by olgutshotwilly, Sep 14, 2012

yoemen66

Discussion Starter · Sep 4, 2012

So I have decided to get a lee turret. What do I need to get with it. Which lee turret should I get? I figure a 4 hole turret. Set of dies. But what extra stuff should I get? Case feeder? Which powder measure, which primer system, etc. Just want to know what stuff is worth getting and what is superfluous.

41 - 60 of 89 Posts

Taroman

· #41 · Sep 7, 2012

Looks like you've all covered it pretty well.
+ whatever on the Lee scale. Threw it away and got a cast iron Pacific triple beam scale off fleabay - what a Difference that makes.
Don't know how many calibers you load for, but the big attraction of this press is having all your die sets loaded into turrets. Just drop 'em in and go to work.
I store all my turrets in these Lee round boxes:
LEE ROUND BOX
They store nicely in the cabinet in these, and the shellholder fits in the bottom of the box.

RustyFN

· #42 · Sep 7, 2012

+ whatever on the Lee scale. Threw it away and got a cast iron Pacific triple beam scale off fleabay - what a Difference that makes.

I found my Lee scale to be very accurate but not fun to use. I bought a decent digital scale a week after I started and just bought an RCBS 5-0-2 beam scale. I can't believe how much easier the 5-0-2 is to use over the Lee.

cg45

· #43 · Sep 7, 2012

zman, just saying to yoemen66 that W231 is a good powder for both the ACP & Colt. But that the Colt case is so large, with recommended charges of W231 you can double charge the case without it overflowing and you need to pay attention. Trail Boss is great in the Colt as it fills the case well. A double charge will overflow the case so it is very apparent what happened. It is also a very good powder for the ACP in my experience. I'll add to that Unique is good in both and will fill the Colt case better than W231.

WhyteP38

· #44 · Sep 8, 2012

yoemen66 said:
Just want to know what stuff is worth getting and what is superfluous.

I want to add one more thought to what I posted earlier. I find that the lube on one rifle case will leave enough reside on the die for me to resize/decap two unlubed rifle cases. So when I prep 100 rifle cases, I spray a pure lanolin/rubbing alcohol mix on 35 cases and leave the rest dry. That saves lube, and when I'm done, the "dry" cases have only a very thin layer of lube on them, which is easier to clean off.

RustyFN

· #45 · Sep 8, 2012

WhyteP38 said:
I want to add one more thought to what I posted earlier. I find that the lube on one rifle case will leave enough reside on the die for me to resize/decap two unlubed rifle cases. So when I prep 100 rifle cases, I spray a pure lanolin/rubbing alcohol mix on 35 cases and leave the rest dry. That saves lube, and when I'm done, the "dry" cases have only a very thin layer of lube on them, which is easier to clean off.

Cleaning lube off is not hard. I just tumble them for 10 to 15 minutes after they are loaded.

WhyteP38

· #46 · Sep 8, 2012

RustyFN said:
A hand primer also defeats the purpose of how the classic turret operates. By the time you size 100 taking them in and out and hand prime them I will have 100 loaded and ready to shoot.

Meh ... not really. The Classic isn't designed solely to avoid hand priming or to simply crank out ammo as fast as possible.

I hand prime because that's what gives me the greatest confidence in my reloads. For me, I have a better feel for what is going on. For others, there might not be a difference. YMMV. Is it slower? Yeah, but so what? I'm not in a race. Plus, I've never had a high primer or a crushed primer or one that popped out.

I also still take advantage of the machine's ability to quickly and accurately add powder and seat bullets. I also still take advantage of quick changes from pistol to rifle and vice versa. I still take advantage of having my dies set up so that I don't need to recalibrate anything (I double-check but haven't yet had to actually tweak anything). Never had even a single issue with any of my pistol or rifle rounds.

I can resize/decap a barrelful of cases by using the Classic as a single-stage press before I go to priming. I find this feature useful, especially for rifle brass that needs trimming after resizing.

The Classic Turret is a versatile machine. To say it can be used only one way is to ignore different ways to adapt the machine to what each individual wants to accomplish with it.

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Taroman

· #47 · Sep 8, 2012

WhyteP38 said:
Meh ... not really. The Classic isn't designed solely to avoid hand priming or to simply crank out ammo as fast as possible.

I hand prime because that's what gives me the greatest confidence in my reloads. For me, I have a better feel for what is going on. For others, there might not be a difference. YMMV. Is it slower? Yeah, but so what? I'm not in a race. Plus, I've never had a high primer or a crushed primer or one that popped out.

I also still take advantage of the machine's ability to quickly and accurately add powder and seat bullets. I also still take advantage of quick changes from pistol to rifle and vice versa. I still take advantage of having my dies set up so that I don't need to recalibrate anything (I double-check but haven't yet had to actually tweak anything). Never had even a single issue with any of my pistol or rifle rounds.

I can resize/decap a barrelful of cases by using the Classic as a single-stage press before I go to priming. I find this feature useful, especially for rifle brass that needs trimming after resizing.

The Classic Turret is a versatile machine. To say it can be used only one way is to ignore different ways to adapt the machine to what each individual wants to accomplish with it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^Exactly!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WhyteP38

· #48 · Sep 8, 2012

RustyFN said:
Cleaning lube off is not hard. I just tumble them for 10 to 15 minutes after they are loaded.

It isn't really an issue of being hard, it's a matter of efficiency. I prefer the NRA vinegar/dishwashing detergent cleaing solution over tumbling. The less lube there is, the sooner the cleaning process is done (usually 5-10 minutes), the less lube that gets into the solution, and the longer the solution lasts. Plus, the less lube I use in the first place, the longer my lube lasts.

Jester122

· #49 · Sep 10, 2012

I have the 4 hole turret with the factory crimp die. I've found that I have to hold the case in place with my finger while depriming and adding powder. I take extra care to make sure the primer is put in completely after having an assembled round get stuck on the press because the primer didn't go in all the way. I don't have the auto prime kit yet and am still loading each primer into the primer feed individually by hand.

I don't like the lee scale that came with my press, but its all I have right now, and I don't have anything else to compave to it.

I spend a lot of time vacuming up loose grains of W231 when I'm done. I didn't expect it to be as messy as it is. I've noticed the spring binding occasionally on my powder feed as well.

There are better kits out there, but for the money, I like what I've got. I've loaded 300 rounds so far, and I'm loading more after I take my kids to school this morning. I like reloading now as much as shooting. Still need a few things, and a dedicated bench would be nice, but I'm having fun.

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rfd

· #50 · Sep 10, 2012

i find that all scales - analog and digital - work best when isolated from the vibrations of the press. i have a separate, sturdy/solid table next to my press bench that the scales sit on. without a doubt, the digitals are faster and quite accurate. all scales must be check weighed before use and it doesn't hurt to check weigh during use. even a $30 frankford digital works worlds better/faster than that dang pita lee safety beam. while i have a 505 beam, it's my digitals - chargemaster 1500, mack 20, frankford - that are used 99.99% of the time, and with stellar results. ymmv.

johnhunter44

· #51 · Sep 10, 2012

Jester122 said:
I have the 4 hole turret with the factory crimp die. I've found that I have to hold the case in place with my finger while depriming and adding powder. I take extra care to make sure the primer is put in completely after having an assembled round get stuck on the press because the primer didn't go in all the way. I don't have the auto prime kit yet and am still loading each primer into the primer feed individually by hand.

I don't like the lee scale that came with my press, but its all I have right now, and I don't have anything else to compave to it.

I spend a lot of time vacuming up loose grains of W231 when I'm done. I didn't expect it to be as messy as it is. I've noticed the spring binding occasionally on my powder feed as well.

There are better kits out there, but for the money, I like what I've got. I've loaded 300 rounds so far, and I'm loading more after I take my kids to school this morning. I like reloading now as much as shooting. Still need a few things, and a dedicated bench would be nice, but I'm having fun.

Wow, I really can't understand why some kits have these problems and others don't. I never have to hold my case when de-priming or loading. I never have any loose powder, either. Mine dumps precise amounts, as confirmed by my rcbs 505 scale, and does not make a mess with powder. I did make a mess one time, when I was pouring powder from the measure's hopper back into the powder bottle. I unscrewed the hopper and even though I turned it to off, an amount of powder came out. Now, I simply take my last round I am loading, and after i fill it with powder, dump the powder into my scale to weigh, then turn the hopper to off and use the casing to empty out the remaining powder that is still in the disk or channels of the device. There will still be about 3 dumps, but once i do this, I can unscrew the hopper and no powder leaks out anywhere. Then I simply put the measured amount of powder back into my last round and finish it.

Jester122

· #52 · Sep 10, 2012

Wanna trade then, Johnhunter44?

RustyFN

· #53 · Sep 10, 2012

Meh ... not really. The Classic isn't designed solely to avoid hand priming or to simply crank out ammo as fast as possible.

I agree 100%. I just think advising somebody to buy the hand primer without even trying the safety prime for the classic turret isn't the best advice. Not very many people have problems with the safety prime and most people buy the classic turret to speed up pistol loading. The safety prime works near flawless if set up right.

johnhunter44

· #54 · Sep 10, 2012 (Edited)

Jester122 said:
Wanna trade then, Johnhunter44?

No thanks. I think I will keep what I have. If you are having problems, you may want to call Lee, because mine does work flawlessly and yours should too. I have now tried the Lee Safety Prime and I do prefer to use the Lee hand primer. Maybe its just me, but when a primer wouldn't feed into the "cup" on the press, It would end up dropping on the floor. I think I spent more time on the floor searching for dropped primers than it took me to hand-prime 50 rounds.

nogoodnamesleft

· #55 · Sep 11, 2012

johnhunter44 said:
I have now tried the Lee Safety Prime and I do prefer to use the Lee hand primer. Maybe its just me, but when a primer wouldn't feed into the "cup" on the press, It would end up dropping on the floor. I think I spent more time on the floor searching for dropped primers than it took me to hand-prime 50 rounds.

Yep, been there with dropped primers. What I found that works wonders is to put a cardboard box with a towel in it under the press; if a primer drops, it goes in the box and there's no searching for it. I keep track of the number of primers used and cases (always a multiple of 50), so I know if any got lost.

I have a table saw with a large dust collector/vacuum next to my reloading area, don't want to suck up any lost primers!

angus6

· #56 · Sep 11, 2012

I still find it hard to see where you guys are having problems with something so simple to use and adjust, 300 rds an hour isn't a hard pace out of the LCT

nogoodnamesleft

· #57 · Sep 11, 2012

Out of 100 primers, one will usually pop out of the primer cup when releasing the LPS trigger, typically in the last 5 or so primers. Large primers seem to work better with small primers being more of an issue.

Mine is setup per instructions. Maybe you have better instructions you can share?

A dropped primer is a big deal for me. They roll to God knows where and I have spent a good deal of time looking for them, sometimes finding them up to 10 feet from the press.

Jester122

· #58 · Sep 11, 2012 (Edited)

"I still find it hard to see where you guys are having problems with something so simple to use and adjust, 300 rds an hour isn't a hard pace out of the LCT"

I didn't think I was having any untill johnhunter44 sad something!:biglaugh:

olgutshotwilly

· #59 · Sep 11, 2012

angus6 said:
I still find it hard to see where you guys are having problems with something so simple to use and adjust, 300 rds an hour isn't a hard pace out of the LCT

Angus,
You're just a young whippersnapper of 51. When you are nearly 59 like me, 300 rounds an hour is pushing your physical limits! Thats a lot of handle throws.........

RustyFN

· #60 · Sep 11, 2012

I have now tried the Lee Safety Prime and I do prefer to use the Lee hand primer. Maybe its just me, but when a primer wouldn't feed into the "cup" on the press, It would end up dropping on the floor. I think I spent more time on the floor searching for dropped primers than it took me to hand-prime 50 rounds.

Out of 100 primers, one will usually pop out of the primer cup when releasing the LPS trigger, typically in the last 5 or so primers. Large primers seem to work better with small primers being more of an issue.

If you add a washer under the bracket it will raise the safety prime and eliminate that problem. On a rare occasion some people will have to add two washers.

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