I am going to buy a Lee turret press( I have been warned about this in this forum) What is the difference between the 3 or the 4 hole units. I just started shooting 45's (first big gun) :D and I figure I could get more enjoyment by reloading my own. Thanks in advance for all your advice

I am going to buy a Lee turret press( I have been warned about this in this forum) What is the difference between the 3 or the 4 hole units. I just started shooting 45's (first big gun) :D and I figure I could get more enjoyment by reloading my own. Thanks in advance for all your advice

If by 45 you mean .45 Colt then the 3 station would be okay (1) deprime and size
(2) bell
(3) seat bullet and roll crimp

If you mean 45 ACP I'd get the 4 hole which would allow you to only seat the bullet on the 3rd station and taper crimp on the 4th.

Other than having more options there's really not much difference. I like to have a plate set for each caliber I load keeping all the dies permanently mounted and merely changing the plate. Saves a lot of setup time.

I am going to buy a Lee turret press( I have been warned about this in this forum) What is the difference between the 3 or the 4 hole units. I just started shooting 45's (first big gun) :D and I figure I could get more enjoyment by reloading my own. Thanks in advance for all your advice

I am sorry, like I said just started... Yup a 45acp. Thanks

Four Hole with the Auto-Index. For the 45, I actually deprime my cases with Lee's Universal Depriming Die mounted on a Lee "C" frame press and chunk all the cases in the tumbler.

When they come out of the tumbler, I prime the cases with the Auto-Prime and then start with the turret. First stage is the Sizing Die with Decapper removed from the die, second is the Powder Through Expanding die with the Auto-Disk mounted on top of it. Third hole is the Bullet Seating die, and forth hole is the Factory Crimp die.

With things done in this order, when you get to the turret press you can load close to 100 rounds per hour!

Another vote............4 hole.

Four Hole with the Auto-Index. For the 45, I actually deprime my cases with Lee's Universal Depriming Die mounted on a Lee "C" frame press and chunk all the cases in the tumbler. With things done in this order, when you get to the turret press you can load close to 100 rounds per hour!That's my procedure too! By the time the cases get to my progressive, they've been deprimed and sized on my single stage and tumble cleaned. Up 'til now, I thought I was the only one who did this. :p

I have a Lyman All American 4 holer. I have cleaned my dirty brass in rice and then used this press to size/decap. Then polish with corn cob and go to the Dillon. There I replace the sizing die with only the decap pin to make sure the flash hole is clean. This turns out very good looking ammo. So Marshall and Ranch Dog, you aren't the only ones but I only do this for very dirty cases or when I want to impress. HEE HEE.

I've been using the Lee 4-hole turret for a little over a year now. I load for the 45-70 and .270. The fourth hole is great for the Lee Factory Crimp Die since the 45-70 hammers pretty hard and the crimp holds the OAL nicely.

Hey, who warned you against the Lee Turret Press....those that spent waaaaay too much money on other stuff?!

(just kidding)


Perferator

I like the Lee Turret Press, I use it for all my handgun loads( 4 hole) I would go for a RCBS turret press for the long guns, until I found the Hornady "Lock N Load" conversion for a Rock Chucker. It is slick.
Jim

Go the 4hole I load 600-800 rnds of .223 per week on my turret & I love it( a great press) Top value for money You can't go wrong for the money!

Dave

Lee Turret is my most used press, of the eight I own. Too handy with drop in turrets. I keep 12 turrets set up, ready to go. Hate adjusting dies.

Im planning to order the 4 hole turrett press tomorrow night. My gramps has used the three holer for longer than i have been alive. I have quickly outgrown the anniversary kiyt i bought about this time last year.
But what i dont understand is does the auto index feature basically make this press progressive?
The explanation of it and the powder meaurer that comes with it leave a lot to be desired on lee's website.

sorry dont mean to hijack this but i thought this info may be useful to rick also.

The auto index is one of those things you have to try for yourself. It is supposed to make it into a semi- semi-progressive. Many users truly enjoy theirs. I personally do a good bit of load development and found that many times I would want to use a die that was not the next in order. By simply lifting the turret you can remove the rod that rotates it. I have found turning the turret by hand more handy in my case. I have had strange thoughts of creating a thumb wheel or spanner to fit between the dies and turret much like the Dillon thumb advance...

Though I've never owned a Lee turret press, I recomend the four holer for sure.

If you load the .45 Colt cartridge it is best to have the third die seat the bullet depth and the fourth die to put a slight roll crimp on it with Lee's great adjustable crimp die...it really does a nice job.

Jim

I'm with BlackHawk on the autoindex option. For one thing the longer rounds seem to hang up on the upstroke but that is such a minor thing and only applies to long rounds such as the .06 family etc.

It's easy to re-activate the autoindex by replacing the spiral rod for pistol rounds (which I dont). The manual indexing is the only way to go when you take time to weigh powder charges and use the finger-tip adjustable bullet seater for "two/three stage" bullet seating (removing the round from the press for measuring for those accurate/constistent OAL's).




Perferator

Josh:
A progressive press holds as many cases as it does dies. For instance, a press that holds 5 dies, has a shell-plate that holds 5 cases. With each pull of the handle, 5 operations are done. The Lee turret holds one case and four dies. You insert the case into the shell-holder, and pull the handle 4 times. The turret rotates above the case, re-indexing, or aligning, for the next operation.

Darrel

cool thanks for the explanation. i bought it and it is really ingenious. i cant wait to get my new bench finished so I can try it.

Perferator, if you will remove the collar on the ram that turns the advancement rod your stroke will be easily long enough for '06 rounds. I use mine to feed a hungry Browning '95 '06 and a Garand.

Perferator, if you will remove the collar on the ram that turns the advancement rod your stroke will be easily long enough for '06 rounds. I use mine to feed a hungry Browning '95 '06 and a Garand.



Hey, thanx for the tip! :D

I still have my turret press after loading 38 spl and 44 mag out of it for over ten years now .
Yes I bought a new base about four years ago and changed the powder measure about five years ago when it was finally wore out.
Then we changed the three hole turret to four when that update came .
Figure the press saw about three to four hundred rounds a week over ten months a year ,over ten years
I bought a new 550 Dillion because it would load the 38 spl faster than the Lee . Well it is a bit faster , a bit more money and already a bit more repair after two years in service .
Well the turret press is still in service for the 44 Mag.
One thing I got to say to John Lee . The turret press was a good deal when I bought it , and figure over the time I had it and the repairs over the ten years I now think it was more of a steal. :D

That's my procedure too! By the time the cases get to my progressive, they've been deprimed and sized on my single stage and tumble cleaned. Up 'til now, I thought I was the only one who did this. :p

Add me to your list .
I also hand prime now .
Your starting with clean cases and no high primers, since they all were felt going into the case's
So we size ( we have no deprime stem installed) ,load powder/ seat bullet , then crimp with the factory crimp die.

Think this is slow . Well maybe at first -BUT get on to it .
Bang !Bang ! -one box full . Man will that Lee run fast.

Started this with the Dillion 550 since I could not get over the priming issue of having the odd loaded round with no primer.

A friend with a square deal had the same issue.

No more rounds with no primers or over turned primers.
No more loose powder in the loaded ammo box.
You already know the primers are perfect and you handled every case again and know no splits in the bunch. It'ds a win Win. No more WHoops or @$$%^ at a match.
Happy