I have asked about the progressive presses and had my mind made up to get a Dillon. I was in the Sportsmans WH today and looked at a turret press for the first time. I will be loading 45ACP in batches of 200 or 250 at a time. Would a turret press and hand priming the cases while watching tv save me a significant amount of time over the single stage? Laying out over $400 for a progressive is looking a little less appealing when I started typing in my credit card number!

You should look at the Lee Classic Turret Press You can do 150 -200 rounds per hour with no sweat.
And it has a very good priming attachment for it.

I'm not sure on the Lee, but I just got an RCBS Turret press. I love it. It has 6 stations, and an easily removeable turret head. Natchez has a great price on the press and extra turrets if you want. I only have one, and it suits me just fine.

I have a Lee Classis Cast turret press. You aren't going to put out quite as many rounds as you can with a true progressive, but I think I got my press when they were pretty new for about $75.00. Add the priming feature and the auto measure and someother accessories and I think I still spent less than $150. If you include set up time I think I can put out about 150-200 rounds of .40 S&W in an hour, including using the priming tool on the press.

I would love to have a progressive, but currently I don't really reload enough to justify the extra money. One thing I really like about the Lee is that extra turrets are pretty cheap, I have several extras so that I can keep the dies in them. It makes det up a few minutes faster each time.

I guess because of my schedule, and the number and variety of rounds that I load, I didn't mind laying down the $400 for my Dillon. Once I get going (and doing a powder and visual inspection about every 25 rounds) I can crank out about 400 an hour. Also, my father-in-law owns one and it's what I learned on, so I felt really comfortable with it. I reckon that counts for a lot. I don't work on Mondays, so I'm off while my wife is at work. I try to crank out as many as I can as quickly as I can while she's at work so that I get to shoot on mondays, and don't have to listen to her complain that I spend too much time reloading and shooting :o.

Anyway, I think you'll be pleased either way, once you start reloading. You'll be able to reload boxes of 100 top quality cartridges for about what you'd pay for a box of 20 of an equivilant quality. Best of luck !

I load quite a few rounds on one of the Lee turret presses. Don't watch TV, but listen to the radio while I'm loading. Here's the way my bench is set up. I can load several hundred in an evening with no problems. For handgun loads I use Lee's powder thru powder measure on the expander die in the turret. It bells the case and drops the powder in one stroke of the press lever.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Reloading/ReloadingbenchRemodel-40.jpg

Good Steward I just got in from your part of the country, I spent last night in Cleveland. I have been loading for 25 years and really just into to pistol shooting. Right now it takes me around an hour to turn out a box of 45s on the Rockchucker. I want to pick some speed but I'm not sure I need Dillon speed.

Bob I like your set-up. I am looking at the Lee turret and it will auto index? Does the turret rotate?

The turret either auto-rotates or you take off the rotator and just turn it by hand, that's what I do. You might look at the Lee 1000. It's based on this same press and for a $140 bucks from Midway gets you into a progressive loader all set up for one caliber. That's about as inexpensive as it gets.

One big advantage of the Lee turret is all your dies are set up in their individual 8 buck turrets, just pop a turret in and go for one caliber. I like that for both the rifle and pistol calibers.

When I am loading smaller cases, like pistol or .223, I use the auto index feature. The only time I take it out is with something like .30-06 where the bottom of the die tends to hit the bullet once it is seated.

Ya shoulda let me know ahead of time, I would have taken you to the range! :rolleyes:

I have asked about the progressive presses and had my mind made up to get a Dillon. I was in the Sportsmans WH today and looked at a turret press for the first time. I will be loading 45ACP in batches of 200 or 250 at a time. Would a turret press and hand priming the cases while watching tv save me a significant amount of time over the single stage? Laying out over $400 for a progressive is looking a little less appealing when I started typing in my credit card number!

Turret presses are really good for making small batches of ammunition. They are virtually idiot proof and changing calibers is a snap. I have two, the current Lyman and an RCBS. Buy the Lyman. The RCBS has problems once the primer mechanism gets dirty and getting the little iron donut out of the top of the turret is all but impossible. I've never used the Redding but I have had the several of the Lee's. Didn't like the Lee's well enough to keep them.

Progressives are really nice if you want to turn out large volumes of ammunition. I've probably owned 40. Use to collect complex reloading presses. I used, or at least tried to use, all of them. The Dillon units are fine but I prefer the current RCBS progressives. I've got five of them. The APS primer system is really great.

the dillon 550 isn't what i would call a true progressive as you turn it by hand
but it is extremely reliable !!
there are just no complex mechanisms.
pieces are expensive though,however if you want your kids to use them when you are done with them
they are the way to go.

the dillon 550 isn't what i would call a true progressive as you turn it by hand
but it is extremely reliable !!
there are just no complex mechanisms.
pieces are expensive though,however if you want your kids to use them when you are done with them
they are the way to go.

Most definitions of progressives that I have seen over the decades do not require that the machine does automatic indexing. With the possible exception of the square deal automatic indexing never struck me as all that reliable.

shootermarc,
i agree with colohunter's assessment of the lee classic cast turret press. i have 3 dillon's, but i use the lee more than any other press on my bench (6) because its production rate excels with small batches of ammo...the time savings are in its setup. if i plan to load more than 100, dillon might get the nod, otherwise, the turrets' quick-change feature rules. when it comes to caseforming duties, i'm glad i have my rcbs chucker or lyman orange crush, but the lee would work well...if i were starting out this would be my first...and maybe only press.
budman46

I believe that with their new priming system on the Classic Cast Turret, Lee has taken the crown on turret presses. The Cast Turret is far ahead of their prior turret systems.

I like to know if you can use the auto index on the classic model when it comes to loading rifle cal. like the 30-06?
I have a lee turret model 4 stage (not the classic) works excellent but when reloading rifle bullets I have to go to single stage and remove the auto disc rod and turn the turret by hand.
I was thinking in stepping up to the larger press the classic model.

the Lee turret is fine for smaller batches and quick to change cal.I have 4.for large amounts I have a Lee 1000 in 45acp and the RCB green machine for 38 spec.if I could afford it I would get the loadmaster for rifle.
the Lee classic cast will index rifle.:rolleyes:---:D