turret vs single stage press

[indianabob]

I was just wondering if anybody ever saw a difference in the play that you get on turret press's compared to the single stage press. the turret will push up slightly does this mean that in theory I am not sizing the bullet exactly to the sidewall and also on the bullet seating as well is the bullet coming out a little off?

just looking for your feedback.

IndianaBob

 

[shibumiseeker]

Oh, the Lee turret at least (I don't have direct experience with others) has a lot of slop in it. I consider it fine for pistol and plinking rifle rounds, but I load my precision rounds on a single stage press and I'm looking to get the Forster Coax just for the bullet seating stage.

 

[hicap30]

I have had my Redding T7 now for 10 years and I love it. Sure at times I wish I had a progressive but I still don't think I would part with it. Mine has a very slight amount of movement but you can hardly notice it. Compared to a Lee this is like a Swiss watch. A friend comes over once in awhile to load his ammo on mine hates his Lee.

 

[shibumiseeker]

The Redding T7 is on my "want" list, but I have 18 turrets and two Lee turret presses running side by side (one for small primer one for large) so upgrading is going to wait until I get a windfall.

 

[mac45]

I load .223 on my Lee Classic turret, and so far at least am very happy with the results.
I've seen the question of turrets moving asked before, but I've never seen anyone actually measure what the difference is on an assembled cartridge.
Could be an interesting experiment for someone with a concentricity gauge.
My gut feeling is the average shooter isn't going to notice the difference.

I should add that I would love to be proven wrong....then I could justify getting a Coax press

 

[1$Chuck]

I wouldn't load rifle ammo on a lyman turret. They are fine for pistol rounds but have some flex

 

[jwh20]

Since, on the Lee Classic Turret anyway, you adjust the dies in the plate with pressure from the shell holder on the die, and hence the plate pushed up, you should not have any issues with it.

 

[biggen]

My Lyman American has an adjustable post opposite of the ram that supports the turret and reduces deflection. If I want to get anal, I tighten the post up against the bottom of the turret, of course that means I've now turned it into a single stage press. I normally just give it a .001" or .002 clearance and don't worry about it.

 

[1$Chuck]

My Lyman American has an adjustable post opposite of the ram that supports the turret and reduces deflection. If I want to get anal, I tighten the post up against the bottom of the turret, of course that means I've now turned it into a single stage press. I normally just give it a .001" or .002 clearance and don't worry about it.

I had one like that too. The stand helps be stopping deflection on the upstroke, but still allows flex on the down stroke. If you over tighten the post to stop the movement on the downstroke, then the die will be out of alignment with the ram. I had concentricity issues with bottleneck cases reloaded on that press. I sold it and went to a rock chucker..then later bought another lyman to use for pistol rounds.

 

[drewtitans]

I just started reloading a couple of years ago so I'm a novice at this compared to most. I do however use a Lee Turret and a Hornady Lock N Load. The Hornady does all of my pistol and the Lee does my 223, 300aac, 458 Socom and 308. I've had no issues with consistency and repeatability with my precision loads. Here is a 3 shot group out of my Savage at 100yds with some new loads I've been working up. I've loaded precision rounds for 2 bolt guns so far and it has worked great. I'm not saying there isn't better but for the money it has been great.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Minor nit: 3 shot groups are statistically meaningless :-) Give us five shot, or better, ten shot groups and you'll impress us.

 

[drewtitans]

Don't entirely disagree and not trying to impress, just saying it's possibly for a Turret to load accurately. That string was one of 12 that day all loaded to different combinations of OAL and powder weight. I then take the best results and load 30rds of each for 2 separate shooters to run 2 x 5 shot strings to verify the loads. I will be more than happy to mark this thread and follow up in a couple of weeks with my results. Still won't try and impress though, because any monkey can shoot a good group at 100yds with the right equipment. I've put novices shooters on my rifles on numerous occasions and have them ring the 8" 500yd gong at my range with no issues. Puts a big smile on their face knowing they can do it though.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I'm just yanking your chain a bit. If you can do a one ragged hole group with 5 or 10 shots then I WILL be impressed and that's a load worth sticking to.