Lee Reloading equipment

[JonProphet]

YOu should be able to get about 200 an hour out of a turret press. But I've reloaded somewhere in the neighbor hood of 300 or so... maybe more and I'm at about 75 an hour.... I've only been reloading about a month, so take that with a grain of salt. I'm reloading precision rifle rounds... so I take my time. That also includes case prep.

I'm sure once you get in the swing of things you'll get it down and you may well be able to do 200 rnds an hour.

Don't rush it. Get your feet under you before you try to jump in head first. As others have said, the progressives are more advanced and leave MORE room for error. Even with my turret press, I've messed up some rounds. But those messed up rounds go no where near my ammo box. With a progressive, I'm sure you'll have a difficult time finding those errors.

Money spent on a single stage or turret press is money well spent. I may be speaking from assumptions but there is a chance that if you buy a progressive and it doesn't work right, you'll not be reloading and your recent purchase will be in the classifieds and you'll be taking a loss.

It also helps a lot if you have someone local that can walk you through the setup and beginnings of reloading. Hell, take a reloading class.

-JD-

 

[ckcollins2003]

Since I would want to reload at least 500 at a time, would you say I should get a progressive from lee or a turret?

The question isn't about how many you want to do at a time, it's how long you want to spend at the press.

If you want to spend an hour to an hour and a half, go progressive. If you don't mind spending a few hours, go turret. If you don't mind spending the day, go with a single stage.

If money is no issue go with a progressive. That way you only buy once. There's no point in buying a turret or a single stage if a progressive is what you really want. Our opinions are worthless. We are simply people on the internet who are trying to help you decide how to spend your money. The whole, "you should start out with a single stage and learn the process" thing is IMO stupid. There are reloading classes that you can take as well as people that can help you out. Take a class or get with a friend and learn it, then decide what you want.

 

[XtremeVel]

Since I would want to reload at least 500 at a time, would you say I should get a progressive from lee or a turret?

Like just previously said, how much time do you want to spend in front of the press ?

Also, how many times will you be loading a batch of 500 in a given year ? If only once or twice, than a turret or single stage wouldn't keep you in front of it for long. As a rough guess, I would say figure spending 3-4 hours in front of the press for every 500 you load... This will vary by how fast you go and how many times you walk away.

Realistically, how much do you think you will spend a month on consumables ? If you are on a tight budget, it's amazing how fast even the turret can load and consume $100.00 worth of bullets/powder, and primers...

 

[peberly400]

I wouldn't mind spending 2 hours on a press at time. I think a turret press is what I will end up with. A-lot of people have told me lee is only good for their single stage, and stay away from everything else.

Here is my predicament. I can get a rcbs (probably early 90's) turret, or a brand new lee turret. what would you choose?

 

[JonProphet]

New Lee. Lee is great and inexpensive.

-Jd-

 

[Double T]

I went with a lyman tmag. Its built like a tank, and I index it so I don't have to worry abougt a indexing error or plastic piece breaking.

If you are new to reloading, I would steer you clear of a progressive regardless of how much theory you know. All it takes is one missed charge to leave a squib in the barrel, or a double charge and kaboom.


Take your time, and learn correctly before speeding it up.

 

[sloughfoot]

New Lee. Lee is great and inexpensive.

-Jd-

I agree with this. FWIW

 

[Loganwildman]

Hands down, the Loadmaster will do exactly what a Dillon does. It's just more tinkering to get everything started. However I will say that the automatic bullet feeder, case feeder, and priming stage on the Lee is a complete waste because they don't work unless you can somehow get them to work, but out of the box they do not work. If you don't mind priming by hand and putting a case and bullet into the cases then you will be perfectly happy with it. It's still much faster than doing it with a single stage or turret press and you also have the luxury of removing the auto indexing rod to make it into a single stage press. I was able to do 400 .40 S&W rounds in roughly an hour, but that doesn't count the time I spent priming each case.

Now if I were doing 3-5k rounds per month, I'd invest in a Dillon. I've never used one personally, but seeing them work with all of the fancy gadgets is purely amazing.

I agree with what was stated for the bullet feeder and priming system mostly.
Here is my experience with Lee. Started with a turret press 20 years ago, and other than having to keep a ready supply of the nylon indexing discs' the press worked fine. Sold it, and upgraded to the Loadmaster and loaded 50-60 thousand rounds through it but constantly fought the priming system and other issues with alignment. Even sent it back to Lee a few times in frustration. Finally sold the press and now have a Dillon xl650 with no regrets! Expensive yes, but totally worth it. I also recently bought a little Lee C frame press for $30 for the sole purpose of sizing my .223 brass and the handle broke within the first 200 rounds and when it broke, the ram was stuck also. Emailed Lee and was told to send it in, so I boxed it up and sent it in for repair and a week later got the 3 major pieces back but was missing the hardware and pivot bars. Called Lee, and was told she would take care of it. A few days later, I received a complete press. So I now have a complete press along with the 3 major pieces brand new. I can't complain about their customer service at all, however, the old adage is true. You get what you pay for!

Alan

 

[peberly400]

You said that was 20 years ago. Can you atest to there nowadays turret press?

 

[JonProphet]

Turret press today, works flawlessly. Keep an eye on your dies and you'll probably never have ANY problems with it.

My plans are to move to a progressive press when I start hard core loading .223, .300 BLK and .40 S&W. That is a year or so from now. Maybe more. The turret press will take care of everything from the .300BLK and .233. When I have a few thousands cases of each, then I'll look at the progressive. I will keep doing .308 on the turret and any precision loading on the turret.

-JD-

 

[Hosted]

A friend of mine reloads about 5000 rounds a year with his Lee and and it hasn't missed a beat.

 

[peberly400]

Alright sounds good. I will probably pick one up soon. My work picks up around 3 weeks and I get a ton of over time.

 

[redneckmedic]

Nothing wrong with a Lee... but why would you go with a press system that gets mixed reviews at best when you can go with a system that is proven to be the best on the market with the absolute best customer service and top notch reviews... buy once cry once, buy a Dillon... (from Profire and he will help you set it up and school you on it!)

 

[cartmanfan15]

I am newer to reloading and I only used a Lee Turret, but it works great. Not to difficult to operate once your dies are set up and definitely way less expensive than a Dillon. I don't reload enough to justify picking up a progressive, especially a Dillon, so a turret press will work great for me.

 

[chuddly]

Nothing wrong with a Lee... but why would you go with a press system that gets mixed reviews at best when you can go with a system that is proven to be the best on the market with the absolute best customer service and top notch reviews... buy once cry once, buy a Dillon... (from Profire and he will help you set it up and school you on it!)

because if it was just $100 or even $200 more it wouldnt be a big deal. but we are talking about 4x the amount over what the Lee is. To me....i went with the lee for that reason and havnt had any problems. I would expect to see something PERFECT for 4x the money. Thats like the Lee press being a brand new truck for 30k and someone says "this other truck that cost $150,000 is better and you wont have to change the spark plugs ever.". Well for the cost of a few bucks ill take the $30,000 truck and change the plugs because the expensive one doesnt do anything more than the cheap one.

 

[Loganwildman]

You said that was 20 years ago. Can you atest to there nowadays turret press?

No, I have heard they completely revamped the turret press. But as I stated, my only complaint with it was the nylon indexing discs. It was a fine little press and really the only reason I sold it was that it was too slow to keep up with 2 competitive shooters. (with me doing all the reloading)

AP

 

[redneckmedic]

Well for the cost of a few bucks ill take the $30,000 truck and change the plugs because the expensive one doesnt do anything more than the cheap one.

Or tires or oil or fuel or even have to pay for service or parts, and the list goes on and on, I've never heard someone complain about a Dillon... that is most certainly not true for a lee. I've never heard of someone selling a Dillon to get into a lee.

High points go bang when you pull the trigger, they also shoot straight, so why does every one carry a Glock/1911/XD/S&W or whatever at 4x the $...?

Buy once cry once!

 

[patton487]

got a lee loadmaster, ain't cryin'

 

[peberly400]

So does the lee still use the nylon indexing disc?

 

[JonProphet]

So does the lee still use the nylon indexing disc?

Cheap, inexpensive and reliable. Lee has a MULTITUDE of products. Many ways of doing the same thing.

Let's stop for a second and take a step back and quit bickering/arguing over one product over another. Because, some people are talking about one Lee product while everyone else is comparing them to a Dillian 650.

Most of us are talking about the Lee Turret Press. Not the loadmaster, not the single stage, not any of the progressives. What we are saying is it is EXTREMELY cheap to get it setup and working without any problems at all. Not saying Dillon is a difficult product, what me and others are saying is loading is NOT easy.

Take a step back and remember back when you were first loading. Safety should have been your first concern. Dillon products are great and I'd love to have one. But when you are first loading, you have to double check everything to make sure everything is moving smoothly. Single stage (including Lee turrets) allows you to quickly and easily double check everything for safety sakes. Speed kills.

How would you feel if you recommended a product to someone and being a new loader, they ended up goofing something up and A. Blew up their gun, B. Lost an eye or C. Lost their life?

Take it slow for safeties sake!

Last comment. Start with a Lee turret, lots easier and faster than the true single stage. When you want to move to a dillon, sell the Lee stuff. It'll go fast, guarantee.

-JD-