turret press or progressive press

[iceman4226]

Just getting back into reloading and what is the real difference between a turret press and progressive press I saw a hornady progressive press on sale for about 450 tonight. How are the hornady progressive presses anyways have you all seen any problems with them and is that a good price?

 

[Broom_jm]

A turret-style press, like the Lee Classic Turret, turns out a round of ammo every 3 to 4 strokes of the handle, whereas a progressive does so with every stroke, once you get going. This makes the progressive faster. The Hornady LNL is a good progressive press and $450 is about right on the price. They often come with a bunch of bullets from Hornady to sweeten the deal. As far as problems, I would say both the Dillon and Hornady presses can have their little quirks, but both are backed by excellent customer service.

 

[Lunati]

I saw the LnL for around $389 last week with the free bullets. I just picked up a Lee Pro 1000 and it's my first press, I haven't had any issues with it (yes I did a ton of research so I knew most of the issues before hand).

 

[Electronrider]

A nice compromise is to go with a Dillon 550 BL. The setup does not come with the auto prime or powder drop eequipment, so it is reall just a fancy turrett press. Once you get more comfortable with the process, and start worring about production, you can drop the money on the priming system and the powder system.

 

[CB45]

My problem with the Hornady was that I wasn't satisfied with the case feed system. The combined system just wouldn't perform at the rate I was expecting. I was looking for a 1000 rds/hr machine.

If I can't sell the one I have for sale in the classifieds at its current price, I'll keep it to load calibers I don't load very often.

 

[Kirkd]

I have the Lee turret and like it. I have the cast version and I think I gave like $100 for it new. I went that direction as I'm new to reloading and thought that system was less complicated. Now, I have a single stage press that gets used as well. I decap/resize oj the single stage, the clean primer pocket, trim(if needed), remove military crimp, etc. then I hand prime. On the turret press, I used the hornady powder dropper, powder cop, bullet seating die, and crimp die.

 

[Old_grunt]

I have a Lee 1000 for loading 10mm. Works great!

 

[Kisada]

The Lee Classic Turret with pro auto measure with typical accessories and carbide 4-die set cost me less than $250 (with a MidwayUSA discount) IIRC... You can't get into Dillon/Hornady LNL AP for under ~400, without dies.
I will admit, now that I've used mine for about a year or so, one stroke of the ram vs. four strokes to complete a round would be nice, not to mention the speed if you need to crap a lot of rounds out in a hurry/have time constraints.

I set a timer a couple weeks ago just to see what I could put out and I came up with 57 and 65 rounds respectively in two separate 15 minute timed runs. So once you get your powder drops coming out consistently and dies where you need them, 200/hr is pretty easy to accomplish. I used to measure each round right out of the press, but have since quit that and I just do it later when I'm sitting around watching tv or whatever.

 

[MikeDVB]

If you're an experienced reloader a progressive isn't bad. If you're new to it - I'd start with turret.

I started turret and once I moved to progressive I'm glad I didn't start with one. Some of the minor issues I had with the progressive would have been potentially dangerous without the experience to let me know what should happen and how it should happen and what to watch out for.

That said - it also depends on whether you simply enjoy sitting down to reload or if your goal is just to crank out cheaper ammo so you can go to the range. If you enjoy it - I found a turret press makes me feel more like I'm actually doing something. Progressive cranks out ammo fast but it isn't as 'pleasing' an experience from the standpoint of feeling like you 'built' the ammo IMHO.

 

[Stryker1025]

I was where you are now about a year ago trying to decide what should be my first press- progressive, Turret, or in my case a single stage. I decided on the Redding Big Boss II single stage and I use the Hornady Lock N Load bushings so I can change dies out quickly as I complete each stage; I'm reloading (45 ACP, 9mm, and soon 357, 380).


Before I bought anything I spent four months reading recommended manuals from this site and talking w Andrew at Profire. From this experience the counsel given was to learn how to reload properly first, build your skills/craft, knowledge, and then determine the quantity you need crank out and upgrade or just add another press to your bench later. I think this is time tested advice and appropriate for anyone getting into reloading for the pleasure or sport of shooting. I also see that there are advantages to keeping a single stage or turret press on the bench if you do go with a progressive.


What I believed at the time was "I only want to spend money once and get the most flexibility over a lifetime of reloading". This isn't realistice- as you get more involved in reloading you may notice the needs for more equipment, components, etc that grows as you do with reloading. (This may not be applicable to you, but I wanted to include it for consideration in terms of cost when making your choice). Looking on this site with other reloaders you'll consistently see multiple press being used depending on how far person engage in reloading.


That said, with the choice you presented the Turret press would be my choice. You will get the capacity to generate more rounds as you get comfortable with it and it also provides a reloading pace that will allow you to catch mistakes or troubleshoot without having to pull a whole lot of projectiles from the case once you discovered it (Yes this even happens on a single stage, but it was hard to do). Outside of the choice you gave I would suggest a single stage for anyone still investing getting into reloading and how serious this passion for it will grow to. I will also say I've been reloading for a year now and I love my press, I will eventually get a Horndy LnL, and that the perspectives on the final choice press you go with should be in line with your skills, knowledge, and reloading proficiency before you allow the appeal of cranking out a lot of ammo at a time to factor into the decision process. IMHO this last part often adds confusion to what your trying to determine- which is learning to reload, produce quality reloads, and enjoy shooting them- then move toward shooting more of them.


I hope this helps