Lee classic turret press worth owning?

[Syoungs]

Hi all.
I'm considering getting a lee classic 4 hole turret press to add to what I have already. Right now I'm running a pacific tool and gauge single stage for rifle loads, and a dilion square deal b for 9mm.

I'd like to get the turret for my low volume pistol loads, in 10mm and 44mag, as well as to do 223 plinking ammo.
Figure it would be handy to use as a tool holder in a single stage mode for some of the rifle calibers I dont meed uber precision on. (45-70 and 243 varmint loads mostly).

I can't see myself upgrading to a more expensive turret for this work. I also have available a dillion 450, 550 and 650. Those are at my dads place though, and I want to be able to load at home instead of packing stuff over there to do my lower volume stuff.

So, worth the 125-130$ for the classic turret, or maybe get an auto powder dispenser and keep it all on the ss press?!

[charlie b]

I had a Lee turret press for almost 20 years. It did well for me loading a wide variety of cartridges. And they are stout presses. They are not for benchrest type precision as the turret does have a slight amount of 'slop' in it due to how it rotates, but, for 'normal' shooting, especially pistol, it does well. I have had my Loadmaster for about 15 years now and it does almost all of my loading.

I also had a Breechlock Pro for a while. It was far better than the turret press for everything up to .223 and not that much extra cost. If I had extra space I'd still have it as it.

[J.Baker]

Great press - I've been using mine for 8-10 years now and know of at least 1/2 dozen guys in my local area using them as well. Out of the box though they need a little fixing as they ram stops don't allow the press to cam over. This fix just requires filing on the stop blocks on the linkage arms a bit to allow it go a little past top dead center (to put it into automotive terms).

I don't notice a discernible difference in bullet runout off this press than I do my single-stage press with the same dies, so don't let the little bit of play in the turret head dissuade you.

I've never run mine in a progressive setup. In fact, I lost the parts to do so several years ago. I just use mine like a single stage and leave my dies setup in the turret heads so they're always ready to go and I don't have to mess with setting them up each time I want to load some ammo up.

[6mmBR_Shooter]

I've had mine for about 12 years now and never used the auto-index. I advance everything by hand. It's great for pistol ammo and 223 plinking. I don't trust powder measures for precision rifle loads, so I trickle everytihng for match ammo. For plinking though, you are all set.

[Syoungs]

Thanks for the help and advice everyone. Im gonna go ahead and get one ordered!

[LHitchcox]

I use one for most reloading. They are beastly stout and I love the easy to change turrets. I now have more money invested in extra turrets than I paid for the press. Two sets of rifle dies fit in a turret, so I just leave the dies in the turret correctly adjusted for that caliber. A simple twist will remove the turret and just drop another in. Some fear inaccurate ammo from a turret, but the Lee press loads ammo straight. Big thumbs up for this press.

[lonestardiver]

Never a bad idea to have a spare press you can deploy in short order as well as something that can be transported for bug-out purposes.

[Bill2905]

My Lee Turret Press is around 25 years old and still going strong. I finally upgraded it to the four-hole turret about five years ago. I use it with the auto index and Auto Disk powder measure for pistol cartridges and like a single stage for rifle cartridges. Good decision to get one for yourself.

[NDTOO]

I got the Lee classic four hole press about five years ago and load all my pistol ammo on it. I upgraded it with the Inline Fabrication reversing kit which is well worth the money. I’m not a super high volume pistol shooter and just couldn’t justify a Dillon or similar setup and the Lee has served me well.

[Txhillbilly]

I had a Lee turret press for almost 20 years. It did well for me loading a wide variety of cartridges. And they are stout presses. They are not for benchrest type precision as the turret does have a slight amount of 'slop' in it due to how it rotates, but, for 'normal' shooting, especially pistol, it does well.

All the Benchrest shooter's I know use an arbor press and Wilson style arbor press dies.

What you call slop is the built in engineering that allows the case to be centered in the dies when you raise the ram. The turret head does raise up when a cartridge is inserted,but the entire turret head raises,not just the side that the case is going into.
I've used two Lee turret presses for 30+ years,and have a safe full of precision long range rifles that will shoot groups in the .1" - .3" range pretty often when the knucklehead pulling the trigger does his job.
Here's a sample of what a Lee press can do - 5 shots at 100 yards,22 Creedmoor-
https://i.imgur.com/r4uuvKJ.jpg

[Jcalloway]

Bought mine when I first got into reloading and I still use it. I also only index by hand.

[wyosam]

I use the LCT for 223 (bolt gun) and 6.5cm. I auto index for both. I use the auto drum powder drop for some 223 loads (big wide node for 53gr Vmax), weigh each one for the 6.5 and 223 heavies. Works great. I prefer taking one case from start to finish instead of working in batch mode.


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[jballou]

I have a Classic with a bunch of 4 hole disks set up for 9mm, 40, 45, and 5.56. I'll be getting the dies and accessories to do 6.5 this year.

It's great for what I do, I load a lot of plinking ammo, and even a good amount of 77gr Sierra SMK in a MK262 style loading and it's good for 5 shot touching groups at 100 meters with my 18" AR.

I used to shoot distance with people way better than me, and all of them used a single-stage arbor press, so I'd assume that's probably better for real match grade loading.

But when it's time for me to load up a couple hundred rounds of 62gr SS109 to go do some steel shooting, the Lee turret press works great for me.

[Three44s]

The Lee Classic Turret is a dandy!

Three44s

[djzero]

It's my first press but it's been great for me so far. I generally resize in batches, prep the brass as necessary and then auto-index to load.
Ram up: primer in cup
Ram down: seat primer/index
Ram up: dispense powder
Ram down: index
Ram up: seat bullet

[rerun5]

I have been using a Lee Challenger single stage press for years. I never thought too much about a turret press cause I don't shoot/reload a lot of ammo. About the same time as you I started looking at getting a Lee Classic Cast turret press. With the run on reloading equipment I had to buy it piece meal from three different sites but I got it all, with enough turrets for all of my calibers and I love it. I use the auto index and powder measure features for almost everything with no problems. I do index by hand with my 30-06 cartridges. Everything else auto indexes fine.
I use a universal depriming die with all of my calibers, then the pistol cases are sized on the turret press. But the rifle cases, all bottleneck, are sized with the auto index disabled. I had a bit of a lewarning curve with the safety prime system but it's not hard to learn.

[neilis]

Just for me, I prefer loading rifle on a single stage. I use a progress for pistol ammo and if I shot a large volume of rifle I'd probably use it for that too, but for rifle I'm using loading like 15-20 rounds at a time. For that a single stage just works well. I'm personally using an RCBS Rockchucker but a Lee Classic Cast would work just as well.

[KMW1954]

In my view the Lee Turret press is a great solution for handgun and small case rifle. I'm cheap and the Lee small presses are inexpensive and will more than suffice for what they are designed for. I just started back reloading for pistols just a few years ago and from previous experience I knew I didn't want to do it on a straight single stage press. Didn't want to be moving cases in and out of the press after each operation. So with the turret and an Auto measure I reduced time and movements.

So I started back with a Pro1000 and I love it, only it becomes a pain when trying to work up loads. So I picked up a NOS Lee 3 hole turret press so I could just swap the turrets between the turret press and the progressive press. Everything works wonderfully together and will produce everything I will ever need. With this equipment I can easily load up a couple of months worth of ammunition in just a few hours work.

Also now that I have this Axis 223 rifle I will be loading that on this as well.

Now in all honesty if I were shooting 2k-3k each month I would want a more substantial press. As it is I only load 2k-3k every few months.

[ratamahatta]

Anybody know of anywhere that has one in stock at the moment?

[KMW1954]

Anybody know of anywhere that has one in stock at the moment?

https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-precision-reloading-equipment/lee-presses/lee-turret-press, they have both the Classic Turret press and the Updated Value Turret press in stock right now.

I argued with myself for over a month trying to decide if I should buy the new Value turret press or the new Pro4000 ABLP press as I needed a press with 4 stations, I went with the Pro4000 and I'll keep it.