Anyone using a turret press for brass prep and loading?

steve8140

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I’m looking for something to use for some brass prep as well loading some precision loads and am leaning towards finding a used turret press so I can keep my Dillon 650 for 9mm and 223.
A single stage would also work but I’d rather not have to keep swapping and adjusting dies every time.

It will be used for everyone’s favorite round, 6.5 manbun and eventually a few other low volume rounds.

Anyone have one they like or one they hate and wouldn’t recommend?
 
I think it will all come down to your definition of precision. At least that is what my experience was. I have a RCBS Turret press & Single Stage. I started on the single stage and like you wanted to see if I could get away from swapping everything out. However, at least on my Turret press there is a bit of extra play in the turret press on the power stroke. So for example, I would get variation in COAL when seating the bullet. Not great if you are really going for precision. I use my turret press for exactly as you describe, but when I don't want great precision. For more precision I use the single stage and did convert my press and dies to Hornady lock and load. Of course then you find yourself upgrading and upgrading... now I seat with Lee Wilson. In my opinion it is all going to come down to what you find within reason. My 2 cents... I would have trouble recommending turret press within a precision conversation but your experience or expectations may be different.
 
I think I'm in the same boat as you. I will most likely find another 650, that way I always have "spares" ready to go if something breaks on one press.
 
Man that is hardcore. Most peeps keep spare ammo, maybe projectiles but spare press? What are you running a 24x7 operation there
 
Was gifted a Zero turret press that I use for all precision loads. Easily as good/precise as my older RCBS single stage. No variation in CBTO measurements, and no play in ram/arm. Sizing, mandrel expanding, seating just as precise as I got with Wilson dies and an arbor press. CRAZY expensive, but since I didn't pay for it I love it even more (grin).
 
I have a Lee turret for my pistol plinking loads & a single stage setup right next to it for rifle. Not that I'm a big precision shooter. Neither are particularly great or fast. When I started i was definitely on a budget. Time has gone by & my budget has changed, buy I haven't upgraded my equipment.

There's a turret in the add section for sale with a bunch of extra heads and powder drops. Nicer than what I currently run.

 
Get a Lee Turret 4 hole. The turret rings are quick detached with a twist so you can also setup turrets for other calibers and in 5 seconds be processing different stuff.

@67ray I have way more presses than I should. Lol. Sadly not a stack of progressives. Most of them are single stage but I do have the Lee Turret and a Dillon SDB
 
Get a Lee Turret 4 hole. The turret rings are quick detached with a twist so you can also setup turrets for other calibers and in 5 seconds be processing different stuff.

@67ray I have way more presses than I should. Lol. Sadly not a stack of progressives. Most of them are single stage but I do have the Lee Turret and a Dillon SDB

That's what I use for rifle brass prep and loading. I don't load for crazy precision so it works fine for me.
 

 
I too have a Lee 4 hole turret to supplement my Dillon 750. I use the Lee for smaller volume stuff, from 38 to 308. It makes ammo capable of same hole groups
 
a new spare tool head for xl750 costs just $31 from etsy. a whole single stage press is way more than that. so far for me there is 0 reason to bother.
 
I think it will all come down to your definition of precision. At least that is what my experience was. I have a RCBS Turret press & Single Stage. I started on the single stage and like you wanted to see if I could get away from swapping everything out. However, at least on my Turret press there is a bit of extra play in the turret press on the power stroke. So for example, I would get variation in COAL when seating the bullet. Not great if you are really going for precision. I use my turret press for exactly as you describe, but when I don't want great precision. For more precision I use the single stage and did convert my press and dies to Hornady lock and load. Of course then you find yourself upgrading and upgrading... now I seat with Lee Wilson. In my opinion it is all going to come down to what you find within reason. My 2 cents... I would have trouble recommending turret press within a precision conversation but your experience or expectations may be different.

Seating a bullet should not generate enough force where play in a 5-10# turret loaded with dies would become a factor.

If you're seeing inconsistent seating results then its more likely an issue with your seating die and where it contacts the ogive OR inconsistency in the ogive of the projectile from piece to piece

Folks have to remember that you're COAL is only meaningful in so much as the overall length is within spec, the round fits in magazines/etc......the meaningful dimension is the measurement from base of case to the point on the ogive that your seating die is making contact.......this is what determines how far off the lands of the barrel the projectile is when chambered.

You would need a concentricity tester/device to validate variation in projectiles
 
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I’m looking for something to use for some brass prep as well loading some precision loads and am leaning towards finding a used turret press so I can keep my Dillon 650 for 9mm and 223.
A single stage would also work but I’d rather not have to keep swapping and adjusting dies every time.

It will be used for everyone’s favorite round, 6.5 manbun and eventually a few other low volume rounds.

Anyone have one they like or one they hate and wouldn’t recommend?
I have and like the Forster Co-ax. Not a turret, but nice to be able to keep dies adjusted and it only takes an instant to swap them. I use for small batches and also use it to decap everything rifle that I reload for. Pistol stuff I do on the 650.
 
I use a lee turret but I use it in single mode (lift out the center rod and turn to the next die by hand) for pistol rounds. I do have all the automatic features but I don't bother. I use single mode as I like to do things in batches then move on to the next step. As was mentioned, the turrets do lift a bit (about 1/16th) when pressure is applied as sometimes when your resizing. When I first set my, at this point new, dies into a turret, I drop the lever all the way down first before finalizing the die depth. I keep it down and screw the die in all the way per instructions. It'll remove the lift space if you do it this way.

I don't use it for de-capping or for large rifles. I keep a universal de-capping die on my Lee classic single stage and use the single for my larger rifle calibers.

As a side note, regarding shouldered rounds, there is a little wiggle room between the interior base of the floor plate and the cartridge base on Lees shell holders. Depending on how tight my chamber is, I may fake a cam-over using lee products by slipping a mechanics feely gauge between the shell holder and cartridge base. I need to when I full resize rounds fired in my BAR-10, 7.62/.308 to be used in a Remington .308 673.
 
leaning towards finding a used turret press so I can keep my Dillon 650 for 9mm and 223
i probably going to deviate from what rest of people said above - but i see absolutely 0 reason to multiple presses, even for a precision loading.
what i do with xl750 - the press itself if perfect, it is very precise in its movements and is as solid as a rock.
you just use multiple toolheads to separate processes - de-capping - full size S type die - priming is the one process.
the other tool head is setup with a powder measure assembly and bullet seating die.

it works just fine.

for a fresh brass priming step is skipped - only sizing die step happens, then the brass gets out to be trimmed, primer pockets cleaned and uniformed - then that brass rotates through shooting cycles with no changes - after 5 cycles i check it again and run through the trimming and pocket cleaning. so far i had only one batch of 100 i had to trim twice and only handful of shells were actually trimmed, absolute majority kept original sizing with no stretching.

powder drop step of course is the issue with anything that sits on the dillon, but as of right now the .223 measures with 0.2gr accuracy and the R16 drop i also got to an acceptable accuracy with the hornady unit. plus, of course, when you have a 41.8gr powder target the 0.2gr drop deviation matters way less than with a 25gr drop target.

but i see 0 reasons to replace/augment an actual xl750 press itself with anything else for a specific step in the other calibers - because of the quality/movements of the press itself.
 
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I’m looking for something to use for some brass prep as well loading some precision loads and am leaning towards finding a used turret press so I can keep my Dillon 650 for 9mm and 223.
A single stage would also work but I’d rather not have to keep swapping and adjusting dies every time.

It will be used for everyone’s favorite round, 6.5 manbun and eventually a few other low volume rounds.

Anyone have one they like or one they hate and wouldn’t recommend?
T7 does it all
 
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