Lee Turret Press Tips and Tricks

[Holland]

I’m surprised this thread didn’t take off more than it did. Great advice regardless but surely there’s someone who figured something else by now! I’m glad I stumbled across this thread because I need to do some PM on my press and now I have an idea of things to pick up

[JBledsoe77]

I no longer use a lee turret but... when I did, order a few more nylon squares that slide on to the main turning shaft, they strip/break easily..

I've loaded thousands of rounds on mine and I'm still on the original part. Mine came with an extra one but I haven't needed it yet. Lucky I guess. Probably is a good idea to get extras. they stopped supporting the turret model I have. I've loaded 45 colt, 45 ACP, 9mm, 38, .223, 300 blackout, and .308 on mine. It was my first press. Clean and lube the ram, lube the inside of the turret ring/outside of turret head. If it doesn't rotate freely don't force it. I always took the rotation bar out for loading rifle and used it as a single stage. Since then I have a LM dedicated to 9mm, Pro1000 for 45acp, single stage for decapping/bullet pulling and a Lyman 8 hole turret for .338LM, .308 and blackout. I still use the lee turret for the other calibers. It has been a very reliable machine.

[ReneeMicelli]

I took the indexing rod out of my Lee turretpress. Nothing wrong with it other than I found that for me it is a little faster to manually index the turret. The only full stroke is the first one since I seat primers on the press. Other than that I only use enough downstroke to clear the case from the die before the next step.

[72Camaro]

I've loaded thousands of rounds with a Lee turret press and I eventually preprimed any brass I was going to load with a RCBS auto primer first, after sizing with a single stage and then doing all the brass prep first; sizing, flash hole work and uniforming the primer pocket.

Since I measure every load for my .223/5.56 loads for accuracy what I would do is have one for powder drop, next bullet set, another for powder drop and another for bullet set. I had two small funnels sitting in the powder drops. It took a little time to get each bullet set exactly the same but when done I would have something going on every pull and not have any empty stages since I do not crimp that round.

You can see it on the right side of the picture.

[Oddduck]

Used mine for the first time last night, punched out 20 rounds of 308, it's a little stiff but worked good

[rumaco]

Here is one upgrade i recommend. https://inlinefabrication.com/collec...verse-rotation

I agree 100%.

[Oddduck]

The case kicker from inline, anybody have any issues with it?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-T337A using Tapatalk

[MCW Sky]

I would definitely recommend the UFO LED kit - I installed 2 which required a bit a adjustment and actually didn't add as much as I thought it might - one by itself it quite bright.

Getting the primer feed setup right was a bit tricky for me but I finally got it mounted correctly so that it aligns the way it is supposed to without getting in the way of the handle.

The little sleeve on the index rod does need to be replaced from time to time - whether from wear or from cracking right through. A bit of lube does help.

There is a small spring steel gizmo inside the primer feeder which can break after a time.

I am using the Auto Drum now almost exclusively. Started with the Auto Disk and tried various alternates with the micro charge bar etc - but find the Auto Drum to be easier - especially with a separate drum for each caliber - in fact, need to get a couple more.

I used the round die holder boxes to hold the turrets full of dies - they were designed for the 3 hole turrets but if you turn the base upside down they work fine for the 4 hole.

I added a different tube on the bottom for primer collection which goes into a large plastic bottle it takes thousands of spent primers before the bottle it full.

When I started I had it screwed to a section of 2x6 which I C-clamped to my desk. Upgraded to the metal mount with holes drilled through the desk and that is 1000x better. Thinking about gettin an In-Line Fab riser at some point.

I have a 3D printed stopped in place of the primer arm when I am using the Universal Deprime Die - so the spent primers don't come flying out the front and so the primer arm is not in place which saves wear on it and means even with the main ram all the way down I can still slide the case out since the primer arm is not pressing against the case head.

When priming it is best to hold the head of the unit against the die/ram and let go of the spring loaded part, then stop pushing the whole assembly forward, the primers tend to go flying less that way.

As an accessory I strongly recommend the Lyman Case Prep station - wish I had bought one years before I did.

If you need some replacement parts and go to Lee's website - you can add 1 each of most parts and when you go to checkout, the MSRP goes to $0 and all you pay is shipping, which starts around $5 or $6 and goes up depending on how much weight you end up with.

I use Hornady One Shot - and despite the horror stories out there the only 2 stuck cases I have had were when I grabbed a case from the unlubbed bin. In both cases I took the die apart and knocked the case out.

I definitely recommend a Universal Decapping Die and at least one replacement pin. Though I have straightened and polished a pin and kept using it until a replacement arrived. I might try the Mighty Decapping Die when next I need to fix - but I was given a second complete Universal Decapping Die - so that could be a long time.

Someday I might upgrade the handle to something other than the ball - might add an automatic counter - and might add a torque device (for more consistent crimping).

Despite having the 4 hole - I often run Universal Deprime on everything - time in wet pins - then Resize and Prime in one session - then charge/seat/crimp in a separate session. I find I have a more consistent rhythm that way and also means I can break things up so that I have fewer distractions when I have powder on the bench.

Can't think of anything else at them moment but likely have left something out.