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Posted: 1/29/2011 12:31:57 PM EDT
That's 2 'd's for a double dose of reloading!
I had no idea how much faster an auto indexing turret press is vs a single stage until I watched a couple of Youtube videos. After seeing what I was missing, I decided it was time to upgrade from my old single stage press and ordered a Lee Classic 4 hole turret press. Being a cheap bastard, I shopped around.....best prices I found was Natches Shooters Supply $87––$10 cheaper than Midway and $50 cheaper than factory direct. While I was spending money, I picked up 3 spare turret heads (1 comes with the press and a turret head for each caliber I reload), a couple of flow thru rifle dies, a primer feeder and an Auto Disk powder dispenser. I know that Lee isn't considered 'The Best', but the price was right, and so far, I have zero complaints. The Auto Disk powder dispenser is stupid simple and the .57 disk threw 8.4 grains of AA #5 fairly consistently. (within +/- .2 grains––-fine for my plinking loads, but I'll continue individually weighing and trickling up my precision loads). *I ordered the wrong primer feeder, so I did that by hand––the press comes with a nifty little doohickey that seats the primer on the up stroke, and it's almost too easy. The BBT dropped everything off on Thursday and I got it all mounted and set up last night. This morning, I loaded up 994 230 gr ball .45 ACP––-would have been an even 1000, but I dropped a tray of primers and didn't feel like crawling under my work bench to find the last few......there was also one squished case when it didn't line up exactly right. $28 for 1000 Winchester Large Pistol primers $18 for one pound of AA #5––-I still have enough left to load a few hundred more in this bottle. $60 for 1000 Zero 230 gr jacketed ball bullets. Free brass (range pickup) and a few hours of my time.... We're talking about less than 11 cents/round. Casting my own bullets and buying powder/primers in bulk would cut the cost down even more. 
Today was about bulk....tomorrow, I'll be loading smaller batches of 10mm, .223 and 6.8. (I'm gonna go broke saving money!) |
| I have the same press and love it. It fits my shooting needs perfectly. A progressive would be nice but so far I don't shoot enough to justify the cost and increase in output that a progressive brings. Besides, it gives me something to do so I don't mind the pace of the turret press. 150 rounds an hour is good for me. |
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Quoted:
"I'm gonna go broke saving money" That is exactly what happens with reloading  Ain't that the truth!! ..and when your reloading on a full progressive press like the Dillon XL650 (Like I am), you start zipping threw components and before you know it you have 5k-10k rounds of each caliber sitting around. But your not worried about how much ammo you got, just that your out of components and need to get some more!!! LOL The Lee Classic Turret press is an awesome press for the $$.. It sure beats the hell out of a single stage press!! -Masta |
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I've been using Lee reloading gear for more years than I care to remember and I've found little fault with it. I've got a Loadmaster that just cranks out the ammo, I finished a run of 3k 9mm the other evening. Keep it lubed and in adjustment, watch a couple of critical points, make full press strokes and keep the feeders filled and it just keeps spitting out quality ammo. I also own a fair amount of Dillon gear, a 550b and several tool heads complete with dies and powder measures, tumbler, case separator, etc, etc. So I know the difference between Lee and Dillon, but I still prefer the Loadmaster for all my handgun loads.
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Where'd you get zero bullets for $60 per K? They're listed as out of stock @ $117 per K on their site. You guys keep posting pics of what progressive machines can do, and you'll get me in a lot of trouble with the wife  Quoted:
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Where'd you get zero bullets for $60 per K? Yeah, let us in on the secret... Sorry guys.....didn't mean to get y'all excited. I bought 10 boxes of these boolits at a gun show 4 or 5 years ago. I had no idea the prices had gone up so much  I came up with the numbers based on the price tags on the boxes or bottles that everything came in.
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Quoted:
Sorry guys.....didn't mean to get y'all excited. I bought 10 boxes of these boolits at a gun show 4 or 5 years ago. I had no idea the prices had gone up so much I came up with the numbers based on the price tags on the boxes or bottles that everything came in.Dammit, I swear that's the worst tease I've had in months 
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Quoted: Quoted: Where'd you get zero bullets for $60 per K? They're listed as out of stock @ $117 per K on their site. You guys keep posting pics of what progressive machines can do, and you'll get me in a lot of trouble with the wife Quoted: Quoted: Where'd you get zero bullets for $60 per K? Yeah, let us in on the secret... Sorry guys.....didn't mean to get y'all excited. I bought 10 boxes of these boolits at a gun show 4 or 5 years ago. I had no idea the prices had gone up so much I came up with the numbers based on the price tags on the boxes or bottles that everything came in.Dang!
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Quoted: Quoted: "I'm gonna go broke saving money" That is exactly what happens with reloading Ain't that the truth!! ..and when your reloading on a full progressive press like the Dillon XL650 (Like I am), you start zipping threw components and before you know it you have 5k-10k rounds of each caliber sitting around. But your not worried about how much ammo you got, just that your out of components and need to get some more!!! LOL The Lee Classic Turret press is an awesome press for the $$.. It sure beats the hell out of a single stage press!! -Masta I'm the same way...I can load way more than I shoot, and thats with a RL550. I can't imagine what i would do with a XL650. |
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