# Turret Press



## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

Considering a turret press. Any negatives to one of these? I think I'd thoroughly enjoy the convenience of them. Looking at the Redding T7 for a true turret, but am also considering the Forster Co-Ax. Your thoughts?

Thanks.


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## Savage260 (Oct 21, 2007)

Adam, I can't give any info from experience, but when I was doing the research I pretty much found that they are not for "precision" work, and really only good for loading a TON of plinking pistol ammo. Most folks I talked to said they were only good if you needed to load in bulk and if it didn't matter if you were exact on your powder measures. I always weigh my rifle powder charges twice, so it would have been worthless for me to get a turret. I am glad I did the research before I made my decision. Would be nice for my .44 mag though!


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

Hey Savage, curious to hear more on why it's not for precision loading? I haven't done any research on these yet.

My understanding is a turret press is still a single stage press correct? You just have x number of dies set up on the turret and move them around as needed. I'd still charge the same way I did before, out of the Uniflow.

What am I missing here? Or are you thinking of progressive presses instead of turret????

Here's a link to the Redding T7.
http://www.redding-reloading.com/online ... ding-press

Forster Co-Ax.....This press, instead of having a turret, is set up so you can just "snap" dies in, but they are already set up to previous measurements. Not exactly sure how all that works either yet.
http://www.forsterproducts.com/store.asp?pid=24822

Thanks


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## Savage260 (Oct 21, 2007)

Yup, I was TWHUA on that one. Was thinking about progressives. Sorry!


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

I have one similar to this: http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/pres ... K_Tmag.php

it's the earlier version called the T-mag instead of T-mag II. Works OK, I get good results from mine.

huntin1


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

I do not know if Lyman has changed the design of their turret press. I used to have one and I had many problems with the center bolts breaking. At least on the one I had there was a lot of flex in the tool head. That caused a lot of those center bolts to break right at the junction of the threads and much thicker locater part of the bolt.

There is nothing like going to a progressive press for turning out lots of ammo.


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## huntin1 (Nov 14, 2003)

People said:


> I do not know if Lyman has changed the design of their turret press. I used to have one and I had many problems with the center bolts breaking. At least on the one I had there was a lot of flex in the tool head. That caused a lot of those center bolts to break right at the junction of the threads and much thicker locater part of the bolt.
> 
> There is nothing like going to a progressive press for turning out lots of ammo.


I've not had this problem with mine. Have never noticed the flex you mention and have not broken a bolt, even when full length resizing.

huntin1


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## People (Jan 17, 2005)

There is a stop that looks like it was to support the back side of the tool head. That was quite some distance from the tool head. I also shoot large ammounts of Gov oncer fired 7.62 brass. I had almost all of my problems sizing down 7.62 brass. One of my relitives also got the same press I had at the same time and he has no problem with his setup. Granted I would think I fire 200 to 300 rds for every one round he fires. It is probably closser to 500 rds. That would include his 22lr and exclude mine. He only shoots a few rds before and during hunting season. This year I know I shot more rounds during deer season than he shot all year.

The co-ax would be the option if you want to produce the highest quality ammo.


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## spitfire_er (Jan 23, 2010)

I have loaded quite a bit of ammo on a T7 and RCBS single Rockchucker press. They will both produce accurate ammo. I have also seen litterally one bullet width hole 5 shot groups loaded on the same press. Those were shot with an unrestricted Bench gun.

The ease of use of the T7 is great. set everything up for two or 3 different calibers, and you never have to touch them.


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## stress-relief (May 16, 2011)

I've got the RCBS turret press and I like it very much. It's as as precision as any other type of press. What I like about it is that the dies can remain on the press and if you have to go back because of a brass problem or an error on your part, the die is still on the press and adjusted. When doing load development I can work several calibers and then go back to the adjusted dies to resize and change powder loads. They are particularly usefull if you do a lot of load development work.


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## mnchopper (Nov 26, 2011)

I have a lyman turret press and a rcbs rock chucker. I use the rock chucker for my rifle loads for the accuracy the press sets the bullet depth which is important for accuracy when seating the bullet close to the lands of the rifling, The turret press works good for doing pistol ammo but not for rifle ammo because of the flex in the turret when seating the bullet its hard to get consistent oal when using a comparator to measure. I reload alot of 22-250 and set my bullet .015 off the lands which is where my rem 700 shoots its best 1/2" at 100yds.


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## Stella1 (Jun 20, 2011)

I use the T7 turret press myself as I like to control every aspect of the reloading steps. I use it to reload everything from 38S&W to 8mm Lebel. It's also nice to leave 7 dies set up for doing different reloads without having to change things like on a single hole press that I started out on.


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## specialpatrolgroup (Jan 16, 2009)

AdamFisk said:


> Hey Savage, curious to hear more on why it's not for precision loading?s


Depends how precise you need to be, a turret or a progressive both have moving parts either the tool head or the shell plate, anytime you have something that moves, you must have some tollerances built in, otherwise it would be a PITA to have to recalobrate the press. If you are a bench rest shooter who requires .25 MOA or less that may be a problem, but for most people I think a turret will be just as accurate as a single stage.


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## spitfire_er (Jan 23, 2010)

Since my last post I picked up an old Redding turret press with 6 holes. I cleaned it up, replaced a few minor parts that were missing and it is now my primary press for rifle loading. All my rifles shoot 1/2 MOA and are all loaded with the Redding turret press. My Rock chucker is just collecting dust now.

I always individually weight powder charges and check seating depth with comparators. Both the Redding and the RCBS will seat my bullets within 0.003" of each other. Usually 75% of them being the same and the rest going +- 0.001" from the others.

Based on that, I would be hard pressed to get more accuracy out of my single stage press.

I also shoot with a few guys that don't shoot benchrest, but have BR accurate rifles that shoot in the 1's and they also use turret presses.


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## djkost (Mar 20, 2010)

Check out the Dillon line. This turns out very good ammo and when I check the powder in the cases on my beam scale, its right on.


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