Turret press question

[Abacist]

I am getting back into reloading and would like to update my single-stage press setup. I am considering turret presses as an option because of the ability to avoid having to readjust dies every time I use them, and an increase in speed of production.

The two presses I am looking at are the Redding T7 and the Lyman AA8 (while I would love to have a ZERO press, these are more in my price range!). I am interested in any experiences you have had with these presses, positive or negative. Thanks!

 

[Jack's Dad]

I've been loading exclusively on a 1950s era Herters single stage until recently. I was able to make fantastic ammo and enjoyed the slow process of things. A buddy of mine bought me a Redding T7 recently and I can't believe what I was missing out on for the past 15 years. It's an amazing press and saves so much time. My set up is a lee decapping die, bushing sizer, then final pass through with a mandrel. If you are even considering it buy one!

 

[Castle Rock]

The precision of the Redding is spectacular

 

[JF_Idaho]

I have been using the lyman for the last couple years. I use it like a single stage with multiple dies setup. Using it as a "turret" (i.e. sizing, charging, seating, etc) 1 round at a time would be miserable.

I load consistent ammo on there and have checked with a concentricity gauge to have low runout. I float everything. Run an o ring below every die and let the shell plate float in the ram by taking out the c clip. Before floating everything I was getting .003 to the occasional .007 of runout. With everything floated as above I get .0005 to occasional .004 and probably an average of .002. I don't really check anymore after getting it set up.

 

[alexnelon]

Using it as a "turret" (i.e. sizing, charging, seating, etc) 1 round at a time would be miserable.

It's actually more efficient, safer, and faster to do it that way though. Even with multiple powder scales, if you're using auto-tricklers you lose tons of productivity waiting for powder to drop. A lot of the top PRS shooters (Francis Colon is one) load hundreds of rounds 1 by 1.

 

[wind gypsy]

It's actually more efficient, safer, and faster to do it that way though. Even with multiple powder scales, if you're using auto-tricklers you lose tons of productivity waiting for powder to drop. A lot of the top PRS shooters (Francis Colon is one) load hundreds of rounds 1 by 1.

If you size, charge, seat 1 round at a time, do you wipe lube off all manually?

I can understand priming, charging, and seating while waiting for the next trickled charge but I'm skeptical of sizing being in that rotation, at least with an autotrickler. Chargemaster might be slow enough to make it worth the while?

 

[JF_Idaho]

It's actually more efficient, safer, and faster to do it that way though. Even with multiple powder scales, if you're using auto-tricklers you lose tons of productivity waiting for powder to drop. A lot of the top PRS shooters (Francis Colon is one) load hundreds of rounds 1 by 1.

I'm sure an argument can be made. My AT is setup probably 18 inches from my press on the same table. Too much disruption on the scale to actively run the press while charges are being weighed.

You'll have to school me on how it's "safer".

I prime off the press so by the time I'm dropping powder I only need to seat bullets anyways. So it's still essentially still running in single stage mode if I could seat while dropping powder.

 

[eod.tek]

I have a T7 that I upgraded to from a rockchucker. Overall, it's a great press. I've been having some variance in sizing, but haven't nailed down if it's in the press, process, or lube yet. I sized 100 pieces of brass Saturday and 75 of them were the same size, but the remaining 25 were +/- 3 thousandths, which seems like a lot to me.

For simplicity of the process though, it's unmatched. I decap and size, then rotate the turret and mandrel the neck for my sizing process. After trimming and getting lube off, I prime on my bench primer, charge the case, run the mandrel once more, flip the turret to the seating die and seat the bullet. That kind of workflow just can't happen on a single stage.

 

[alexnelon]

If you size, charge, seat 1 round at a time, do you wipe lube off all manually?

I can understand priming, charging, and seating while waiting for the next trickled charge but I'm skeptical of sizing being in that rotation, at least with an autotrickler. Chargemaster might be slow enough to make it worth the while?

I think they mostly tumble again to clean lube off. So you can deprime, tumble, anneal, lube and size, trim, tumble again in batches whenever is convenient

Then prime, charge, seat 1 by 1.

But I know at least a couple of guys who just hose down the brass with oneshot after tumbling and then size, prime, charge, and seat and then tumble the loaded ammo for 10 minutes to get the lube off the necks. Contrary to some claims, vibrating loaded rounds does not, in fact, turn rifle powder into pistol powder. lol