stimpy - fixing the turret in place

[corbanzo]

Hey stimpy, I remember you said you had fixed the turret on your lee classic in place, how exactly did you do it?  I have been thinking of fixing mine down to help get my seating and cripming a little more exact. 

[Savage]

I remember Stimpy writing about drilling and pinning/bolting the turret on his press to remove the slack in the turret. I'm sure it works well for him, but why not keep the turret functional for slightly higher volume round production, and invest $60-$80 in the Lee Classic Cast Iron single stage. If you don't already have a good single stage press it's time to get one! Regardless of what ever else you have on your bench, a good solid "O" frame single stage is a MUST!
Savage

[LaOtto222]

Stimpy is unavailable for a few more days yet. When he gets back, he is going to be posting quit a bit about his PD trip

[corbanzo]

Yeah, I was looking at the lee classic today on Cabelas... might end up going in that direction, but still interested in the turret set up he has. 

The way my loading process goes, I guess having the turret isn't extremely helpful...  but on those handgun rounds, it sure does help. 

And thousands of rounds say I don't need the O-frame, but I get what you are saying anyways.   

[Glanceblamm]

I think that the theory with the turrent's is that a little bit of play can be good as it will let the componets line up a little better in the die. This theory can be thrown out the window of course as excellent ammo can be produced on a decent single stage press.
I cut the difference (or slop) in half on my Lyman T mag by placing a piece of shim stock on the back lip of the Tmag then bending the edges down and securing it in place with a small beam clamp. This seems to work out a little better because you cant really set the belling or the seating die to cam-over like what is suggested for the resizing die.

[PaulS]

I fixed my brother's Lee turret press by mounting a beam over the front and using a set screw and locknut to set the clearance. Ended up having to do the sam at the rear of the press because it would flex enough to cause runout at the neck on the down stroke. It wasn't pretty but it did work. Looking back on it a guy might be able to do the same ting all at the back of the press by using a rectangle that clears the turret and mounting screws above and below the turret. The rectangle would still have to be solidly mounted to the base but it could be done.

[stimpylu32]

Corbonzo

Here you go , I took and drilled & tapped the sides of the turret head for 1/4-20 bolts , once that was done , I took and ran a 223 into the sizer die to align the shellholder and die . Then shuged down the bolts , that keeps the head from moving but still lets me back them off if I want to use it in the turret mode .







stimpy

[lakota]

Nice patina on that turret press! It looks like mine-old and worn looking, but still turning out great ammo!

[corbanzo]

Pretty simple, looks good, thanks.

[stimpylu32]

The mods work well , I may change the bolts to allan head set screws just to clean up the look but the bolts were all I had at the time that were long enough to reach through the head . The turret may or not be at a slight angle depending on what it takes to align the ram / die .

It did help with consistency in bullet seating and neck sizing quite a bit by taking the slop from the turret .

stimpy