Paging Lee Press Owners, Question on Alignment

[fnbrowning]

I would like to know if this apparent misalignment I’m observing with my Lee Turret Press is a characteristic of this make of reloading press, or if it is a defect.
Please look at this first image.



As you can see, this appears to be a pronounced misalignment between the centerline of the cartridge as it nears the sizing die. This is in the fore-to-aft and not side-to-side.

Now look at the second image.


As the cartridge has entered the die, the shoulder bumps against the die at the point of the yellow arrow. The brass rides the die as it moves up, and as the cartridge reaches full insertion in the die, it appears to have straightened out.

But I can’t help but wonder if the initial apparent misalignment, coupled with the fact that the cartridge seems to ride the front of the die,  would lead to some small but detrimental reforming during the resizing of the case.

I have tried to realign the ram as per Lee directions. Lee instructions state “to perfectly align the turret, remove the toggle pin and permit the ram to extend into a turret hole. Then tighten the 3 turret bolts.” Well reloaders, that ain’t happenin’ My ram will not extend into a turret hole without the pin. It’s just not long enough, as the toggle slams into the bottom of the press before the ram could “extend into a turret hole.” I have loosened the bolts nonetheless and pulled on the turret, pushing forward and retightened the bolts, to no effect.

I’d like your opinion. Is this misalignment a cause for concern, or is this just a phenomenon due to the various tolerances with the entire press? I.E. Shell holder wiggle + bolt hole tolerance + brass + whatever else.

To this date, no cartridge from this press has ever failed to chamber & fire. But will accuracy be effected?

[KN]

I don't really know much about your particular press but I can say" IT AINT RIGHT"! I would contact lee and see what they say about it. Personally I would get a different press. There are alot if presses out there that are not too expensive that are alot better than the Lee stuff. Just my $.02  KN

[Possum]

I'll check mine tomorrow and post what I find.

[securitysix]

Only time I've ever noticed something like that is when I don't push the case all the way into the shell holder.  I'd definitely say that it ain't right if you've got the case all the way at the back of the shellholder, though.  My Lee Challenger doesn't even do that (I know, they're cheap, crap, pot-metal, I use one anyway).

[stv]

Any press that you use will have some freeplay to allow alignment while beginning the stroke.  Don't worry about it.  I have 3 single stage presses in the garage and they all do it to a certain extent.   Once the brass enters the die itself it is forced into alignment with the die.  No big deal - the worst thing that happens is that some times the lip of the case while strike the expander button and ding the case.   Guide the case over the depapping pin then go for it.

[KN]

No offense to stv, and I agree that there are going to be some degree of miss alignments in presses but from the looks of those pictures that is excessive. By the time you get to the top of that stroke you are going to have a considerable amount of side force on the case and die. If it were the opposite direction I might say it would be alright and that the case will shift back in the shell holder. But without turning the shell holder around I don't see that happening. Just my $.02   KN

[John Traveler]

Normally, I would fully agree with STV, that some amount of misalignment is quite normal and not to worry about.

However, on that Lee press, the upper and lower plates are die castings and they take lots of stress for full-length resizing rifle cases.  It's probably quite easy to distort them without even knowing it.

The usual reasons for press ram/die/shellholder misalignment is foreign material in the shellholder seating groove.  check that too.

[PaulS]

fnbrowning,
My brother had a turret press from Lee that he used for a couple of years with straight wall pistol brass without a problem but when he started loading 6mmTCU it was bending the brass at the neck - his press was doing just what yours is. He still uses the turret press for pistol but for his bottle-neck cases he got a Rockchucker from RCBS. He hasn't had a single problem with the RCBS press. Lee is inexpensive and worth every penny, RCBS and the other "upper end" presses are more expensive and worth every penny - for a lot longer!

PaulS

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

I have the same press, same problem.

You aren't doing the alignment thing right.

It's not as simple as "remove the toggle bolt."  Lee's instructions fail there.

You have to go a step further.  Remove the toggle bolt (by taking off the "E" clip).  THEN remove the entire handle assembly by loosening the handle.  This will expose another cross-bolt.  Remove that bolt too.

Now you can push the entire ram up into the hole.  It will work even better if you remove that wire thing at the top of the ram too.

I suspect you could even loosen the posts that hold the dieplate assembly up.  Then retighten them when the ram is in the die-hole.

[Balto]

Check your shell holder for grains of powder or other debris.  Sometimes this will cause the misalignment.    I will clean it out with a paper clip and a cotton swap to wipe away any grease that sticks.  I have this problem quite often and this usually fixes it (at least in my case).  My press is lyman Turret press.  Hope this helps........Balto.

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

Back again.  I looked over my press last night.

Does this problem only occure with that one die?  That one die-plate?

I looked into this problem and I think the die-plate hole is threaded poorly.   Take the plate out of the press.  Turn it upside down and look at the die in the hole.

Does the die look off-center in relation to the hole?  Mine is obvious.  The other dies look fine - and consequently I don't have difficulties with the other die stations.  I screwed the sizing die into a different die plate and it is visibly more concentric.

I am emailing Lee regarding this.

Please take a look at your die plate.  If you have the same problem as mine, would you mine posting a photo showing the eccentric die and hole?