gmg Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Hello: I have looking into purchasing a turret style press and it looks like it comes down to either the Lyman Tmag and the Redding T-7. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with either of these and could tell the the pros and cons, likes and dislikes of each. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken_Bird Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Hello, thanks for your question. Personally I have never used any of the machines on your short list. So, with that said they may be good or not so much. I use Dillon Blue Loader, mine is a 1050 but they also make an 650, and 550 all are turret style presses. I would bet you find a bunch of shooters who will be more then happy to sing you the Dillon song. Me to. See what other replies you get. Check out Dillon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadowrider Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Redding T-7. Built like a tank and I'm pretty sure I could press ball joints on the thing. Also if you need them extra turrets are available and fairly reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmg Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 (edited) Hello, thanks for your question. Personally I have never used any of the machines on your short list. So, with that said they may be good or not so much. I use Dillon Blue Loader, mine is a 1050 but they also make an 650, and 550 all are turret style presses. I would bet you find a bunch of shooters who will be more then happy to sing you the Dillon song. Me to. See what other replies you get. Check out Dillon Edited June 30, 2014 by gmg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmg Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Thanks Ken but I have owned a Dillon 550 for about 5 years now. I use it for pistol and .223 stuff. This will be for reloading rifle ammo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slotbike Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 The Dillon presses, which I have three of (two 1050's and one 550) and progressive presses, not turret presses. As far as the OP's question.....without a doubt, the Redding T-7 turret is the best one out there. (I have one of them too) G Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mush from PA. Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Redding T-7 is a tank. Fit and finish is great. You will not be disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob DuBois Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Had a Lyman in the closet for almost 20 years. Look hard at a 550 best entry level loader out there you'll be glad yoy went that route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Donald Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Redding T-7 here. Had it 6 years, have one turret set up with different sizing dies, the other turret has crimp and seating dies. Take maybe a minute or two to change over different calibers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxshooter Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 I would buy the Redding based on the quality of their other products . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmg Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Thanks guys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tires2burn Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 I started out with a Lee Classic Turret Press and it worked great for me. I learned the basics at a reasonable cost to decide if I wanted to indulge in this hobby. When I felt comfortable with my final results and thousands of rounds I stepped up to a Dillon 550 and never looked back. The Lee has so much helpful info on the web you cant go wrong for a first machine, and it can produce one at a time or auto index for faster results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Ever thought of a Hornady Lock N Load press instead of a the turret? Still have the ease of changing dies and calibers but in a standard style press and less costly. http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Classic-Loader/ On sale at Midway now for $102.86 http://www.midwayusa.com/product/197894/hornady-lock-n-load-classic-single-stage-press?cm_vc=ProductFinding Get yourself 10 bushings and you are at around $144 for everything. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1165277407/hornady-lock-n-load-die-bushings?cm_vc=OBv11165277407 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Smith Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 (edited) You don't say what you are loading and that does make a difference. If you are reloading small quantities of precision rifle, then a turret press is a good choice. Otherwise it is going to become tiresome after a while. You could consider starting with a Lee Classic Turret. It does a good job on pistol calibers and is relatively inexpensive so when you outgrow it you won't feel so bad about relegating it to a spot in the corner where it will get rarely used. Edited July 5, 2014 by Graham Smith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reinz Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 (edited) There's some confusion here about Turret presses. And rightly so. Even in the name in one case. Let me explain. First off, Dillon presses are progressives, two types, manual (550), and self indexing, the rest. Lee Turret presses are really semi-progressive progressive presses,or a self indexing turret. Because they are self indexing. Now they can be be run one station at a time like a single stage if desired. When the OP gave examples of Turret presses, he was talking about Manual Turret presses. These presses are usually desired by precision rifleman as well as pistol loaders. While you can do batch loading as on a single stage press, these presses are not slow, nor are they just a convenient die storage system. To load, the casing stays put, and you manually rotate the dies to the shell casing. Priming can be done as well. Most precision guys elect to hand prime though. One can coast at 150 rounds per hour or crank it up to 250, for pistol that is. For precision rifle, whose counting, right? Soo.., when a reloader brings up the topic of a Redding T-7 , he has his choices narrowed down and knows his press classifications. You are sure to be spinning your wheels trying to convince him buy a different class. Hope this helps Edited July 12, 2014 by Reinz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wayne Posted July 14, 2014 Share Posted July 14, 2014 Heads up! Two brand new t-7s in Cast Boolits classifieds today. Seems like $240.00, $290 on Midway. I have owned the Lyman since 1983 or 84. Love it. All their products are great. I do own 5 Dillons also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted July 15, 2014 Share Posted July 15, 2014 The Redding is top shelf, the Lee turret is likely the best value in the reloading world. If you already have a 550, there is nothing wrong with loading precision rifle ammo on it. David Tubb uses one and has good results, he uses a promethious powder measure instead OD the Dillon measure though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerBaron Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 I would agree with that. the redding is the daddy of the consumer turret presses. the lee is the bargain/value option. the RCBS is not a bad second to the redding. if 6 dies is enough the RCBS may be better value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 (edited) I use Dillon Blue Loader, mine is a 1050 but they also make an 650, and 550 all are turret style presses.Turret is generally used to describe a press that has the dies setup in a radial pattern and they rotate around a central point, placing each die one by one over the same (single) shell holder.The presses you mention have the dies arranged similar but have shell plates that rotate cases (4-8) under every die at the same time, they are called "progressive" machines. Edited July 25, 2014 by jmorris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob01 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 Ever thought of a Hornady Lock N Load press instead of a the turret? Still have the ease of changing dies and calibers but in a standard style press and less costly. http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-Classic-Loader/ On sale at Midway now for $102.86 http://www.midwayusa.com/product/197894/hornady-lock-n-load-classic-single-stage-press?cm_vc=ProductFinding Get yourself 10 bushings and you are at around $144 for everything. http://www.midwayusa.com/product/1165277407/hornady-lock-n-load-die-bushings?cm_vc=OBv11165277407 In case anyone missed it You are not just limited to having 7 dies set up. You can have unlimited amount of dies set up in bushings and swap them out in seconds. It's really a slick system and works great. I use the bushings in my LnL Ammo Plant, which is similar to the 650 and they are easy to use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tires2burn Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 What I like about my Dillon 550 is there are 4 different operations going on with every pull of the handle instead of 4 pulls for every round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsons1480 Posted July 25, 2014 Share Posted July 25, 2014 If you're not absolutely sold on having a turret press, I am absolutely sold on the Forster Co-Ax system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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