My first press, in '65, was a very good Lyman turret; it just had to be 'faster', right? Wrong. I quickly got into batch processing so all I had was a funny looking single stage with die storage. And, after I got my third set of dies I had to screw them in and out anyway so I soon tightened down the retaining nut and took out the slack for single stage only work.
Swapping/adjusting dies tightly positioned together isn't very easy. There is no valid reason to tighen dies down with pliers or wrenches, finger tight is plenty tight, so normal screw out-screw in die swaps only take me 30-40 seconds. In a normal hour of or so of loading with three or four die work needs some 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Even if turrets or bushing were instanteanous - and they are not - the time saved wouldn't improve the quality of my life!
An auto-indexing turret such as Lee's Classic Turret actually loads very well, speeds the process and Lees heads are inexpensive to own and easy to exchange in a few seconds by hand, no tools. But, to obtain the speed advantage, it's necessasry to charge each case in the press and that makes it impossible to check the powder column as I do when charging cases in a loading block; I visually confirm each powder charge is there and is consistant between them before seating begins. In some 46 years of reloading I've never had a missed charge, light or over charge; I like that.
I'm not a high volume shooter so I finally added a sturdy single stage press to my bench. Others disagree with me but I would NOT replace it with any turret or progressive. I still use my old turret for special purpose tasks; bullet pulling, expanding, neck sizing, etc. but I rarely load anything on it.
