Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Press - SS or Turret

You can do the same thing with the co-ax, the only difference is you swap out the dies vs. rotating the turret.

I had a lyman turret press, got a co-ax and then sold the turret. I load quite a few different rounds and for me a turrets time savings requires having all the dies set in a turret vs. screwing them in and out. With the co-ax whether your swapping from sizing the seating or between calibers it's a matter of seconds.

So my vote is the co-ax, and I've paired it with a 550b for handgun rounds.

Do you use the slide bar primer feed system when doing so? If so, has it worked well for you?

Thanks,
Carl

It works well, but you have to shorten the primer tubes to clear the powder measure as the turret's turned. I believe mine now hold 25 primers, but it takes less time to refill them so everything still goes quickly.

I bought a Lyman Spar-T when I was 17 years old and I suppose I really don't need another press, BUT, I bought a used Lyman Spartan because it was such a good deal ($12), and then I got a used Lyman Tru-Line Jr in a $10 box of odds and ends I bought at an estate auction. Then I bought an old Pacific C- type press because it was just like the one pictured in "Sixguns by Keith". I have enough loading presses now, I think, but they all work good enough for me.

I use a Forster priming tool so I cut that damn lug off my T-7, it was an embuggerance that annoyed me immensely.

That and I use my Harrell on a dedicated stand.

I've got 3 turrets and 2 single stage IIRC including a T7 and a CoAx. Started with a 310 tool and added an original Rock Chucker pretty quickly. The Rock Chucker gave fine service for years but was swapped off. I'd say I use a Harrell's 4 station and the T7 most. The Harrell's aluminum turret made me a little nervous about thread wear but I now know it will outlast me and turret heads are affordable if not cheap. I had no doubts the T7 will outlast me and the next user and go on working as long as reloading is still done in the mountain west.

So I say go with a T7 or whatever appeals.

That said I take pride and pleasure in the CoAx. Nothing else gives me the same smile.

I have had RCBS Junior and Rockchucker and Forster Co-ax presses and liked them for my needs at the time. Currently I am using Ponsness Warren presses, the turret for handgun calibers and the four hole press for rifle calibers. I like both especially the rifle press as I leave it set-up for the two rifle calibers that I load for. All I have to do is sit down and start loading everything is all ready, fortunately both calibers use the same shellholder so even that doesn't need to be changed. If you are looking for high quality loading equipment you should check out P-W's offerings. I have been a user since P-W debuted these machines at the St. Louis SHOT Show circa 1980.

I think I am still current on the Fred Flintstone Reloading Methods....me and my RockChucker...

an upgrade for me was buying a used second one I found for like $49....

JSTUART,

Apparently there's some misunderstanding of my post. For MOST of my reloading I use a separate priming tool, and four different powder measures on separate stands--exactly which measure depending on the size of the cartridge is being loaded.

I only use the primer-feed feature on the T7 when it's set up a semi-progressive, to speed up production of varmint rounds. And it does, considerably.

Clark,

At the Redding plant there's an old T7 that was "retired" by Sierra bullets after one million rounds. It still worked perfectly, but Sierra thought the Redding folks might like to have it.

I know, I know........and here I think I'm hot stuff 'cause I have four single stage presses.........


Casey

A side benefit of the Co-Ax(to me, anyway) is the primer seater at the top of the press. Works great.

Jeff

hello Mule Deer, there is no argument...I was merely pointing out how I load on my bench, mainly because I am too mired in habit to change anything.

I've often wondered how a turret press really sped things up comparing to just running the processes in batches, I've also used a second press for crimping taper crimped pistols since I can't get my rcbs seat crimp die to crimp and seat in one step without crimping to early and shaving bullets.

The main speed increase that would come close to a progressive would be the auto-indexing setup with a powder dump. I didn't realize you could attach a powder dump to the turret presses.

Is this practical or just skip it and get a real progressive?

If you really want to speed things up, get a progressive. You're performing sizing, primer seating, powder dispensing, bullet seating and crimping in one crank of the press. It's close to an order of magnitude increase in speed.

The thing to consider when taking the progressive plunge is how many rounds you load at a time, and how often you switch between the rounds you load. It takes longer to get a progressive set up. It also takes longer to switch between calibers especially if you're going between small and large primers.

If you're looking to crank out 100's or 1000's of same type of ammo at a go, then a progressive is for you. If you're doing lots of load workup and loading batches of 20-50 of one round and 20-50 of another, stick with single stage.

Partagas,

You just touched on one reason I use my T7 as a semi-progessive: There are 7 holes for various dies. I use up to 5 dies to get exactly the results desired in both sizing and seating. One of the reasons is separating the seating and crimping operations into two different steps, which normally results in better accuracy even if done on a single-stage press. (Can explain that later, if you want.) That's more holes than most turret presses or progressives have, and there's still room for the powder measure.

Obviously there's no auto-indexing. Instead I manually turn the turret with one hand, and run the handle with the other. The only times I take my hand off the handle is during repriming and dumping the powder. As noted earlier, this results in 300-350 rounds per hour. That may not seem like much compared to advertised rates for progressives, but I've used several popular progressives and the actual rate is normally closer to what I can get with the T7.

As also noted earlier, I've never been able to produce rifle ammo as consistently accurate on those popular progressives as with the T7, which matters to me more than somewhat higher production. I'm not saying progressives don't work well. They do, it all depends on what kind of ammo you want to produce.

Another vote for the Redding T-7. A well made press, and produces ammo as good as my Rock-chucker. I wouldn't use a progressive for my hunting rounds, but they are good if your a high volume pistol,or MSR shooter.

Lee Classic Cast 4 hole turret press..
And a old RCBS Jr.

I've been working with a Lee Classic Cast SS for a few years now. Been wanting a T7 a while too.

Brownell's has a promotion going right now (ends tomorrow I think) for $30 off a $275 purchase. $270 for the Redding T7 press, $8 for another shell holder, promotional code and shipping brought me to $255 to get it on the way. Just bought my Christmas present.

Redding T-7, from a dedicated RockChucker user.

MM