Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Looking for new single press

by the way the Lyman press is an old Spar-T... anyone have any experience or suggestions on this one

I've got 2 Lymans, one's a Crusher II from about 7 years ago and an older Lyman that I bought as part of a kit in 1979, it's a 'C' press (no turret and an open front like the letter C). Both presses have been good, the C press doesn't have the leverage or length that the crusher has but works fine for reloading standard stuff like 270 Win or 358 Win.

I think the Spar T was a turret press of the same vintage as my C, I don't know that I would try to load the big magnums or case forming with it but it'll do 98% of all reloading chores.

Silverish/orange may be newer than my old one. My C is like a charcoal gray, the Crusher is silverish

Dale

Wait isnt the T7 a turrent. Wont that reduce accuracy over a single?

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What is a turrent? Over the years I have repeated seen people call turret presses "turrents," am I missing something???

You're missing a torrent of turrets that are called turrents, just pray it doesn't cause tourettes.

I started with a Spar-T in '65 because a turret just had to be more versatile and 'quick', right? Wrong. IF you only have one or two sets of dies and never do anything else you can save a few seconds in a loading session by having the dies stored in the head but it won't save much time at best and none at all if you do change calibers. The Spar-T is a nice small turret press but it's not massive and it's a simple toggle lever design; I still use mine for some tasks but, with a bit of welding and machine work, I converted it to a compound toggle linkage; I would NOT recommend it to anyone. Case forming dies are great to have IF you actually need to form those specific cases, otherwise they're useless.

A skilled reloader can make quality ammo with any press but it's easier with a more rigid press. They ALL flex a tad under pressure and turrets flex more than any single stage. After all, there has to be some slack in the head mounting or it couldn't possibly rotate! And the tighter the head mounting is, the less likely it will accurately index when it's turned.

I'm not an equipment brand or price snob, I like whatever works, but I finally drank the green kool-aid in '87 and bought an RC 2; it's an okay press but it's nothing special. IF Lee's Classic Cast had been avaiable at that time I would have gotten it; the CC is equal in every way and much better in some ways.

The Coax is a good, functional press. Spent primer handling is great. I'm indifferent to it's "semi-universal" shell holder and die mounting system, they have some small advantages that are off-set by some matching disadvantages. And that straight-out operating handle is too awkward for me and a LOT of others. I don't like it BUT those who do like it usually love it.

Bottom line, I've been reloading a long time and with a lot of different brands and models of tools. They all work but if I had to replace my kit tomorrow I'd have a Lee Classic Cast main press. It handles spent primers as well as the Coax and it's properly off-set handle is fully adjustable to match user taste and bench height. (My dies would be Forster for my most accurate rifles and Lee's Delux dies for everything else.)

IF I really wanted a turret press it would be Lee's Classic turret. It's very strong and, with it's unique auto-index feature it's indeed much faster than any other turret press. The easy and tool free quick-change heads are sufficently inexpensive to make having enough of them set up for my most used calibers practical!

But, a loading room full of Lee stuff will hardly impress anyone. Not that I care ...