My first press
My first and only press so far. I would only recommend based on certain idividual needs. Beginner press with multiple calibres to reload? Yes. Plinker? Yes. Moderate volume / pistol / semi-auto shooter? Yes. Precise / long range shooter? Maybe not??? Maybe get a different press for that? I reload .204 Ruger rifle, so do not use the auto indexing feature. Swap out turrets handy for loading more than one calibre, just buy more 4-hole turret rings. Can set one turret up soley for case prep, universal de-priming etc. Maybe include a bullet puller die in one of the holes if needed (I have the Hornady cam lock one in same ring as my three Redding dies: full length sizer, neck sizer and bullet seating). INSTANT change out of dies - just spin the turret ring around. The classic press is heavier and much better constructed than the basic turret press. I do not think the 3 and 4 hole turret rings are compatible / interchangeable ? The advertising is misleading -- primers do escape quite often sometimes, especially if the large or small primer cup holder is not inserted in the ram. The drilled ram and PVC pipe to collect the primers is an excellent idea though! Just that sometimes a primer will fall out of the slot before making it into the PVC pipe. The icluded disc shaped Lee primer holders are great, easily making 100 or more primers face the right way up. The problem is getting the primer out of the system and into the little cup in the ram. This is sometimes a frustrating step, and when the hopper gets very low on primers, the system always misfeeds. I ALWAYS have one or two primers left in the system that I eventually have to place into the ram by hand. They must get stuck because there are no primers above to push them down into the feeder. This is my first and only press, so I do not know if this is acceptable or normal, but because it has a rotating turret disc (very smooth movement by the way), the whole thing has a lot of play in it. The whole turret disc (and so the dies themselves!!) can wiggle / lift up and down about 1-2mm, and when the shellholder finally meets the bottom of the die it all becomes tight and solid. I wonder if this is good for precision / accuracy?? I do not have to set my dies up each time (I just spin the turret to the required die), but if not using the auto index feature, a regular single stage press may have been more appropriate for me. Maybe ideal for pistol / moderate volume / semi-auto rifle reloaders? Not long range shooter's choice?
