Hornady LNL Single Stage or Lee Turret

[TBaker]

I'm getting into reloading and trying to decide between the Hornady Lock and Load Single Stage or a Lee Turret. I've got a buddy that keeps telling me to get the Dillon 550, but I just don't shoot enough to justify that expense. I'm planning on getting all the other parts seperately. Not looking for a kit because there are other scales, etc that I like better. I like the fact that if I ever did decide to upgrade to a progressive I could go with the Hornady AP and would have everything for the single stage. Not sure if I need the turret system. Any input would be great. Thanks.

 

[BTSTEVE]

What are you planning on loading pistol or rifle? What calibers? How much do you plan to load?

I went with the Lee Classic turret kit, and added a used RCBS balance scale. I have a few turrets setup for different calibers.

I think if I was only loading rifle and couple hundred a month I would go with the Hornady Single stage.


If you are loading mostly pistol rounds and loading larger quanities then I would go with the Lee turret because it is faster, and easier to change out whole setups. Either way if you start to load more and need to go to the Dillon 550 then you have a press for just depriming, sizing, or removing bulge (.40 s&w).

 

[swmp9jrm]

I looked long and hard at the Hornady, but ended up with the Lee Classic Turret. It has many thousands of rounds through it and is still about like new. Like you, I don't shoot enough to justify the cost of a progressive - the turret does exactly what I need it to do. I have a turret for each of my die sets, so a caliber change takes all of about 10 seconds. I reload 9mm, .38spcl, .357, .45ACp, .223, and .30-30 on it without any problems.

 

[Caldad]

Love to see the first two responses! I've always felt that LEE gets shorted on recognition for their Classic Turret. It is less expensive than other options, but is an excellent press. If you can't tell, I love mine. I reload 38spl, 40s&w, .223rem and .270win. It can also be used as a single stage if needed.

LEE Classic Turret​

 

[TBaker]

I'm planning on loading 45, 40, 38 Super, 9mm, 223, 300 Blackout. I will probably only be reloading a couple hundred rounds a month. I've seen a lot of good comments on the Lee Turret. I've tried to do some research and have bought a few components as I've seen them. Seems like the thing to do in the current situation, buy it when you see it. I've already got some Lee dies and some Hornady dies.

 

[mac45]

I have a Classic Turret, so that get's my vote.

 

[usp45]

I'm planning on loading 45, 40, 38 Super, 9mm, 223, 300 Blackout. I will probably only be reloading a couple hundred rounds a month.

For this reason i would go with a progressive or the turret as you stated.

I load 45,9mm,223 and 308. I knew right off i wanted to be able to make a couple thousand at a time so i just jumped into a dillon 650.

i didnt take into account change over speed or cost, that was not an issue for me. volume and quality at a decent rate is what i was looking for. not the color or name.

if i can suggest, keep your max quantity to produce in the future in mind also. you can always load less on a progressive, but you can't load more on the others.

 

[saberstar]

I own a lee 1000 and I can tell you from my experience that it loads pistol round very well. Once you start getting into the longer cases such as .357 it doesn't seem to work as well as with the shorter case lengths. When I get the rest of the supplies needed to reload rifle rounds I will be using a single stage. The reasoning for this is that I believe it takes more concentration in loading rifle rounds then pistol.

I do plan on upgrading my press to probably a Dillion 650 because I enjoy reloading and the lee was my first press. So it was sort of an test for me in reloading to see if I would like it or not.

Oh and btw the 1000 can be converted into a turret press very easily so not a bad press.

 

[Duke Short]

Single Station or ?

OK You will always have need for a good single station press if you do any type of reloading at all. They are a very handy tool to have around especially for small batch testing, long cases orrrrrrrr lets just say you need to set those bullets in another little bitty freakin bit ( that a quality reloader made ) to get the pistol to go into battery. My vote is get a Rock Chucker so when you pinch your fingers, you know it. Then as money allow get a good progressive.

 

[jrainw]

If there is any chance you will ever get a progressive later get the Hornady, if this is the last press you are going to buy get the lee.
I have both the Hornady progressive and the single stage, it is a great combo. With all of my dies in the LNL bushings caliber changes are almost instant. They do not work together right out of the box though, you have to make a spacer for the dies to have the same settings in the single stage.

 

[kludge]

After having a Lee turret press, I bought a Lee Classic Turret and gave my single stage press to a friend. I never ever used it. I'll never load anything on a single stage again. The only use I could possibly have for a single stage press now is to leave it set up with a universal decapping die for the rare times when I need to decap stuff.

The LCT has a couple nice features that I like that you don't get with the LNL. I love being able to adjust the angle and length of the handle and I love that the spent primers go down the ram and into a bucket or are collected in the tube.

If you must have a single stage then don't pay more than the Lee Classic Cast press. It has those same features just mentioned, plus you can remove the adapter and use large dies - if you ever need to. And if you want to feed primers with the other hand you can rotate the ram.

 

[Claddagh]

I started out reloading to feed my first CF revolver (a Webley .380/200) with an old Lyman "Nutcracker" hand press set-up. It was good exercise for my hands and wrists and turned out perfectly usable ammo, but it sure was a tedious process.

I then bought a used Lyman All American turret press. I loved it as I could have a set of the then-new carbide dies in .357 and a two-die set for .35 Remingtons both ready to go with only a change of shell holder needed. Using a batch system, I could turn out enough ammo to meet my modest needs in a single afternoon.

If I were starting out now, I'd go for one of the Lee turret presses in a heartbeat. Just MO, but in terms of sheer utility, ease of use and economy these would be hard to beat.

I own a couple of progressives ( a Dillon SDB and a Lee Pro 1000) and they've given me good service. What a progressive really does best (again just MO) is turning out moderate-to-high volumes of a single load. If one plans to do a good deal of experimenting with different powders, projectiles or calibers I think that a turret press makes doing that a much, much easier and less involved process.

I do own a Hornady Lock-N-Load single-stage press, too. I use it mainly to load the relatively small numbers of .45-70 and 7.5 Swiss rounds I shoot and the moderate amount of 168 gr. 7.62x51 "Match" loads I need for my converted M1 Garand.

Overall, if I were to have to revert to one press for everything, it'd most likely be a Lee turret. The very modest cost to equip it with a dedicated turret head for each caliber would be a large factor in this.

Just MO and $0.02, but when all things are considered I think one of the Lee turret outfits is about the most practical, versatile and cost-effective way to go if you're on a budget.