Thinking about a new press

[GunnyMack]

My old RCBS, model long forgotten by me, is approaching 40 years old. Nothing wrong with it but sometimes something new makes a guy feel good!
I've been looking at a Redding T7. The turrets hold 7 dies so keeping dies set and ready appeals to me.
Anybody have a T7?
Thoughts?
Pros/cons?
Of course $400 is a bit much...

[mos]

I have a T-7. Love it. If you go that way definitely buy extra turrets. I have four in total, including the one that is on the press. Lets you keep your business set up (ex. one turret hold 7 dies for .38 and .357, including a Lee decapping die I also have on other turrets and the precision dies I use for each caliber) and usable with an easy turret swap. Solid kit. Highly recommended.

mos

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’ve got a Lyman torrent press that is very similar.

I use it on only rare occasions. Almost everything I load is done on my Dillon 550.

I have a little RCBS press that would take up much less space and I seriously think I may go back to a single stage as little as I use the Lyman.

[Bill in Oregon]

Will, I have had other turret presses, but the Redding is the cream of the crop and the only one I would buy if I weren't so darned happy with my Co-Ax.

[AJMD429]

.
I like my Lee Turret press for similar reasons. Have maybe a dozen turrets set up.

Brand choice probably not a big deal, but I know what you mean about once in awhile just jetting a new 'toy' is kinda fun.

[jeepnik]

I still use my old Lyman single stage for most rifle cartridges. I used a Dillon for everything else.

I heartily recommend Dillon if it does what you want.

[GunnyMack]

I have my old RCBS, a little LEE and a Dillon 550. Thousands of round through the RCBS and Dillon the RCBS is showing a little wear on the ram. It has seen mostly rifle ammo.
Good to hear the T7 gets high marks, read some reviews that problems were common.

Four hundred bucks is a bit to spend on something with poor quality.

Gotta chew on this for a bit...

[Bill in Oregon]

Will, I am surprised to hear about poor reviews. The one I had indexed like a bank vault and seemed just as solid -- a lot nicer than the Lyman turret press I had prior. I agree with Doc that for the money the Lee is hard to beat. But the Redding felt to me like it would be in use a century from now.

[GunnyMack]

Some reviews were that the ball wasn't threaded onto the handle. Others were that the turret had some movement when a shell would enter a die causing the turret to tilt fore & aft. Redding apparently fixed those concerns.

Hmm, maybe I'll wait until November and celebrate ( fingers and toes crossed the country gets their heads out of their tuckus's!)

[Walt]

Gunny, I had an RCBS Jr press I bought in the early 70s that I used for all metallic cartridge reloading until I bought a couple of Dillon 550 progressives 25+ years ago. I use the Dillons solely for straight-walled cartridges and did only bottle-necked rifle rounds on the RCBS, oh and .45-70s. I probably didn't oil the ram frequently enough and one day noticed that the ram was chattering as I sized some rifle brass. I measured the ram runout with a dial indicator and found it to be about.004" if I remember correctly. I then took some rounds loaded on the now sloppy press and measured for bullet concentricity, finding that they were off by less than .002". I imagine that the ram was self-centering despite the play. I gave the RCBS Jr to a young man who wanted to get started loading and bought an RCBS Rockchucker with which I'm pleased.....and I'm paying more attention now to lubricating my presses.

[Griff]

Like Walt, I started out on a RCBS Jr. II in the mid '70s. In the early '80s I bought a used Lyman "Spartan" C press. It's the press I take to the range load development & fine tuning loads. When my wife & son started shooting cowboy action with me, I found production on that RCBS was too slow. I bought a Dillon in 1987, and a 2nd in 2007/8. One for large primers, the other for large. A few years back replaced that RCBS Jr with a used Rockchucker. The RC gets used for my 12 gauge brass and all my rifle rounds except for .223/5.56. I have toolheads set for 38 Spl, 38 S&W, C45S, 45 Auto, 45 Colt & .223, no adjusting necessary except for different bullets in each of those, but have dummy bullets to ease changing from one to another. With their "No BS warranty" the few times something has gone wrong plus the more frequent times I've screwed something up, I can't fathom not having one! Not to mention them replacing the 1st 550 I bought under warranty after 35 years of use.

[GunnyMack]

Dillon is by far the cream of the crop as far as customer service! I have a 550 and an SL900.
I think my RCBS is the Reloader 3 press, was a kit when I got it.
I have loaded a ton of 223 and 308 on the Dillon but I found military brass was tougher depriming than a single stage. Plus I don't do enough high volume that would make me want to load on the Dillon. I've got 38/357,40/10mm,41,44,223,308 for it. And I have used other dies in the Dillon for different calibers but that requires resetting the dies.
As for the Redding T7, I like the idea of being able to keep turrets set up- especially with universal decap dies.

[AJMD429]

.
The Dillons are long to set up but fast once set up.
The Rockchucker is almost no setup but slow.
The turret presses are in between.

I think the mechanics of the Lee and others with peripheral support make far more sense than ones only supported in the middle.

[GunnyMack]

The Lee turret is cast steel/iron or aluminum? Aluminum is why I only use my Lee C press for short cases and crimping.
On an aluminum press the outside supports are the only way to not tweak the turret style, the steel/ iron has the strength to use a center mounting system.

[Bill in Oregon]

Will: Cast iron frame and base on the Lee.
https://leeprecision.com/4-hole-classic-turret-press

[GunnyMack]

I figured it was Bill.
I need a half a day to do some more research... probably won't buy anything

[Bill in Oregon]

Will, one nice feature of the Lee is that you can turn the indexing on and off so that it will stay on the same station no matter how many times you raise and lower the ram -- or advance to the next die.

[GunnyMack]

How about the Lyman turret, anyone have experience with one?
8 station, still has priming capabilities and it's a bit less expensive.

[Scott Tschirhart]

GunnyMack

If you want this one, I will unbolt it and send it to you

My treat.

I even have the priming arm.

[GunnyMack]

What brand is that Scott?

[LeverGunner]

Looks like a Lyman T-Mag 2 press.

Here's an interesting article I ran across sometime back about the T-7 https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/20 ... 00-rounds/ Very impressive I thought.

[GunnyMack]

That's impressive!

[Scott Tschirhart]

What brand is that Scott?

Lyman T-Mag 2

[GunnyMack]

I forgot all about the Lyman Tmag press.
Tell me what makes you want to give it away? Likes, dislikes?

[Scott Tschirhart]

Nothing wrong with it.

I just want to make a gift of it to you.

I load dang near everything on my Dillon