Redding Turret vs.O-Frame Presses

[CaptNemo]

My birthday is coming up and I'm getting ready to resume reloading in a new house. Right now I have a C-Frame press and a Dillon SDB and am looking to upgrade my single stage press.
I'll be loading .223 / 5.56, 6.5 CM for precision rifles and .308 & 30/06 for hunting loads.
Other than cost, is there a reason NOT to buy the turret press ?

 

[milo 2.0]

NO. Good press, mine loads every bit as good of ammo as my Forster coax.
I did have 4 turret heads at one time, one of them had more flex than the others, but ammo still shot good. Got rid of it.

 

[richidaho]

I like my Horady lock-an-load is work well. If your not loading over 50 at a time I would just stay with what you have.

Rich L

 

[gimpy]

Any reason you're not looking at the Dillon 550?

 

[CaptNemo]

Any reason you're not looking at the Dillon 550?

I have a Dillon Square Deal B and it's a great loader, but I don't have any local dealers to look at a 550 in person. I'm not opposed to the 550, but love all of my other Redding equipment in terms of quality and feel.

 

[omgtkk]

I have a Dillon 550 and a Redding T7 turret. The Redding is top notch. I have 2 turrets for it, one for .556 and one set up for .308. It produces excellent ammo. Its solid as a rock with very positive detents. Redding makes quality, heavy duty chit. Can't go wrong with that purchase.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[mdmp5]

I have a Dillon 550 and a Redding T7 turret. The Redding is top notch. I have 2 turrets for it, one for .556 and one set up for .308. It produces excellent ammo. Its solid as a rock with very positive detents. Redding makes quality, heavy duty chit. Can't go wrong with that purchase.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

You can't fit both calibers on one turret? Thats what i do

 

[omgtkk]

You can't fit both calibers on one turret? Thats what i do

Sure you can, but on the .308 turret I have a sizer, a Lee collet neck die, two different seater dies for the two bullets I load, and a Lee Factory Crimp die. I load differently for my AR10 than for my bolt gun. Pretty much the same set-up on the .223 turret with the addition of a universal decapping die so I can deprime before tumbling.

 

[sib1948]

I have Dillon 550B and use Lee collet decap and neck sizer die. Steel tumble and let dry in low 125 degree oven or in our afternoon AZ sun. Then prime on Dillon and hand load with RCBS trickles and seat the bullets with Lee collet sweater die. Very consistent with great con centricity. I do happen the full length size after every 3-4 loads (Redding full length die), but have never had to trim neck or had pressure signs with medium charges. Dispose of brass when primer pockets become too loose. Never had and other issues. Lube the full length dies with Imperial lube or Royal spray lube. Can load about 100 per hour! Good luck.

 

[Sonic Crack]

I stone the bushings to length with my T7 press to take out any slop

 

[CaptNemo]

I stone the bushings to length with my T7 press to take out any slop

Can you elaborate on this ?

 

[mdmp5]

Can you elaborate on this ?

I would like to know what you mean by this as well

 

[Sonic Crack]

One the T7, the turret basically floats. Held down and in place by the bolt and the bushing of the turret. that bolt bottoms out on the bushing, not the turret its self. To take out the majority of the up and down slop of the turret, you can use a stone or use sandpaper on a surface place and carefully remove material from the ends of the bushing so the head of bolt makes slight contact with the turret head as well. thus tightening up the movement the head makes on the upstroke of the ram. I stoned my bushings down so that the head takes a bit more force to rotate. I dont remember exactly how much slop I took out or what my press has now. but it is much less than it originally had

 

[mdmp5]

I stone the bushings to length with my T7 press to take out any slop

Can you elaborate on this ?

One the T7, the turret basically floats. Held down and in place by the bolt and the bushing of the turret. that bolt bottoms out on the bushing, not the turret its self. To take out the majority of the up and down slop of the turret, you can use a stone or use sandpaper on a surface place and carefully remove material from the ends of the bushing so the head of bolt makes slight contact with the turret head as well. thus tightening up the movement the head makes on the upstroke of the ram. I stoned my bushings down so that the head takes a bit more force to rotate. I dont remember exactly how much slop I took out or what my press has now. but it is much less than it originally had

Do you see much of a difference after doing that?

 

[Sonic Crack]

I will run some tests and report back, Will be a little while as im getting ready to move

 

[datguy]

Redding Turret vs.O-Frame Presses

I stone the bushings to length with my T7 press to take out any slop

I did the same. Used a piece of fine emery cloth on a chunk of granite to hand lap the bushing. Mine was about .0015 proud. I checked fit many times during the process until there was zero play. I have none. Then, cleaned and lubed up. My T-7 produces very good ammo. Highly recommended for handloads.

I have 7 dies in my turret for .308. Lee Collet; Redding body, bushing micrometer neck, competition seater & instant indicator, Whidden FL bushing and 21st Century Shooting expander mandrel.

 

[Rockfish Dave]

I wish I had seen the Inline Fabrication press mount years ago. Now it looks like I am going to rebuild my reloading bench based on those!

 

[Crabman]

I currently load with a Dillon 550 an a Redding T7, I have also owned a Dillon 450, a Lyman Turret and a Lyman O-Frame. I found the Redding to be very strong, more so than the Lyman Turret. I also found the Redding to make ammo on par with the Lyman O-frame, no issues with anything I have tried yet, (300 RUM, 7 mag, 460 mag, 45-70, nicking down 308 and 7mm-08 into 243 win, etc). The T7 has worked for many years for me with no issues. I load 308 for my 700 using a RCBS fl sizer or Hornady NS, depends what I am doing, a hornady seater w/ micrometer insert and lee crimp die but that depends. Rounds come out very uniform, no issues. You should be happy if you go with a T7.

 

[datguy]

I really like the Inline Fab stuff. I have the quick change setup on two mounts with the corresponding plates on four presses and a couple other items. Highly recommended.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

I have a T7. It has a universal deprimer, .308 and .223 full length sizing dies, .223 neck sizing die, .308 and .223 Precission seating dies, with one open hole still. The empty hole will get the .308 neck sizer to size necks for my Savage.

I have only used the .223 neck sizing die for one bag of winchester virgin brass. Odds are I won't use virgin brass again, it wasn't worth the expense. The .223 neck sizer can stay for when I get a new bolt gun. The universal deprimer has also only been used a couple of times for preping nasty looking brass before stainles tumbling.

I also have an empty head. The original plan was for .223, .308, .20 Winchester, and .30-06. I haven't been playing with the other rifles though.

PS: The Inline Fab stuff looks cool. I've seen it on a few benches now.

 

[ZY100]

Big 1+ on the inline fab mount and quick change plates....super easy, solid and a good price.

SDB, 550 and T-7...each has its place and all do the job well. The T-7 is rock solid and the ability to set up a bunch of dies and not mess with them is great. Certainly not a progressive but you can "single stage" 50-100 rounds pretty quick.

ZY