The "jeffshootsstuff" method for rapid reloading using LCT Lee Classic Turret

[thomas15]

Originally Posted by cfullgraf
I do like running a progressive for numerous reasons but I do not get the 4 to 5 times the increase in rate from lights on to lights off that the manufacturers claim.

I agree with you totally. I also question those who make the claims of 300+ on any LCT regardless of the technique or add-on equipment. Anyone can pump out 6 or 7 rounds per minute for a few minutes on a turret press. That is way different from keeping up that pace for 1 or 2 hours.

If I eat a slab of raw meat and then start handloading I can get 500 rounds per hour on my progressive as it's currently set up. On days when all I have to eat is Trix or Frosted Flakes, the output is 400 rounds, sometimes a bit less.

 

[thomas15]

This is, at the end of the day, a hobby. When we have a hobby we enjoy and we have the money to spend on it, we spend it.

There is however a difference between spending money/enjoying your hobbies and coming up with all kinds of mental justifications for what our equipment and talents cannot accomplish. Sorry if I offend.

 

[cfullgraf]

I forgot to add in some thoughts on capital costs.

In the grand scheme of things, the capital costs of the reloading gear is near zero per round. Most of the gear lasts near forever for a home reloader and worn dies and other parts are few and far between.

Now, an individual's cash flow can have a dramatic effect on the amount of capital he can spend on reloading gear. The trade off is the ease and speed of reloading equipment versus the cost to buy.

Now, there are some "more than you can imagine" high volume reloaders that do wear out their gear. It is worth it to them to invest in higher quality, more durable gear.

 

[1KPerDay]

I agree with you totally. I also question those who make the claims of 300+ on any LCT regardless of the technique or add-on equipment. Anyone can pump out 6 or 7 rounds per minute for a few minutes on a turret press. That is way different from keeping up that pace for 1 or 2 hours.

Good point. 300+/hr is pretty intense but I have done it frequently. I have loaded 1000 rounds in one day on the LCT but I took a lot of breaks, got interrupted a lot, etc. I don't plan on doing it again.

I don't have the camera memory to video for an hour or I'd do a time lapse for you.

 

[snakeye]

If you want to be totally fair and factor in "efficiency of the set-up" then comparing 1 handle pull per round vs. 4 handle pulls per round then the one-time caliber change over cost evaporates in the rhetoric.

It amazes me that people use this statement when comparing a progressive press to a Lee turret press...It still takes 4 or sometimes 5 handle pulls to make a single round on a progressive press..the speed comes from several case actions happening at the same time...one handle pull does not produce one single round..

 

[Lost Sheep]

It amazes me that people use this statement when comparing a progressive press to a Lee turret press...It still takes 4 or sometimes 5 handle pulls to make a single round on a progressive press..the speed comes from several case actions happening at the same time...one handle pull does not produce one single round..

Yet, after the first rotation of the case carrier, one finished cartridge comes out of the press every time the handle is cycled. So that works out to one handle pull = one round (except for the first few pulls plus the last few pulls). So 300 rounds produced with 310 pulls, or 400 rounds produced with 410 pulls or 1000 rounds produced with 1010 pulls for a 5-station progressive press.

Lost Sheep (perfectly happy LCT user)

 

[GBExpat]

Pistol cartridges ...

... 300+/hr is pretty intense but I have done it frequently. ...

Also having learned how to break the 300+/hr rate (in my case with the assistance of the InlineFab ... which I would describe that as small "i" intense) I will state that I do not think that I could keep it up for 2 hours straight. That would not be so much a physical limitation as much as a "mental" one; maintaining focus.

I think that I could crank that thing for several hours straight, but, as you well know, you need the focus for the operation to work and I think the max for me would probably be around 90 minutes.

And your described method would require of me more focus than mine. Whew!

Perhaps if one does such "production speed" runs enough, the focus becomes more of an autonomic thing but I will not be engaging in that speed that often, so ...

I suspect that the only way that manual, repeated, consistent, high-volume "long distance" runs are really possible is by simplifying/un-complicating the work of the left hand ... like with Dillon-type systems where, IIRC, all the left hand is doing is placing one bullet on each pull of the lever. Heck, I could eat my lunch while doing that ... well, if it weren't for the whole elevated lead levels & premature death thing.

 

[snakeye]

Yet, after the first rotation of the case carrier, one finished cartridge comes out of the press every time the handle is cycled. So that works out to one handle pull = one round (except for the first few pulls plus the last few pulls). So 300 rounds produced with 310 pulls, or 400 rounds produced with 410 pulls or 1000 rounds produced with 1010 pulls for a 5-station progressive press.

Again one single round is not produced with one pull of the handle on a progressive press...it still takes 4 or 5 pulls to produce a round...so that does not equal one pull equals one round....I agree that one completed round comes off at each cycle....you should have stopped there

 

[mmorris]

Again one single round is not produced with one pull of the handle on a progressive press...it still takes 4 or 5 pulls to produce a round...

That is true only if the batch size is one round.

If I pull the lever five times as I feed cases, I don't hear completed rounds hitting the output bin. After that initial population of the dies, I hear a round hit the bin each pull.

(Batch size + 5) /batch size = pulls per completed round
(10 + 5)/10=1.5 pulls per round
(500 + 5)/500 = 1.01 pulls per round