Will purchase Lee Classic 4 turret press only if I can I use Hornady dies- is that possible?

[charliebrown1999]

I am life long resident of CA and with the many restrictions on ammo and guns I am forced to reload rifle calibers. The Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret Press is within my budget and appears to be adequate for my needs. I want to use Hornady dies in 223 remington and the new 6mmARC. Will Hornady dies fit correctly in that Lee press??? I don't need a super duper press since I am an old guy and probably will not shooting long than another 7 or 8 years.

 

[Steel head]

Yep
Hornandy
Rcbs
Dillon
Redding
Lee
Forster
Whidden
Sac
Mighty’s
And a few more.

Join the LCT master race!

 

[spife7980]

Most any die you can find will fit. If its a super expensive die then worry about it, for a normal consumer grade price point the dies will all be the same 7/8ths thread pattern.

 

[charliebrown1999]

Most any die you can find will fit. If its a super expensive die then worry about it, for a normal consumer grade price point the dies will all be the same 7/8ths thread pattern.

thank you

 

[6MT]

The 4 hole Lee is a decent choice. The first thing you should do is lose the silly indexing rod and pathetic plastic bushing. The primer is also a weak point.

I spin mine by hand and prime elsewhere. Any 7/8” threaded die will work in the Lee.

I even do most of my trimming with it.

 

[Cerwinski]

My main press is a Lee 4-hole. While I load my rifle ammo on it single-stage, all my pistol stuff is done with the index rod in. I can do over 200/hour this way, which is enough for my needs. I don't understand why so many have difficulty with it. I have loaded THOUSANDS of rounds in auto-index mode over the last ten years and am still using the original plastic index thingy. Never needed the spare they included yet. All one needs to do is make sure not to short stroke the press. The priming system also works flawlessly for me. I suspect those that have issues with it never bothered to read the instructions for proper adjustment. If you can read and follow instructions this is one of the best values on the market. Also one of the most versatile.

 

[Halfnutz]

I even do most of my trimming with it.

[/QUOTE]

Who makes that trim die?

 

[Halfnutz]

Lee, found it.

 

[Cerwinski]

I had varied success with the little trim die. Trim length results were the least consistent of all the methods I used and the brass shavings seemed to get everywhere other than the little cup provided. I now have settled on the Lyman powered unit. It's the best of the lower-cost options IMO. I didn't pay full MSRP for it either.
https://www.lymanproducts.com/brass-smith-case-trim-xpresstm

 

[Halfnutz]

I had varied success with the little trim die. Trim length results were the least consistent of all the methods I used and the brass shavings seemed to get everywhere other than the little cup provided. I now have settled on the Lyman powered unit. It's the best of the lower-cost options IMO. I didn't pay full MSRP for it either.
https://www.lymanproducts.com/brass-smith-case-trim-xpresstm

Thanks for that. I use a Wilson/Sinclair set up. Not the fastest by any means, but accurate.

 

[6MT]

I had varied success with the little trim die. Trim length results were the least consistent of all the methods I used and the brass shavings seemed to get everywhere other than the little cup provided. I now have settled on the Lyman powered unit. It's the best of the lower-cost options IMO. I didn't pay full MSRP for it either.
https://www.lymanproducts.com/brass-smith-case-trim-xpresstm

Yeah, I gave up on that little "catch tray". I've found that if you clean the shavings out of the die often, they are very accurate. I sold my Giraud and RCBS powered tri-cutter unit. I find that the manual crank, once you get the hang of it, is faster and more accurate then any powered unit that I've tried. And way cheaper too.

BTW, it's the Lee deluxe quick trim set-up that I use. It does both edges on the case neck like the Giraud.

 

[Cerwinski]

While I observed the same thing (clean it out often for better results) I feel that this is not one of Lee's stronger products. And I actually own/use/like quite a bit of their stuff. It's one of the ones that will do in a pinch but for serious "everyday" use there are much better options. For anything more than a couple dozen cases even their fixed-length trimmers (chucked in a drill) work better. My arm would get mighty tired cranking on bulk .223 lol.

 

[charliebrown1999]

My main press is a Lee 4-hole. While I load my rifle ammo on it single-stage, all my pistol stuff is done with the index rod in. I can do over 200/hour this way, which is enough for my needs. I don't understand why so many have difficulty with it. I have loaded THOUSANDS of rounds in auto-index mode over the last ten years and am still using the original plastic index thingy. Never needed the spare they included yet. All one needs to do is make sure not to short stroke the press. The priming system also works flawlessly for me. I suspect those that have issues with it never bothered to read the instructions for proper adjustment. If you can read and follow instructions this is one of the best values on the market. Also one of the most versatile.

thank you for the info