Thread: Lee cast press

Perusing trade me can be dangerous. Saw this the other day and hit the add to cart. But of an impulse purchase. Recently read Nathan's book and he rated the Lee cast press. It's turned up.and I have to say I'm impressed with how solid this thing is.
It was a bit tatty round the edges. Not much use I'd say but just generally dirty and a bit gummed up.
Gave it a clean and a lube and by crikey it's smooth and silky.
The bushing is the steel threaded jobbie before they went to the aluminium bushing.
Makes the hornady alloy press feel like a toy.
Did quite like the convinience of the lnl bushings but it probably won't be the end of the world winding a die into the press when I want to use it.
Question for all out there..winding the die into the press up to the Locking ring, will it produce the same head space or bullet seating every time? The lnl bushing were very consistent if you had settled on a load or shoulder bump


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Nothing wrong with lee presses, for all the rubbish they get. Glue the wooden bobble handle on.

You can get quick-change bushings for your die sets, so you set them once and then they drop in with a quarter turn.
You can set the lockrings on your dies so that they will screw down to the same place, in theory. Depending on your required consistency/tolerance this is a pain (there's a lot of thread on em!) but should give acceptable repeatability. The only way to truly know whould be to test your setup.

I have the same press, plus the excellent Cast 4 hole Turret version with auto index that actually works. I've had the equivalent of yours in aluminum and frankly, apart from the 'feel' of cast vs aluminum billet, the aluminum was every bit as good, and a lot lighter to move around. Richard Lee defended the aluminum as stronger than cast steel and made the point that cast steel had to be thicker and heavier to attain equivalent strength. He conceded to his sons desire to offer cast steel not because of a material deficiency in aluminum but for perception and marketing reasons.

I'm not the best person to answer your repeatability question from a factual point of view as I don't bother too much, yet, with miniscule bump adjustment details. I can't see how the Lee press would be any less in this regard than a Rockchucker for instance or a Redding Turret etc. Maybe a Forster coaxial press would shade it but someone else can weigh in on that.

What you might note is Lee offers the breech lock insert with an integral locking ring with grub screw instead of the rubber ring system in the lock nuts that come with their dies. The said BreechLock insert replaces the original die locking ring and you set it up, tighten the grub scew and you have a permanent replicable setting. Buy one of these locking inserts per die.

Do put a small lead shot under the grub screw tho to protect your die threads. Have fun.

thats one of the flash newer ones...now I would glue the plurry insert bit in permanently and use it like the solid older jobbies.

and if you are a good wee reloader,in your box of bits will be your "dummy round" to use to set up your die with so your seating depth is the same every time... your resizing die will be either hard down or X number of half turns off hard down...and that wont change.

Good presses I've got the other type that doesn't have the quick change bushings some people say they are crap but mine does just the same job as the wifes more expensive rcbs or redding cant actually remember what it is, its green I know that much...The only thing that happens to them is the alloy link breaks but there's a steel replacement you can get. Cant see if yours has that but most of them do.

Originally Posted by blip

Good presses I've got the other type that doesn't have the quick change bushings some people say they are crap but mine does just the same job as the wifes more expensive rcbs or redding cant actually remember what it is, its green I know that much...The only thing that happens to them is the alloy link breaks but there's a steel replacement you can get. Cant see if yours has that but most of them do.

I put a magnet over the linkage and it appears to be all steel.
Be interesting to measure the runout on ammo from the hornady and the Lee and see if it makes any difference in the real world. Or if there is any discernable difference between ammo loaded on the two presses.
I'll load up ammo on the two presses and see which one I like better. Don't have the space on the bench for two presses.

It may of already been replaced..

Originally Posted by blip

It may of already been replaced..

I believe the Lee Cast iron presses only came with steel linkages.

Mine was alloy and I bought it brand new

@Blackfern - like @Jhon said, you may well have the Lee Breechlock system on that press. Have you tried depressing the bolthead that butts up against the steel die bushing? The bushing will rotate anti-clockwise and you can pop it out. You can buy inserts that incorporate a locking to achieve exactly the same set/lock/forget that you did with the Hornady LnL system.

Originally Posted by Steelisreal

@Blackfern - like @Jhon said, you may well have the Lee Breechlock system on that press. Have you tried depressing the bolthead that butts up against the steel die bushing? The bushing will rotate anti-clockwise and you can pop it out. You can buy inserts that incorporate a locking to achieve exactly the same set/lock/forget that you did with the Hornady LnL system.

Just had a look and yep it has the breech lock steel insert. Not sure if it's really worth the hassle and money as others have pointed out. Especially if I intend to use the same dies for different projectiles etc. It seems a more secure system.than the lnl though than the lnl in that it won't back right out when you want to back you die out a bit with a bit of tension on the lock ring to keep everything a wee bit snug when making fine adjustments.
I note that many people just recommend to locktite it in and spin your dies in and out. Takes 10 seconds instead of.5

you want less run out as far as concentricity goes..when seating stop part way in and rotate shell and continue....Ive always done it as shown to in beginning and when others who were sceptical have tried it then measured,a certain amount of humble pie was soon consumed LOL.