Remaking a press part properly this time.

Ian

Notorious member
Now that I have a lathe....

Years ago I converted a Lee Classic Turret press to a Pro-1000 progressive by grinding the ram adapter down to fit inside the Pro-1000 shellplate carrier. It worked great except the stub was about 3/16" too short and had the primer arm slot cut through it. Eventually the stub collapsed from repeated tightening of the pinch bolt on the shellplate carrier. I decided it was high time to fix it now that I had a lathe and some 4140 steel round bar.

20200607_164959.jpg

The old modified part on the left (with epoxy filling the slot to direct spent primers through the ram), the new and improved ram top installed on the right:

20200607_174539.jpg
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Isn’t it nice to be able to modify/fix/improve stuff like that?

Well done
 

Will

Well-Known Member
Looks good. I have to ask what the reason was for converting the turret press?
 

Ian

Notorious member
Looks good. I have to ask what the reason was for converting the turret press?

I basically took the top end of a Pro-1000 progressive (that had the flimsy cast aluminum housing, crappy primer catch system, and .860" ram) and stuck it on the beefy, sturdy Classic Turret bottom end. Now I have a 1.115" ram and half an inch more stroke which allows me to visually inspect the powder charge in a .45 Colt case without a mirror. The extra stroke also allows me to load .308 on this using a .45 ACP shellplate.
 

Will

Well-Known Member
Well that explains it. The lee classic turret is a very good platform to start off of.
 

RBHarter

West Central AR
Sweet .
I need to decide on a donor press for a threaded ram for a swage die set unless someone has a Pacific Super Deluxe to trade for a Deluxe with a whole compliment of rams . Good times .....