What to get first...neck turning lathe or Hydro press?

Hey guys,

I've got most of the reloading 'cool guy gear', but I'm lacking in both neck turning and arbor seating w/ a pressure gauge. I technically have a neck turner (RCBS), however the cutter is secured by a set screw, and is kind of difficult to get consistent cuts...as a result, I don't mess with it for match brass.

I was thinking about taking advantage of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale 21st has going on...so...what do you feel would result in more points in MR/LR comps? One of their powered turning lathes, or a hyrdo press?

Thanks!

 

Neck turning lathe ..

 

I vote for neck turning lathe. I'm using the 21st century system and I am very impressed. The cutter can be adjusted with .0001 increments. The cutter housing floats in a shock mount arrangements so that the mandrel can follow the orientation of the neck. After sizing again, I am getting run outs of .0005 (half a thou). Can't say enough about this product!

 

Pulled the trigger. Looks like we'll be turning some necks.

Thanks guys.

 

Lathe, or go with a PMA turning setup.

 

WWW.benchrite.com case lathe. Top Shelf "cool guy gear"......

Regards
Rick

 

+1 on Benchrite

 

The benchright looks pretty slick, but went with the 21st century powered unit.

I'll grab the hydro in a couple of months, and then my barbie dreamhouse collection will be complete

 

Lathe

 

If you are neck turning to control neck thickness, sizing the neck to control tension and I assume annealing to control how springy the neck is, I'm not sure I would want to know how much the seating pressure is varying. The feel of seating by hand should let you identify the outliers of seating force. I don't think you need a number for that.

 

- Hey, Coleman.
- Yes.

What about lunch?
The lobster or the cracked crab?

- What do you think?
- Can't we have both?

Why not?

- Dimitri.
- Sir.

- Lobster and cracked crab for everyone.
- Extra prima good, Mr Coleman, sir.

 

^ ah back when they could actually make great movies......

And don’t forget, it was the dukes it was the dukes it was the dukes!

 

Negative...I say that every time I get the latest and greatest...the $hit never ends.

 

Nope never!

 

It helps but you cannot buy results. Most people try but they never get near the top. Personal skills at the range rule.

 

I'm not trying to buy results. I'm trying to buy additional consistency on target (in a zero wind condition), which theoretically neck turning and/or hydro-seating will provide.

I know and shoot with a lot of 'top talent' shooters. You don't find much cheap gear on their bench. They certainly aren't buying the results, but I suspect it would take a hefty sum of money for any of them to willingly convert to an 'all Lee' bench.

Thinking that through, that would actually be hilarious to watch. Lee should partner up with Nosler & Ramshot to sponsor an F-Class team.

 

Mmmmmm
Didn't you just win a shoot in Louisiana?
Which leads me to believe your shooting just fine.

 

Yeah. I was all excited about that too.

Score sheet came out a week later; turns out I was the only TR guy there that day. The other bipods I saw were open guys. LOL!

So...here we are...

 

I guess the answer to you question revolves around time. You can turn case neck’s very accurately with a hand held K&M neck turner with a cordless drill. Granted the 21’st might be faster and just as accurate. But the hydro- press will show you more. It takes me 2 months to turn 300 cases. 4 hrs every night. This is what you do over the off season.

 

The neck turning lathe, with the power head and all necessary hardware will run you +\- $700, the hydro press is 350-400.