LEE Turret Press 9mm Case Retention Mod.

[1SOW]

What a title.
For Lee Turret Press Users:  I got tired of the couple thousand times per month of having to bump the 9mm case back into the shelholder after the turret rotates and jostles it out a little.  If you go too fast, you bang the case against the die or have a misaligned primer hole.

Any way,  Wobbly showed the Case Retention device on the 550B that prevents this "irritant",  and I came up with an idea that has been working very well for a couple of  thousand loads.

I used about three coils of a fine wire spring that would "fit snugly" around the case holder.  On the top end of the spring, I bent about 1/2"+ straight, so it "pointed at the shell holder opening" .  I then cut a very small piece of steel into an "arrowhead" shape and soldered it to the end of the spring so it would just make contact with the case on the right side against the bottom of the case --  AND HOLD IT IN PLACE.  The arrowhead could be cut shorter by almost half  than my first try shows below.
This first one I made is crude, but it works so well I haven't wanted to remove and refine it.  The cases easily slip past the retainer which prevents the case from jostling out as the turret rotates.  Finished Cartridges also pop out smoothly as the retainer retracts .
This pic is the only one my camera /or the photographer could get into focus,  but it should at least make my explaination a little more clear.  The glare is from my case light mounted on the right side .

[jameslovesjammie]

Very interesting! 

Are you able to change the shellholder with this modification?

[1SOW]

I personally don't need to;  but yes,  its just a matter of pulling the whole spring off the top of the shell holder. 

It's just a coil spring with the steel tip  attached.
I drilled a tiny hole in the steel tip, and made a very small 90 deg bend on the tip of the spring wire.  With that tip of the spring in the hole , I soldered them together, so it's mechanically joined and soldered together as a fairly strong single unit.

This actually works amazingly well.  Not all my bright ideas work with no weaknesses,  but this simple mod does.  I can slide a case in place and cycle through all the dies fast with just one hand on the handle.  The case centers in the dies/primer seat 100% of the time.

The "trick", is to find a coil spring that fits snugly with a light gage wire.  I'm a pack rat for springs, so found one in my storage bins.

It's all Wobbly's doing, by showing how the "Blue Mercedes"  retains the cases aligned properly.  My little "Red 4-Cylinder" gained from that example.