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Had one for years, always a fight with it. Bought a Dillon and wondered why I took so long. As my parents told me you get what you pay for.
 
Still have mine. Replaced with a Dillion XL650.

Now I use the LoadMaster for sizing and depriming only.

The only reason I don't regret buying the LoadMaster is that it now saves the Dillion from having filthy brass run through it.
 
I've never used a Dillon, so I can't actually compare. With that said, my loadmaster has made probably 10k 9mm and 3k .45acp since I got it. I've had a couple of set up challenges, but I've probably only pulled 30 bullets due to mangled primer/no primer. It's acceptable for the $260 I paid. I'm guessing when it's time to sell and upgrade, I won't have any trouble selling it to someone wanting to get into progressive reloading.
 
I still use my lee 1000 progressive, just took me blowing up one HK pistol for me to realize that it's much more reliable if you throw away the primer feeder system.
Now I run all my pistol brass through with just the sizing/decapping die, then hand prime it with my RCBS priming tool, then run it through again with the powder charger and bullet seater dies installed. Takes a lot longer now but my brass gets inspected three times during the loading process and I haven't had a bad load since.

I want a Dillon 650.
 
I like mine. I load a ton of different pistol calibers on it along with 7.62x51 7.62x39 and 223. It is finicky, but once you understand how it feels, it's really fast.
 
There's a "sticky" comparing the dillon, hornady, & lee machines. Take the time to read it. I anguished over the 3 machines. (because I'm cheap). Finally went with the dillon 650 with case feed. No lookin' back-----definately no regrets. You do get what you pay for. Oh, and lifetime no bs guaranty.
 
cr5 said:
I still use my lee 1000 progressive, just took me blowing up one HK pistol for me to realize that it's much more reliable if you throw away the primer feeder system.
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How exactly did the priming system blow up your gun?

I have two Loadmasters and have had them for at least 15 years. Aside from replacing a few small, cheap parts (mainly consumables like the primer slider) they have worked fine for me and I'm talking 10's of 1000's of rounds. The fact is that the vast majority of problems with Loadmasters are operator based. People who complain that they don't work are often the same ones who run their lawnmower for 10 years without changing the oil or sparkplug and then when it craps out it's the machine's fault. Like any machine they have to be maintained. The priming system has to be kept scrupulously clean. Moving parts have to be properly lubed. Crud has to be periodically cleaned off. I don't consider myself especially mechanically inclined but with a little practice l have been able to consistently produce large quantities of good quality reloads on my Loadmasters.

Would I like a Dillon? Sure, who wouldn't. But for the money I saved on these two presses compared to two Dillon 650s I was able to buy two $1000+ handguns. That was a pretty good swap in my estimation. And Dillons break down too. Several of my friends have various model of Dillons and I continually hear how this part or that part broke and they had to order another one.

If you've got $1200-1400 to spend buy a Dilllon 650. But if you want a decent press for $300-400 don't be afraid to go for the Loadmaster. Watch the many videos online and things will go fine.
 
I have one, It's worth the money, but there are better.

Works very well with large primer cases. Will drive you nuts with small primer cases. I just bought a rcbs priming tool so I could pre prime the 9mm.
The lee pro auto disk measure that comes with it is actually one of the better pistol caliber measures, I would put one on an another press.
I don't think it's a heavy enough press to be doing rifle rounds.
 
It works.
You will have a few challenges to start, after that it should be fine.
It is not a Dillon, will not be reliable like a Dillon, but it will also cost you less than half of what you'd pay for a Dillon.

I've been reloading 9mm, 40sw, 45acp, 454 casull and 223 on mine for the past 7 years. Only had issues when I started and most of them were my fault. After that, things are just smooth, even after caliber changes.
 
Lee fixed a lot of issues with the priming system a few years ago, all of the companies have excellent support of their products. The dillion is a beautiful product, but it is very expensive and if you are reloading because you are on a tight budget, then you may not get real value out of that money. I have the Honarndy LNL and Loadmaster, the LNL is a better press, but I can't say the $400 case loading system is 10x better than the $40 Loadmaster case loading system. The biggest issue is that the Loadmaster primes on the upstroke as opposed to the downstroke. If you can't afford to shoot more than a 100 pistol bullets a week, I don't think you will get good value out of your dillion. If you plan to go hot and heavy into IPSC, then yes go for the dillion. Somewhere inbetween you can look at the LNL, but keep in mind the cost of the case loading system. I use the LNL bullet loading die that is quite finicky to get right and just have a tube on top that I load by hand. There are support forums for all the presses where you can get technical help and tips.
 
I had one for a few years and they are good considering what it costs; If you are not mechanically inclined and don't like to tinker with things then it is not the press for you. I had a current production press with the latest primer feed system and overall I was quite happy with it, once the wife got into the sport I decided it was time to upgrade. I went up to a Dillon XL650 with case feeder and bullet feeder, setup in 3 calibers and that set me back about $3k, given the price point of the Loadmaster you better be committed to reloading to drop that kind of money on a press.

I guess you can look at it 2 ways, buy once, cry once or keep the budget low to see if reloading is for you. The Loadmaster is a great platform to get into reloading with a low investment but I know it will test you patience if you don't have the mechanical skills to adjust and troubleshoot it as you go. Personally I don't regret starting with the Loadmaster, it got me going to see if I was really into reloading, in fact I almost enjoy it as much as shooting!

Just remember to take your time with any press you buy, if it doesn't feel or sound right then inspect everything before you break something.
 
I don't hate it.
Of the Lee product I prefer the Pro1000.
1) The priming is on the top of the press in your face and is done when everything else is so you get no feel; they sell a blast shield as an accessory so what does that tell you?
2) I don't like the indexing, it's cheesy IMO.
I have not drank the blue cool aid but if you can afford it they are very good. The Hornady LNL is also very good.
I shoot 3 to 4 thousand pistol rounds a year (lately, it used to be more) and I played with the Load Master and Dillon's, bought several Pro1000's and a LNL and I find myself happy with a Pro1000...It suits my needs which is odd because I usually go overboard with most hobbies...
 
ted_dent said:
How exactly did the priming system blow up your gun?

I have two Loadmasters and have had them for at least 15 years. Aside from replacing a few small, cheap parts (mainly consumables like the primer slider) they have worked fine for me and I'm talking 10's of 1000's of rounds. The fact is that the vast majority of problems with Loadmasters are operator based. People who complain that they don't work are often the same ones who run their lawnmower for 10 years without changing the oil or sparkplug and then when it craps out it's the machine's fault. Like any machine they have to be maintained. The priming system has to be kept scrupulously clean. Moving parts have to be properly lubed. Crud has to be periodically cleaned off. I don't consider myself especially mechanically inclined but with a little practice l have been able to consistently produce large quantities of good quality reloads on my Loadmasters.

Would I like a Dillon? Sure, who wouldn't. But for the money I saved on these two presses compared to two Dillon 650s I was able to buy two $1000+ handguns. That was a pretty good swap in my estimation. And Dillons break down too. Several of my friends have various model of Dillons and I continually hear how this part or that part broke and they had to order another one.

If you've got $1200-1400 to spend buy a Dilllon 650. But if you want a decent press for $300-400 don't be afraid to go for the Loadmaster. Watch the many videos online and things will go fine.
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I was using my pro1000 to load 45auto and I think what happened was that I had a primer jam up or go in sideways (was a few years ago) and in the process of fixing the primer I may have double charged the round. I was my fault but if the primer system was more reliable it wouldn't have happened. That's why I removed the primer system and broke down my reloading procedure into more stages. This has greatly reduced the chances of having things go wrong.
It takes me a lot longer to load up 1000 rounds now but it's still way faster than using my turret press or the single stage press and I am much more confident in my pistol reloads.
I use it for loading 9mm, 45auto, and 44mag and it works fine for all of them as long as you take your time and pay attention to everything that's going on with every stroke of the handle.
It's a decent system and I like it but if money were no object I'd definitely have a Dillon.
 
I've had mine 10+ years. It requires occasional tinkering but once properly set up has run fine for me. Use it for 9mm and 40S&W.

Auggie D.
 
L1911 said:
Don't have loadmaster, but I do have Lee classic turret press for pistol loading only. Have not had any issues and I am not in the rush in reloading either.
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I have been using the Lee Classic Turret press for about six years. I find it a well made user friendly press. I do not need a high volume output as I do not shoot large quantities of hand gun ammunition.
 
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