Lee Loadmaster for 45 colt

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I found a good deal yesterday while searching amazon.ca on a Lee Loadmaster for a 45colt.

The cheapest that I've seen these were $380 (for a 9mm) at one of the sponsor sites. Yesterday, the price at amazon was $276 (reg $449), with one stock left so I decided to snag it.

I've heard stories both good and bad about the Loadmaster. Hoping it won't be a nightmare setting it up as I currently have Turret press (classic) which works fantastic. This will be a good venture to try especially at a very good price.

If I can get the 45 colt to load reliably on a progressive, I'll buy the additional upgrades for the 45 acp and 9mm.
 
I have a loadmaster and load 8mm mauser, 308, 30-06, 6.5cm and have no issues with the press
The only issues I had were with inconsistent powder charges from the perfect powder measure. Now I use a Rcbs charge master for my powder measure and all is good
I've never loaded 45 colt but hear that it's an easy one to load
 
Unfortunately, most people don't realize how bad Lee progressives are until they pull the crank on a decent press.
(Like me)

In the world of progressive reloading presses; the phrase "you get what you paid for." is 100% accurate.

Best of luck - you're going to need it.
 
I have loaded thousands of round with a Lee LM. They're not half as bad as some would lead you to believe. They are not as pleasant to use as Hornady or dillon, but for half or a third of the price, they do the job.

You can load a many ammo/hour with a LM as any dillon due to the "free" case collator. Even if you sometimes have to stop to tighten a screw here and there, at the end of a session your count is the same because you don't need 3 hands on a LM, just one to pull the handle and one to set a bullet, so you never have to stop. On a dillon you stop every round, because there's 3 operation: placing a case, setting a bullet and pulling the handle. You can circumvent that with either a bullet or case feeder, but either cost more than a LM.

I have a hornady now, so I keep the LM only for depriming. It's REALLY fast to deprime due to the case collator, and since depriming doesn't need any force anywhere in the system, there's never anything to readjust. I must say loading with the hornady is more pleasant than loading with the LM, but not any faster. I think it's slower, more like 400 rounds/hour instead of 500 with the Lee. The count would increase a lot with an automatic bullet feeder, but a BF also cost the same as a what I paid for the hornady.
 
I got the Loadmaster setup for the 45 colt. Took my time to properly setup the dies, case feeder timing. Watched GunBlue's youtube videos on how to properly grease the press.

First couple of rounds, the primers were not seated flush. I like to seat my primers just a tad deeper. Got that sorted out.

Once it is all setup, took my time to index from one station to another ensuring primers were seating and all were ok.

Using the lee autodrum was a breeze with it.

Only downside is that on the last 2-3 primers, I have to ensure that primer is being grabbed by the primer loading arm else no primer will be seated. It is recommended to have the trough loaded for gravity feed.

I can just count the rounds and use a craft store pipe cleaner to push the last two primers in for loading. I'll probably insert an LED under the plate to help indicate if there is a primer or not.

I like this press especially for $272 with all the dies to get going.
 
If you're financially challenged like me the Loadmaster is an excellent option. I bought a used one for super cheap so no complaints. I added the drum powder dropper as I couldn't stomach the chain on the the disc one. It does require a lot of tweaking along the way but it gets the job done until I can afford something better.
 
It took a lot of tweaking but I finally have my load master running and feeling like a dream now, also have the bullet feed and case collater so I do 100 rounds at a time, the only thing I have to tighten is the turret lock screw every once in a while, I keep everything sufficiently greased as well.
 
The loadmaster needs some tweeking to make it work but if you have some mechanical ability it's not as bad as some make it out to be.
 
now all we need is for ondin son or evil lord pepper to chime in and the usual suspects will be complete- it's kind of funny how it's akk the same guys- mention lee and they come flying out of the woodwork- as far as they're concerned Richard lee can't crap right= iff lee products were as bad as hat they let on, the ee would be full of folks trying to flog them, but it isn't I have 3 lee 1000 AND A LOADMASTER AS WELL AS DILLON nad it"s the LOADMASTER that does yeoman service_ what does THAT tell you?= nd don't be afraid to pick up the phone or e-mail them when the need arises- the only piece of kit lee makes that I have regretted is the bullet feeder, and that's b/c it can't keep up with me
 
I load 110 or 112 primers into the tray. This keeps the column full so no worries about the last few not feeding every batch of 100.

Auggie D.
 
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