Lee loadmaster tips and tricks

L

Luis1

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 100%
5   0   0
Hi all,

I have been reloading for a few years now, began life with a Lee classic turret press. I have since wanted to dive into the world of progressives to reload calibres such as 223 and 9mm. So I picked up a Lee loadmaster 223 progressive press from budget shooter supply, great service! I still use my turret for case prep and for 45-70.

My question is, I have noticed the load master can be a bit finicky and was wondering from those who use one and enjoy it what tips and tricks they have to get er to run smoothly and efficiently. And for those who want say get a Dillon, trust me I would love one, but current funds don't allow me to get one, and for the amount of rounds I intend to crank out, I can't justify the price of a Dillon.

Thanks!
 
Check youtube. Lots of great loadmaster vids there. Also, don't forget to grease it (it comes with nipples), i put 30wt motor oil on the ram, and don't forget to clean out the spent priners lol.

Oh yeah, probably the biggest tip that nobody mentions... You need to bolt it to something that is STURDY. Like so that nothing flexes when you are resizing brass. If it's flexing around, you'll have priming problems, and you could break something.
 
The only one mod I've done to mine is install a single led light under the powder charging station. Saw the vid on YouTube. If for some reason, there's no primer present, I can clearly see a blue light shining through the flash hole before I fill with powder. I still get the odd flipped primer, but if everything is clean and tuned, it's only one out of 200 or so. Depending on brass and primers. Mine likes federal spp. Not as reliable with the cheap dominion primers. The rest of the press is trouble free and has been for 20-30k rounds.
 
As said by Smcx, keep the shell plate area fairly clean, and lube the press. I do not lube around the shell plate, instead I polished the shell plate (Youtube.) Oil inside there will encourage powder and debris to collect. A quick wipe of the ram with some light oil every sitting and grease in the nipples every 1-2k. I also put a small amount of petroleum jelly on the side of the press where the flipper slides. I find the case feeder can be pretty finicky, once tuned up there seems to be a rhythm to the pull of the ram that helps, I start the pull with a slight snap from the bottom to get the brass in the shell plate, then the rest of the stroke is more deliberate, keep an eye on the flipper and make sure to push all the way home at top and bottom and feeling for obstruction, correct as needed. Also the primer feed system is a bit finicky, this is where you want to keep your powder out of that primer feed trough. It also helps a bit to take the primer feed trough apart and lightly polish it inside to remove casting flash (youtube.) Start up with the trough empty, fill the primer feed tray, flip them all and put the cover on, I use a barrette to hold the primers back as I assemble the tray on to the trough because it is thin enough to fully assemble the tray to the trough before releasing primers. Some will flip for sure and maybe jam up the primer feed system if you do not do this. Remove the tray and refill with another 100 when primers are part way down the trough, at the end I just run them all through by carefully shaking to encourage feeding then once I can't see the primers in the trough anymore, I open the retaining arm at the powder drop and check for a primer before dropping my charge in, you may encounter a flipped primer or 2 here since the primers in the trough seem to help with feeding but this way I don't need to remove the shell plate and primer feed at the end of my run, just at the beginning to verify it is clean. For me I can pump out about 200 rounds an hour or so of 9mm once I have it dialed in right, just take a quick peak at your primer trough at the bottom of the stroke to make sure it is still feeding, and a quick look inside your brass to confirm powder charge as you place your bullet. With tuning and technique described above I am getting about 200/h after setting up (even if left set up, check the primer system is free of debris and lubricate as described) and about 5% have to be pulled for a flipped primer. I quickly inspect each cartridge by packaging them in old boxes and looking/feeling the tops for varying OAL and primer seat depth etc.(obviously measure at the beginning of your run and every once and a while though out, say with every primer system fill) 100% of those that make it in to my ammo can have worked well for me over the past 3-4k cartridges made.
 
Luis1 said:
Smcx thanks I'll do that. And kryogen what did I litterally say in my first post lol
Click to expand...

yes, I know, and after trying all the fixes, changing twice the priming system and watching all the videos, I just determined that priming and case feeding wouldnt work reliably, so I bought a dillon instead, and it just works...

I keep my loadmaster for small trial batches just because I have it.

if you hand feed primed cases, it "works" to powder, seat, crimp.
 
Kryogen said:
yes, I know, and after trying all the fixes, changing twice the priming system and watching all the videos, I just determined that priming and case feeding wouldnt work reliably, so I bought a dillon instead, and it just works...

I keep my loadmaster for small trial batches just because I have it.

if you hand feed primed cases, it "works" to powder, seat, crimp.
Click to expand...

So two posts of absolutely no relevance to the OP's question. Thanks for nothing. BTW my two Loadmasters work extremely well including the priming systems so maybe it's you.
 
I've been using a Loadmaster for a few months now. It does work but it is finicky, there are many aspects of its operation that can go wrong. So far I've loaded about 2000 9mm and 45acp and I feel I've now got a pretty good idea of how to fix problems and, more importantly, how to recognize (from the feel of the pull) that something's gone wrong. This is particularly important because you need to stop and fix the problem right away - impatience will break things.

Definitely read the stuff on the Internet, particularly the shell plate fix for 9mm (if you're doing 9mm).
 
Yeah, getting to know the feel is important. That said, I've had one flipped primer in the last 3k loaded. My primer system, large and small, seems to work fine. Maybe because I have the resizing die above the primer feed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
When I get going, I usually load about 800 per hour.

The blue light idea is cool, I'll have to try that!
 
Thanks for the advice everyone! I have done the resizing die above the primer feed and the priming system almost ran flawlessly. (had one turned sideways primer). I have loaded about 160 rounds of 223 so far, not to bad and all I had time for unfortunately, also found out that this priming system doesn't like swagged crimp brass unless it's reamed out. I only have the rcbs swagger, don't think it's consistent like the super swage 600. Also read up on how to smooth out the operation. Will do that when I have time too.
 
ted_dent said:
So two posts of absolutely no relevance to the OP's question. Thanks for nothing. BTW my two Loadmasters work extremely well including the priming systems so maybe it's you.
Click to expand...

When there is an internet forum and a website dedicated to "fixing loadmaster issues", it probably means something, it probably means that it's not just me.
There is no "fix dillon press" forum and website..... where they show you how to fix what should have been working in the first place.
 
I just ordered the new lee auto-drum powder measure. Apparently it may be the best auto powder measure on the market. (Also got 10 lee decapping pins shipping from lee for free as I addeded them to my purchase and they showed up as $0.00)
 
OK kryogen, how about you send me the money to buy a Dillon and I'll be happy then? No? OK well my question still stands, this is what I could afford and I don't regret buying it. It works well enough for what I want and I have no problem tuning or tweaking something if it finicky. I knew full well when I bought it that they were finicky.

If I wanted to know how people sold their loadmasters and bought a Dillon I would have made a thread titled, "selling my loadmaster and buying a Dillon"

To the rest of you who shared your input, I appreciate it all. I will be taking you up on many of your suggestions, so far the loadmaster works well for me and has produced some decent rounds already.
 
Smcx said:
I just ordered the new lee auto-drum powder measure. Apparently it may be the best auto powder measure on the market. (Also got 10 lee decapping pins shipping from lee for free as I addeded them to my purchase and they showed up as $0.00)
Click to expand...

When I ordered the load master it came with the new auto drum. It's very smooth and from what I have seen so far is it will dispense a charge that is either on the money or +/- 0.1 gr with powders like imr 4895 without ever shearing powder. That I like. Makes for a very pleasurable loading experience imo.
 
Last edited:
Using Dominion small pistol primers I have about a 1% tipped primer issue, occasionally 2%. With CCI I have had no primer tips. The primers do not go upside down by themselves! Flipping them onto cardboard, then into the tray works very well. Of course, depending on the primers, you may have to do it twice. The new square tray works pretty well.

Cut a very thin piece of Al (dryer duct thin) to make a holder for inserting the small primer case into the slide. The barrette is a good choice as well. Perhaps a piece of plastic from an old credit card would work just fine as well.

In just over a year with 20,000 plus loads of 9mm, 38super, 40SW, and 308, I have worn out some my Loadmaster parts. I have changed out the feed troughs (the hole gets wide at the base allowing for primer pin misalignment and crushed/tipped primers), broke one primer feed pin, cracked/broke the carrier where the rocker (for primers pin) attaches. I found that for the small primer assembly, removing the spring under the primer trough prevents the pin from tipping outward and slowly wearing the hole wider, which leads to tipped primers or crescent marks on the primers. It also saves damage to the carrier from the pin contacting the edge of the shell case. This one area if examined on a regular basis and parts changed as needed will reduce the "primier feeding pain" that so many people experience! Consider some of these parts consumables/expendables. They are not expensive and should be changed out as needed. Using a blank resizing die over the primer hole may actually exacerbate the problem when loading pistol cases as a slight misalignment will self-correct if the casing has some wiggle room while the primer is making contact with the case.

Ensure your die carrier is properly seated and remains tight.

Recently I have noticed my shell-plate is not indexing fully to the ideal position. Most times it will index to the correct spot on the upstroke as one of the cases contacts a die but I have been slightly wiggling the case to ensure the ideal spot. I probably need a new indexing arm as the tip is definitely worn. You may notice this as when your cases are catching on the resizer on the way up, but occasionally the cases catch from sliding out of position due to vibration.

You may notice excess pressure when sizing some brass that you may have purchased, new or used! It feels similar to crunching a primer, but since it is a progressive press, resizing will always be the largest force. Depending on the used brass, some of the +P brass had glue used to hold the primers. Watch for the decapping pin to push up! If it does, you can simply use a plastic hammer to tap it down and pop out the spent primer. Most pistol cases are not crimped for primers; if you have crimped ones, just toss them out. As many of you may have already done, letting a spent primer rotate to the priming stage can be noisy or worse, damage the priming system or carrier; but but usually it is just frustrating to reset the press.

I just made 300 .308 and 2,000 9mm cartridges over the weekend in my spare time. Maybe I need a better press; but at what cost? If I could get a 650XL with similar features for even twice (maybe 3x) the price I might jump, but if you do the math the cost to convert what I need would be well over $2k cdn - less than the cost of a typical Open or Standard gun. I am such a cheap-a$$!
 
Kryogen said:
When there is an internet forum and a website dedicated to "fixing loadmaster issues", it probably means something, it probably means that it's not just me.
There is no "fix dillon press" forum and website..... where they show you how to fix what should have been working in the first place.
Click to expand...
Whoops, now up to 3 totally non helpful posts. And BTW Dillon presses do have issues. I have several friends with Dillons and all of them at one time or another have had to repair or replace parts. But of course you haven't, right? :rolleyes:
 
ted_dent said:
Whoops, now up to 3 totally non helpful posts. And BTW Dillon presses do have issues. I have several friends with Dillons and all of them at one time or another have had to repair or replace parts. But of course you haven't, right? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

right

It's been working awesomely well and it's such a pleasure to use that I bite myself for wasting money on a loadmaster when I should have spent a little more up front and I should have bought a dillon 650 right away.

I'm telling you, in a few years, you will buy a 650 anyway.
 
My Loadmaster ran like a champ right out of the box. Several thousand rounds of 9mm and a few thousand 40. No issues.

At the 1000 round mark I dismantled and polished the bottom of the shell plate and the places that it rubs. Glides so sweetly now. No gritty feeling.

I also had issues with primer tipping, but it has been completely due to the Dominion printers, no others have that problem.

Mounted directly bolted to a 3/8" steel plate and the plate attached to my sturdy workbench. No flex.
 
When I first got mine, I fought and fought with the case feeder system.
Wouldn't push the case all the way in, wouldn't retract the feed ram in time, sticky, too loose.......:runaway:. The herky-jerky motions also caused more primer issues than I cared to count. After a particularly frustrating run, I ripped off the case feeder guide rod (the square one). Literally. Don't remember my exact words, probably incoherent swearing, but I tore the guide rod off and hurled it across the basement. I did not smash the press with a hammer, but I believe I really wanted to.

After calming down a bit, I looked at the carnage I caused (said F__K! a lot) and thought of a work-around. With the rod MIA and its mount broken, I focused my attention on the case feeder. A scrap .223 case, a little Dremel time and some epoxy and I glued a "handle" on the end of the case slider. To stop it from coming off the rail, I wrapped a small zip strap to the end that acts as a stop.

Now the press runs like a dream. No more binding, way smoother and the priming issues have all disappeared. I added one more step in my reloading sequence (>feed the case<, add a bullet, pull the handle) but it hasn't slowed me down all that much. I do ~300/hour, including tumbling and chamber checking each batch.

(E) :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom