Recomend me a progressive press!
- Thread starter personal_aviator
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The Lee Loadmaster isn't a bad press. If you are detail oriented, it takes very little to keep it running smoothly. You can't jerk the Lee around like the others, if strokes are smooth, it works well. Choppy or abrupt handling will lead to frustration, maybe a little more than other presses. Same goes for mounting it. All presses should be solidly mounted, no play in the table for best results.
The primer feed has been fixed with a new system a year or so ago. I polished and smoothed a couple places, and it now works very well. The Loadmaster is a very different, and a much better press than the 1000.
If you are impatient, expect everything to work perfectly out of the box, want something that will take abuse and needs no fiddling, then Dillon or Hornady, but you will pay 3 to 4 times as much for similar functionality.
FS Reloading for the Loadmaster, if in stock, is $240 with dies and shellplate. (it seems everyone, including Dillon, is 6-8 weeks backordered)
I also have a full Hornady LnL setup. The Hornady setup (without bullet feeder) but with shell plates, case feeder plates, etc, cost about 7 times as much as the Loadmaster. A Dillon 650 is even more.
Make sure you read the review and assessment of the 3 presses, sticky at the top of this forum. The best, unbiased review you will find.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?127691-dillon-lee-hornady-progressive-comparison
The review itself http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf
The primer feed has been fixed with a new system a year or so ago. I polished and smoothed a couple places, and it now works very well. The Loadmaster is a very different, and a much better press than the 1000.
If you are impatient, expect everything to work perfectly out of the box, want something that will take abuse and needs no fiddling, then Dillon or Hornady, but you will pay 3 to 4 times as much for similar functionality.
FS Reloading for the Loadmaster, if in stock, is $240 with dies and shellplate. (it seems everyone, including Dillon, is 6-8 weeks backordered)
I also have a full Hornady LnL setup. The Hornady setup (without bullet feeder) but with shell plates, case feeder plates, etc, cost about 7 times as much as the Loadmaster. A Dillon 650 is even more.
Make sure you read the review and assessment of the 3 presses, sticky at the top of this forum. The best, unbiased review you will find.
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?127691-dillon-lee-hornady-progressive-comparison
The review itself http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillonLeeHornadyComparison.pdf
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What kind of volume are you looking to reload and how much free time do you have?
Auto indexing is nice, but not required to still do a good deal in little time. I went with a Dillon 550b and would recommend it for mid to higher volume loading. (But since I haven't had any problems with the 550b, I haven't really had a reason to try the other brands.)
Auto indexing is nice, but not required to still do a good deal in little time. I went with a Dillon 550b and would recommend it for mid to higher volume loading. (But since I haven't had any problems with the 550b, I haven't really had a reason to try the other brands.)
I love all these comments.
I have had 3, yes 3 Lee-1000's running at the same time. They are decent presses.
Are they even in the same league as a Dillon 550 or other press? Hell no.
If you are on a budget; Lees are goods starters, but don't expect to pump out 500 rounds an hour. You should triple-quadruple your single stage times (say 150-250 rounds an hour).
You do however get dies, a shell plate and case feeder with a lee. I never once had any issues with case feeding rimmed cartridges. I still have a Pro-1000 setup for making .38 Special ammunition. My Lee setup for .40 was a case feeding PITA.
They ARE finicky and tempermental. You need to balance your $, with your requirements (ammo usage), and your time to manufacture as well as efficiency.
I also have a Hornady LNL AP for my 40 usage now, but I still use the Lee with the .38's
Looking at a press is like a math formula.
# = $ x t x α
# = Ammunition requirements
$ = Press expendature
t = Personal time for reloading
α = efficiency (time loading versus tweaking/refilling expendables)
You need to know 3 variables to get the 4th.
I have the new loadmaster priming arm and it will just refuse to work.
I cleaned it, dried it, clipped that small plastic part, did everything, it still fails to prime properly. I get crushed, tipped or missing primers like 1/5.
Casefeeder is junk. Doesn't work for 223, and puts like 1 in 10 9mm brass upside down... maybe it works for .40 or .45
Oh, I know that fix you can do cutting smaller holes in a plastic lid... it's still junk to me, it's faster to just hand feed tubes really.
Other than that the indexing arm sometimes works not so smoothly and you have to adjust it sometimes.
Other than that, like I said, it's a decent press to reload pre-primed hand fed brass. I used it to reload probably 1000 223 and 1000 9mm so far and it did the job. Just don't expect it to be super convenient.
I cleaned it, dried it, clipped that small plastic part, did everything, it still fails to prime properly. I get crushed, tipped or missing primers like 1/5.
Casefeeder is junk. Doesn't work for 223, and puts like 1 in 10 9mm brass upside down... maybe it works for .40 or .45
Oh, I know that fix you can do cutting smaller holes in a plastic lid... it's still junk to me, it's faster to just hand feed tubes really.
Other than that the indexing arm sometimes works not so smoothly and you have to adjust it sometimes.
Other than that, like I said, it's a decent press to reload pre-primed hand fed brass. I used it to reload probably 1000 223 and 1000 9mm so far and it did the job. Just don't expect it to be super convenient.
I call BS on that.. When I was selling the Dillion's you could get a complete 650 all the bells and whistles shipped tax in for about 1000.. Not that much has changed.. the 650 is ~600 the casefeeder is ~235 and a set of dies is ~75.. with your 240 for a loadmaster and a dillon at ~910 not sure where you get more then 7 times. and your not even comparing apples to apples.. Maybe you got hosed...
PS the review is slightly biased however it is very good..
Maybe you put less "bells and whistles" than others... my 650 cost +/- $1500 with "what's needed"... including case feeder plates, and all things required to load multiple calibers. The plain press is less than 1k$
i'm running a rcbs pro2000 ap i like it , fast and easy to change cal I would recomend it if you do alot of diffrent cal , but its not all that common , and the lock n load auto wasn't out when i bought this or i would prob have gone that way .
And then we add a strong mount, a roller handle, a powder alert (unless it comes with it?), extra primer tubes, some bins, etc...
The last two guys I know were closer to $1600.00 after taxes and freight (northern BC) for the full kit - less bullet feeder.
Why did you ignore the part in my post that said "Dillon/Hornady will cost 3-4 times as much for the same functionality" ? Because that way you couldn't complain as much? Does it make you feel better writing bs in bold?
Add a half dozen shellplates, die bushings (toolheads for the 650), half dozen+ primer tubes each in large and small, 4 shell plates for the case feeder.... It adds up REALLY quickly. How much will half dozen quick change toolheads cost for a 650? For the Loadmaster, they are less than $50 including shellplate, and about the same for die bushings and shellplate for the LnL.
And no, I actually got my stuff used, for well below current cost (still over $1000). I also get a lot of accessories in the US. Still, new cost including tax for my current setup would be pretty close to 6-7 times the current cost of the Loadmaster, not including dies.
An equivalent 650 setup would have cost WELL over $2k. (Tax would be more than a Loadmaster.) The 6 quick change toolheads and conversion kits alone are well over $1k.
And, please explain HOW that review is biased?
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The point was more that it is not B.S. saying a Dillon 650 costs more than 1K when you add what's needed. Don't get offended
personal_aviator
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I understand the dillon is more expensive bit the warranty alone is worth it. Never mind the quality of it. I plan to shoot 500 rounds a week if I can. I want to start getting into competitive shooting and want as much ammo as I can make so I can practice lots. I hate limiting how mug ammo I brig to the range so I don't run out lol.
