Lee Loadmaster

[samfried]

Hello all, I have been lurking here for a while, learning lots from all of you. I'd like to start reloading and want to jump right in to progressive. Do any of you have a Lee Loadmaster that you don't use and are willing to sell ?

[Vance]

I definitely would not choose a Lee Loadmaster as your first press. A Lee Classic 4 hole Turret press would be more appropriate. I have owned a Loadmaster and in my opinion it is a hunk of junk. The Classic Turret is a much better press.

[skizzums]

I dont and never have, owned a loadmaster. But just seeing the posts here about the adjusting and tweaking needed to make them "run", makes me think they are probably a terrible press for a new loader. Unfortunately there aren't really any other "cheap" options for a progressive, but probably with good reason. I would go with a turret.

BTW, I have been on a single stage for 3 years and shoot way above average. I still haven't found the need to upgrade and probably never will. If you honestly think your going to shoot more than 7-800 rounds a month, then I would say a progressive would be best. But it doesn't take a lot of time to load a couple hundred a week, and a turret would make it even quicker. Good luck

[StripesDude]

I've been reloading on a loadmaster for a year now and it's been great. Some say they need a lot of tweaking - mine didn't. And I'd say if you aren't mechanically inclined, then find a different hobby.

That said, mine isn't for sale. And I did start on a Lee Classic turret and used that for a year before upgrading to progressive. Now the turret is reserved for 223 and handgun calibers I don't shoot often.

[samfried]

Thanks guys. I still want one though, I'm annoyingly stubborn like that. I plan on taking it very slowly, and am usually pretty good at keeping track of a few things going on at once. I'm hoping that by setting it up correctly, and only loading one caliber, I won't need to tweak it at all.

[dyl]

I use a Lee Loadmaster. I don't think it offers anything over their cheaper progressive since I separated bullet seating from crimping to avoid crunching the cases. But I have no regrets.

They're the underdog. They're not perfect. I do have interruptions every now and then from the case feeder (I can push it forward with my finger). If you try to look at all the tweaks it can be overwhelming.
I'm not using any tweaks in mine other than I have a separate factory crimp die rather than combining bullet seating and crimping.

Not for sale! (it's the only one I have).

If you want to post a WTB add, go to the for sale subforum

[PolarFBear]

Lee makes excellent products for the price. I started with Lee Classic 3-holer. Still have it. Moved on to the Lee Pro 1000 (have several). Next was the Load Master. Loaded a lot with all the Lee's. THEN-- I got a Dillon 550. My Lee's have gathered dust ever since. Dillon's cost more, they can use the Lee dies including the powder measure. I am thankful for the Lee's that got me started BUT go for the Dillon. You will not be sorry nor as "frustrated" as you will be with the Load Master.

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by PolarFBear

Lee makes excellent products for the price. I started with Lee Classic 3-holer. (edited for brevity)

The Lee Classic Turret was never offered with a 3-hole turret disk. The original Deluxe Turret (or, since it was the only turret from Lee for a while, just the Lee Turret) has an aluminum base and the Classic Turret has and always has had a cast iron base. The Classic turret is far superior to the Deluxe turret and is the newer of the two designs.

Lee REALLY SHOULD use a better naming convention. The Lee Classic Press is a single stage. The Lee Reloader Pressis a simple leverage basic press. The Lee Lloader is a kit of dies that is powered with a mallet, not a press. Lee just invites confusion all over the place.

As far as the rest of your post, It is spot on. Thanks for making it.

Lost Sheep

[Lost Sheep]

Aside from eye protection and manuals, you only need three things (physically) to load good ammo. (Of course, you would be severely limited in some ways, but capable of producing one round at a time, but safely.)

Press because fingers are not strong enough to form metal
Dies because fingers are not accurate enough to form metal to SAAMI specs
Scale (or calibrated dippers) because eyeballs are not accurate enough to measure out gunpowder.

A set of calipers would be a good idea, too, just to verify dimensions.

Everything else can be done without, substituted for or improvised until you can afford to buy good, quality gear.

But it is more efficient and cost effective to get equipment that fits your needs now and for the near/foreseeable future.

We could target our advice better if you shared some information about yourself: (What I use has no relevance to you if our needs are not similar.)

What gear to choose depends on what its purposes will be. What are yours? So, I have some questions for you before I can be more specific.

What calibers/chamberings will you be reloading?

What quantities will you be reloading for those calibers? (Per month)

How much time will you be willing to devote to those quantities?

How large of production runs before swapping calibers?

What is your budget for the initial purchase? (Not components, just the equipment)

Will you want to get your entire setup at once or, after an initial setup that does all you need, add accessories and conveniences as your experience suggests and finances permit?

Will you be putting your gear away after each session or leave it set up permanently?

How much space will you devote permanently to a loading area, if any?

Do you want it to be portable?

What are your shooting goals? Cheap ammo? Ultimate long-range accuracy? Casual plinking, Serious competition - what kind? Cowboy Action Shooting? Strictly hunting? Personal defense? Skills development?

Lost Sheep

[Mobuck]

I've not found the LEE progressives to provide satisfactory priming performance for my needs.

[Lost Sheep]

Originally Posted by Mobuck

I've not found the LEE progressives to provide satisfactory priming performance for my needs.

The priming on my Lee Pro-1000 left a lot to be desired, too. But I wonder where exactly yours fell short and on what model(s).

Where mine failed was the gravity feed of the primers down the plastic chute, especially the last two to four primers. That is easily explained HOW it happens and the cure is not too difficult. When I got to the last couple of primers, I would assist them down the chute with a special custom-made tool (bent paper ciip).

A second type of failure (possibly related to the first) is sometimes, a primer would not get lined up with the primer's recess in the shell case. Either the primer did not get all the way onto the priming ram or the case got out of position. This was harder to cure.

Sometimes a primer would get sideways or upside down. This is probably due to the primer chute's two sides moving apart, giving the primer enough room to flip over, but I am not sure of this.

So, I had primer feed problems, primer centering problems and primer flipping problems. The first was easily treated. The second was treated with a bit more difficulty. The third required assiduous attention to the primer chute to cure.

My cure was to switch to a Lee Classic Turret. My speed did not suffer and I am relaxed at the end of my loading sessions instead of being a nervous wreck.

Lost Sheep

[WVMountaineer]

I've reloaded for 30 years. Up to about a month ago, it was all on single stage presses. A month ago I bought a Lee Pro 1000 to load 9mm, 45ACP, 38 special, 357 Mag and 44 mag plinking loads. I bought the complete carriers and case feeder needed to do so. Boy, I was going to set the world on fire. I patiently awaited the shipment to arrive.

It came and I bolted the press to the load bench and went about reading the inadequate directions on getting it dialed in for the 9 mm. 5 hours later, I'm disgusted, sweat soaked and ready to beat the thing into small pieces. I was so mad I couldn't sleep. I was determined the thing was JUNK and told myself if the next evening didn't go better, I was sending it back for the Classic turret press.

Time calmed me down and my eyes were opened. If the press doesn't work right, is finicky, or temperamental as suggested, it is the USER causing it. Nothing more. There are plenty of trouble shooting videos available to watch so my best advice is when something starts going awry, stop, figure out what you are doing and, if you can't google it. The answer will be at your finger tips. And, it will show you that it isn't the press or the primer related problems most attribute as the press. It is YOU causing it.

Be sure to keep a can of air handy, be sure to put the powder measure on properly, be sure to not over tighten the chain as it will break, be sure that your brass doesn't have crimped primer pockets, and MAKE SURE YOU GO FULL CYCLE ON THE HANDLE EVERY TIME.

Bottom line, go slow until you get it figured out. You are not going to figure it out until you screw up some. And if you can't figure it out, google it.

BTW, day two found me 45 minutes and 240 rounds later going like a machine. There wasn't one thing on the press that didn't work correctly or needed tweaking if I did my handle work correctly. I think if you are honest you'll see the same results after the initial learning pains. God Bless

[Vance]

Sometimes it is the user. But with Lee equipment, it is also the press at fault. I had a Loadmaster and my problem was mainly with the priming system. I spent 2 months with the press and various web sites and "trouble shooting videos", but nothing worked. I even went so far as to buy all new parts for the priming system with no good results. After not getting anywhere with it, I sold it on ebay for more than half of what I paid for it. I will however, never get the time I wasted on it back. So you can't tell me that every problem with a Lee press is user error. I bought a different brand progressive press and have not had one single problem with it.

After my experience with the Loadmaster, I can't recommend it for anybody, especially someone who has never loaded before. That is why I suggested to the OP A Lee Classic Cast turret press. I have used one of them and the only problem with it I had was the last 2 primers would not feed from the primer feeder. Big deal, the primers were always right side up, never sideways or upside down and I never had problems seating primers even in tight primer pockets.

[samfried]

"Welcome to reloading. Thanks for asking our advice.

What gear to choose depends on what its purposes will be. What are yours? So, I have some questions for you before I can be more specific.

What calibers/chamberings will you be reloading?

What quantities will you be reloading for those calibers? (Per month)

How much time will you be willing to devote to those quantities?

How large of production runs before swapping calibers?

What is your budget for the initial purchase? (Not components, just the equipment)

Will you want to get your entire setup at once or, after an initial setup that does all you need, add accessories and conveniences as your experience suggests and finances permit?

Will you be putting your gear away after each session or leave it set up permanently?

How much space will you devote permanently to a loading area, if any?

Do you want it to be portable?

What are your shooting goals? Cheap ammo? Ultimate long-range accuracy? Casual plinking, Serious competition - what kind? Cowboy Action Shooting? Strictly hunting? Personal defense? Skills development?

Lost Sheep

Firstly, thank you everyone for trying to help me out. For now all I will be reloading is .40 s&w . As time goes on I hope to buy more guns, and reload for those too. But for now I don't need to swap calibers. My primary reason to reload is to save money. I plan on reloading about 500 rounds at a time. I plan on shooting per month as many rounds as I can afford, right now that is not much but hopefully at some later time it will be. I plan on taking it very slow and triple checking everything in the beginning, but I don't want to spend much time on it. (This is before I've tried it, I heard from many that they just enjoy spending time reloading) I plan on making plinking rounds, but I think I'll enjoy finding the perfect round for my gun.
I know I don't need a progressive but I want one. I do plan on adding to my press as I go along, and money is definitely an issue. I can get a set on eBay for about $235, but I'm going to try to find a used one for a bit less. So what do you guys think ?

[WVMountaineer]

Vance, not every problem with any press is on the user. I think you took my words to an absolute.

You keep talking about priming problems that even a replaced priming system didn't fix. What were the problems? God Bless

[rodfac]

I've loaded my own ammunition for over 50 years now....received a Loadmaster for Christmas one year from my two sons. It was arguably the most frustrating piece of mechanical equipment I've ever operated. (I'm a retired Air Force and airline pilot with considerable experience with things mechanical!).

In particular, the priming assembly broke countless times...over ten at any rate. And nearly every session wound up with me readjusting the case feed, primer arm assembly and sometimes the powder measure.

If you want a progressive, do yourself a huge favor and buy a Dillon 550B. It will work the first time and every time with virtually no maintenance nor parts breakage. I have two, one set up permanently for small primers, the other for large. If you ever have a problem, Dillon's customer service is the model for the industry in my opinion. And if you ever get tired of shooting or reloading, you can sell it in a heartbeat...just try finding one used some time, you'll see what I mean. They're that good...

Rod

[Vance]

The priming system issues I had were primers seated in cases sideways or upside down, not seating deep enough( which I fixed the other 2 problems not) and not feeding from the primer tray into the trough/ramp leading to the primer feed arm. A few months after I sold the Loadmaster, Lee is rumoured to have fixed these problems but I have heard people still having problems and there is even a guy who will modify the primer assembly to work.
http://www.mikesreloadingbench.com/index.html He even has other mods he will do for you. That;s great if you already have a Loadmaster you don't use, but is not feasable to purchase a Loadmaster , then pay him to modify it to work. Might as well buy a progressive press that works properly right out of the box.

[Mobuck]

I had all the problems listed. I tried a number of times to make the thing work properly-I'm both a very experienced reloader and very mechanically adept. Nothing worked and I sold the press. Bought a used Dillon SDB and found it didn't work either. Sent Dillon back for a factory re-furb and it works quite well. Dillon still has quirks but is far better than LEE progressive.
I use a lot of LEE equipment and have set up a 4 hole turret as a "sequential" to load prepped(sized, trimmed, and primed) .223 brass. I have a powder drop station, a neck uniformer/powder check station, a bullet seat, and a crimp station. A single case runs the four positions and comes off fully loaded.

[CowTowner]

I've been using a LLM for 8 years now. Yes, it gave me some grief in the beginning. Once I understood how everything functioned and that proper setup for every step is crucial, it runs smooth as can be.
I do recommend you head over to http://loadmastervideos.com/ and lurk around there. Lots of great info for the LLM user.
I've found most (not all) of the negative comments come from those that either don't like Lee to begin with or those that were impatient and/or expected perfection out of the box.
Once you get the press figured out and setup correctly, you'll love it.
All that said, I have over the last year had "Magic Mike" perform the mod for the priming system on my LLM. It did improve it.

[StripesDude]

What Cow Towner said....

Magic Mike does some great stuff. I live a few minutes away from him, so I've met him personally and picked his brain on how to get this thing running flawlessly. His mods work.

[FlySubCompact]

I started reloading on a LLM a few years ago. My initial research kept pointing to weaknesses in the priming system. I was not that crazy about pushing fresh primers into dirty primer pockets while reloading, so I decided to eliminate the primer guts from the press altogether from day one. Did this YT video on my LLM mods:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csDyS-Abz1o

Slightly more time consuming than with a standard LLM stock setup because I add hand priming, but still way faster than single stage, plus I get totally clean brass before reloading.

Note: The only real flaw I did find with my kit was the shell plate for 9mm was warped like .004"s and was messing with my OAL's on finished ammo. Midway replaced it in less than a week. Now OAL's are consistent. I also had some trouble with the case feed, but a simple magnet cured that. I like my LLM.

[shootniron]

Tell ya what...you guys that love the Lee presses...can have them.

I suffered through years of using them...went BLUE...and have NEVER looked back.

However, I do give thanks to Lee for starting me in reloading...AND, showing me every possible problem that could ever arise with a progressive press. But, I have not had to use the past press experience with the Dillon...thankfully...I guess I had paid my dues.

[FlySubCompact]

Shootniron,

I wanted to go "blue", but I didn't have enough "green", so I chose "red".

[shootniron]

Flysubcompact...nothing wrong with that...as long as it was Hornady.

For those wanting to upgrade....check craigslist as there are some smoking deals that come up there, just have to be ready to act. That is where I got my Dillon and enough extra stuff that I did not need, that I sold it off and recovered the full price that I paid for everything. Left me with a NEW Dillon press and a ton of extras for NOTHING.

[samfried]

Originally Posted by FlySubCompact

Shootniron,

I wanted to go "blue", but I didn't have enough "green", so I chose "red".

Me too. And I live in an area that most people wouldn't know what side to hold a gun from so there is nothing on craigslist.