What is the High end reloader?

[cheygriz]

Clayking,

Jim Watson pretty well explained it. The1050 is a commercial machine. Built lke a tank, almost as heavy as one.

It's an absolutely WONDERFUL machine to load on, but it's not for the mechanically challenged. If you load 20,000 rounds or more of a single caliber at one time, it's well worth it. If you're going to convert calibers every 3k-5k rounds, it ISN"T very well adapted to that.

The IDEAL situation, if money is no object, is a 1050 set up in each caliber you load. But that is an EXPENSIVE solution.

Converting a 1050 takes about 20-30 minutes for an exerienced operator. Of course, once it's set up, you can load 1,000-1200 rounds per hour all day long.

Your question is a bit hard to answer without knowing more about your requirements.

For the guy that loads 200 of one caliber, switches and loads 300 of another and switches again, the Hornady Lock & Load or the Lee Loadmaster may well be the answer.

I've loaded a lot of ammo, but my experience has mostly been loading a very large volume of one caliber, and then taking a good bit of time and converting to another, and then loadng a large volume of that one.

Today, I load mostly on a Dillon 650, and I load enough of one caliber at a time, that it only gets converted perhaps 4-5 times per year. I also like to thoroughly strip, clean and lube the machine when changing calibers, so my changeovers actually require a couple of hours. (But IMHO, the extra maintenance time pays off in the long run.)

Crusty, I apologize if I appeared to be "dissing" your Loadmaster. I was just looking at loading from a different perspective! (I guess that I need to stop and realize that not everyone buys primers in lots of 50,000 and powder in cases of 4 each 8 pound caddies.)

[CrustyFN]

Crusty, I apologize if I appeared to be "dissing" your Loadmaster. I was just looking at loading from a different perspective! (I guess that I need to stop and realize that not everyone buys primers in lots of 50,000 and powder in cases of 4 each 8 pound caddies.)

I don't own a Loadmaster but no problem anyway. I just like to find out what peoples opinions are on something they don't like and do like. I see a lot of bad mouthing Lee products mostly by Dillon owners that have never used one. Their reason is " you get what you pay for " but they have never used a Lee press in their life. IMO if they are giving advice about presses they know nothing about then how much of their other advice do they know anything about. Kind of hard for me to take them serious. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Lee and Dillon products. I met somebody from one of the gun forums that lives close. He owns a couple of Dillon 550's and I'm going to get to try one.
Rusty

[cheygriz]

I

just like to find out what peoples opinions are on something they don't like and do like.

I agree. The problem on a forum is that most of us don't type very fast, so it's not like discussing things over the campfire. The information is "compressed" a bit, and subject to different interpretations.

And, of course, we're all looking at things through the filter of our own life experiences. A Nebraska wheat farmer and a Los Angeles city policeman will look at rifles from two totally different perspectives.

I guess it's important to try to evaluate everyone's opinions and experiences from whatever we know about his/her background. Even then, I think it's valuable to evaluate a lot of different opinions.

[Gewehr98]

I see a lot of bad mouthing Lee products mostly by Dillon owners that have never used one. Their reason is " you get what you pay for " but they have never used a Lee press in their life. IMO if they are giving advice about presses they know nothing about then how much of their other advice do they know anything about. Kind of hard for me to take them serious.

As stated before, I'm one of those guys who migrated from the Lee progressives to the Dillon versions. I was glad to at least recoup some of my initial investment in the former.

[Abstract]

I owned a Loadmaster. Believe, me, compared to a Dillon, the Loadmaster isn't Ford/Chevy; it's Yugo/Ferrari.

[clayking]

Guess I'll just stick with my 650.....maybe get one or two more and no more changeovers........Thanks for the opinions......................ck

[CrustyFN]

Gewehr98, sorry if you thought I was talking about you but I wasn't referring to anybody in this thread. I just see it in so many different threads on so many different forums that it gets kind of old after a while. I think cheygriz said it best in his last post. Just for the record I own a Lee Classic Turret press. I had a budget when I started so I bought what I thought best fit my wallet and needs. I know I will upgrade to a progressive some day, I just hope I am lucky enough to be able to try the many different presses before I buy. I am not brand specific.
Rusty

[badbob]

Clayking, folks are saying good things about the Hornady Lock-n-Load. Here's a comparison of a Dillon 650, Lee Loadmaster and the Hornady. Good luck.

http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillon...Comparison.pdf

badbob

[benedict1]

Clayking, folks are saying good things about the Hornady Lock-n-Load. Here's a comparison of a Dillon 650, Lee Loadmaster and the Hornady. Good luck.

http://www.comrace.ca/cmfiles/dillon...Comparison.pdf

Query: Who is the author and where does this come from? What forum?

For the most part this is an excellent review, with one glaring exception. No where is a price/performance calculation done. The author makes a few comments on price but it is hardly fair to compare the Dillon, Honady and Lee case feeders without dollars in mind, as one example. Across the board the Lee investment in press or accessories is far less.

Adding price/performance data would give Lee a clear advantage to those who are mindful of cost. Most of the comparisons made are purely subjective--fit and finish, etc. The author does point out that the ammo produced from each press will shoot where you look.

Worth the read but each person will have to carefully examine the hit in the pocketbook.

[clayking]

badbob,

Thanks, good read. Picked up an item or two, like the after market micro-adjustment for the powder feed. thanks for posting that ................ck

[cheygriz]

Clayking,

IMHO, the biggest PITA in a 650 conversion is primer size changeover. If you can afford another 650, you can leave one set up for large primers, and one for small. That prevents 90 percent of the hassle, IMHO.

Either a separate powder measure for each toolhead, or a micrometer measure like the RCBS with adapter also helps.

This is a little pricey, but far cheaper than a separate loader for each caliber.

Another little "helper." Figure out how many of each caliber you shoot in a year. Then reload that many before converting to another caliber.

Example: I use about 6,000-6500 rounds of 9MM per year. So that's how many I load at one time. Then I convert to .45 ACP. I only use about 2000-2500 of these per year, so I load 2500. A month or so later, I convert to .40 S&W and load 3,000. etc.,etc. When I finish loading .38 Spec, I just readjust the dies and powder measure, and load .357 Magnum before converting to another caliber.


That gives me more "handle pulling" time, and less "converting and adjusting" time.

My 650 is set up to load a particular caliber once per year max.