Anyone use a Lee Loadmaster Progressive Press ? How is it?

[stilly]

I was looking at the Dillons and then the Hornady LNL AP and then after talking with the guys at Lee (e-mail really) telling them about a few modifications to the turret they said that it sounded like I needed to move into a progressive like THEIR Pro 1000 or Loadmasters...

So For ****s and giggles I had a look and I gotta say, DAMN. for $223 I can obtain a HUGE 5 turret progressive press by Lee and they claim that it is worth the hype that you do not see (no they don't I just said that).

Well, given my current money situation, $223 for a .223 progressive press is MUCH more affordable then the $400+ alternatives.

I don't care to crank out 1600 rounds an hour right now even though it would be cool. Anyways, Lee has had good things so far but I am still researching and those Lee LoadMeisters REALLY look cool.

I have not found a lot of feedback on them though and I rarely see their fanboys out so does anyone here have/use one of those? With the exception of a few dies everything I have is Lee and it would be nice to be able to pickup the loader AND a stand and a few other things from inline fabrication and be able to crank out a thousand rounds or so of 9 or 45 or 40 one night...

Opinions?

[XDRoX]

I don't have one but I am an internet expert

Lot's of guys on the XDTalk forum use them. There are few guys here that use them, Cowboy I believe has some tutorial videos with them.

They are best described as finicky. If you like tooling on things an don't mind the extra time it will take to get the machine to run reliably, and you're prepared for this going into it, then I think you'll be very happy with the purchase.

If you want something that runs 99% right out of the box and takes little time to get running perfect then maybe Dillon is a better choice.

The Glocktalk reloading forum would be no help at all. All those guys load on Dillons. Same with Brian Enos' forum. But you may want to consider joining XDTalk because their reloading forum has a lot of guys that load on Lee Progressives and I see lots and questions and answers being thrown around there.

[klewan]

I've had one for 17 years; it works. I didn't have a lot of the fiddling and adjustments other people report. I just read the minimal instructions, followed those, and it ran as expected.

I prime all my brass on it, I have two hand powered prime tools, but the LM is faster and easier. You need to develop a tempo with the lever arm, nice and steady, no jerking it. Also, don't bang the arm off the stops; do a full stroke, but not a stroke like ringing a bell. Mount it on a strong, heavy table.

[sghart]

I have a Lee Classic Turret press that I love. I use it for all of my handgun (5 calibers) and rifle (3 calibers). I love Lee stuff. So when I found a used Lee Loadmaster on this website I decided to try it. Even though the Classic Turret does everything I want it to do, and very well, the price of the LM was so cheap that I bought it. The bonus was that it was already equipped with two turrets plates and dies set up for two of my handgun calibers already. Score! Add the brass collator and a bullet feeder in the mix and I couldn't turn it down.

When I got it setup in my garage I noticed that it was out of alignment and would not index the shellplate. After fixing that ( 2 minutes) I gave it a good cleaning and lubing. I spent some time learning each station and tweaking here and there. Very simple and straight forward. Different from the Classic Turret for sure as 5 things are going on at once.

After a couple of hours of maintenance/adjustments/learning curve I filled the tubes with 100 9mm cases, loaded the primer tray and powder hopper and commenced to produce 100 flawless 9mm rounds in about 20 minutes. At 100 rounds it was necessary to stop and reload the primer tray as well as the brass feeder. I could have kept going, easily upping my rate. I gave the rounds to my son. The next day he shot them up with no problem and stated that he saw no difference between these and the ones from my Classic Turret.

As a further experiment I tried a caliber change to 45 ACP from 9mm. It took 40 minutes for me to reconfigure the machine from 9mm to 45 ACP and crank out another 100 rounds, then break it down for storage. Not bad considering I am still learning the machine. So far I really like it and would recommend it. If you can find a used one you can try it with confidence knowing that you can always recoup your money on this website or Gunbroker.

As far as not finding a lot of talk online from Loadmaster owners: I suspect that most Lee guys like me are tired of defending a product that doesn't need defending. My Classic Turret ranks with the best. The Loadmaster is also an awesome machine. I call "BS" on those people that say the Lee needs constant tinkering and repair. It is a machine. Like any other machine it needs routine maintenance. I don't see this as a negative. As far as repairs go I have been using many brands of gear for many years and I have had to replace broken parts on occasion. The overwhelming majority of these breakages were caused by me, not a design or manufacturing defect. And this applies to all brands. I chose Lee because I got a fully equipped progressive machine, two caliber setups, and numerous other accessories for $250. I am a working man and that kind of savings means a lot to me. If you buy a Loadmaster feel free to pm me with questions.

P.S. After posting my reply I went to the classified section of this website. I check it every day. There is a Dillon 550 for sale, set up for 9mm and 45 ACP (what a coincidence). Price? $1000.

[elhefe50ss]

i have one and i love it

[stand125]

I really like mine but if I had to start over without the knowledge I have, I would get the LEE Classic turret press. It is so easy to use and unlike the Loadmaster ( which I use ) if something feels wierd you only have to check one station and not 5 stations. You can also remove the indexing rod and use it as a manual turret or SIngle stage press for Rifle rounds. Here is a video of my Classic turret in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zrhd56fQsrw

[stilly]

LoL. I have a Lee Classic Turret. I am just tired of spending all day in the garage reloading for 300 rounds or what not. I was thrilled when I modified my classic turret to have a funnel on the side that dumps into a piece of pipe insulation that slides down into a cookie tin and allows me to flick out my completed rounds and then put in a different shell. I am sure that by doing that mod and by getting the rcbs bullet feeder die that I might shave off a few seconds of each round to up my speed of 3 per minute to maybe 4 per minute... OoOoOoOo... One thing I hate is that all of my .45 rounds are a pita it seems to prime and I am wondering if maybe switching to a different press will help with that a bit, maybe a bigger stronger press that creates more force will help with the smashing-err seating of my primers in the 45 cases... AND allow me to make more so that I can shoot my TRP more.

Good info for me to check out so far. Thanks fellas.

[JNunez23]

I use one exclusively for my pistol reloads. Have about 2k 9mm reloads on hands now, and maybe half that in .45

If you are mechanically inclined, than its a great press for the cost. I paid $170 for a 9mm set-up, and it's been realizable for me. Besides the occasional broken plastic part (case feed arm broke off a bit) I also had a broken primer feed that Lee replaced for free.

There are better options, but the Loadmaster is my work horse. It's great for an entry level, but you'll have to watch each station like a hawk to make sure nothing is jamming. It will run about 100 rounds perfectly, then smash a few primers in a row. Can be finicky; be aware! Make sure the powder dispenser chain doesn't catch on anything or it will snap before you load a round.

But all in all, it does its job. The toughest part will be getting the machine calibrated.

[stphnman20]

Check this forum out.

http://loadmastervideos.com/

[stphnman20]

Check this forum out.

http://loadmastervideos.com/

[Sgt Raven]

I've been looking at different progressives and the thing that turns me off about Lee is they say CCI or Remington primers only. I like Federal Primers for my match pistols.

[johnny1290]

FWIW I have a Pro 1000 I reload 223 and 9mm on. I've loaded thousands of federal primers with no problems. You just have to be a little more careful seating them. Evidently they can be set off more easily.

I'd spend the extra change for the loadmaster. it'd be nice to have 5 stations and it looks more heavy duty than the pro 1000. I have wanted on more than one occasion to throw my press into the parking lot due to minor mechanical or operator errors.

Now that I've loaded 8k? rounds on it I have the rythm down and know the quirks. I don't force anything, don't yank the handle like a slot machine, and generally things are fine.

I agree with all the advice. If you have the money, a more expensive machine will be easier on the nerves. If you don't have the money, it will work just fine but you will need to tweek it here and there.

I do around 350 rph priming and loading 9mm on the machine, and around 300 rph with 223 where I hand primed. I haven't tried priming it on the machine.

[veterosa]

Tag for more

[Lumpy8]

I've loaded .40 and 9mm for 10,000 plus rounds, all with federal ssp. Not one primer going off in the loader, even when the primers got turned sideways.

It you have some mechanical ability and are able to see a hang up and are able to tweak the loader it is a great loader for the $$$.

[vincewarde]

The only problem with the Loadmaster

Is the priming setup. It is very difficult to get it to work. My solution is to to use it.

On handgun rounds my reloading process looks like this:

1) Decap with a universal decapping die in a Lee Hand press (usually while watching TV, a pretty much mindless task.)

2) Toss them in my vibratory cleaner and run it until they are clean and pretty

3) Carefully prime with a dedicated priming tool. I really like being able to check each primer for proper seating.

4) Complete the loading process (size, bell, charge and seat) on the Loadmaster.

I also use my Loadmaster to load rifle rounds, including some where I weigh each charge. I just go slow and careful. Doing this avoids a great deal of brass handling.

All in all, I think that for the money, the Loadmaster is worth every penny - and Lee has great customer support.