Anyone using the new Lee breech-lock progressive yet

I've been using Lee turret presses for a long time and have had no problems with their performance or reliability. I do shoot on a pretty regular basis though and I'm really giving some serious thought to buying one of the new Lee Breech-lock Progressive's. The price is exceptionally fair (as with most things by Lee) and it should hopefully double my reloading speed which is about 150 rounds an hour with the turret press. I can load faster but 150 rounds is probably average. I'm hoping one or more of our members has some experience with their own Lee Progressive that they'd like to share. This is the press I'm talking about Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro Progressive Press - MPN: 90900

Yes I have recently moved up to the Lee Breech Lock Pro Progressive Press from the Lee Classic Turret Press. I am at the less than 1000 rounds loaded stage. I am going slow, setting up and learning how to use it but I feel very good about the press so far.

See my pictures.

I have it set up differently than how Lee recommends so I can have a powder check at station 2. In order to do this I use my “old” Turret press as a single stage to deprime and size my cases. After I deprime I clean the primer pocket and then clean the cases in my Hornady ultrasonic cleaner. Then I prime the case with my RCBS benchtop primer which you can see next to the breech lock press in my pictures. So that’s a lot of work before the cleaned, sized, and primed cases get loaded into the cases dispenser on the Breech lock press.

So now on the Breech Lock Pro Progressive Press, the case is fed into stage 1 where the case is belled and the powder is dispersed from the Lee Autodrum. Stage 2 is the Powder Cop. Stage 3 is where the bullet is placed in the case. I just received the bullet dispenser which I will set up this week. I don’t mind adding the bullets by hand but this bullet dispenser should speed things up considerably. Stage 4 is the crimp and then the completed bullet is dropped into a the bin.

I have never been able to achieve the speed with my Turret press that people have reported on this forum. I think I do about 50-75 bullets per hour with my Turret press. With this progressive I believe I should be able to make bullets about 4 to 5 times as fast as the Turret after I have everything set up and have completed my learning curve. Some of you guys I am sure will be able to load much faster than me.

So for me I am very happy with this press. I really like the results I achieve with loading my own bullets but have to admit that I have found it to be tedious in the past. I think this new press will let me load more rounds in much less time which should make the process less tedious.

I started my reloading experience on a single stage, then graduated to the Lee Classic Turret. I am glad I gained knowledge and experience about reloading before I got this progressive press. I mention this for the people who are reading my post who don’t have any reloading experience. I don’t recommend that you start out with this press. Learn about reloading like I did on a single stage and then a Turret press before going to a progressive press. I also was lucky to have a couple mentors who were my range buddies at the early stages of my learning to reload. Be Safe!

I have a question whose answer can vary quite a bit from person to person. How sensitive is the "feel" in the handle. On my turret press I can feel when the primer is seated or if it's going in too easy or too hard. I can tell if something "just didn't feel right" as the round makes it's progress around the turret. With the progressive it seems to me like there may be too much going on at any one time to really get a feel for what any particular round is doing. I can't imagine why you can only load 50-75 rounds an hour on your turret press. You must have been taking some extra steps or something that I don't. I often find 150 rounds an hour tedious.

For $100 it's a great value. The one I got came with the completed round bin and mount as an introductory offer so I'm not sure if those are still shipping with the press at this time.
You will have to buy a shell plate to use it but the accessories are optional. For me the Lee Safety Prime is a must or you will have to handle placing primers by hand or off press. I would recommend using lee 4 die set with this press. I would also recommend using the Lee Auto Drum or Auto Disk on the powder through expander die. I don't have a case feeder or bullet feeder attached but it's pretty fast without them.
Also included are 3 breech lock bushings and 1 breech lock die lock ring eliminator bushing, but it can be used with the standard non lock ring eliminator bushings in my experience.
Some people have complained that it doesn't prime automatically but when I put the ram all the way up I place a new case with one hand and place a primer with the other. I don't see any problem with doing this. I think if I were to get an accessory it would be the bullet feeder, that way the only manual operations would be with the ram raised. As it is now I place a bullet when the ram is lowered and prime and add a case when the ram is raised.

The feel is definately less than a single stage or hand priming but it happens at the very top of the stroke while nothing else is going on so I'm fine with it.

1sailor said:

I have a question whose answer can vary quite a bit from person to person. How sensitive is the "feel" in the handle. On my turret press I can feel when the primer is seated or if it's going in too easy or too hard. I can tell if something "just didn't feel right" as the round makes it's progress around the turret. With the progressive it seems to me like there may be too much going on at any one time to really get a feel for what any particular round is doing. I can't imagine why you can only load 50-75 rounds an hour on your turret press. You must have been taking some extra steps or something that I don't. I often find 150 rounds an hour tedious.

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1sailor said:

I can't imagine why you can only load 50-75 rounds an hour on your turret press. You must have been taking some extra steps or something that I don't. I often find 150 rounds an hour tedious.

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I have another startling admission. Unlike many people who post on this forum, not every shot I fire goes in the 10 ring.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As above...mine usually get close though...long as I am close LOL

I have run this one through my head a bit.. Don't think I would mind the single primer seating. The only caliber I would want this one set up in is the 32 S&W L or the 32 H&R though. No 4 die sets from Lee. I could possibly set it up in 44 Sp too...and sell the Classic Turret

My shooting is lot like my brass cleaning / tumbling: close enough. There is still ample room for improvement.

When I observe the patterns and "group sizes" of other shooters at the indoor range, my groups at 25 yards are better than theirs at 5 yards. I'm still in the top 5% generally but at a Bullseye 2700 match I reasonably sure of last place.

The bullets are supposed to hit in the 10 ring?

I have decided to purchase one of these presses. Going to sell one of the Classic turrets and set the new one up in 44 Special and see how it goes. Also going to put one of the RCBS A2 presses on ebay too. Just sold/traded a T-7 for a Dillon 550B + cash. Have to get rid of some of my extra presses anyway. May even sell my last Pacific Supermag and Co-Ax. The old stuff IS well made but just don't need all those old A2s and others. Gotta keep on the cutting edge now days. Even if I is old. Anybody out there looked for the best deal on one of the new Lee's??

Midway has them for 109.99 as their regular price. They have free shipping every couple of weeks or so for orders of 100.00 or more. I think the best price I've seen is 106.00. Personally I can't wait to get a few more reviews after they've been out for a while. My Lee Turret press works great but sitting down to load up 300 rounds takes a couple of hours. Maybe I'm just lazy but cutting my reloading time in half sounds like a win win situation for me. Because I live right next to the woods (literally) and I'm retired I often go out shooting on the spur of the moment. Being able to knock out 300 rounds an hour would allow me to go out a little more often.

I got one a few months ago. I'm still not going very fast and plodding along without a case feeder or bullet feeder and even so it's a lot more efficient than the turret press I have. Hard to beat a loaded round every stroke. It seats primers very well with a nice feel in my opinion. I built a new bench this winter and all 3 presses are in the house and centralized now.

ageingstudent said:

I got one a few months ago. ………….. I built a new bench this winter and all 3 presses are in the house and centralized now.

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In an airconditioned space ! ! !

You have got to be a union member to be that organized . Very nice bench with good storage. I am truly envious of your neatness.

When I went on a prairie dog trip in late May, my wife cleaned the top of the gun vault, organized the reloading bench, sorted everything into neat stacks of common things. In 6 more months I'll have found everything again. The good new is I shot 220+ rounds of 22 LR and 72 rounds of 223 Rem. There isn't much brass to reload.

Engineer1911 said:

In an airconditioned space ! ! !

You have got to be a union member to be that organized . Very nice bench with good storage. I am truly envious of your neatness.

When I went on a prairie dog trip in late May, my wife cleaned the top of the gun vault, organized the reloading bench, sorted everything into neat stacks of common things. In 6 more months I'll have found everything again. The good new is I shot 220+ rounds of 22 LR and 72 rounds of 223 Rem. There isn't much brass to reload.

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The quest for incorruptible organization never ends but always failes lol. And yes much more climate controlled with the real furnace and air conditioner. A guy can build a nice bench out of a solid core door and some old scrap tight grain fir fencing given a little time. I like free lumber.