Bought a Lee Loadmaster, Wow

[oldracer]

I bought a Lee Loadmaster press a few weeks ago mainly as I was tired of swapping dies when doing my 38 and 357 wad cutter loads. Lee have what are called factory seconds so I bought a setup with extra turrets for their 357 and 38 carbide die sets and a few extras such as nulti tube bullet feeder, multi tube case feeder and the shell catcher. I ended up spending about $375 for everything including a few extra small parts. After watching their videos and reading the instructions and setting the adjustments I managed to load up 200 total 357 wad cutters in about 20 minutes total! I changed turrets and setup the 38 dies and loaded the same number in about the same time, wow!

I had several questions and called them and the folks I talked with were great and really helped a lot so I plan to use them when I get setup to do the .223 cases next time I take the AR out to shoot. Great folks and great product!

 

[Yurko]

Yup, good folks & good stuff. I started on a Lee single stage & upgraded to a Pro 1000 about a month ago. As you said, I can fly on the new press.

If you didn't get a bullet feeder, I'd strongly consider it. It goes even faster when you don't have to individually feed each bullet.

 

[Grog]

One thing I'm looking forward to starting in my new house (well, the garage) is getting into reloading. Enjoy and keep us posted.

 

[oldracer]

I did get the multi tube bullet feeder and it seems to work quite well even with some of the Missouri Bullet Company's wad cutters which is what I have been using for a couple of years now. I also bought the primer blast shield and actually did have a Wolf primer go off when loading last weekend so I know it works as advertised.

 

[CoastieFlo]

thats cool, I have an older turret press that im thinking of adding all the stuff to and make into a progressive.....since I cant afford a Dillon

 

[6pack]

Good to hear.

I got out of the reloading hobby a few years back and nowhere to set up gear.


Gonna give it another try with the same press you mentioned. Turret will be sooooo much more effiecient.

 

[WNC Seabee]

I've been loading on a LoadMaster for a few years now and really enjoy it. Some will say it's not top quality, but once I figure out its tricks I've had no trouble.

A couple suggestions....

- Keep a handful of primer feed troughs on hand. They will get damaged, but it's a quick task to make the change.

Lee Load-Master Progressive Press Small Primer Feeder - MidwayUSA

- Go slow and keep an eye on the primer feeder. When you look at the primer feeder, you'll see a little slot & post set up. If you get to aggressive with pulling the handle that post can jump out of the slot and all of a sudden you're loading rounds with no primer! Don't go slow so much as "smooooooooth"

Aside from the primer system issue, I've had zero issues with the LoadMaster. It's a great value.

 

[caribouhunter]

I will second the need for primer spare parts. These parts do wear out, no use to try to fix them just replace often.

I have about 9,000 rounds loaded on mine to date. Works really well, just has a few quirks.

 

[flash60601]

LEE LOADMASTER? I've had one for seven or eight years, and I am a BELIEVER.

Low initial cost was a factor, and low cost of caliber-changeover appealed to me, too. Thousands and thousands of rounds of "better than factory" ammunition, and no complaint.

The micrometer adjustable powder measure slide is one of the nicest things going.

It is easy to use, simple to setup, and elementary to adjust if anything does get misaligned.

That primer-slider thingie is a neccessary spare part. I've never blown a primer, thoughI have had a few overturn by my overly-ambitious handling.

Flash

 

[oldracer]

Well here is an update since I have some rounds through the setup now. The first thing I have done was replace the lock rings that Lee supplies with ones with set screws since two of them have to come off to change powder measure and also the bullet feeder when switching from 38 special to 357 mag cases. In the near future I plan to get additional parts so that will not have to happen. I have had no problems and generally take my time processing the cases and get about 300 an hour once I get started. I check powder by weight every 25 rounds or so and so far I have seen no variance in weight to volume, at least with W231. I found it a good idea to lube the ram now and then with some left over Mobile 1 (from my race car) when starting a batch. I watch the primer tray and when it goes empty I add a new box of primers. Finally that red case feeder that sits on top of the tubes is a pretty amazing little piece of plastic the way it makes the cases fall into the tubes correctly!

I recently bought 500 357 cases at the local gun show and loaded them in about 1 1/2 hours about so that was a FAR cry from using my single stage press! I think the next thing is to try casting my own wadcutters?!