lee loadmaster

[slap shot]

I've been doing a bit of research and finally thought to ask here what members thought of the lee loadmaster for a first purchase in this area. I'm mainly interested in reloading 9mm and .223 for now but i know myself, pretty sure there's a .45 and more in my future.

Any thoughts on this setup? Thanks

 

[falcon123]

I've been doing a bit of research and finally thought to ask here what members thought of the lee loadmaster for a first purchase in this area. I'm mainly interested in reloading 9mm and .223 for now but i know myself, pretty sure there's a .45 and more in my future.

Any thoughts on this setup? Thanks

I have one in 9mm. No complaints. Can't beat it for the price.

 

[slap shot]

how much does it cost to change calibers?

 

[falcon123]

how much does it cost to change calibers?

Around $100 for dies and turret and powder measure.

 

[tryit]

I see Lee offering both rifle and pistol versions? why not one that does both? Perhaps one does both, but not the other? I know that Lee offers an option, on their single station, of short handle stroke for the pistol rds. That speeds things up and saves wear and tear on your elbow. The Dillons do both, IIRC. I have never bothered to progressive load rifle rds, so don't know. For the price, you can set up two Lee's for less than the Price of a Dillon, one for the rifle and one for the pistol, and not have to bother changing anything. Why would you have to change powder measures when you change calibers? Is it not adjustable for varying charges? If not, then that's retarded.

 

[mac1911]

Its just easy to set up a tool head with its own powder measure as not needing to readjust for every caliper change. This applies to any progressive press. Yes it can add expense to your press but also saves time.

 

[slap shot]

I see Lee offering both rifle and pistol versions? why not one that does both? Perhaps one does both, but not the other? I know that Lee offers an option, on their single station, of short handle stroke for the pistol rds. That speeds things up and saves wear and tear on your elbow. The Dillons do both, IIRC. I have never bothered to progressive load rifle rds, so don't know. For the price, you can set up two Lee's for less than the Price of a Dillon, one for the rifle and one for the pistol, and not have to bother changing anything. Why would you have to change powder measures when you change calibers? Is it not adjustable for varying charges? If not, then that's retarded.

I thought they just sold it in a caliber and then if you want to do another, pistol or rifle, you need to get the dies and plate. Is there more to it?

 

[mac1911]

It is overall cheaper to buy the complete press in other cals than to switch over.especially between large and small primer ttypes as the loadmaster co.es only with one or the other. Unlike Dillon.
So if you buy the press for 9mm then you can just buy the plate and dies to switch h over with out needing a different primer feed/seat set up for 223. I was lucky enough to be able to use almost every press known before I jumped in.
My needs differ from others so I went with a single stage and purchased all the die sets I load for.
My reloading needs are like this.
1. I got far more time to reload than I get range time. So its no big isssue for me to take several short runs at the press.
2. I tend to load up a good amount of the Cal I plan on shooting in the future. Example. I shoot more rifle and shotgun in the summer so I will load. Up my needs for the summer shooting in thecwinter months. PISTOL isxmore of a winter thing indoors so I load up pistol all summer. I will do large batches of case prep in a few days. Usually processing all the brass I have. Then I work in batches of 500.

Every time I think of getting a progressive I end up spending the 300+ on bullets powder or primers.

I also shoott several 11 Cal at this time none of them a lot but I shoot all 11 Cal often enough. Approx 300 ends of each and 1000 rounds of the 3 top shooters or about 3-6k rends a year combined. I'm pretty dead set on most of my loads so I can crank out a good supply to just sit on till the time comes to plinking.

 

[Wade]

Buy a dillon and don't look back. The lee's seem to need tinkering all the time. I've had several friends over that have lees and watch me use my 650 and at least two have switched since. I had a lee years ago and it was ok forget the model but I have one buddy that ordered two of these loadmasters because of the price point and he had nothing but problems. Primer system had issues that can be corrected but who wants to mess with that? If you plan on doing any amount of reloading save a few bucks more and look into the dillons you won't regret it. JMHO

 

[slap shot]

thanks for all the helpful info

 

[swampy]

The loadmaster is an excellent press if you don't want to invest thousands of dollars into reloading. I've had one since the mid 90s and don't regret it. To convert calibers you'll need a turret, dies, and a shell plate. The case inserter comes in several different sizes for small large, and rifle cases. The primer system can be changed from small to large primer in seconds once the shell plate is removed. A primer change kit is roughly $14. Turret runs around $12 and a shell plate typically runs $25.

Lee has cut back on the rifle calibers offered as many people have experienced issues loading some calibers on the loadmaster. I load .380, 9mm, 40S&W, 38sp, 357mag, and .45 ACP on mine. I did load .223 on it but found doing so on a pro 1000 much easier. I like having the pro 1000 set up for 223 permanently so I can swap the loadmaster around quickly for pistol calibers.

On the loadmaster some calibers load easier than others. 38sp and .357 mag load easy. The cases feed flawlessly. If I load trays of primers ahead of time I can crank out 700+ an hour. 9MM loads fast too. 40S&W, 45 acp and .380 are slower.

Like all presses the Loadmaster has it's quirks and over time you learn to recognize when something is slipping out of adjustment and how to fix them quickly. The biggest weakness, like most presses, is the priming system. Lee customer service is good and helpful solving problems. They have good videos for all their presses on their web site.

The Lee powder measures that use a sliding disk are excellent. The Perfect Powder Measure is garbage. If you are throwing larger loads and need a drum type measure spend the money for a Hornady or RCBS powder measure and the die set up to operate them on a progressive press.

 

[notalib]

I have had nothing but trouble with my loadmaster. Constant re-adjustment (30-40 rounds at max before something needs a tweak, or a major re-adjustment). Occasional failures to index (every 50 + rounds... even after following the re-adjustment process) which can cause a double charge if you are not careful and on top of things, I finally got so fed up I bought a Dillon 650.. love it. I now use the Lee loadmaster almost as a single stage press.. Do not trust the indexing

 

[Madball13]

I have a Lee Pro-100. I had priming issues which allowed the press to process cases with primers not seated flush. I switch to a turret press and now use the press for sizing cases and flaring the case mouths only.

 

[swampy]

I have had nothing but trouble with my loadmaster. Constant re-adjustment (30-40 rounds at max before something needs a tweak, or a major re-adjustment). Occasional failures to index (every 50 + rounds... even after following the re-adjustment process) which can cause a double charge if you are not careful and on top of things, I finally got so fed up I bought a Dillon 650.. love it. I now use the Lee loadmaster almost as a single stage press.. Do not trust the indexing

I've never had an indexing problem. I've loaded a bus load of ammo on it.

 

[Romokid]

I had a Lee Pro 1000 that I loaded 9mm, .40 S&W and would use it for .223 for just powder drop, bullet seat and crimp. I would de-prime, re-size and prime on a single stage press. I gave my Pro 1000 to my cousin as he gave me a unused Loadmaster. I use a Lee universal de-priming die in the first station and the sizing die without the de-priming rod in the second station, that has made priming almost incident free.(the only issues are usually when I fail to keep the primer tray full) I added the case collator and it works pretty good. I will still only use the Loadmaster for powder drop, bullet seat and crimp for .223. One thing if you are going to load .40 you need the large case feeder but the small case slider (or vise versa its been a while since I set up the press) You are more than welcome to come over to check out mine if you would like. I also found Natchez Shooters Supply to have pretty good prices on the the extra turrets and shell plates for caliber change overs.

 

[kilroth]

I've had mine for about a year now, and I've certainly made plenty of rounds on it, but I average about 3% rejection rate (crushed primer, no primer, bent primer, failure to deprime, do you see a pattern?). Before I replaced the priming ramp with the latest version, I had about 10% reject rate and lots of work stoppages due to the priming system.

So if you don't mind fiddling with it, it's fine and cheap, but it's no Dillon. There is a community for the loadmaster that has a good quick start guide in the forum on how to setup the dies and I highly recommend it.

 

[dcostant]

I've been reloading on a Lee Loadmaster for about 2 years now and I love it. A great progressive press of the price. I reload 9mm, 38 Special, 357 magnum, and 45 ACP. I just purchased the dies/components to start loading .223, but haven't loaded any cartridges yet. I have loaded several thousands rounds of pistol calibers so far. If you get everything setup and get into the groove, you should be able to load ~300 rounds an hour.

Some of my thoughts:

(1) When loading pistol calibers, be sure to buy a Lee Universal decapping die and use the following setup:
Station 1: Lee Universal Decapping Die - deprime in this station
Station 2: Sizing/Depriming Die with depriming pin removed. I've found this setup will save you from many reloading headaches. This centers the cartridge while priming and drastically cuts the rate on priming misfeeds.
Station 3: Powder Through Expanding Die - you'll be belling the case mouth and charging the cartidge
Station 4: Bullet Seating Die
Station 5: Factory Crimp Die

Check out gavintoobe's youtube channel Lee Loadmaster Loading .223 - 5.56 NATO - YouTube

(2) To go from a pistol setup to a rifle setup is simple. The only rifle specific components you'll need are a Lee Double Disk Kit and Rifle Charging Die, which you can get for about $10 each. Check out natchezss.com for Lee components, good prices and decent shipping rates. Other than the Disk Kit and Rifle charging die, all you'll need is the normal caliber conversion components, such as, Shell Plate and caliber specific die sets.

(3) Keep your press clean and lubed. After every thousand rounds or so I make sure my press is clean and lubricated. Again, this will help indexing the press and save you a lot easily avoided aggravation.

(4) Don't be afraid to use a dry lube on your carbide dies. Get yourself a can of dry lube, I use Hornady One Shot. Give your brass a quick spray, makes reloading a lot easier on a progressive press like the Loadmaster.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions, be happy to help answer any questions that I can. Good luck!