Post by: Jamieb on March 24, 2012, 12:07:17 AM
I should have done this years ago. I'd spend hours and hours loading 45acp on my single stage, now I can load enough in a hour to shoot a month worth of bowling pin matches and practice.
Heres a little video of my 550B about 5 minutes into the first time I used it, I'm sure it will get faster as I get into a comfotable grove.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv376%2Felkhunter%2Fth_004-5.jpg&hash=5c00ef4a0cb61ee4db7aa340bda8d71cc6e996b1) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v376/elkhunter/?action=view¤t=004-5.mp4)
Post by: 300rum on March 24, 2012, 01:20:17 PM
Post by: Wacenturion on March 24, 2012, 04:23:16 PM
Post by: Jamieb on March 24, 2012, 08:03:24 PM
Loading on the 550B is stupid fast, now I'm thinking of loading for some of my varmint rifles on the Dillon.
Post by: JimmyHoffa on March 24, 2012, 08:25:52 PM
Have you seen the Ammo Plant from Hornady? :yike:
Post by: Jamieb on March 24, 2012, 08:29:54 PM
Post by: Special T on March 24, 2012, 08:35:48 PM
Post by: Jamieb on March 24, 2012, 10:52:35 PM
Post by: Special T on March 25, 2012, 08:33:11 AM
Post by: 300rum on March 25, 2012, 12:45:02 PM
Whats the price break on a progressive verses single stage? I know you can get single stages used for good deals time to time, but i doubt you can get a progressive used.
Post by: 300rum on March 25, 2012, 12:47:01 PM
Is there anyone with a progressive in the skagit valley area? I like the idea of trying reloading, but with a family my time is somewhat limited. I would love to trade some helping time for some learning/reloading time.
Post by: Encore 280 on March 25, 2012, 01:22:07 PM
Post by: Jekemi on March 26, 2012, 10:03:49 AM
Having said that: I like the Lee Loadmaster press, simply as a press it is well built and very solid. It has a good strong shell plate that is easy to remove. However, the rest of the Lee components on the Loadmaster are cheaply built, potentially dangerous, and somewhat unreliable. The only exception is the case feeder, which is still chintzy but works well. The negative on the case feeder is that it has a limited capacity and you must hand-rotate the tubes to continue feeding the cases. However, for the price (about $30 dollars) it does the job.
There are a couple things you can do to augment the Lee Loadmaster and make it more precise and reliable. One is to use the Hornady or RCBS motorized bullet feeder. Check out www.ultimatereloader.com for instructions on using the RCBS bullet feeder with the Lee Loadmaster. The feed tube fits right into the Lee removable die station and is easy to adjust. It loads bullets all day long without incident. The second modification is to use a Hornady case activated powder measure instead of the Lee disk-type powder measure. The Hornady case activated powder measure is solid, well built, and smooth. It’s a little expensive but the cost is worth it. It fits right into the aluminum Lee die station. It’s easy to adjust using the optional micrometer powder adjustment. Now you don’t have to fool around with the little chain, inaccurate disks, powder leakage, or any other Lee mechanism they use to dispense powder.
The worst offender of the Lee Loadmaster progressive reloading system is the priming system. It is a multi-piece, cheap plastic, poorly designed mechanism. There are numerous reports of primers getting loaded sideways and exploding with nearly disastrous results. Lee even sells a primer explosion deflector so they are clearly aware of the problem. I haven’t found a fix for this yet so you just need to be careful, make sure any burrs are removed from the plastic primer guide tubes, and check to see that a primer has been properly loaded. When it is set up correctly it works well but it still makes me nervous.
One way around the Lee Loadmaster Auto-primer is to prime your brass in a separate step using any single stage press. Deprime the brass and place it into an ultrasonic brass cleaner. Once it is clean and dry use your single stage press to resize the brass and re-prime. I believe this is the preferred method even though it is tedious for a 500 case run. If you use an ultrasonic brass cleaner you don’t have to worry about bits of tumbler media getting lodged in the primer pocket.
Since the brass is already deprimed, resized, and a new primer installed you don’t need a resizing die. Just fill the Lee case feeder tubes with clean, resized, and primed brass. In station one the pistol brass is flared and charged using the case activated Hornady powder measure. Station two feeds the bullets using the Hornady or RCBS bullet feeder. Station three uses the Hornady Powder Cop to test for proper powder level. Station four seats the bullet. Finally in Station 5 use the factory crimp die. Then the finished cartridge is pushed into the collection bin.
For a little less than $600 you can have a sturdy progressive press with an automated bullet feeder, case feeder, and super-reliable powder measure that will enable you to reload 800 to 900 rounds per hour. It would be great if the Ultimate Reloader guys would build a ergo-roller handle for the Lee Loadmaster but the factory one from Lee works OK albeit a bit ergonomically deficient.
Post by: h20hunter on March 27, 2012, 07:57:07 AM
Post by: Jamieb on March 27, 2012, 06:42:22 PM
Post by: JackOfAllTrades on March 27, 2012, 06:58:32 PM
The BEST progressives were made by STAR in the 60's. (yes, automatic case feeders forty years ago) Love my OLD Dillon 450 that has 550 updates on it. The customer service from Dillon is second to none -if you were to ever need it.
-Steve
Post by: Jekemi on March 31, 2012, 08:19:28 AM
Post by: Jekemi on April 11, 2012, 06:59:53 AM
The base Lee press is a great one. If you modify the priming mechanism as I have suggested, use the Hornady LNL case activated powder measure, the Hornady LNL bullet feed die, and my home-made case feeding mechanism you have a very solid, secure, reliable, and productive auto-progressive system. It will load 800 rounds per hour year after year. With those changes I'd stack it up against any other press on the market - all for about $550.