davidjon_99

That sounds awesome! Thanks!

Could be the reason. Seems a bit petty, though, since you're shelling out $2k+ for their drive system. I don't think any of their competitors offer it either though.

I've not misled anyone. Watch the video and see for yourself. According to Jason at Mark 7 the software in the tablet for Mark 7 press autodrive is different than the software for the dillon press autodrive. He said they had talked about adding bottom slowdown to the dillon autodrive software. But that had been voted down for one reason for another. His words. I'm a bit miffed with Mark 7 for not having that feature for Dillon presses. I don't see any reason for excluding it. I sure hope you pay more attention when you're loading than you do when replying to questions. Facts matter. Watch the video. There's facts there that are important to my question. I live on earth, where do you live?

This is correct. I was asking about bottom slowdown. That is different than index speed.

Just got a reply from Mark 7. They said bottom slowdown is only available for drives for Mark 7 presses.

I was watching a video by Mark 7 that gives an overview of their autodrive. I was impressed to see a feature called bottom slowdown. The guy in the video said it was designed for when you are trimming brass. I can see that this would be very useful when converting 223 into 300 blk. Well, I just set up a Mark 7 1050 Pro on my Dillon RL1100. I upgraded the software and the firmware and I don't see this feature. Is this just on the autodrive used with the Mark 7 presses? I sent a message to Mark 7, but it was after they closed. Just thought I'd drop this same question here. Thanks! Here's the video and it is mentioned around the 3:10 minute mark

Already done. I made the mistake of not closing down the large charge bar when I started using it with 223. Powder over flowed from the case when I first tried the powder measure. I'll be cleaning up powder for weeks.

Thank you. Although, as I suspected, it has not stayed that organized. Lol

Yes, I store all my brass in the used cat litter buckets. Pretty soon I'm going to have to build a storage shed just for my brass. My wife told me not to buy the litter in buckets anymore because she feels bad just throwing them away. I told her I haven't thrown a bucket away in 3 years. Having 4 cats requires a bit of litter.

Thanks! No guarantee it'll stay that neat, but I'm going to try.

Spent some time this weekend getting my new reloading bench and new presses set up in my garage. After I bought the RL1100 I thought I would still use my Lee Loadmaster for some of the calibers I load in smaller quantities. I plan to use the RL1100 for 223 and 9mm. I'm also loading subsonic 300 BLK and just getting into 308. Both of which I was planning to load on the Lee. I had my Loadmaster mounted to the bench and everything and started lamenting about how I can never prime with it because the priming system is just not very reliable. Also, the case feeding system is finicky and the press just requires a bunch of tweaking. Processing brass on the Loadmaster is a pain because primers are caught inside the ram. Every so often you have to loosen a bolt at the bottom of the ram and open the spent primer release. Well, that bolt also keeps the shell plate carrier in position. So, as you tighten it you have to make sure the shell plate carrier is in the right place, otherwise your indexing is all messed up. So, the obvious solution was to buy an XL750 and retire the Loadmaster. I plan to process 223, 9mm, 300 BLK and 308 on the RL1100 because it can swage. Then I'll load 223 and 9mm on the RL1100. 308 and 300 BLK will be loaded on the XL750. I occasionally load 357 Sig, 45 ACP, 40 S&W, 400 CorBon and 40 Super. I'll process and load those on the XL750 as they don't (usually) have crimped primers. And, conversion kits for the XL750 are a lot cheaper than the Rl1100. I processed 1500 300 BLK cases on the RL1100 and it really took no time at all. Then I loaded 50 300 BLK rounds on the XL750. Just wanted to get a feel for it and shoot those to make sure I'm getting the velocity I'm expecting. I was really happy with the priming system on the 750. I also loaded 50 223 rounds on the 1100. The cases were already primed, a holdover from having to prime cases in a separate step for my Loadmaster. So I disabled swaging and priming. All in all, I'm very happy with my two new Dillon presses

Lol, never used one on my Lee Loadmaster. Well, I tried the Double Alpha powder check but never could get it to work consistently with the mixed range brass I typically use.

I never used a powder check on me Lee Loadmaster with 223 or 300BLK. Though I did keep a close eye on the powder dropper and would check powder weight every 100 or so rounds. Maybe it'll just take me a bit to get used to and trust the Dillon powder dropper. Edited to add: I've tried aiming an endoscope down the opening of a 223 to see powder, but I've not had much luck yet. Such a small hole.

I've never seen that. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for you comments. I suspected that I would get different opinions, but I do appreciate all the responses.

Alright, so I'm trying to get going with my new RL1100. I've decided to use a Mr Bulletfeeder so if I use a powder check die I'll have to seat and crimp in the same station. After watching a lot of YouTube videos on the Mr Bulletfeeder there seem to be a number of people who are not using a powder check die. With 9mm this wouldn't be an issue since you can see into the case, but I'm also going to load 223 and 300 Blackout. So, how important is it to you to have either a visual or automated powder check? Would you load without one? Thanks, David

Lol, so true. I processed 500 300 BLK cases on my RL1100. Universal decap, swage, size/trim (RT1500) then Lyman M die. Took a fraction of the time compared to my old process. I kept stopping to make sure everything was ok with the case feeder and press because it was all going so smoothly. I'm not used to everything just working like it should. That's not my typical experience when I loaded with my Lee Loadmaster. I invariably had case feeding issues or indexing issues or something that I had to tinker with on the press to get through 500 rounds. I've messed with the Lee Six Pack Pro some more and have decided to put it on moth balls. Sadly it is not near the press that the Loadmaster is. Had all kinds of case feeding issues with the Lee spring case feeding system they seem to like to use so much. Indexing was an issue also. It has a lot of plastic parts that I feel a bit suspect about. The Loadmaster had some plastic parts, but a lot fewer than the Six Pack and not hardly any in what I consider key stress areas like shell plate indexing.

Thanks! I love reloading and love shooting so it works out to be a great hobby. As I mentioned, I was very hopeful that Lee was making a worthy successor to the LoadmasterI also thought maybe it would compete well with the 550 or even the 750. Sadly, I don't think the Six Pack Pro will live up to that. I don't think it will need the tweaking that the Loadmaster does, but it does have a lot of plastic parts that will no doubt wear out pretty quickly. Anyway, got my RL1100 set up on my bench and will be reloading with it very soon.

I've used a Lee Loadmaster to load tens of thousands of 9mm, 40 S&W, 357 Sig, 45 ACP, 40 Super, 400 CorBon, 38 Special, 300 BLK and 223. I love it because it is very simple to change calibers and once set up and adjusted works great. With that said, I don't prime on the Loadmaster. Its priming system is unreliable and now that primers cost so much I hand prime if I'm going to load on the Loadmaster. I also hated that the spent primers were sent down into the press and you had to loosen a bolt at the bottom of the ram to release the primers. This bolt also happens to be how you adjust the shell plate carrier and you'd have to fiddle with it to get the press to index correctly again. So I use a Lee APP with an universal de-priming die to de-prime all my cases. I've even figured out a way to use the Dillon case feeder on the Loadmaster. Sadly, Lee is no longer going to make the Loadmaster. Instead they are going to release the Six Pack Pro progressive press. I was excited when I first saw Six Pack Pro and I signed up on Lee's site to be informed when it was available. To my surprise I got an email from Lee asking if I was interested in buying a pre-released "factory second" Six Pack Pro. "Factory second" because it had some slight finish issues on the shell plate carrier. I ordered it and have been messing around with it for several weeks. I haven't actually loaded anything with it though. I first tried to de-prime 1,000 9mm brass. However, they kept falling out of the shell plate as the plate rotated around. It was so bad I considered the press worthless for 9mm and smaller base brass. I contacted Lee and they have since made a retainer of sorts that must be used for 9mm, 223, etc. I have not tried the priming system on the Six Pack. There is no way to adjust priming depth and I think you just have to do it from feel as you lower the ram. One thing I'll say about Lee is that I've never had an issue with their support. You can order many press part from their site and most of them are free, you just have to pay shipping. Anyway, to make a long story short, the Six Pack Pro might have some potential, but after reloading for over 30 years I've finally decided to go to Dillon. I first considered the XL750, but just bit the bullet and got the RL1100. I'm in the process of getting it all set up. I plan to load 9mm, 223 and 300 BLK. So I now have a press that the tool heads alone cost almost as much as my Loadmaster set up for 9mm. I'll keep the Loadmaster and the Six Pack Pro for the other calibers I reload.