aviator41

If possible, you might consider a powder checking setup. Something like the Dillon powder checker, or the RCBS lockout die, assuming you have the room on your press.

Agreed. It was certainly my fault in a kind of "It's not you, it's me" breakup sort of way . I was unable to keep up with the work load of babysitting an press that refused to function properly and I allowed the squibs to pass through unchecked. It's squarely my fault. The solution was to ditch a press that needed more attention than an insecure girlfriend so I could concentrate on the ammo I am supposed to be loading. And wouldn't you know it? 1,000 rounds through the Dillon without a hiccup.

Hi guys. First post here. I, too, recently ditched the Loadmaster for a Dillon due to problems with primers and powder bridging leading to squibs. In short, I just couldn't rely on it to make competition ready ammo. It was a constant tinkering nightmare even after primer upgrades, powder hopper upgrades, replacement brass slider parts and on and on. At first, it ran fine. After about 500 rounds the problems started adding up. It got to the point to where I couldn't get 10 rounds out of the cursed thing before having to "tinker" with something. It took the fun out of reloading. I was having all the typical problems: no primer dispensed, flipped primers, crushed primers, good primers making it in with the bad primers, Jerky or incomplete brass feeding leading to crushed cases, ultra-light powder drops, failure of the disk to return to under the powder hopper to get another charge, no powder at all, lots of spilled powder from the disk unit - I could go on and on. I really was prepared to use the Loadaster as my long-term reloading press. I made the jump from a turret to a Progressive and chose to stay with lee after many years of Excellent service from my 4 hole turret press. I invested in Lee. I have 5 different turrets totally set up for the calibers I needed and individual powder disk units. I had the press mounted to a heavy-duty bench which was, itself, mounted to the wall. This was going to be the heart of my reloading station. Until the first time a squib made it to a competition match. . . then a second . . and a third. . . all in the same day. I was done. I had caught a number of them on the press thinking it was just my technique, but with all the tinkering, jam fixing, primer malfunctions and everything else, these three squibs made it into the ammo box. It's not that I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, it was that I had so many other press function related problems to contend with in order to make ammo. My attention should have been solely focused on making good ammo. Instead, it was split betwen making ammo and making this Rube Goldberg contraption run properly. It was rediculous! and unsafe in my opinion. My attention was stretched too thin. The one thing Lee got right with the Loadmaster was the brass colator and feeding system. It's remarkably simple, inexpensive and works very well. I bought my XL650 on the way home from the shooting match mentioned above. It took a considerable amount of time to set up, but right out of the box you can tell it's a better machine. Out of all the stuff from the loadmaster, the only things I kept in service were the dies and the brass feeding system. I machined a bracket that mates the colator and feeder with the XL650 - and it works beautifully (as do the dies. I've been very happy with my Lee carbide dies). The Dillon does have it's down sides though. Not only was the press considerably more expensive - as we all the accessories - but caliber changes are much more involved and take 3-4 times as long as with the Loadmaster. However it makes excellent, reliable ammo without the constant tinkering. I can concentrate on the rounds being made instead of press problems. This was a big factor in the purchase. But you know what made my mind up to go with the Dillon? Their powder check system. With the Lee, position two is taken up by priming on the up stroke - it's really not a 5 die progressive. It's a 4 die with a useless 2nd hole. It shouldn't take a seperate die to keep brass "aligned" with the primer system. If that was the intention by Lee, it should have been included with the die kits. So here's my die setup with the Loadmaster: As you can see there is no way to set up a powder check using this die setup, and this die setup is what I need to run. (the FCD and sizer ensure my cast bullets chamber every time) 1. Size, Deprime 2. Prime 3. Powder Drop and flare 4. Bullet Seat 5. Factory Crimp Die (and sizer) Here is my Dillon XL650 setup. 1. size, deprime 2. prime, powder drop and flare 3. POWDER CHECK 4. Bullet seat 5. Factory Crimp Die (and sizer) So far, I've made 1,000 rounds on my Dillon. All 38, I have had zero issues. I feel like I've made the right choice. So what happens to the old Loadmaster? I've set it up to do nothing but deprime/size spent brass prior to running them through the brass cleaner. I may find another use for it eventually, but I will never make ammo on this press ever again. Ironically, all of my hunting ammo is still made on that Lee 4-hole turret press - but all of those rounds receive a powder manually and are primed by hand as well so it's not a real fair comparison. I've taken many white-tails with ammo made on that press. EDIT: I also kept the primer flip trays from Lee in service, as they seem to work pretty well. Makes filling the primer magazine tubes on the Dillon a snap. Simply fill the tray, shake until they are all upright, put the lid on, turn over and place tray on bench lid-side down, then pull the body of the flip tray up and away. presto! All the primers are face down and ready to gobble up with the Dillon Magazine filling tube.

Hi all. I'm a long-time hunter and recent Cowby Action shooter. Been enjoying the game thoroughly. Recently ditched my Lee Loadmaster after having to leave a match early due to Ammo problems. I upgraded to a Dillon XL650 and see me spending a lot of time in that section of the forum. Anyway, howdy from Oklahoma!