cant afford dillon but wish my lee pro 1000 had 4 holes

[dskinsler83]

i cant afford the dillon presses but wish my pro 1000 had 4 holes so i could crimp on the press seperate. is the load master ok if you dont use the priming system????

[wide45]

Square deal.

[98sr20ve]

Mine was fine except the priming system. You may be able to get the priming system to work for you with some tinkering.

The other option is the Lee CLASSIC Turret. It's like a mini 550 in feel. Priming system works as well. 200 rds a hour is realistic. You don't need to jump through hoops to prime of press with that setup.

[dskinsler83]

dont want the square deal cause i cant use regular dies

[RayBar]

My first press was a loadmaster.

I was so frustrated with that thing due to primer issues unitll I figured it out-vibrations due to the casefeed actuator rod.

Once I fixed the vibrations, retighten the shell plate nut & tool head nut every hundred rounds, it ran like a top. I was able to produce 1k rph of 45 acp.

Yanking that handle isn't as fun as my 1050 but it's well worth it's weight in gold for way you pay.

[dskinsler83]

Well I bought a loadmaster and so far so good i like it

[Graham Smith]

The Load Master is fussier than the Lee Pro. Bolting it to a good solid surface is a must as well. More than any one single thing, you need to develop a slow steady rhythm and watch everything very carefully.

Others may disagree, but the one thing that I found that helped a lot was to disconnect the automatic case feeder arm. It had a tendency to bind and cause trouble for me. I just rigged a handle to the end of the "pusher" and manually pushed a case in before each stroke. This not only stopped the binding problems but slowed me down a trifle and smoothed everything out.

The biggest issue is that when there was a problem, it was going to be with the primer system and might result in a broken part.

As far as priming off the Loadmaster, that really makes no sense to me. If you are going to have to do a completely separate step anyway, you are better off sticking with the Lee Pro and doing the crimp as a separate operation - assuming you really need to crimp. What caliber?

[Maksim]

I took the hybrid approach after picking up a lee pro on clearance for $75.

I start out on a Lee classic turret, and use that to resize, deprime and prime the cases. I take out the index bar so it does not move. Quickly go through as many cases of one caliber as I can in a sitting.

Then.. in the Lee Pro, I have the priming system, case feeder and all disconnected. I use the Lee Pro to drop the powder, separate bullet seater, and separate crimp. While not as fast as a full auto progressive, it is alot faster now than doing it on my classic turret.

[dskinsler83]

I hand prime because it takes the fuss out of the press if u ask me. I can deprime and clean and inspect my brass. I crimp due to using the black bullets and belling the case mouth to not cut off the coating and they recommend a firm crimp I like the 5 stations and I may start using the priming system I dunno but for now this works well for me

[jrb06]

I own a 650, two 550, a Lee loadmaster and a Pro 1000. Started with the 1000 then moved to the loadmaster mainly for the crimping station. Then found a 550 and later a 650 and 550 package deal. I can load 400-500 rph on the loadmaster if I really want to crank them out. Yes you need to figure out the little quirks in the machine but once I got that done the machine works fine. Every 100 rounds or so I check the retainer lever on the primer station and I have eliminated the primer flip issue and sidway primers. For the money you cannot beat the loadmaster.

[photoracer]

What I did for a 4th station was acquire a Lee single stage press used from a friend in my club. I originally got it to allow the use of a Lee factory crimp die as a fourth stage but eventually I figured out how to get a decent light roll crimp on the 9mm bullet seating die so now I only use it to fix minor issues. I suppose if I ever get around to reloading 357 Sig I'll use the single stage to size the cases with a .40 S&W die first then switch to the Pro 1000 with a 357 Sig die to size the neck and deprime the cases.