Loadmaster or Pro 1000?

[dpart77]

Hi guys

I'm finally going to make the jump to a progressive press. I'm thinking that due to cost I will go with Lee. I can't decide if I should go with the pro 1000 or the Loadmaster. Which one have you guys had the most luck with. I will be loading mostly auto pistol, maybe in the future I will load .223 and 30.06, but very soon. Any direction would be helpful.

Related to this, which powders work best in Lee measures, for 9mm 45acp and 38/357. I was using
H110 with miserable results in the perfect powder measure.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

dpart77,

Based on your planned calibers, I would go with the Loadmaster, since it's much more capable of handling rifle sized calibers. The 1000 does well with pistol calibers, but isn't big enough to handle 30.06.

That said, unless you have a serious need for high volume production (The lee Pro 100 loads 200-250 rounds per hour if I remember right, while the Loadmaster is a 400-1000 round per hour press.), you might want to seriously consider the Lee Classic Cast Turret Press. It's a very versatile press, very study (cast iron), has an excellent compound linkage, adjustable length handle, is inexpensive to change calibers, (a Lee die set and a 10 buck turret and you're loading), reasonably fast (200 rounds per hour is no problem) and the Pro Auto Disk measure is excellent as well as the Safety prime.

You can be reloading in a couple calibers (perhaps all three you mentioned) for less than 300 dollars with this press.

Don't look at just maximum speed when it comes to a reloading press. Speed doesn't do you much good if you spent so much on the press you don't have money for reloading components. It also does you no good if you can't afford to add the next caliber conversion.

The Lee Classic Cast Turret press is a great little press and gives more than enough speed for the average reloader, unless he's competing in high volume competition.

Hope this helps,

Dave

 

[Idano]

dpart77 my recommendation is get the LoadMaster, for the money it can't be beat. The LoadMaster was my first progressive press and I turned out a lot of good ammo from that press. I bought the press and dies for .223 and I hated the Lee Perfect Powder Measure so I replaced it with RCBS Uniflow powder measure and case activated linkage. If you order the LoadMaster order it in a pistol caliber so that it comes with disk powder measure it's much better according to a friend of mine who also has the LoadMaster. The Lee LoadMaster is a good press for the money but it does take some tender loving care and little coaxing occasionally. I would recommend getting few extra primer fingers and go slow and run a bunch of cases through it without dies, primers, or powder until you get it setup and running smoothly. By the way I ended up replacing my LoadMaster with a Hornady L-n-L progressive; it is much smoother and doesn't require much babying, but it also cost three times the price of the Lee.

 

[ilbob]

I vote for the loadmaster. The 1000 only has 3 turret positions, and in some cases you may want 4 or even 5. the loadmaster has a 5 station turret.

 

[Rod B]

Quote Dave//// "The Lee Classic Cast Turret press is a great little press and gives more than enough speed for the average reloader, unless he's competing in high volume competition."

I agree the Lee Classic Turret press is fast enough for most shooters.It doesn't require nearly as much time spent tinkering as do the Pro 1000 & Loadmaster.

It is also far easier to switch calibers on the Classic Turret.

Rod.

 

[strat81]

+1 to ilbob's comment. The three station turret is the reason I scrapped my plans for a 1000 and went with the Classic Turret.

 

[Idano]

It is also far easier to switch calibers on the Classic Turret.

Time is not a factor, the conversion time on the LoadMaster is the same as my for Hornady L-n-L progressive, less then 2 min.

• Change the Shell plate
• Change the Primer assembly if changing from small to large
• Change the case feeder tube/s if changing from small to large
• Change the V-block if changing from small to large

When I am switching between .223, 9mm and .40 S&W all I change is the shell plate and the V-block. On the Hornady I also change the case feeder plate. The whole process is less then minute, it takes more time setting the powder measure for the new charge.

IMO turret presses are for those individuals that don't know how much they are going to load. Most people do just fine on a single stage press, but if they start shooting a lot (200+ rounds a week) they should consider a full progressive. Turret presses fall in between the two and are really not all that cheap in comparison.

 

[dltpilot]

Loadmaster

I just got a Loadmaster for Christmas. Initial set up took about an hour, some minor adjustments including reindexing the carrier which is detailed on page 7 at the top of the page. I have not experienced any problems except one flipped primer. You have to have some mechanical aptitude to set up a progressive press but if you do it's not too difficult. By the way I purchased mine from Widener's Reloading for $200. About a quarter of the price of a comparable blue machine. I have since ordered a few spare large primer sliders from Lee and a case collator, total about $17.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Idano,

You missed a good application for a turret press and that is making multiple calibers you load for, where you don't load a lot of runs, very affordable. I have over thirty milsurp rifles in a sigifnicant array of calibers. Loading every one on my Hornady LnL progressive simply isn't practical, even at the reasonable 60 dollars or so a caliber conversion.

So I bought a Lee Classic Cast press to supplement my Hornady. It's already been great for runs of 200 or less (including load development), easy to setup, does a good job of loading and caliber conversions are only a die set and a ten buck turret (full retail price). I will be using it for a heckuva lot of oddball calibers like 7.5 Swiss or 8MM Steyr where I only load a couple hundred rounds or less at a time. (brass for these cartrdges is fairly expensive and hard to come by)

I use my Hornady for loading calibers like .45 ACP, .223 and 30.06, where I load 2000-3000 at a time.

After several years, I'm beginning to feel an ideal bench includes a Lee Classic cast single stage, a Lee Classic Cast Turret press and a Hornady Lock N Load progressive.

The Classic Cast single stage to load for long distance shooting (less than 100 rounds) and odd jobs like swaging, etc.

The Classic Cast turret press to load for low to medium volume cartridges (20-500 rounds) like 6.5 Swede and 7.5 Swiss.

The Hornady LnL for serious volume reloading above 500 rounds a month fired, such as 3000 rounds of 5.56.

 

[Uncle Don]

There are some good videos on setup of the press put out by Shadow & Darwin on GT. Do a seach there and you'll be lead to some great You-Tube videos. Under the sticky on GT-Reloading, I've also posted a text on those items that seem to cause the most people grief.

 

[Uncle Don]

After several years, I'm beginning to feel an ideal bench includes a Lee Classic cast single stage, a Lee Classic Cast Turret press and a Hornady Lock N Load progressive.

Dave, I agree with you. My progressive is a Loadmaster but I"m postive I'd have been just as happy with the Hornady. I've seen some videos and laid eyes on one, looks like a high quality press.

 

[Idano]

Dave, you lost me with the $60 caliber conversion and the fact it isn't practical to load small quantities on a progressive. To add another caliber to my Hornady is $23 for a shell plate and $10 for bushings and to add another caliber to a LoadMaster is $11 for a turret and $21 for a shell plate. It only takes about 2-5 minutes to change calibers on the LoadMaster or the Hornady depending whether you have to change the primer size. Twice a week I shoot between 100-300 rounds of .40 S&W and 9 mm so I may load 50 rounds of one caliber and switch then switch to the other and load 50 to 100 more within an hour. The only thing I load on my single stage press is my 30-06 and 22-250 which get maybe 200 rounds a year through them and I load that in couple hours.Therefore, I don't really see the need for a turret press especially if you own a progressive or think you might want a progressive. Sorry, but I view the turret press kind of like the Shop Smith of tools; they're okay for the the reloader that may occasionally load a moderate volume of ammo, but if you load thousands of rounds a year I don't see the benefit of having one. I don't even shoot competitive and I have already ran 10,000 rounds through my progressive since I bought it in October which definitely doesn't make me a turret canidate.

 

[dpart77]

Thanks guys that helped, I think I will go with the loadmaster. One can never have too much ammo.

d

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dave, you lost me with the $60 caliber conversion and the fact it isn't practical to load small quantities on a progressive.

The sixty dollar caliber conversions include the die set. Using your numbers and a lee die set, that's $33 plus $25 for 58 bucks, then add shipping to my door, so about 60 bucks.

To add another caliber to my Hornady is $23 for a shell plate and $10 for bushings and to add another caliber to a LoadMaster is $11 for a turret and $21 for a shell plate.

For the turret press, the cost is $10 for a turret and $25 for the dies, for a total of $35 plus shipping to my door. Not a big savings for a single die set, but when you multiply that times 30 guns: 58-35=23X30=690, that's enough money to pay for the turret press and have at least $440 left over. I can buy several nice milsurps with that money.

It only takes about 2-5 minutes to change calibers on the LoadMaster or the Hornady depending whether you have to change the primer size.

I know, I own a Lock N Load.

Twice a week I shoot between 100-300 rounds of .40 S&W and 9 mm so I may load 50 rounds of one caliber and switch then switch to the other and load 50 to 100 more within an hour.

You're still in high volume mode, but later on, you may find you're not shooting as much of any individual caliber, but have many more firearms and may want more variety for less costs. That's when the turret comes in nicely.


"The only thing I load on my single stage press is my 30-06 and 22-250 which get maybe 200 rounds a year through them and I load that in couple hours.

That's what I'm using the turret for, except it isn't taking me a couple hours and I do it way more often, but always for 20 cartridges or so. The nice thing about the turret is it's doing well at loading accurate rifle cartridges and giving me a quick low volume load cheap.

"Therefore, I don't really see the need for a turret press especially if you own a progressive or think you might want a progressive. Sorry, but I view the turret press kind of like the Shop Smith of tools; they're okay for the the reloader that may occasionally load a moderate volume of ammo, but if you load thousands of rounds a year I don't see the benefit of having one.

Not everyone loads thousands of rounds a year. I sometimes load 3000 at one setting and sometimes I load 20 of this, 20 of that for 30 rifles. I'd rather spend that 400 or so I saved above on the less expensive press changeover on reloading components for my 30 rifles.

"I don't even shoot competitive and I have already ran 10,000 rounds through my progressive since I bought it in October which definitely doesn't make me a turret canidate."

Obviously, you feel strongly about this. I don't know how many firearms you own, but when they start getting up there in quantity, it costs a good bit to support them. I don't know what you make, but my budget for firearms extraneous expenditures is limited. So I tend to be real tight with letting loose of a dollar. Also, you forget the big rule: He who dies with the most toys wins. The Lee Classic Turret is a fantastic little toy, as is their Classic Cast single stage.

BTW, great choice in a progressive.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Uncle Don,

"Dave, I agree with you. My progressive is a Loadmaster but I"m postive I'd have been just as happy with the Hornady. I've seen some videos and laid eyes on one, looks like a high quality press."

The Hornady is a real nice price for the money, but I've loaded on my buddy's Lee. It's a good press and real fast. If I had bought the Lee first, I certainly have been happy and wouldn't change to a Hornady. No reason too. However, it does take a little bit of adjustment. But then again, they all do. After all, they're machines.


Regards,

Dave

 

[benedict1]

Thanks guys that helped, I think I will go with the loadmaster. One can never have too much ammo.

Good choice--lots of good videos out there now to help set up and operate a Load Master. Check out darwin-t posts on this.

 

[Idano]

Dave, I agree with your choice too in progressives! BTW just to keep arguing, you can't count the price die as part of the conversion only the shell plates or shell holder and the turrets which could be optional. LOL

I agree we'll disagree on turret presses, but not progressives. Hornady rules over blue! However, in dpart77 case the Lee LoadMaster is a good choice.

 

[toecutter]

Dpart,

To echo many of the comments made by other users. I have owned many presses over the years. I currently have two Lee Pro 1000's. One thing I very much encourage you to do is buy your lee stuff from the "surplus" page on the lee website. This is the best deal I've seen for equipment anywhere.

The problem with the lee pro 1000's is you are stuck with only 3 positions. As a consequence of this, I usually run all my stuff through the equipment twice. I use them for reloading .223 .30 carbine, .45 ACP, .38/357, .44mag and others. If you are serious about hacking you could probably get the pro 1000 to load .30-06 but I really wouldn't count on it. I had to make some modifications to the case feeding system to get it to feed .223 reliably. I have also had to make mods so it will reliably dump the cases, as the standard case ejector is pretty lame.

Realistically, I'm of the opinion that if you are going to spend the money on a progressive, go with a dillon or the hornady press. The Lee loadmaster is a bit cheaper than all of them, but I really wonder what the engineers at Lee were smoking when they designed much of thier equipment.

Lee has probably the worst powder handling equipment on the market. Thier powder dropping system will only drop enough powder with the double disk kit. And it often jams up, or randomly shoots powder all over the reloading table. It is disasterously bad. I replaced mine with a dillon powder measure, and a RCBS perfect powder measure with linkage kit.

Thier priming system is also very poor and often causes jams, crushed primers and other chaos. The only way to prevent this is to keep more primers than you need in the system. Or to push the primers down the feed tube with a toothpick or paperclip.

The other problem I have with the lee presses is they always dump the spent primers into a cavity under the press. With the way they do this it often flings primers all over the table, and to empty the spent primer sump requires creative mounting of the press to start with, or you have to unbolt the press from the table to empty.

I will admit, the Lee presses are a great value, they are very low cost compared to many others. But unless you are willing to invest more money in parts from other manufaturers and work on everything to get it all perfect, you should think about maybe getting a press from another vendor.

Personally, I have been very impressed with the Hornady LnL, the dillon 550, 650, 1050. While the RCBS presses are good, they don't have all the gizmos that make the LnL and the 650 so fast. You might check as to how big a cartridge the other presses can handle. I think the 650 will handle up to a .308 and I think the LnL will handle .30-06.

Whenever you're going to buy something as expensive as any of these presses look around as much as possible first.

 

[darwin-t]

You made the right choice going with the Load Master. I'm no fan of the Pro 1000. The turret in the Load Master is MUCH beefier and rock solid. You can use a factory crimp die in the LM. But the deal breaker for me is this: The Pro 1000 does the powder drop on the right rear of the press. When placing the bullet it is very hard or impossible to see down the case on the Pro 1000. The bullet seating on the Load Master is right under your nose, it couldn't possibly done in a better place. Case retention is better in the LM, you can easily remove the case at any station if needed on the LM, not so on the Pro 1000. I could go on and on, just rest easy knowing you made the right choice.

Watch my videos and shadowdog's and you won't have ANY trouble.

Toecutter, on the LM the primers go down the hollow ram. To empty them you open a little door on the bottom of the ram. NO MORE PRIMERS ON THE FLOOR! The priming on the LM is much better on the LM and if properly adjusted should work very well. I don't know what to tell you about the powder measure. I admit I have only loaded 9mm, but I've NEVER had a problem with the powder measure.

 

[ilbob]

I drilled some holes in the bench top where the spent primers drop, and they normally just fall through to a bucket below. maybe one in ten bounces off onto the floor. most of those get captured by a box I have strategically placed there.