Old or New Lee Loadmaster?

[Darth-Vang]

As the title suggests. Is this a “newer” or “older” Lee Loadmaster? If my memory serves me right, someone pointed out that the little oiling hole there circled in green is present on the “older” loadmaster while the “newer” ones are absent? If so, who knows what year this loadmaster was made and when did they started to make the “newer” Loadmaster? Was there any modification to the “newer” loadmaster?

 

[kmw1954]

Maybe ask here;
http://lee-loader.com/index.php

 

[jmorris]

I don’t have the answer to your question but if it’s all original you can get a good idea by the priming system and shell plate.

There were 3 generations of the priming system when I had mine and I think they have introduced another since then and at least two versions of the shell plate.

Edit, looked at the current manual here https://leeprecision.com/files/instruct/LM3231.pdf and looks like they deleted the oiling hole, changed things from the 3rd gen priming system and added an explosion shield.

So I would go with older.

 

[kmw1954]

Does it really make a difference if everything works? There have been no operational changes made as far as I know.

 

[greyling22]

I tried at least 2 generations of priming systems on my LM before I gave up on it. They came out with the triangle one soon after, but I could never get the round ones to work.

 

[jmorris]

They didn’t have the triangle one when I had mine and the plastic was worn on the ones that came with my press. Titan had the latest version (IIRC 3rd gen) and it worked, I didn’t load the tens of thousands on it that I do my others, to see how long it took to wear out and need replacement.