Hey Blue,
As mentioned, I do not care for the case feeder, but that does not mean that I have never used them. I have one friend with a case feeder on his L&L and another friend with a case feeder on his Dillon 650. I used both of those machines to do several hundred rounds on each. No doubt about it, they speeds things up a bit, but the increase in speed is not worth the cost of the feeder nor the inconvenience to me. I say inconvenience because I actually prefer placing the shell in the shell plate by hand. I also find the case feeder to get in the way for me, and most importantly, I cannot stand the constant racket they make. I don't see how folks put up with the noise. I also cannot stand the noise my vibratory case cleaner makes. When I clean my cartridges in the vibratory cleaner, I either put it in another room, or else I turn it on and leave while it is operating. I can listen to music while I load, but those noisy things drive me crazy.
Obviously the noise does not bother you, and I can see how your depriming a couple hundred cases would go slick as can be using a case feeder and simply cycling the handle. Empty brass up top and deprimed brass falling in the tray would certainly go very quickly. In my case, however, I simply never have occasion to just size or deprime the brass on my L&L. My brass is not cleaned until after it is reloaded, and then I use the big Lyman vibratory cleaner. I do a lot of special loading on single stage presses, but if I have a job for the progressive L&L, I do all the operations at one time rather sizing and priming as some folks do.
You and some other folks also mention having pistol and rifle rotors as well as micrometer heads on your powder dispensers. I suspect you guys must have newer L&L models than mine which was made in early 1997. My powder dispenser has the Case Activated Powder Drop, but the linkage is a bit different than what is shown in their manual for today. My powder dispenser seems to be the same as those used today, but it only has one rotor (the part that travels in the dispenser), and it has two micrometer type adjustable inserts (one large and one small). My case eject wire and primer feed system are original, and I know the newer presses have some differences in these features. My L&L is all original and works real well, so I never saw any reason to upgrade to the newer features.
As I said in my earlier post, I do not care for the whole quick die change system and would like to fix my bushings in place - EXCEPT for the powder dispenser bushing. When I change calibers, I do not mind changing dies at all. However, adjusting my Case Activated Powder Drop for different calibers requires my pulling the unit out and placing it back in several times to get it adjusted properly, so the L&L bushing is great for powder dispenser station.
I agree completely with you that a progessive press can be a real problem for those who are lacking in mechanical aptitude and patience. Like you said, lots of things going on at one time, and you have to understand these intricate operations to make it work properly.
I may not like case feeders and bullet feeders for myself, but I would not tell you or anyone else they should not like them. My only suggestion to new folks is to try a progressive press for a while without these expensive add ons. Better yet, find a friend who has a feeder and see how they work. You may find out you really do not need or want them, and you can save spending a lot of bucks not buying them.
Hey Walk,
Now you tell me you also cut the case loader arm from your sub-plate! You sure do have lots of grit when it comes to making alterations to your L&L machine. Considering what you have done to yours, I think I may just get up enough nerve to do some drilling and tapping for each of my station bushings.
I sold almost 50 guns this past August, and I thought I would sell my progressive L&L as well as my Hornady 366 progressive shotshell machines and just keep my single stage presses. But, I really like mechanics of my L&L, and I think I will have to keep it along with my RockChucker. I guess I will sell my other single stage metallics and my progressive shotshell machines.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile