Reality thread: First time reloader success story.

[Walkalong]

Good job there burningsquirrels.

The input from someone new who just got started is as good for newbies as us old timers who sometimes forget how it is to be brand new to reloading. We sometimes take some stuff for granted and forget we did not know it back then.

 

[RidgwayCO]

Sounds like you've got a system that's working for you, burningsquirrels, and that's great!

My only comment concerning your original posting... it's ok to decap a live primer. You just have to be slow and smooth, not quick and jerky. I've had to do it a couple of times in over 15 years of reloading, with nary a detonation. However, I wore eye protection and ear plugs, and made sure nothing flammable was on the bench, just to be careful.

 

[burningsquirrels]

ah, yeah.... occasionally if the primer trough gets really dirty, i may get one pull that doesn't feel right... chances are it's a tipped primer. those i set aside if they can make it to the powder drop station and set aside to be re-done at the end of the run. the worst is when there's a complete stoppage when the primer is completely fubar'd and the shell plate won't turn. it's annoying, but only happened 5-6 times in how many thousands of rounds when the trough was dirty... and maybe one time when i think i was getting too excited and was throwing the handle a little too happy.

as far as safety goes....

i don't think i mentioned that i also bought the lee primer blast shield... no accidents there yet with using only CCI 500 primers. i wear glasses, so i have eye protection all the time. if i'm wearing contacts, i have all my different shooting glasses i can throw on.

i guess it'd be neat if i could post a pic of my gun room. hm, maybe i'll take a few later this week...

 

[burningsquirrels]

Approaching 10k rounds on my Load-master.

Things broken/replaced/fixed:

Primer pin: I had a problem where a tipped primer screwed some things up. When loading 40 cal I started using an EGW undersize die in the priming station. Had a piece of brass that wasn't centered right because the arm that keeps the brass in place wasn't so tight. Crushed the case, and crushed the primer, and it put a dent in the face of the priming pin. With more patience I probably could've squared off the face again, but ended up jkust getting a $6 replacement pin. I feel it's more my fault of not making sure the arms were tight and centering brass.

Primer pin return spring - replaced that once. Not sure what happened, but I kinked it bad. I just noticed the pin wasn't returning properly every time.

Primer slider - replaced it a couple times, because a tipped primer from dirtiness or misplaced case would do something funky, and the primer pin would eat the slider. Good thing they're a buck!

The screw that locks the tool head in place: put a drop of weak loc-tite on it. It can back out on its own. :shrug: I think the return chain rubs on it and can make it come undone.

The case feeder-pusher thing. I put a small 2" c-clamp on it to increase clamping force so that the sliding device has more friction against the case feeder bar, since the screws couldn't go any tighter on the thing.

Observations:

I started running into a lot of priming problems at about 8k, and rough running. I broke it down to bits and cleaned the heck out of it. Ran awesome and perfect after that! I lubed up with 5w30 motor oil, nothing special.

Noticed that with some powders (Clays, American Select, those disc-shaped ones) that the adjustable powder bar can be inconsistent by a small amount. I will stick to the fixed discs... Perhaps even use an extra fine sanding flap wheel to slightly enlarge some of the holes when I need a small bump.

I'm able to keep OAL within 1.125-1.135, not the most consistent but I am saving up for a competition seating die to help deal with that. I think the Lee seating die just has a lot of slop in it. When using fixed discs, powder drops are dead-nuts consistent.

I got my money's worth out of this press. After a thorough cleaning, it feels liek it's running like brand new again. Just gota remember to have a couple parts on hand in case I chew up a primer pin or slider again the night before a match.

I may upgrade to a Dillon 650 with a casefeeder - I loaded on a Dillon before for fun and it's a nice machine... But at $800+ it's not worth it to upgrade unless my Lee turns to junk first. That's a lot of ammo or reloading supplies! I will definitely hold off the upgrade as the Lee LM does what I need it to do.

Summary: Two thumbs up. Don't let anyone tell you Lee is junk. Takes a while to set up, runs loose like a jimmy rigged soap box derby racer, but objectively it works great for the amateur sport shooter and makes good ammo.

Maybe I'll post an update later this year at 20k... That is, if being married doesn't slam the brakes on shooting.