Lee finally fixed the LM primer system?

[Mike Hughes]

About a year ago, Lee came out with their 3rd generation version of the Load Master priming assembly. I ordered a couple of these from Midway, and the results were not that great. The first couple of hundred rounds primed good, but then the usual frustrating problems started to occur. Missed primers, tillted primers, crushed primers. A few weeks ago, I got so frustrated that I decided to give Lee a call and tell them just what I thought about their new primer assembly. They assured me that they had made some more improvements and offered to send one at no charge. I received the new one in 2 or 3 days and put it on my LM and proceeded to load 100 45 acp. Worked perfect, and I thought, it's just a matter of time before it will start screwing up. Since then, I have loaded 3000 rounds without a single hiccup! The ones I ordered from Midway were red troughs with a black pivot arm and a white slider. The newest one, direct from Lee, is all red (trough, pivot arm and slider). I have not tried the small primer, but I think they finally got this LP system working.

[UNIQUEDOT]

All of mine are the old original systems and i haven't had problems with them. I've been afraid to try the new ones, but it looks like they may have them working correctly now. The old ones i have work well, but when changing shellplates or even touching the primer lever (slider lever) you have to always remember to pull back the lever or it will damage the slider and even a slightly damaged slider will give problems. I think that was the problem with the original system...operator error. I damaged one or two before i read the instruction manual thoroughly. I may order a large and small system to try since I've worn out my crank slider and have to order a new one.

[fryboy]

sounds promising ( if they deflashed it :P ) my biggest problem with the primers was solved by using a decapping die in station one and a sizing die ( sans decapper ) in station two ( the priming station ) but to be fair i dont use mine to load bottleneck cartridges which would alter that die setup as most of those use a expander stem decapping combination , the sizing die holds the case just about perfect IMHO
the brite spot is that lee is trying to work thru the priming problems that so many apparently seem to have !

[Sakdog]

I too got fed up with the old system, I am only feeding small primers and my trough is grey with black pivot arm and slider (maybe 2 revisions old).


My request to LEE was that they send me a dozen sliders because they get mangled so easily. They shot me down, in a good way and said they will send me the newest revision trough assembly free.

We'll see how that goes, your experience with the LPF seems to indicate a promising change. My fingers are crossed.

In looking at the pictures of the new trough assembly I can't really see that much difference but hopefully it does away with the mangling of the sliders. I am tempted to reverse engineer the slider while its still virgin and build a solid model in CAD so that I may use some of my resources to possibly have a replacement made from "swedish tool steel", youll definitely be able to "feel" when things get jammed up then.

[r1kk1]

Wow. I didn't know there was so much plastic. If the fella does reverse engineer one out of some form metal, he could sell a bunch I bet. I wonder how long till the slider wears out.

Not picking on LM. I picked up one in the box and was surprised how light it was at Cabelas. Didn't buy it but was curious about weight.

I have not worn out a metal primer slide at over 100 k rounds and still going.

Take care

r1kk1

[patsher]

This has been a great thread. I have two LM's that I was about to sell because I'm tired of messing with the primer feeder. What a pain!!! Anyway, after reading your post, I called Lee to buy a couple of these new primer feeder systems, and Mary said they would just send me one each (large and small primer) at no charge. Wow! Great service! I'm looking forward to taking another run at the presses! Thanks for the thread!
Pat

[Cowboy T]

This is interesting, as I've been thinking about a 5-station press for some time now. I've been holding off because of what I've heard about the Loadmaster's priming system (took me a little bit to perfect the Pro 1000's operation, but it works great now). However, if this has finally been addressed, then I may add an LM to my bench.

I still wish Lee would come out with a 4-station "Classic Pro 1000" on the Classic Turret Press's frame. That would be totally cool and totally utilitarian.

[UNIQUEDOT]

However, if this has finally been addressed, then I may add an LM to my bench.

Basically what the new primer systems do is remove operator error by automatically pulling the slider back.

[jimkim]

This is interesting, as I've been thinking about a 5-station press for some time now. I've been holding off because of what I've heard about the Loadmaster's priming system (took me a little bit to perfect the Pro 1000's operation, but it works great now). However, if this has finally been addressed, then I may add an LM to my bench.

I still wish Lee would come out with a 4-station "Classic Pro 1000" on the Classic Turret Press's frame. That would be totally cool and totally utilitarian.

If they would do this, remove the auto index, and just use the safety prime, I'd buy one. Just a nice simple RL300 style press would be pretty close to perfect for me.


Heck, I'd be happy with a non-auto advance LM that primes on the downstroke and uses the safety prime system. KISS should be the handloading industries' mantra.

[Sakdog]

So it's not definitive by any means but here is the story so far.

Monday night this week I snapped a picture of my mangled primer slider and sent the picture to lee online and submitted a ticket. They said "no more sliders" here have a new rev trough and gave me the plunger return spring too that I needed. Today, Thursday...same week I have the parts in my hot little hands.

My overall experience with the LM primer system goes as follows: (mind you this is all with the old gray primer system)

Right out of the box I set it up and used it with very dismal results. The initial runs were plagued with missed primes and side-primes. I bucked it up and re-fed those botched rounds and eventually got my brass all primed up. Performance deteriorated with every slider that got mangled. Whether its my fault or the presses fault there was not sufficient feedback to let me know that something went awry when the slider committed suicide. The only indication I got was an eventual stoppage in priming process, that when the shell plate was removed revealed a mangled primer slider. I remedied this condition many times with pliers and a little bitty rat tail file. Things go wrong and I think that had the primer slide been fabricated out of something with a bit more strength I would have been able to sense the mishap and discontinue the press stroke.

Several times I re-tried the priming system only to re-live the above frustration, and revert back to hand priming. This was still not a bad way of life at all for me. Running primed brass into the LM still piles loaded ammo out like it's nobodies business.

The new black plastic priming system has a different profile on the slider, It has a shark fin molded into the stationary portion of the trough to better capture and keep the primer oriented face up. the bottom has a nub for the plunger spring to grab onto so as not to flop to one side or another.

I took the new trough stuck it on the press, re-verified my primer lever setting and gave it a go. I have only fed about 150 rounds thus far. The only issue is that I had a spell of no-feeds for whatever reason.. may have been the trough was low on primers. after that, zero misfeeds. Its just like the old system in that you have to keep the trough fed, because the final 5 or so primers don't feel compelled to feed without a light tap.

I am employing, and will likely continue to employ the generic decapper die @ station 1, and the sizer-sans-decapper @ station 2. I believe this is key in keeping a coaxial relationship between all the key players in the mechanism.

Will have to throw down a light endurance run of 500 pieces this weekend to see how she holds. SFSG

[Casting_40S&W]

The new system, in combination with a sizing die with decapper removed, solved my priming problems as well.

Keep the primer rail full, and you will be batting 100%, the system relies on gravity and the weight of the primer behind it to feed the next one in. That would explain your no-feed. As soon as the primer tray is empty, drop in another 100, fill your powder hopper, top off your beverage.

[Moonie]

I have both of the new ones, large and small. I'm still gun shy after a chain explosion that left me with a scar on my upper lip. I now have the blast shield but haven't primed on the press much since. I have not used either of the newest troughs but have been thinking about it, gotta get my hearing protection out of the car before I try again.

[Casting_40S&W]

CCI or Remington Primers do not chain fire like Federals will, if you use any primers other than CCI or Remington, make sure you have the blast shield in place.

[Sakdog]

300 more through the merry go round, Only stoppages I had were from my ram being full of spent primers, and one berdan case which I felt.

I think they fixed it on the small prime as well

The successful operation is sufficient for me to now comfortably give full progressive a go on this press.

[Mike Hughes]

300 more through the merry go round, Only stoppages I had were from my ram being full of spent primers, and one berdan case which I felt.

I think they fixed it on the small prime as well

The successful operation is sufficient for me to now comfortably give full progressive a go on this press.

Good to hear the success with the small primer (I still havn't tried mine). With the large primer loading the 45 acp (my perfect run was still going, up to about 3.600 without a single screw up. And suddenly, I saw a primer that appeared to be installed upside down. I sat it aside and chalked it up as operator error. I loaded a couple hundred more without a problem. After taking a closer look at the upside down primer, I noticed it was not upside down, the primer had actually fell apart and the little top cap was missing (must have went down the ram with the spent primers). I have never seen one do this, may have been a defective primer.

[WyrTwister]

I have had good luck with the new primer assemblies ( do not know which generation ) , in both large and small .

I have found , a new primer assembly may need a break in period of maybe 20 -30 rounds , then it works good .

Most of my LoadMaster problems are self inflicted .

God bless
Wyr

So it's not definitive by any means but here is the story so far.

Monday night this week I snapped a picture of my mangled primer slider and sent the picture to lee online and submitted a ticket. They said "no more sliders" here have a new rev trough and gave me the plunger return spring too that I needed. Today, Thursday...same week I have the parts in my hot little hands.

My overall experience with the LM primer system goes as follows: (mind you this is all with the old gray primer system)

Right out of the box I set it up and used it with very dismal results. The initial runs were plagued with missed primes and side-primes. I bucked it up and re-fed those botched rounds and eventually got my brass all primed up. Performance deteriorated with every slider that got mangled. Whether its my fault or the presses fault there was not sufficient feedback to let me know that something went awry when the slider committed suicide. The only indication I got was an eventual stoppage in priming process, that when the shell plate was removed revealed a mangled primer slider. I remedied this condition many times with pliers and a little bitty rat tail file. Things go wrong and I think that had the primer slide been fabricated out of something with a bit more strength I would have been able to sense the mishap and discontinue the press stroke.

Several times I re-tried the priming system only to re-live the above frustration, and revert back to hand priming. This was still not a bad way of life at all for me. Running primed brass into the LM still piles loaded ammo out like it's nobodies business.

The new black plastic priming system has a different profile on the slider, It has a shark fin molded into the stationary portion of the trough to better capture and keep the primer oriented face up. the bottom has a nub for the plunger spring to grab onto so as not to flop to one side or another.

I took the new trough stuck it on the press, re-verified my primer lever setting and gave it a go. I have only fed about 150 rounds thus far. The only issue is that I had a spell of no-feeds for whatever reason.. may have been the trough was low on primers. after that, zero misfeeds. Its just like the old system in that you have to keep the trough fed, because the final 5 or so primers don't feel compelled to feed without a light tap.

I am employing, and will likely continue to employ the generic decapper die @ station 1, and the sizer-sans-decapper @ station 2. I believe this is key in keeping a coaxial relationship between all the key players in the mechanism.

Will have to throw down a light endurance run of 500 pieces this weekend to see how she holds. SFSG

[Vinne]

If they would do this, remove the auto index, and just use the safety prime, I'd buy one. Just a nice simple RL300 style press would be pretty close to perfect for me.


Heck, I'd be happy with a non-auto advance LM that primes on the downstroke and uses the safety prime system. KISS should be the handloading industries' mantra.

You all got that right. They had a great priming system with the Pro 1000 bur NO they had to do something NEW and DIFFERENT but have to pay the consequences!!

[Casting_40S&W]

~Mike Hughes

Blazer brass is small pockets, that would explain your problem getting that large primer into it. Blazer decided to change to small pockets last year, regardless of the fact that 45 auto has been large pocket since 1904, creatin' headaches for us reloaders.

[Mike Hughes]

~Mike Hughes

Blazer brass is small pockets, that would explain your problem getting that large primer into it. Blazer decided to change to small pockets last year, regardless of the fact that 45 auto has been large pocket since 1904, creatin' headaches for us reloaders.

I cull out the small primer and most of it is blazer, but some of the blazer is large primer. Maybe I missed one, if so that explains that one. I am fixin to try out the small primer system, doing some bulk loading for the 300 Blk. Hope it works as well as the LP

[greyling22]

how new is the new system? The last version I have is probably 8 months old, and I've still got issues with it. (small primer) I loosened the screw and added a little oil to the O-ring on the primer slider arm and that helped, but I still get some skipped primers. If there is a new system I want it. I really like most of the loadmaster.

Cowboy T, be advised the LM is effectively a 4 station press since it primes at the top of the stroke in station 2.