Which Lee progressive press?

[dragon813gt]

Tell him to buy a LCT. You can easily produce 150 rounds an hour. If he's not shooting thousands a month this is more than enough production.

If he really wants a progressive then save enough for a Dillon. This is a case of buy once, cry once. The Dillon is going to run right out of the box. They are easy to setup and maintain. The Lee's are notoriously finicky. Priming off press defeats the purpose of a progressive.

And who said reloading 9mm was hard? Loading w/ cast bullets requires more attention. But reloading jacketed is as easy as it gets. It's a pistol round so there are no arduous brass prep steps.

Start w/ an LCT since it's economical and very versatile. Look at Dillon's line of progressives and determine which one suits your needs if you want to ramp up production.

[igolfat8]

Why not have him come over and load? If your not setup for 9mm have him buy the the shellplate and toolhead. I have quite a few friends who come over and do just that. I insist they buy toolheads as I have every shellplate made for my press.

Take care

r1kk1

Good advice and I've actually done that. He has loaded a few rounds on my Dillon 550b but he just doesn't want to invest a lot of money to start out until he knows if he will stick with the hobby? I sent him a link to this thread and he is following along. Thanks for the advice so far.

[dverna]

Tell him to buy a LCT. You can easily produce 150 rounds an hour. If he's not shooting thousands a month this is more than enough production.

If he really wants a progressive then save enough for a Dillon. This is a case of buy once, cry once. The Dillon is going to run right out of the box. They are easy to setup and maintain. The Lee's are notoriously finicky. Priming off press defeats the purpose of a progressive.

And who said reloading 9mm was hard? Loading w/ cast bullets requires more attention. But reloading jacketed is as easy as it gets. It's a pistol round so there are no arduous brass prep steps.

Start w/ an LCT since it's economical and very versatile. Look at Dillon's line of progressives and determine which one suits your needs if you want to ramp up production.

Best advice here. The LCT will come in handy even if he upgrades later. I had 2 SDB's, a 550, 650, two 1050's, and a Star at one time and still used both my single stage presses. The money spent will not be wasted.

Dragon is also correct about the 9mm being easy to load.

Don Verna

[r1kk1]

And then save up for the case feeder, and then save up for the primer tube filler, and then save up for the new caliber conversion kit when he wants to load something new.

It just never ends. He'll have two grand into the press and stuff and can load three (3) different calibers if he does it right.

Buy a LLM for $250, buy your consumables, try it. If you don't like it, you can sell it for $199 all day long. Try selling a 550 or 650 for $50 less than you bought it for. Not gonna happen.

But if you make a real effort to use the LLM, you'll keep it.

You have no idea what your talking about. Period. Sure you can buy a conversion from Dillon but first, a person needs to know what he needs to make the conversion or wind up with duplicate buttons, powder funnels, etc. Tube filler? I never owned one. I use too many different brands and I believe a tube filler would give me fits. I haven't seen too many tube fillers out there besides Dillon, FA, Hornady and some privateers making them. I have two different machines that use tubes. A casefeeder is a must for the 650. Nice thing is it has no problem loading 7mm Mag through the machine including the casefeeder. I've seen my buddy do it and shoot little tiny groups around a ¼" with it.

Resell value? Who are you kidding? You think I would take less for my old 450 reframed machine than what I paid for it? Whatever. I would like to see a LM for Dillon swap. Well back to reality. . .

I can agree with where does it end? I have no idea. I keep buying custom barrels for the Encore and the Savage 110. I love obsolete and wildcat stuff. I buy toolheads three at a time and try to keep spares available.

take care

r1kk1

[r1kk1]

I love comments like this! I've never used one and have absolutely no experience with one but I've heard and read so I'm going to make an educated guess and just bash this product. That's reliable. That's like asking a virgin for advice on sex. I've read books and seen pictures but I've never actually done it!

On the same token, I know a kick in the ball bag hurts like hell but it has never happened to me. I have seen it happen to others and describe all kinds of feelings about the experience. I don't need to experience it to agree or disagree with them. It sure looks like it hurt when he got kicked by the horse.

take care

r1kk1

[kmw1954]

On the same token, I know a kick in the ball bag hurts like hell but it has never happened to me. I have seen it happen to others and describe all kinds of feelings about the experience.
take care

r1kk1

You're a fortunate man! Hope you never have to.
I also know hot pizza will burn the roof of your mouth but I do it anyways!

Better yet, I've had people tell there is or isn't a God yet neither one can prove it either way.

[No Blue]

You have no idea what your talking about. Period. Sure you can buy a conversion from Dillon but first, a person needs to know what he needs to make the conversion or wind up with duplicate buttons, powder funnels, etc. Tube filler? I never owned one. I use too many different brands and I believe a tube filler would give me fits. I haven't seen too many tube fillers out there besides Dillon, FA, Hornady and some privateers making them. I have two different machines that use tubes. A casefeeder is a must for the 650. Nice thing is it has no problem loading 7mm Mag through the machine including the casefeeder. I've seen my buddy do it and shoot little tiny groups around a ¼" with it.

Resell value? Who are you kidding? You think I would take less for my old 450 reframed machine than what I paid for it? Whatever. I would like to see a LM for Dillon swap. Well back to reality. . .

I can agree with where does it end? I have no idea. I keep buying custom barrels for the Encore and the Savage 110. I love obsolete and wildcat stuff. I buy toolheads three at a time and try to keep spares available.

take care

r1kk1

You've been eating that peyote again, haven't you? Just kidding. I don't know where to start a response, you were all over the place.

The OP can spend $250 on a LLM or $1000 on a 650 to find out if he likes reloading and which press. I had the same choice in '95, went with the LLM because it had a case feeder and didn't portend another $1000 with all the other calibers I wanted to reload.

One thing I've noticed about those online 'reviews' about the LLM, most of them, like 70%+, bought something from the mothership in Scottsdale...it just drives them insane that somebody can spend 25% of blue money and load ammo that works as well as stuff from the mothership....their eyes just roll around in their heads. LOL

[Andy]

I would echo what others said and say buy a single stage first: he will always be glad he has it on hand, it will teach the right things, and he is likely to always have a first-rate use for it.

That being said, if he wants a progressive, I don't think that's automatically a dumb decision.

I briefly had a loadmaster 1000 and would not recommend it based on my personal preferences, and especially for someone with only one press. I now have a hornady lnl ap and would recommend that as the best option currently available for a progressive press, especially if you want to start out with only one press. Due to the wire spring shellholder retention you can add/remove a case at any stage easily and so it isn't much trouble to "use it as a single stage" when the need strikes. It wouldn't be foolish to buy any non-auto indexing progressive as an alternative (like the dillon 550 or rcbs 2000) but I think the hornady offers better value than those and is a more convenient design.

That and being able to click-in, click-out every die between that and your single stage (once shimmed) make it a really attractive bargain, and very versatile. You get 500 free bullets with it and if you resell those you're only paying about $300-350 for the press depending on the sale you get.

So, to recap, I would recommend any single stage for him before any progressive. If he is set on a progressive, have him get the hornady and use it as a single stage until he masters every operation individually.

[omgb]

This thread has taken on a kind of mean spirit in some of the posts. That would be sad any day put at Christmas? Let's play nice

[retread]

I had a Lee Pro 1000. Bought it for pistol loads only. I did get it operating quite well after a bunch of tinkering and modifications. The main thing I liked was the case feeder, simple and very effective. I had a chance to buy a little used Dillon 550 for a great price so I jumped on it. Figured I didn't need the Pro 1000 any more so I sold it. I have been sorry ever since. I deprime before SS pin tumbling and sure could have used the 1000 for a great decapper, with that case feeder it would have saved a lot of brass handling. If anyone wants to get rid of a Bare bones Pro 1000 (no primer set up or powder system) I would be real interested if the price was right.

[hermans]

The absolute best progressive press for loading 9mm is a Dillon SDB. Backed by the best Customer Service, you cannot go wrong with the SDB!

[Lloyd Smale]

best advice given

Based on my experiences with both the pro1000 and loadmaster, I would avoid them all together. The priming systems had serious problems and was a constant source of frustration. Supposedly they fixed the priming system on the loadmaster, but I'm not going to buy another one to find out. I sold the loadmaster and the pro1000. Tell your neighbor to save up for a 550.

[jmorris]

I have made what I think is the best running loadmaster in the world, at least the best one I have ever seen. I had a few advantages though like problem solving/repairing mechanical devices for a living and have been reloading on "good" progressives (Dillon) for more than 30 years.

It is possible to make one run well but it won't as long as other presses without need for further adjustment/repair. If you have to call AAA to change a flat, you don't want a Lee progressive, even if you think you do. Unless one is very lucky the press will be a project in and of itself.

[DerekP Houston]

Tell him to buy a LCT. You can easily produce 150 rounds an hour. If he's not shooting thousands a month this is more than enough production.

If he really wants a progressive then save enough for a Dillon. This is a case of buy once, cry once. The Dillon is going to run right out of the box. They are easy to setup and maintain. The Lee's are notoriously finicky. Priming off press defeats the purpose of a progressive.

And who said reloading 9mm was hard? Loading w/ cast bullets requires more attention. But reloading jacketed is as easy as it gets. It's a pistol round so there are no arduous brass prep steps.

Start w/ an LCT since it's economical and very versatile. Look at Dillon's line of progressives and determine which one suits your needs if you want to ramp up production.

Agree with all of the above..

[Smk SHoe]

I agree with most, start out with a single stage and see where that takes you. I have been loading for a few decades and have two 650's, two green single stages, a green turrent and a couple of red hand presses. Got a good friend that knows basic reloading( was a Artillery Officer) and keeps trying to get on the 650 in 9mm. He can crank the heck out of the handle but if something is amiss, he kinda looks at it funny. He just doesn't have the experience of making lots of ammo on a single stage and dealing with those issues one at a time. Not paying attention, you can make ALOT of bad ammo quick on a progressive.

[lightload]

I'm a Lee user, but I would not recommend their progressives to a new reloader. I suggest that your friend buy a Lee Classic Turret, which I also use. Even then I say prime off press.

[igolfat8]

Thanks again for all the input. He bought a LCT press today. Soon the fun begins.

[Gillie Dog]

Correct choice. Credit is all yours for helping him get started in the correct direction.

GD

[gefiltephish]

I tend to fall into the Lee bashing category more often than not. I own a fair amount of Lee stuff, including the LM, hand press, challenger and LCT. I also have a rock chucker and LNL AP. Overall I'd have to say my feelings about Lee products are best described as luke warm. That said, I have to give credit where credit is due and say that if I were forced to keep only one press, it would be the LCT. As many others before me have pointed out, it is argurably one of if not the best value in reloading.

I started with the LM, which was given to me. It works but takes an enormous amount of fiddling and more fiddling and more fiddling. The last few times I used it it was for 45acp and now I just leave it setup that way. I'd rather spend my time loading and shooting than endlessly fiddling with the tools.

The LCT may not be the fastest, but so what, it's not a race. Versatility, simplicity and low expense are it's strong suits. Great for learning without the potential pitfalls of Lee's progressives. My only druthers for the LCT would be a 5th station.

To those who like their LM's and 1000's, I am truly happy for you.

[Norbrat]

Thanks again for all the input. He bought a LCT press today. Soon the fun begins.

Take the time to get the Safety Prime working correctly. Once set up properly, it works well.

Edit: Sorry, misread that. I thought he'd bought the kit.

Having said that, a powder thrower (Auto Drum?) and the Safety Prime would make good accessories.