Lee Classic Turret vs. ABLP vs. LNL

[tomme boy]

I have had 2 Pro1000's. I never could get either primer feed to work. I tried all the videos on youtube and elsewhere. Could never get more than 5 loads with them before locking the press up. I had one pop trying to seat it. After that the primer system got taken off completely.

Now I use it to decap the brass with one tool head. Then hand prime. Then run them through to add powder and seat the bullets.

I just got a Lee ABLP on Monday. It was missing the brass ejector and it is WAY out of alignment. I was crushing brass every pull of the lever. I tried to loosen the tool head with the ram raised and cases in the dies. That still was not enough. I had to loosen the carrier and adjust it that way. Then I had to bend the guide rod on the base so the carrier would now go down.

I feel it was messed up from the people at LEE tightening the carrier. I think they twisted the guide rod when they tightened it up. I actually bent the allen wrench trying to loosen the bolt(plug) that tightens the carrier to the ram. I had to get out my allen socket set for a 3/8 drive ratchet with a 12" handle to break it loose. It was over 80lbs. Way too tight.

[kmw1954]

tome boy that should have warranted a call to Lee looking for an exchange. If you had to bend the rod I can't see how it is ever going to align correctly. I have a video saved on the ABLP and they found the same thing with the carrier. I'm wondering if they but some Loc-tite on it.

[tomme boy]

No, there was no lock tite. That seems to be what tighten them to. Also the misalignment seems to be a common occurrence with this press.

Here is the thing with returning stuff to lee to get fixed. They will not pay to have it shipped to them. They will also not reimburse you for the shipping even if the problem was their fault. I am not going to send it back if I can fix it myself. This issue seems to be from using the guide rod as a stop to tightening the ram.

Before I did the fix the carrier was dragging on the rod real bad and you would feel a scraping as the carrier was lowered. After it now feels perfect. It is just a hair off right now, but it is not jamming up anymore.

[onelight]

Wow tomme boy your luck with Lee sounds like mine with Ruger.
My ABLP set up really easy just following the instructions for setup and alignment that came with it I was very impressed for the $109. investment. My pro 1000 had a larger learning curve and took some trial and error to learn setup and get priming well it was one of the first models. My loadmaster I had to relearn every time I changed calibers and for me was time consuming to get setup and running smooth.
sometimes they need a bit of brake in time , and if not cycled the full stroke you need to manually turn the shell plate to index both up and down , if it feels like something is wrong don’t force it stop and see what is going on. Slow and easy for a while to learn the press set up and get a feel for it.
You probably know all this sorry to be so wordy
Also I have found that some of my older dies do not work as smoothly on progressives they seem to be chamfering the mouth of the dies more now.

[Boolseye]

I’m very happy with the LCT so far, does just what I wanted it to.


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[tazman]

I love it when a plan comes together.

[JeepHammer]

I got two Lee load Masters in trade, neither one worked worth ****, one getting beat off the bench with a hammer when I got a Dillon XL650.
Keep in mind I can build/rebuild and/or tune about anything, but the cheap/cheesy way Lee's are put together just doesn't lend itself well to any real upgrades or tuning.
Cheap/shoddy is cheap & shoddy, it is what it is...

A friend of mine pulled the handle on my SBD and always commented on how smooth it operated, but bought a L-N-L so he could do rifle,
When he tried my 650 he kicked himself, and eventually got a 650 actually throwing the L-N-L out in the yard.
Not sure I would have done that, it most certainly would have been trading material.
But like he said, the Dillon ran as well out of the box before tuning than the L-N-L did after tuning.

When you get into something with proprietary die sets (Dillon) you cost goes up again for caliber changes.
Besides the dies, there are caliber change kits that aren't cheap, the more automatic (case feeders, bullet feeders, etc.) The more stuff you need to change.

If your fingers are the case feeder, and your other hand feeds bullets, then the cost does come down.

There will be some folks that run their presses dry...
There will be some that don't check/adjust powder throws between loading sessions.
There will be people that crank rounds from the start, that don't do QC on cases/rounds each time the sit down to load.
That's their choice.

My press gets lubed, powder throws get scaled, case process functions get checked rounds get gauged.
The press gets torn down & cleaned, dies get cleaned & protected after I'm done.
The more complicated the press, the longer this takes.

Some people won't clean/lubricate/rust protect no matter what they pay for a press,
I'm not one of them. Buy good tools, take care of them and they will last MUCH longer.
The longer it lasts, the more you amortize the initial cost, the cost goes down the longer it works.
Just common sense...

The guy saying he doesn't lubricate and just 'Blows Out' the press afterwards would be an example.
You can't 'Blow Out' sharp, embedded crud that is eating your press...

[Dieselhorses]

It's amazing, at the end of the day, I still have my Lee progressive and LCT sitting side by side on bench and I guess there was an "unseen" reason I did this. Oh, and the ole SS "Spartan", wouldn't wanna leave him out! Anyway, in respect to the LALB, I can see this one handling an array of pistol rounds efficiently. One thing I did just realize is that Lee sells and adjustable charge bar for the auto-disk powder measure that will take the guess work out of changing discs. They even have a double-disk kit where you can slice the charge increments even smaller. Given this will speed things up a bit on my LM as far as setting up for new caliber, I'm still perfecting that very feat. After tweaking, I hate to mess with the way it's set up, say-for instance .45 acp. A lot of moving parts going on and they all have to work just so.

[onelight]

I got two Lee load Masters in trade, neither one worked worth ****, one getting beat off the bench with a hammer when I got a Dillon XL650.
Keep in mind I can build/rebuild and/or tune about anything, but the cheap/cheesy way Lee's are put together just doesn't lend itself well to any real upgrades or tuning.
Cheap/shoddy is cheap & shoddy, it is what it is...

A friend of mine pulled the handle on my SBD and always commented on how smooth it operated, but bought a L-N-L so he could do rifle,
When he tried my 650 he kicked himself, and eventually got a 650 actually throwing the L-N-L out in the yard.
Not sure I would have done that, it most certainly would have been trading material.
But like he said, the Dillon ran as well out of the box before tuning than the L-N-L did after tuning.

When you get into something with proprietary die sets (Dillon) you cost goes up again for caliber changes.
Besides the dies, there are caliber change kits that aren't cheap, the more automatic (case feeders, bullet feeders, etc.) The more stuff you need to change.

If your fingers are the case feeder, and your other hand feeds bullets, then the cost does come down.

There will be some folks that run their presses dry...
There will be some that don't check/adjust powder throws between loading sessions.
There will be people that crank rounds from the start, that don't do QC on cases/rounds each time the sit down to load.
That's their choice.

My press gets lubed, powder throws get scaled, case process functions get checked rounds get gauged.
The press gets torn down & cleaned, dies get cleaned & protected after I'm done.
The more complicated the press, the longer this takes.

Some people won't clean/lubricate/rust protect no matter what they pay for a press,
I'm not one of them. Buy good tools, take care of them and they will last MUCH longer.
The longer it lasts, the more you amortize the initial cost, the cost goes down the longer it works.
Just common sense...

The guy saying he doesn't lubricate and just 'Blows Out' the press afterwards would be an example.
You can't 'Blow Out' sharp, embedded crud that is eating your press...

Cast boolits has lots of members that have great success with the Lee and Hornady products maybe some one is close and can come help you guys get your presses set up and running .

[Boolseye]

Lee stuff has always done OK by me.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the reloader.


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[Dieselhorses]

Lee stuff has always done OK by me.
I guess beauty is in the eye of the reloader.


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That’s a good catch phrase


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[1bluehorse]

If I may ask, what model progressives do you use?


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Dillon 550b, RCBS Pro 2000, and a Lee Load Master I use for 9mm. The RCBS is the best of those. I will add I've owned several LM's over the years and know how to make them work very well. I have very few "issues" with the one I have. I don't "tinker" with it but do make "adjustments" when necessary, but that's rare. The Dillon is a good press and I use it for loading 223. It only has 4 stations but that's all I need for the 223/556. I'm not real enthused with the ergonomics of the 550, left hand, right hand thing. The Pro 2000 (no longer in production) is a brute, and I'm thinking of just getting rid of the Dillon and using the RCBS for all calibers that I load progressively (except the 9mm). All rifle (except 223/556) I load on a single stage press. And if you're wondering which one of those, Co-AX. I have a Lee Classic SS that I use for odds and ends and any "heavy lifting". There really is no "best" just what works "best" for you.

[Boolseye]

Thanks, I appreciate the details. I haven’t yet used a Dillon or Hornady press- the fact is, I hadn’t given serious thought to a new press til recently Now they’re kind of on the front burner. The LCT should hold me for a bit. I often have a NOE expander involved in the process, or some other factor that throws a hiccup in the progressive assembly line, one of the reasons the manual works better for me.


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