Lee Loadmaster

[Cash Creek]

I have a Lee Loadmaster. and with my old eyes I find it hard to see the power in the brass after I have use it even if I clean it..3 or 4 hours...with new brass it is easy to see.
Have any of you added a light to your loadmaster where you can see the power charge better..and if you have what and how???

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Cash Creek,

What a good idea!

I think I will add a bright elbow lamp ... the kind with the big magnifying glass in it ....Last evening I was trying to figure whether I held a 9 MM or a .32 S&W case in my hand ... I had to get a magnifying glass to be able to read the .32 S&W on it ...

[Will Ketchum]

I would really suggest that you install an RCBS Lock Out Die on any progresive press.  You can find them at:

https://shop.rcbs.com/WebConnect/MainServlet?storeId=webconnect&catalogId=webconnect&langId=en_US&action=ProductDisplay&screenlabel=index&productId=4006&route=C15J147

Long ago I quit de-capping, sizing and priming on my Dillon 550Bs.  I size and decap on a single stage. Prime with a Lee Auto Prime or a RCBS strip primer.  Then I start on stage one with the powder, stage 2 powder lock out, 3 insert bullet and 4 Lee Factory crimp die.  My grandson normally does all the steps right through the priming.

Works for me.  The lock out die saved me from no powder last night when my wife distracted me.

Will Ketchum

[Cliff Fendley]

Will, why did you quit sizing and priming with the Dillion?

[Will Ketchum]

Well a couple of reasons.  First when I first started hand loading about the second night I had a primer tube detonation.  It scared the crap out of me.  So I bought a Lee Auto Prime tool and really liked it.  About 30 years later I aquired a Dillon 550B and started using the press as designed.  I don't know if I was just too tentative or what but out of box of 50 I might get 2 or 3 rounds that I didn't get the old primers out of.  I decided I was a lot more comfortable priming with the Auto Prime.  I also liked the idea of the powder lockout die and wanted a factory crimp die.  Since the 550 only has 4 stations so I had to give up something so I decided to decap, size and prime off the Dillon  and start at station 1 with putting the powder in.  I called Dillon and asked if there would be a problem with that.  They told me it would negate the safety device that was built into the measure but with the use of the powder check or lockout die that wouldn't matter.  I have loaded thousands of rounds this way and felt more comfortable doing it.

My grandson usually does the decapping and sizing and then we both prime.  I have 3 hand primers.

I hope all this makes sense.  Over the years I have had many people change to my method.  One of the benefits is that you can do all the pre-550 stuff when watching TV where you don't have to  worry about being distracted.

Will Ketchum

[Cash Creek]

Over the weekend I shot around 250 times and I had one with no power, and as we all know that ONE tooooo many ( had to get my dowel rod and hammer out)..that why I was asking about the light...I will find one that works, kind of embarrassing  :-[to stand there with a dowel rod and hammer working on a gun, I don't think the other guys there was think that I'm a gunsmith..

[Cliff Fendley]

I don't have any experience with the Lee but has anyone run into a 550B not dropping the powder? As long as powder is in the hopper of course.

My son and I run ours as designed, do the crimp on station four. I do watch things close though. We use trail boss most of the time so a double charge would be pretty obvious even on the 45 colt and I can see the powder in them.

[Will Ketchum]

I don't have any experience with the Lee but has anyone run into a 550B not dropping the powder? As long as powder is in the hopper of course.

My son and I run ours as designed, do the crimp on station four. I do watch things close though. We use trail boss most of the time so a double charge would be pretty obvious even on the 45 colt and I can see the powder in them.

I have never heard of no powder but a good friend of mine had it's forerunner (450?) and used Unique.  He always left powder in his hopper, which I told him wasn't a good practice.  Over the years he had several squib loads from light charges.  I told him he was going to get an over charge because the powder was bridging in the hopper.  He laughed at me.  Well at the State regional championship he blew a colt copy's top strap off along with the top of the cylinder.  He received a small fragment in his hand but wasn't really hurt.  he was grateful that he had decided to use the replica and not his original Colt.

I would never leave powder in the hopper for more than a couple of days.  When I resume reloading after I have left it for a day or so I always weigh the first few charges and they are always 1 or 2 tenths of a grain higher.  I don't know what they would be if I left them longer.

Will Ketchum

[Cliff Fendley]

I never leave powder in the hopper and we measure one now and again to make sure things are on.

One thing I discovered about the Dillion when using Trail Boss. Use the large powder bar because it is so bulky. The small powder bar has to be almost all the way open for 5.5 grains and you get spillage and inconsistent charges. The large bar works flawless.

[Capt. Montgomery Little]

I recall reading an article in the Cowboy Chronicles a couple of years ago where two friends who reloaded together on a 550 blew up FOUR original 1st Gen. Colts when the press malfunctioned and dropped two bullets over a standard charge. When they discovered what had happened they contacted Dillon and were givensome song and dance until they discovered that many other reloaders were having the same problem (most of them were smart enough to dismantle all ammo loaded in that session and start over). As I recall, Dillon apparently fessed up and issued a recall or quick-fix or something along that line. Since I have every CC printed since Jan. 2000, I probably could find the article but it is going to take some real incentive as I don't use Dillon tools.

[Cliff Fendley]

How can the press malfunction and drop two bullets on a charge? The operator had to place the bullets.

I'd sure like to see that article and proof of what really happened and someone explain to me how a Dillion 550 can do that without either an operator or other equipment malfunction.

I don't know if a bullet seating die could hold a bullet and then drop it down on the next round but if so what did they think happened to the bullet on the rounds missing one? That would be a die problem combined with operator not paying attention but certainly not a press problem.

Is there a bullet feeder for the Dillion I'm not aware of?

[Will Ketchum]

I know they have a case feeder but I'm not sure of a bullet feeder.   The last Blue Press I could find (April 2010) doesn't show one.

Even if they did have one I don't se how anyone who was paying the least amount of attention could put 2 bullets in the same case

I don't recall the article in the CC but I know Capt. Little and I am sure he is telling it as he remembers it. 

Will Ketchum

[Cliff Fendley]

I'm not doubting the article was there but would like to know how they managed to do it. I have a hard time believing its the fault of the press. Maybe a faulty die or operator or both.

I've never seen a bullet feeder for any of the Dillions and I get a Blue Press every month. I just looked at the April 2011 and even the 1050 has auto case, primer, powder, auto indexing etc, but the bullet tray is just like the 550B. I see no option for bullet feed either. In order to have two bullets in a case someone had to set the bullets in it.

If there was a recall how come I wasn't made aware of it since I buy stuff from them all the time? My wife got me another quick change assembly for Christmas this year along with other Blue Press goodies.

[John Smith]

Blew up FOUR Colts??  I think I would have stopped shooting (and changed my drawers) after the first one blew up, and pulled ALL the loads involved.

[Cliff Fendley]

I would think most anybody would do the same thing. I would have to seriously question the accuracy of an article like that. Two bullets in a case from a press that doesn't even feed the bullets? four guns? Besides my own I know several people that run Dillion presses I never heard of a recall? It just doesn't add up.

[Tjackstephens]

I got to tell you fellows, I have a Dillion Square Deal B in 44/40. I have had it since about 1997. There is no telling how many thousand rounds of 44/40 I have loaded on that press. Never a double charge. The only problems have been my fault, like a primer upside down. Several years ago it would not feed primers, called dillion and they sent me a complete replacement parts, no charge. Their BS policy is just what it says. I for one believe in them 100%. Any dealings I have had with them, they have been very kind and helpful. I plan to support and buy items from them as long as I need a good product. That's the way I have found them. Tj

[wildman1]

I don't have any experience with the Lee but has anyone run into a 550B not dropping the powder? As long as powder is in the hopper of course.

My son and I run ours as designed, do the crimp on station four. I do watch things close though. We use trail boss most of the time so a double charge would be pretty obvious even on the 45 colt and I can see the powder in them.

What grain bullet ya using CF? WM

[Cliff Fendley]

What grain bullet ya using CF? WM

I've gone to mostly using 200 in the 45's.

[Drydock]

I remember that article.  The 550 is a manual advance press.  They would set a bullet, run it up in the die, and the bullet would stick in the die.  When the case came back down, the operator would see an empty case and almost automaticly set another bullet in the case, forgetting (After several hundred rounds) that he'd not advanced the press.  Then run it back up in the die and seat both bullets in the case.

[Cliff Fendley]

Which is what I suspected in my earlier comment. A die problem not a press malfunction. If they didn't advance the press or pull cases they would have also double charged station two which would be an operator malfunction. Double charge in those old black powder cases is the one thing I fear most and another reason I like Trail Boss since it's bulky and I can see it in the case.