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Among the range of reloading press kits that are available out there, the progressive 5-stage press by Lee Precision is by far one of the most famous choices to make. It’s the popular kit for those who want to be able to reload thousands of rounds at an incredible speed. But it’s also often not the cheapest choice for many others.
Our Lee Loadmaster review will show you the features, advantages of this particular kit against similar other progressive turrets as well as the disadvantages. Then, we want to tell you what we feel about reloading with this particular kit, ending the review with a conclusion on owning and using a Lee Precision Loadmaster 45 Reloading Kit.
Features of Lee Loadmaster Review
Here is the basic information on the Loadmaster 45 Reloading Pistol Kit:
- A rotating shell plate with 5 spaces
- Includes full-length size, powder through expanding and bullet seating dies
- Includes #19 shell plate, powder measure, large case feeder, and a priming system
- A single pull of the lever pushes the shell plate up into 5 dial spaces
- Made in the USA
This reloading press comes with the turret and everything you need to operate it, so you don’t have to think about having to spend more to purchase more parts. The only thing that you will have to purchase separately is the stand, which won’t be necessary if you have other places to mount the reloading press on.
Since it also comes with the dials that work with it and the shell plate for 45 pistol bullets, this kit is perfect for those of you that reload thousands of rounds of it. All you need to make sure is that during the setup, you follow the instructions carefully and fine tune it until it’s ready for a full round reloading.
Advantages You Don’t Want to Miss
The kit comes with everything you need to set it up, so you don’t have to worry about having to buy additional tools. For veterans, it wouldn’t be hard to set it up and you can even make use of your own Lee’s powder measure installed on it if you wish to.
The biggest, obvious advantage you see in this kit is definitely the speed it gives. Using this particular kit, you can have 5 bullets worked on at the same time. It starts from priming and ends with bullet crimping as the turret automatically pushes the cartridge out and another one into the system.
The system is flexible in that you can use all 5 dies at once, or just use three or even one. A single pull of the lever will bring all the bullets up into their respective position.
Compared to other auto-progressive reloading press, this one has a rather smaller case feeder which is easy to manage. It is not installed way up high and holds enough cases each time. Easily swipe the tube to the next full tube once you’ve emptied it.
The Catch
The risk of getting this Lee Precision Loadmaster 45 Reloading Pistol Kit is that it might be a very costly investment for beginners. Especially when you have no more than a few hundred bullets to work on, having this reloading press may not be your best choice of reloading press.
It can also be very hard to assemble for several people who are not used to doing this. But tutorials can be easily found on the Internet and even give you a tip or two on how you can make sure that it works the way you want. They are often in form of videos and even include how you can maintain your precious equipment.
You still have to manually put the bullet on top of every cartridge before seating and crimping it. This is the only manual stage with this reloading press.
If compared to some big competitors providing the same feature and functions, the Lee has only a few drawbacks in comparison.
One of them is how it’s still using dials that have to be screwed into the turret. That surely takes more time to setup compared to bushings. The shell plate is also specific to the series of bullets that you are reloading, unlike rotating shell plates in other reloading press that has flexible rubber band which secures the cartridge in place.
Tips For Reloading With Lee Loadmaster
- Make sure that you follow the instruction or manual that comes with the kit. It’s important that you follow the guide as that will make sure the press will work the way you want it to.
- You don’t have to use all the dials. You can choose to just use even one, for example, if you just want to size the cartridges.
- Use visual check on the first round for every cartridge to make sure that it’s accurate and precise for all rounds later on.
- You should get a different shell plate if 45 is not the bullet size that you want to reload.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. Is this worth a shot for beginners?
Answer: It definitely looks fancy and sounds very convenient to use as you will save a lot of time in the long run once you’ve set it up. But we certainly do not recommend beginners to get this for their first reloading experience. It’s not that easy to set up and it’s definitely not cheap. Getting a single stage press is better to get used to reloading and understand the benefits of an auto progressive.
Q2. Is this worth the money?
Answer: Depends on your usage, the more you use it, the more it’s worth the money. It’s great for reloading rounds of the same type of bullets and takes care of everything without the need to change the dies. From empty, unprimed cartridges to crimped and primed bullets.
Conclusion
The conclusion for our Lee Loadmaster review this time is that it’s a great piece of equipment to have for veterans and those with a heavy volume of the cartridge to reload every time. It comes with everything you need, so you don’t have to buy separate items unless you want to reload different types of bullets. The operation is smooth and equipment does not take as much space.
It’s definitely something you should consider as you save the time of pulling the lever 5 times if you had used a single-stage reloading press.
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