Loadmaster press and new users problems

[horseman]

I had an epiphany about the new LM I received the other day. After setting it on the bench I ran into a couple small issues (to me) and at the time didn't really think about what I did to fix them from an experienced stand point. I've had many LM's and have gone through just about all the "fixes" and "mods" that have been "discovered" so know them pretty darn well and where and what to look at/for when a problem may arise. This new press, after mounting to the bench would not function, at all, the ram wouldn't go all the way up, barely halfway in fact, and just by looking and "knowing" WHAT to look for, it was evident (to me) that the carrier was misaligned. Index shoe (flipper) was to tight against the frame. Easy fix. After aligning that part I found (immediatly) that the press wouldn't index, shoe would "jam" up on the frame rib on the way down. Another easy fix (if you know what to look for and do) shoe was to far out on the index rod. Turn it in one full turn and try again and continue until the press would index and the shell plate had a "little" movement back and forth when locked at bottom of stroke (this is usually about one more turn after the press will index). This took just a few minutes of my time and the press was working as intended BUT this was because I KNEW WHAT TO LOOK FOR AND HOW TO FIX IT through experience. So what would a new owner of this press be thinking if that happened to him/her and not knowing really what the problem was? All they would know for certain was the press didn't work so would they think the press was no good? Bad design, piece of cr@p? Junk. We've all heard this commentary. I may have thought the same thing (actually I have, in the beginning) Kinda the same thing with the case feeder, easy to set up IF you know how to. I also believe that most of the priming issues folks have with these presses have to do with the quality of the bench they're attached to AND the primer pin height to the primer trough not being the same (flipped and sideways primers) and a couple other small things to look for. BUT I KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR. (case retainer rubbing primer arm, trough loose in carrier, spring bent, etc; there are a few things to check) A new owner without knowledge of this press or worse, a person new to reloading altogether would probably be a bit overwhelmed. I wonder how many of the bad reviews of this press may have come about from something just like this happening. I will also add I spent about two hours trying to figure out the "slight" indexing problem I was having on my new RCBS Pro 2000 when I received that last year. Like most "issues" it was simply an adjustment problem. That press works very well now also. Whew...that was long winded.

[Ranch Dog]

All really good points horseman, thanks for posting this.I think what a lot of fellows lack these days is patience. The patience to sit back and figure out how something works.

[GasGuzzler]

Boy howdy I have to do that all day.