LoadMaster Up and Running

[klr]

Just thinking in print here. How tight are the cases in the shell holder? How much wobble does the case have?

They have about 1/8" of wobble at the top of the case. I'm operating the press as smoothly as I can, but it still slings powder when the base comes to a stop. I guess I need to pull it apart and "fluff and buff" everything.

BTW, I removed every die off it last night except for the resizing die. I also removed the priming system. I decided to just run all my swaged brass through it and then tumble the lube off before I reloaded. I stuck a case right away. Long story short: I swapped the die for another Lee die and things went smoothly. Put the Loadmaster's die on my Rockchucker and could feel the roughness in the die. Then looked carefully and could see machining marks in the die. Guess I'll learn about polishing dies now...

But I was able to run 50 rounds through the resizing process very quickly. So now I'm using the Loadmaster like an APP.

[Ranch Dog]

It will get smoother as time goes on. I will be interested in seeing what the polishing does.

[klr]

Step one. Polish the handle where it pushes the flipper. Also lightly sanded the sharp corners on the flipper where it contacts the handle. It made a huge difference. I then rounded the corner where the square flipper rod meets the underside of the ejection chute. I now have no trouble easing the shell plate to the next station and don't need the little "bump" on the flipper to get things moving like I did before. I don't really need to polish more, but I'm going to remove the shell plate and see what I can do there.

[klr]

I deburred and polished everything that rubs, rotates, or slides against anything else. The improvement was slight. I think removing the sandpaper texture from the press handle made the single largest improvement.

Then I started resizing cases. I stuck one again. Looking at it closely it's obvious that the shell holder is only making contact on two opposite spots on the brass rather than a 180 degree area of the rim.




This is a fixed relationship. The die determines where the brass is positioned in the shellholder. I can't change or adjust this. I didn't polish anything in this area of the shellholder.

The brass was well-lubed. I removed this die and put it in my Rockchucker and easily resized the remaining 50 pieces I had left in this batch. I'm finished resizing on the Loadmaster. I'll have to feed it resized brass for reloading 223.

[Ranch Dog]

Yeah, with the shell plate slots, the best it can do is a 180º grip. I suspect this is what you would see if you tried the APP, I'm thinking case feeder with the APP.

Full-length sizing on the LM could lead to a "bump" as the expander clears the case, which could be adding to the powder sling issue. The bump is felt across the press.

On my 7.62x39, I full-length size my brass as part of the case conditioning process. I want the case sized so that I can check its length before it hits the press. I'm not concerned about case life with the sizing as my Mini-30 is my defensive rifle, and I want positive chambering with every case.

On the LM at Station #1, I'm using a decapper die to ensure the case is centered and the flash hole clear. That die now has the HD Guided Decapper Rod. Station #2 has a Bullet Seating die without the bullet seating stem in the die. I fiddled with this quite a bit as I wanted no case play at this station (my pistols have a sizing die without the decapping rod here), and Seating die was an excellent fit. I bought just the die body from FS Reloading as they maintain a good supply of parts and their shipping is reasonable. I do keep an adjusting screw in the die. I'm thinking if I ever do have a primer detonate, I want to keep the blast down through the tube of the ram and not out the top of a die.

You have shamed me into polishing four handles now. Thanks!

[horseman]

Perhaps you've already read and done this but one more thing you can do to smooth the index operation is "break" the edge on the index rod. There is a video (or used to be) on how to do this. Look at the end of the index rod (opposite the flipper end) and you'll see one edge has a bevel on it. The bevel side of the rod goes into the shell plate carrier facing the case feeder (towards the right) using a fine tooth file "break" the edge of the rod (round it off) opposite the bevel side. Doesn't take much, do a little then test the index of the press. The "bump", "kerchunk", on mine at index is pretty much gone after doing this. Actually I've done this several LM presses that I've owned. I'm pretty sure RC has done this on his as well. If you've already done this I apologize, I just didn't see it mentioned anywhere.

[klr]

Yeah, with the shell plate slots, the best it can do is a 180º grip. I suspect this is what you would see if you tried the APP, I'm thinking case feeder with the APP.

Yep. Already tried with the same results. Lee recommends against resizing rifle brass on the APP.

Full-length sizing on the LM could lead to a "bump" as the expander clears the case, which could be adding to the powder sling issue. The bump is felt across the press.

On my 7.62x39, I full-length size my brass as part of the case conditioning process.

I've arrived at this point now. With an Auto Prime it's not that much more work to prime the brass either.

On the LM at Station #1, I'm using a decapper die to ensure the case is centered and the flash hole clear. That die now has the HD Guided Decapper Rod. Station #2 has a Bullet Seating die without the bullet seating stem in the die. I fiddled with this quite a bit as I wanted no case play at this station (my pistols have a sizing die without the decapping rod here), and Seating die was an excellent fit. I bought just the die body from FS Reloading as they maintain a good supply of parts and their shipping is reasonable. I do keep an adjusting screw in the die. I'm thinking if I ever do have a primer detonate, I want to keep the blast down through the tube of the ram and not out the top of a die.

Thanks. I'll use the guided decapper die in Station #1 now. Station #2 currently has a trim die, but I like the thought of directing the blast downward.

You have shamed me into polishing four handles now. Thanks!

Happy to help!

[klr]

Perhaps you've already read and done this but one more thing you can do to smooth the index operation is "break" the edge on the index rod. There is a video (or used to be) on how to do this. Look at the end of the index rod (opposite the flipper end) and you'll see one edge has a bevel on it. The bevel side of the rod goes into the shell plate carrier facing the case feeder (towards the right) using a fine tooth file "break" the edge of the rod (round it off) opposite the bevel side. Doesn't take much, do a little then test the index of the press. The "bump", "kerchunk", on mine at index is pretty much gone after doing this. Actually I've done this several LM presses that I've owned. I'm pretty sure RC has done this on his as well. If you've already done this I apologize, I just didn't see it mentioned anywhere.

Thanks for the info. I did break all of the edges and polished the edges and rod with a dremel. The pentagon on the bottom of the shell plate had a wicked burr all along the lower edge that was putting a groove in the flipper rod too. I took care of that too.

[horseman]

What lube are you using on the cases for the LM? It seems a lot of pressure was exerted on that case to cause that damage to the case head. I have not tried sizing 223 brass on my LM (yet) but I have on two other progressive presses without issue. I think I would send that particular die back to Lee for replacement if necessary. RD sent me two different shell plates for 223 for the LM, I'll set each up and give them a try to see if they give me any issue. If they both work o.k. and you need one I will gladly send you one. I only have RCBS dies for 223 though so not sure how much help this would be.

[klr]

What lube are you using on the cases for the LM? It seems a lot of pressure was exerted on that case to cause that damage to the case head. I have not tried sizing 223 brass on my LM (yet) but I have on two other progressive presses without issue. I think I would send that particular die back to Lee for replacement if necessary. RD sent me two different shell plates for 223 for the LM, I'll set each up and give them a try to see if they give me any issue. If they both work o.k. and you need one I will gladly send you one. I only have RCBS dies for 223 though so not sure how much help this would be.

I'm using Lee Lube diluted in alcohol and sprayed on. Here is a picture, but I don't know if you can tell much by it. I moved this die to my Rockchucker and RCBS shell holder and resized the rest of the batch after sticking that case. I have two Lee dies and this is my smoothest and I've used it for a long time with no problems. I've never stuck a case in it before using it on the Loadmaster. Once on my Rockchucker, everything went smoothly and it didn't feel like I was exerting much pressure. I ran over 100 cases through it without a problem.



Thanks for your offer. I have a RCBS resizing die and I'll try it on the Loadmaster. If you have an accurate caliper can you measure the distance from the center hole to the shell holder slot? That would tell me if there is any difference. I'll measure mine tomorrow.