Lee Loader

Well, there you go. Two forum members with them.

I haven't done a thing with mine as of yet. Been working with rifles and slugs.

I've had the Load Fast disassembled, cleaned and reassembled checking for anything that may be "worn" to inhibit proper operation. The indexer shows a bit of wear but still works okay. I did find a new one in the "extra" stuff that Mike sent with it. It's white (?) the original is black. Wouldn't mind having a couple of those laying about but probably ain't gonna happen. This press isn't the "sturdiest" press around, I've never used a Load All but from watching on U-tube I would say they are about the same as far as strength. It seems to be adequate. The only part I can see that would be of any concern as far as "wearing out" would be the indexer mentioned above, not much else to fail really. Wad guides and bushings are the same as the Load All so that's not an issue. The base is some type metal, the shell plate and ram are steel, the top part where the powder hopper and bushings go are plastic but there's no pressure there. The spent primers go down the ram and collect inside at the base ala' the old Pro 1000 so a guy should probably figure a way to collect them without having to remove the press. I think I have it pretty well dialed in as far as the crimp stations so just have to run a few through it to see what's, what. Bout' all I can think of right now, if anyone's interested I'll repost later after a trial run.

horseman wrote:... if anyone's interested I'll repost later after a trial run.

Yes, I'm curious. I haven't done anything with mine since my last post. I do have the wood ready to cut for the base plate. I'm using the pattern for Load-All II, but it will extend out an additional 2½". In the base of the lid, I will recess a small mason jar lid under the spent primer port, with the jar to collect the spent primers. With the jar removed, the bench plate can sit on the floor or a shelf for storage without worries of tipping over.

I've spent several hours over the last few day's "dialing" in (read tearing apart to clean up spilled shot and powder, removing FUG loads, sometimes it's just best to walk away for awhile) the Load Fast machine (I) have. There were/are a few issues with mine but it is mostly due to wear. This press has seen quite a bit more use than I originally thought (maybe that attests a bit to it's actual ability) but is still pretty darn good. Going through all the "mishaps" I've had, taking it apart to clean up spilled shot that would occur sporadically without warning I've come to the conclusion that's there is only a couple parts that would need replacing due to wear. Wad guide (easily replaceable from Lee) and the two small black delron? pieces that ride up and down on the side rods that (when in good condition) drop powder and shot when a hull is present. The one on the shot side of my press was worn and would catch intermittently and drop shot EVERYWHERE hull present or not. I've become an expert in taking the press apart and cleaning these up by the way. If someone out there has a good 3-D printer maybe it would be possible to make these, I know next to nothing of 3-D printers so it's out of my pay grade. Ahh, almost forgot, the main indexing part is the black "sleeve" that goes around the ram and that is another definite wear part ( I have an extra one and it's white but the same ) If that goes you're toast. The original one on my press shows a lot of wear but still works fine and really hasn't caused any grief. Should last a long time as long as you don't force anything. Another 3-D project for a knowledgeable hand???? It took about 12 loads to get the crimp dialed in to where I like, some of that was caused by a missing spring that goes above the pre crimp die that I found laying in the box (took me a while to figure that one out). If new parts were still available for this little devil I think it would be a viable option to load bunches of trap or hunting type loads but not for "specialty" stuff. As in slugs or buckshot, haven't tried it but think it may be a pain in the neck. Just my opinion but I think the Load All or other single stage press would be best for that. Any questions give me a shout and I'll try to answer them.

One other word of caution....always remember to turn the hopper to the ON position before you start loading.....that alone helps reduce the amount of FUG loads (I know RD calls them frogs but that isn't a strong enough word for me after so many of them). After you insert the wad and go to the shot position and no shot comes out you realize you FUGGED up.

Outstanding report. You covered the three parts, 2 of one and 1 of the other, that would seem to be the death of the press. I would not send my pieces out, too high a chance of not getting them back, but if I ever run across a great 3-D guy locally, I plan on trying to get them made.

Ranch Dog wrote:Outstanding report. You covered the three parts, 2 of one and 1 of the other, that would seem to be the death of the press. I would not send my pieces out, too high a chance of not getting them back, but if I ever run across a great 3-D guy locally, I plan on trying to get them made.

IF you find someone who has that ability please pass the info along as I would be willing to send at least the advance mechanism as I do have another one. The small side "guides" would be a consideration also as once they're done the press is done so the loss would be the same. It would be pretty cool to be able keep these little rascals going...don't know why I'm such a sucker for "orphan" presses but I also have a Hornady Apex that is a great shot shell press but there are zip parts available for them.

I thought about this some more, and Dennis at Titan Reloading might be the guy to market these. They would be expensive, but he obviously has an excellent printer and the engineering background to get the design right. I will send him an email later this afternoon.

I think the two parts we are discussing are the disconnects and indexer, is this correct? The manual doesn't specifically identify them as Lee does in the later publications.

If anyone finds another complete machine for low price, I'd be interested. Over here in Europe they weren't common, so there are none to be found.

Will do!

Got back to the Load-Fast, or at least, getting it to a base plate for the bench mount. All good. Will pull it off and cut the ¾" hole dead center under the press so that the spent primers can fall into the trash can.





My plan is to figure out a mount for a large bin like the red one below, to catch the loaded shells. This would be similar to the Load-Master's bin, but larger.