Hello All,
I'm hoping the good citizens of INGO can help me with a decision. I currently reload a few handgun calibers and one rifle caliber on a Lee LoadMaster. The press has been good to me overall but it suffers from a problem that I like to call "inconsistent experience". By that I mean that when I start pulling the handle one of two things is going to happen:
1. I'm going to spend about an hour loading.
2. I'm going to spend about an hour trying to figure out why I'm NOT loading.
The LoadMaster, or mine at least, suffers from this problem where even though I haven't touched anything about it since the last successful reloading session when I start up again I seem to have about a 50/50 chance that something will go wrong, hence my "inconsistent experience". And it doesn't ever seem to be the same problem twice. When everything works it's great, but I never know when I start pulling the handle whether it's going to work or not. The most recent example was last week. I loaded about 150 rounds of 45 without a single problem. Everything worked flawlessly. Two days later, after having literally not touched the press other than adding cases to the feeder (primers/powder were still stocked because I knew I'd be coming back soon), I managed to turn out one completed round, 4 without primers, and one case with the mouth crushed so badly it's now garbage (after which I walked away in disgust). Something didn't line up properly and crushed that case, and I know I have to take the primer arm apart and clean that out to get them flowing properly again even though it's only been 150 rounds since I cleaned it the last time. And yes it is the newest version of Lee's large primer arm.
This is where INGO comes in. I've reached the point where I'm ready to upgrade, and if you can't tell from my little story here what I'm most interested in is knowing that when I pull the handle it's going to work. I'm sick of setting time aside to load some rounds only to have what should be an enjoyable afternoon turned into an exercise in frustration trying to figure why some part of the system isn't working today. So please enlighten me - which progressive press will be the most consistently reliable machine I can get? I like the look of the new RCBS 7-station press because who doesn't want 7 stations, but it's so new there's not much information about it yet. I guess the others in the running would be the 650 and LNL. So please tell me Blue/Green/Red owners - do you have problems like mine with your presses?
I'm hoping the good citizens of INGO can help me with a decision. I currently reload a few handgun calibers and one rifle caliber on a Lee LoadMaster. The press has been good to me overall but it suffers from a problem that I like to call "inconsistent experience". By that I mean that when I start pulling the handle one of two things is going to happen:
1. I'm going to spend about an hour loading.
2. I'm going to spend about an hour trying to figure out why I'm NOT loading.
The LoadMaster, or mine at least, suffers from this problem where even though I haven't touched anything about it since the last successful reloading session when I start up again I seem to have about a 50/50 chance that something will go wrong, hence my "inconsistent experience". And it doesn't ever seem to be the same problem twice. When everything works it's great, but I never know when I start pulling the handle whether it's going to work or not. The most recent example was last week. I loaded about 150 rounds of 45 without a single problem. Everything worked flawlessly. Two days later, after having literally not touched the press other than adding cases to the feeder (primers/powder were still stocked because I knew I'd be coming back soon), I managed to turn out one completed round, 4 without primers, and one case with the mouth crushed so badly it's now garbage (after which I walked away in disgust). Something didn't line up properly and crushed that case, and I know I have to take the primer arm apart and clean that out to get them flowing properly again even though it's only been 150 rounds since I cleaned it the last time. And yes it is the newest version of Lee's large primer arm.
This is where INGO comes in. I've reached the point where I'm ready to upgrade, and if you can't tell from my little story here what I'm most interested in is knowing that when I pull the handle it's going to work. I'm sick of setting time aside to load some rounds only to have what should be an enjoyable afternoon turned into an exercise in frustration trying to figure why some part of the system isn't working today. So please enlighten me - which progressive press will be the most consistently reliable machine I can get? I like the look of the new RCBS 7-station press because who doesn't want 7 stations, but it's so new there's not much information about it yet. I guess the others in the running would be the 650 and LNL. So please tell me Blue/Green/Red owners - do you have problems like mine with your presses?