Reloading Woes...

So some time last spring, I ran into a guy selling a Lee Loadmaster for $150 all set and ready to go for .45ACP.

I figured it was a good deal and that it would be a good press to learn on, so far all I've learned is that I should have bought a Dillon. Now some of this is probably my fault as I did take the press apart to clean and lube it when I finally got to mounting it on the bench (almost a year since I purchased it) and have not been able to get it running right since. Initially I was fighting with the case feeder, that was a loose/loose situation as the instructions that come with the press are garbage and even with the improved media I've found on line I couldn't make the case feeder work. So I abandoned the case feeder, you really don't need one anyway right?

Then there was that stupid chain that actuates the powder measure, don't even get me started on that, It seems I won the lottery on that one when I called Lee to order some replacement parts only to break that chain a couple times. I finally ended up using an old dog tag chain I had laying around and got that part of the press working.

I got the press indexing properly, adjusted the bullet seating depth and started to load, after about the 5th round (including the ones that were not the proper length) the priming system, which is mostly cheap plastic jammed up on me when a primer got sent up sideways through the trough and completely mangled the primer slider and the top piece of the primer trough. Having tried to call Lee several times and not being able to get through, I called Factory Sales and was able to order FIVE primer sliders and two primer troughs, although even after confirming over the phone that the troughs I ordered were for the Loadmaster...they really aren't so I need to send the wrong ones back and order the correct parts.

Not to be discouraged, I took another go at it after cleaning up the mangled primer trough and inserting the new primer slider, I managed to get ten rounds loaded up that were correct and about 5 rounds with mangled / up-side-down primers loaded before the priming system locked up again.

So I think I'm going to order the correct troughs and give it one more try before melting that POS down and ordering a Dillon 650, actually I think I'm just going to order a 650 anyway and call it a day.