As anyone who owns a loadmaster knows, you can't let them sit for very long, or the gremlins will probably show up, and put everything out of whack.
A friend suggested leaving a radio on in the shop, either to deter the gnomes, or to keep the press from getting lonley. (I haven't tried it yet.)
Well, I let mine sit for over a year and a half, and boy, they got it good.
The dies were all at weird heights, a crimping die was actually gone, and nothing wanted to move.
I tore the entire shop apart (different story) and moved absolutely everything out of it.
As I put it all back together, I went through every box, can, and whathaveyou.
No die. Completely gone.
So I pretty much stopped right there, and decided to make a donation to midway.
I know they had been working on the primer assembly, so I ordered two new ones. (Large and small)
I needed new case tubes, as mine have been cracking for sometime.
I also got a few case ejectors, a few of those plastic flipper things for the plate advancer, and a hand primer in the case that the new primer assemblies are garbage.
In the meantime, I watched a bunch of youtubes on set up, to refresh myself, and also watched a few on mods people were making with the primer feeder.
I got the grease gun out and lubed all the zerks, and just about everything else with some light gun oil.
The parts came in, and I replaced everything I had ordered.
I reset the timing, reset the dies and it was still running a little clunky.
Some more jacking around, and I got the movement smoothed out.
Looking at the new primer feeder, I noticed that none of the mods I had seen were needed, it's like they worked most of them out, except I did do the tape one around the base where it slips into the press. It really did lessen the jiggle factor a lot.
The only thing that wasn't working right was the case feeder. It wouldn't push the shell all the way into the plate. The adjusting screw was all the way in, and there was nothing left. I took that apart, put a few pieces of tape inside, and got the friction back, and now it works fine.
I've now done over 800 rounds of 9mm and had maybe 3 crushed primers. They still haven't got the upside down primer thing figured out, but I only had about 4 in those 800 rounds, so they're getting closer.
It's good to be reloading again.
Moral of the story: Don't let the gremlins get to your press. Keep it in action!
A friend suggested leaving a radio on in the shop, either to deter the gnomes, or to keep the press from getting lonley. (I haven't tried it yet.)
Well, I let mine sit for over a year and a half, and boy, they got it good.
The dies were all at weird heights, a crimping die was actually gone, and nothing wanted to move.
I tore the entire shop apart (different story) and moved absolutely everything out of it.
As I put it all back together, I went through every box, can, and whathaveyou.
No die. Completely gone.
So I pretty much stopped right there, and decided to make a donation to midway.
I know they had been working on the primer assembly, so I ordered two new ones. (Large and small)
I needed new case tubes, as mine have been cracking for sometime.
I also got a few case ejectors, a few of those plastic flipper things for the plate advancer, and a hand primer in the case that the new primer assemblies are garbage.
In the meantime, I watched a bunch of youtubes on set up, to refresh myself, and also watched a few on mods people were making with the primer feeder.
I got the grease gun out and lubed all the zerks, and just about everything else with some light gun oil.
The parts came in, and I replaced everything I had ordered.
I reset the timing, reset the dies and it was still running a little clunky.
Some more jacking around, and I got the movement smoothed out.
Looking at the new primer feeder, I noticed that none of the mods I had seen were needed, it's like they worked most of them out, except I did do the tape one around the base where it slips into the press. It really did lessen the jiggle factor a lot.
The only thing that wasn't working right was the case feeder. It wouldn't push the shell all the way into the plate. The adjusting screw was all the way in, and there was nothing left. I took that apart, put a few pieces of tape inside, and got the friction back, and now it works fine.
I've now done over 800 rounds of 9mm and had maybe 3 crushed primers. They still haven't got the upside down primer thing figured out, but I only had about 4 in those 800 rounds, so they're getting closer.
It's good to be reloading again.
Moral of the story: Don't let the gremlins get to your press. Keep it in action!
Last edited:
