Have you noticed?

[Jerry11826]

Was surfing the net this morning and noted the Lee Precision site shows no Loadmasters for sale. All I checked were "Out of stock".

Also I could not get any Loadmaster parts for sale. Maybe I will be getting the new improved Loadmaster I desire. Six holes and maybe other goodies.

Hope I am not dreaming!

Jerry

[darwin]

Call them up and ask them!

I saw that the site is being redesigned and thought that was it, but Pro 1000 presses are in stock.

I sent them an email about it. I'll post the reply here.

[motopic]

TitanReloading has some for sale.

Also Lee retail price is way higher than Titans. ($350 vs $218).
At $350 you are only 1 bill off of the Hornady LnL, which a lot of people like alot. Curious what the answer will be.

Anyone else seeing manufacturing really taking a nosedive now? We are way down, and had a big layoff 9/30.

[acman]

Wow Jerry, you may be onto something. The new primer trough is also listed as unavailable...
I was on the site about a month back researching what I need to do 44 spec & mags and I clicked on the clearance section. They had a bunch of LM caliber specific presses on sale for, as memory serves me about 150 ea. I thought about it but the wife would have been none to happy as I have spent my gun allowance and then some for the next few months. The presses are now gone from clearance.
A couple of weeks ago they also had some reconditioned Lms in limited cal.s
Those are gone too.
My press is only four or five months old and I only really got it set up about three months back. Really wondering what is up with Lee as I know they put the customer first. Hmmmm.

Best regards,
AC

[Smitty62]

I had an E-Mail from John Lee on Tuesday regarding the upgrade on the new primer trough. He told me that the 3rd generation of parts would be shipping the end of next week. Maybe they are just switching over the LMs to new, improved primer troughs.

[darwin]

We are currently out of stock on all of our Loadmasters. We are waiting
for parts to come in and are hoping to have them available in about 3
weeks. The rifle caliber Loadmasters will be discontinued at the first
of the year but will still be able to be ordered if you call in and
request one made.

Thank You,

[uniquedot]

Have you guys looked through the 2012 catalog downloadable from Lee's site? They have another version of the hand primer with a large body and four finger lever and the pro 1000's have a new roller handle. Some one posted a link on another forum and i checked it out in hopes of finding some type of roller for the LM, but no luck. BTW the prices are considerably higher on most things. The loadmaster is listed at $360.00 and the Load all was right at $72.00.

[motopic]

The thing that strikes me is 3 weeks is making it awful close to Christmas. Most Christmas sellers get product ready by now, mid Oct. Granted reloading presses may not be that big a gift item, but hey, its when people spend money.

I just hope Lee can weather this, cause I sure can't afford Hornady or Dillon...

[El Hombre]

Have you guys looked through the 2012 catalog downloadable from Lee's site? They have another version of the hand primer with a large body and four finger lever and the pro 1000's have a new roller handle. Some one posted a link on another forum and i checked it out in hopes of finding some type of roller for the LM, but no luck. BTW the prices are considerably higher on most things. The loadmaster is listed at $360.00 and the Load all was right at $72.00.

The LM was $330 when it came out 20 years ago; I wish guns and ammo and reloading components were only up 9% over the original price like the LM....instead of the doubling and tripling we've seen the last 5 years.

Lee has it made, family owned, probably no debt, low cost producer yet still makes a profit; probably a very nice profit. They brought out the cast iron stuff to shut up all the a-holes screaming about how an aluminum frame can't/won't work.

I could see an iron LM with a different primer setup, something to drive Dillion into the ground. Better than anything Dillion can make at half the price; that would do it... And you could still buy Lee at a discount from the various retailers, instead of the Dillion gun to the head of no discounting.

[daboone]

I don't want to see any reloading manufacturer driven into the ground. We reloaders need as many competitors as the market will bear. Competition is good for us all. All the mud slinging has improved Lee as Lee has forced the other guys to make improvements.

[acman]

+ one on what daboone said.
Hey Smitty, by 3rd generation, do you mean a new or revised edition of the primer trough, or just the third production run of the new primer trough ?
Somewhere I read Lee was going to send out a modified version of the new trough for field testing.( to one of our members) I haven't seen anything else regarding that subject.

Best regards
AC

[Smitty62]

AC-That was me. It is going to be the 3rd revision of the new trough. Apparently I wasn't the only one that wound up less than happy with the new trough. It was kind of crazy as I use the old setup without any problems that haven't been self inflicted. But I am always ready to try a new component as the worst that will happen is that it won't work. John Lee did say that the new revised trough will be shipping next week so I picked up a case of small pistol primers tonight and will try to wait until the new trough gets here before I use them.

[myloadm61]

I also talked to John Lee today to find out the scoop on the LM and parts and basically it was as Smitty was told. Just upgrading to the 3rd generation primer trough. All should be available in a week. John asked that if I were on the forum to pass this along.

[El Hombre]

I don't want to see any reloading manufacturer driven into the ground. We reloaders need as many competitors as the market will bear. Competition is good for us all. All the mud slinging has improved Lee as Lee has forced the other guys to make improvements.

RCBS, Lyman, Hornady, Forrester, Redding, etc., I have no problem with, it's just those "blue" fools that are such a PITA. It's always blue is the best;only thing that works. Reminds me of a cult, Jamestown relocated to Scottsdale.....they claim to be kool-aid drinkers! Pathetic.

But you're right about Lee forcing change, there is a good article on the history of Lee in the 17th Handloading Digest. When Lee was the company that started people on reloading and then since Lee didn't make presses, they bought the other guys stuff, the other guys were happy. Then Lee got into presses and dies and the other guys weren't so happy with the competition. And it's been that way ever since, 30 years and counting....

[Sparky45]

I've owned 5 Lee presses and with the exception of the LM enjoyed them very much. I still have and use 2 Lee presses, they compliment my "blue" press quite well.