by Bushdog » Tue Apr 15, 2014 6:28 am
I have both the 1000 and the Loadmaster. In truth, I'm not a massive fan of either. due to the frequent need for fettling in order to maintain consistency. I would say the Loadmaster is less fiddly than the 1000, on which I loaded literally thousands of .45acp, 9mm and .40 S&W back in our days of pistol-ownership.
I now fully load .357 on the Loadmaster, and use the last 3 stations for powder insertion, bullet seating and crimping on .308 and .303 with it (Its not up to sizing rifle cases and the need for lube and trimming etc after de-priming makes fully progressive use for rifle cases a pain).
The two shortcomings in my view are the priming system, which has been greatly improved with the updates parts made of stiffer plastic to a slightly different design, and the powder measuring, which I have overcome by using the expensive, but reasonably accurate and consistent RCBS Uniflow with case actuation unit (a must for rifle loading in my view).
Changing calibres is easy if you buy extra turrets to go with your shell plates - you only set the dies up once that way. Ideally get a powder measure for each calibre, so you don't have to keep fiddling with the settings. The only other thing I find often needs adjustment is the primer seating depth, which seems to change with different calibres (I think this is because different die settings altering where top travel stops.
For pistol loading in volume, I'd have thought a Loadmaster would be OK, but it will require some frustrating fiddling to get it to run, which may not be necessary with better-made kit, irrespective of how long it takes to change calibres. I'd look hard at your wallet and think about something with more quality. To a man, the yanks all recommend Dillon - I have no experience of the Hornady, but it looks solid enough kit, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't more reliable than a Loadmaster.