Well I got a couple of new reloading toys and would like to share my limited experience with them so far.
First up is the lyman case prep xpress.
I have been looking for this type system for a couple of years now but have never been able to swallow the price for a Hornady and the RCBS left me a little flat as only a couple of tools were included and at ~$20 a piece for the primer pocket uniformers and other accessories the price shot up to pretty quickly.
Long story short my cheepo reloading scale finally gave up and I didn’t want to use the beam scale for 50 cases at a time so I went on the hunt for a new scale. Now while I was at it I looked at the Lyman case prep center and got a good deal through Natchez. The good part is that the most common tools, Inside deburr (VLD) tool, outside deburr tool, primer pocket uniformers (small & large), primer pocket reamers (small & large), primer pocket cleaners (small & large), case neck brushes (25 Cal, 30 Cal, 38 Cal, 45 Cal) and some Case Neck Lube were all included for less than $120. The only rub that I found consistently in the product reviews was that the unit was loud. I didn’t put a Db meter on mine but it doesn’t seem very loud to me. There really isn’t a whole lot to review here but the thing does work well, It has a stable base of about 9”x9” and is around 7” high, it spins the tools at a reasonable rate (125 RPM is stated) and it sure beats the hand cramps that I used to get manually turning the little Lee tools.
Now onto the scale which was kind of a surprise. I had been looking to get an auto powder dispenser for a while but once again I was a little put off by prices and some lukewarm reviews by the major brands in this arena. The RCBS chargemaster seemed to be the gold standard but I just didn’t want to cough up the $350 to get in the game. The Lyman seemed to get lukewarm reviews and it was not a whole lot cheaper. I was seriously considering the Hornady but I then found the Smartreloader iSD for considerably less than even the Hornady which in the past had not been the case. Though these seem to get some sporadic reviews as well I took a look on line at the video tutorials on youtube and decided to pull the trigger. Long story short I am very pleased with the dispenser and I am not sure how I got along without one of these for so long. I have only loaded IMR 4064 powder through it so far but I have to say with just a little tweaking of the settings I proceeded to load 150 cases last night and the thing consistently finished a charge about as quickly as I could funnel the last charge into a case. This was using a charge weight of 43.5 grains IMR 4064 and being funneled into .308 brass. The scale was spot on with my beam as I double checked occasionally. Yes it does throw a .10 grain or so over about 1 in 10-15 charges but I managed to pinch a little out of the pan, throw it back in the hopper and trickle up additional if I needed to. Much easier than throwing a charge manually from a measure and trickling up each load individually. Additionally it leaves both hands free to funnel the charge into the case and seat the bullet. The unit has the ability to store up to 50 loads and recall them by number or name, while I don’t think I will get a whole lot of use from this feature some others might.
If there is anything negative to say about the thing it is that it is light weight, as I don’t have any experience with any other unit I cannot say how it compares to say an RCBS chargemaster. It seems stable and I had no issue with it slipping around on the table it does not seem to have a lot of heft. The only other issue that I have found is that when it finishes dispensing a load it beeps and displays “charge okay” for just a second and then displays the weight. On a couple of occasions the displayed weight was significantly over weight and there was no “error” display, multiple beeps, or anything else to alert an overcharge. I have an e-mail in to see if this is normal or not (just sent it) and will update this post when I get some feedback.
Overall I am pleased with both these items and if anyone on the forum is on the fence about purchasing you now have my .02 for whatever it may be worth.
First up is the lyman case prep xpress.
I have been looking for this type system for a couple of years now but have never been able to swallow the price for a Hornady and the RCBS left me a little flat as only a couple of tools were included and at ~$20 a piece for the primer pocket uniformers and other accessories the price shot up to pretty quickly.
Long story short my cheepo reloading scale finally gave up and I didn’t want to use the beam scale for 50 cases at a time so I went on the hunt for a new scale. Now while I was at it I looked at the Lyman case prep center and got a good deal through Natchez. The good part is that the most common tools, Inside deburr (VLD) tool, outside deburr tool, primer pocket uniformers (small & large), primer pocket reamers (small & large), primer pocket cleaners (small & large), case neck brushes (25 Cal, 30 Cal, 38 Cal, 45 Cal) and some Case Neck Lube were all included for less than $120. The only rub that I found consistently in the product reviews was that the unit was loud. I didn’t put a Db meter on mine but it doesn’t seem very loud to me. There really isn’t a whole lot to review here but the thing does work well, It has a stable base of about 9”x9” and is around 7” high, it spins the tools at a reasonable rate (125 RPM is stated) and it sure beats the hand cramps that I used to get manually turning the little Lee tools.
Now onto the scale which was kind of a surprise. I had been looking to get an auto powder dispenser for a while but once again I was a little put off by prices and some lukewarm reviews by the major brands in this arena. The RCBS chargemaster seemed to be the gold standard but I just didn’t want to cough up the $350 to get in the game. The Lyman seemed to get lukewarm reviews and it was not a whole lot cheaper. I was seriously considering the Hornady but I then found the Smartreloader iSD for considerably less than even the Hornady which in the past had not been the case. Though these seem to get some sporadic reviews as well I took a look on line at the video tutorials on youtube and decided to pull the trigger. Long story short I am very pleased with the dispenser and I am not sure how I got along without one of these for so long. I have only loaded IMR 4064 powder through it so far but I have to say with just a little tweaking of the settings I proceeded to load 150 cases last night and the thing consistently finished a charge about as quickly as I could funnel the last charge into a case. This was using a charge weight of 43.5 grains IMR 4064 and being funneled into .308 brass. The scale was spot on with my beam as I double checked occasionally. Yes it does throw a .10 grain or so over about 1 in 10-15 charges but I managed to pinch a little out of the pan, throw it back in the hopper and trickle up additional if I needed to. Much easier than throwing a charge manually from a measure and trickling up each load individually. Additionally it leaves both hands free to funnel the charge into the case and seat the bullet. The unit has the ability to store up to 50 loads and recall them by number or name, while I don’t think I will get a whole lot of use from this feature some others might.
If there is anything negative to say about the thing it is that it is light weight, as I don’t have any experience with any other unit I cannot say how it compares to say an RCBS chargemaster. It seems stable and I had no issue with it slipping around on the table it does not seem to have a lot of heft. The only other issue that I have found is that when it finishes dispensing a load it beeps and displays “charge okay” for just a second and then displays the weight. On a couple of occasions the displayed weight was significantly over weight and there was no “error” display, multiple beeps, or anything else to alert an overcharge. I have an e-mail in to see if this is normal or not (just sent it) and will update this post when I get some feedback.
Overall I am pleased with both these items and if anyone on the forum is on the fence about purchasing you now have my .02 for whatever it may be worth.
