Here is some customer feedback on the New Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro and a warning…
“It takes a little while to learn the reloading cycle through the dies but once you have done it it’s pretty simple to operate and I can quite comfortably load almost 300 Rounds in an hour at the moment
Overall am very happy with my purchase and would recommend this press to anyone looking to reload volumes I will most likely load 7.62 x 39 on this press as well in the future”
“All I can say is what an awesome press. Easy to set up, didn’t encounter any problems at all. Was making a bit of noise in the beginning so I just oiled the pin that lines up the
Shell Plate and the ram. To me it was easier watching a YouTube video for assembling the accessories than figuring out the instructions. I like it very much. Very fast reloading”
Have to agree, some of Lee’s instructions looks like they come from the 70’s…
“CONS:
First thing I noticed is that The Auto Breech Lock Pro is very “tight” on the top. When you have a bullet feeder, powder hopper and the case feeder all installed there isn’t a lot of room to get your fingers in to make fine adjustments on the die.
The detent has a very strong snap which tends to shake the case when loading at speed and a few specs of powder can often be seen going for a walk, same problem as the Pro 1000.
I find the placement of the “tool holder” a bit awkward as the tools have a tendency to shake up and end up in the ramp from the carrier. This has caused me to just take the tools out and store them elsewhere.
PROS:
Besides the detent the operation of the press is smooth, hindered only by miss adjusted dies and a “sticky” mandrel in the powder through die. The timing as Duane mentioned on his Blog is great, I have had one or two slips however simply lowering the ram again and lifting it up returns the timing perfectly.
Manual adjustment of the shell plate is not required for removing shells should there be a problem.
4 stages so I don’t have to taper crimp on a separate press”
Again I have to agree that the space is tight if you have all the accessories fitted.
“POSITIVE:
Easy to setup
The bushings are great for quick swapping of dies
Build quality is excellent
I really like the bike styled handle
Indexing works well and is smooth
Manually loading a case is a good option
Good visibility on powder level
Enough space to seat a bullet (even with large hands)
Very easy to clean when there is some powder spillage (my mistake but the press made it easy for me to clean up)
When setup (which is fast), the press can load quickly and smoothly
I did manage to get the timing out but the press corrected that on the next cycle which was great
NEGATIVE
The bolt to hold the press down gets in the way of the return spring of the Auto Disk Pro Powder measure so the spring can't be used (not a problem though if the chain is setup correctly)
The safety prime system takes a lot to get used to which makes priming with the press not fun (I now will be hand priming instead)
I did manage to get the timing out but the press corrected that on the next cycle
I occasionally get a casing stuck between the tubes and the casing arm (appears to be a double feed of casings but still working out why this is happening)
Even though I really don't care for the priming system on the press, I am happy with the press and will have many more happy hours reloading with it.”
The biggest drawback on this press is the Safety Prime. It works but for someone like me who have loaded on a Loadmaster it is a drawback. But then again, this press is not in the same market as the Loadmaster or Pro1000.
Now on to the warning:
“I am very happy with the press. There is one small issue and that is that a case can get between the top of the press and the red plastic case feeder rail. If this happens and you stop in time the case can damage the plastic rail.”
Below is a pic of what can happen. It is not supposed to happen but here is proof that accidents do happen. The cause is an upside down case in the case feeder not caught in time. But this is still not supposed to happen as the case slider should still push the case into the shell plate….
So be careful of this.
Luckily parts are on the way and seems to be cheap and easy to replace.
Broken after 100 rounds...