Lee 1000 press

[Ganderite]

A gun shop in New Jersey is going out of business. They are selling Lee 1000 presses for $150.

A friend of mine down there has asked me if this would be a good press for him to buy to make his pistol ammo.

I like my Dillon 550, but can't imagine it selling for $150. I have never even seen a Lee 1000, so don't know how smoothly it works or how difficult it is to change between 38 Spl and 45ACP - his 2 calibers.

He would want to crank out 200 rounds per loading session. Lee good for that?

 

[#1bcshooter]

I have one they are very tricky to keep working . primer feed always jams up .
If he only wants to do 200 at a time he'd be better off with a single stage or a Lee turret press . I have all three & the turret press is my favorite for pistol reloading . Easy to change calibers just change the turret . dies are preset . Or he can spend big bucks on a professional press like your Dillon

 

[Kev]

There seem to be some tricks to make it work smoothly, but I have loaded quite a few '000 rounds with mine now, and I think it's good value. There's a couple experts on here that have given me ideas to make it run well.

 

[lineofsight]

Found a used Pro 1000, had help setting it up and was tricky / finicky (new may not have the same issues). Now works. Found primer seating a little shallow but by building up a little layer of aluminium foil where the feed pin hits it works beautifully now. Disc metering not bad for titegroup, seems to be a little powder dependent. With the Pro 1000 can just swap the turret & load disc out and leave dies set.

 

[Mystic Precision]

I am a low volume HG shooters and use the 1000 press. Works just fine for my applications. Yes, it can be tempremental. Keep it clean by blowing off any loose powder. That is what usually fouls up the priming procedure.

Well lubed and if there are issues indexing, change the plastic index bit under the tray and it will work just fine. This is a wear item so keep spares on hand.

I do use the case feeder but took off the bullet feeder.

It's can pump out 300 to 400rds in an hour when all is working well.

Jerry

 

[msg.drew]

I personally have 3 of these presses they are good for a beginnier but if your looking to make exact factory ammo with any kind of a crimp the lee pro 1000 isnt going to do it because it has only 3 stages... its better then the dillon 550 because you dont have to manually index... a compareable dillion would be the Xl650 as far as auto indexing or there square deal press

I have been looking and getting some very expensive dillon equipment or Hornady lock and load... but the lee load master is tempting me due to the fact I can buy 2 load masters for one Dillon or Hornady

The pro 1000's owe me nothing as they have loaded more ammo then your casual shooter shoots in a lifetime...

$150 is about the going price in the states for these its not really any kind of super deal...

 

[Freedom Ventures]

We had a guy at the club upgrade from his Pro 1000 to a Dillon 550.
He brought the Lee into the club and left it for anyone else to take.
After a month, he tossed it in the garbage.
No one would even take it for free.

 

[Freedom Ventures]

the lee load master is tempting me due to the fact I can buy 2 load masters for one Dillon or Hornady

Don't do it.
This is an excellent example "of you get what you pay for" or "if something is too good to be true...it isn't."

 

[lister]

I'd have taken the free press! send it out!

I have a 1000. They're finicky to get going, but once you get a routine it's fine.
I have my factory crimp die(s) in a separate turret. Once the rounds are loaded in the 1000, I just run them through the crimper on my turret press.

 

[t-star]

i've got a loadmaster- it works well enough now that i've worked hard and long with lee to work the kinks out- for autos i still go with the 1000, but i needed the extra hole for the factory crimp die- but now i know that the primer assy is going to give problems every so many rounds- you have to replace the sliders, and it goes out of alignment every so often- it still BEATS THE HECK OUT OF A 550 with that stupid manual index- i HAVE BOTH- actually , my set up consists of a lee turret, 3 lee 1000, the dillon 550, and a lee loadmaster-

 

[msg.drew]

Don't do it.
This is an excellent example "of you get what you pay for" or "if something is too good to be true...it isn't."

I am pretty happy with all the lee products I have bought so far the loadmaster looks alot more heavy duty then the pro 1000.


I probally have loaded 100,000 on the pro 1000 in only about 3 years say what you want but maybe the fellow at your club has a short attention span or no patientience yah the lee pro 1000 can be really picky but once you set it up and make some modifications its just as good as any other press

I know you get what you pay for I have a magma sizing press and after trying a few on the market its magma or nothing!

 

[bjhill]

Save your money the priming system is garbage.

 

[kokanee king]

Its hard to save your money while your paying for tailor made ammo. I bought the 1000 and I like it. Then again, i also bought a Norinco.