Lee pro 1000 feedback?

Drewz

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I am looking to purchase a Lee Pro 1000 for reloading 40 cal. pistol and was looking to see if there is any major concerns with this press. I am looking at videos on it right now but am looking for feed back from the loading gents on here. I am not looking to do 5,000 on a weekend but I plan to put a 2-3 thousand a year through it. If I could afford it I would step up to the Dillon Square D but this is my first venture into reloading and my budget is $400.00 for a complete setup ready to go and then a bit of cash for a case prep station.


Thanks in advance.
 
At that volume, 2-300 a month, how about a turret press? I don't own any lee progressives but they seem to require constant fixes and tricks to stay running. I have the sqaure deal and it's been amazing right out of the box.
 
Go with the 4 hole classic turret press (under $200)
I had a Pro 1000 in 40 S&W they are finicky to say the least .
Now it's the classic all the way
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I have 2 Lee Progressive 1000's in 9mm and 45 acp. I have had no real issues with them except not putting enough tension on the stroke when priming. The occasional one, if not seated properly, is a pain to remove but is operator error and no fault of the press itself. For the money in my opinion is a good buy. Many good videos on using the press on the net.
 
Been using one for 30 years. It has done so many rounds that the primer shaker rod has worn a large flat in the upright - think well north of 100k

The old cast aluminum linkage broke last year. That's about it. Replaced it with the new handle and steel linkages and away we go.

Can you watch TV or play with the monkey as you load? No

However once you get a feel for the machine and it's minor quirks you can avoid errors. The odd priming mishap,and the odd time that the powder measure sticks (i lube my measures with graphite spray and grease the linkages to eliminate this)

For your volume it's a good machine. I don't load unless I'm doing at least 2k at a time.


I've thought about Dillon, mostly for the potential to do rifle, but to get set up to do everything the Lee can do for me would be big bucks, and it would be insane to set it up for all of the chamberings that I currently have.

When my little pro1000 decides to finally fail, I'll buy another. Probably a used one at a show for cheap.
 
I have the pro1000 and I avoid using it. You miss one of those "quirks" people talk about and you now have a lot of rounds you don't trust.

The stupid little pull chain to reset the powder disk is a PITA. I had either no tension... or it would break. (had to run my own chain for reset)

My 550b, with no case feeder, manual indexing, has proved faster in the long run and more reliable.
 
SO with the classic press does the plate turn automatically? What is the difference? I have reloaded at my buddies place but he is a Dillon guy and has more disposable income then I have. Thanks!

The Classic press has a head with all of the dies that turns (indexes) when the press lever is pulled, however only one operation happens on a single round with each pull (I.e. Sizing, powder feeding, seating, etc.). In a progressive press, the dies and the head are static but the shell plate (holding multiple rounds in different stages of assembly) rotates and moves up/down. Each time the lever is pulled, every round on the shell plate has a different operation done. So for a turret you pull the lever 4 times for example to produce a round, while with a progressive you get one round for each pull.

Dillons are great...I'll get one eventually but they are pricy both the initial investment and adding new calibres. If you are loading many different calibres (rifle and pistol) in modest amounts (say 300 a week) a Classic turret or a Dillon 550 is the ticket with the turret being significantly cheaper. Larger batches of pistol and I would lean towards a Dillon 650 with a case feeder but by then the cost of feeding the beast says you're really committed to the sport.
 
After initial set up and watching some videos and minor mods (i run a spring instead of the chain for the powder dispenser and have it turned off to the instead of directly over the primer slide) ive put approx 4000 rounds thru it, very minor issues, i quite like mine actually.
 
I've been using Pro1000s for years now. No problems once you get it set up. Many thousands of rounds loaded with no breakages.
The only thing I'd recommend is changing the chain/auto-disk measure to the micrometer system. Much less hassle and you simply dial in your desired grain weight, confirm on balance.
 
I wouldn't bother with any Lee progressive, too many issues.
Dillon has it down pretty good.
Turret is kind of an OK option for low volume, not much faster then single stage loading really but more convenient.
 
i have a turret decent press. i had a 1000 the 1000 is junk i gave it away. primer system is a major problem put your money towards something else
 
i have a turret decent press. i had a 1000 the 1000 is junk i gave it away. primer system is a major problem put your money towards something else

You just have to adjust the timing screw and the primer feed works fine. Keep the ramp clean and GTG.
 
If you can "afford" to go with a Dillon then do it. There is nothing worse than regretting not spending a few extra bucks and swearing at yerself with yer inside voice. I bit the bullet and went with a XL650 just before christmas and so far I am in love with it. Yes the conversion kits can be pricey due to our dollar plunging, but my evenings of producing only 150-200 rounds went upto 1000+rds an hour with the dillon for 9mm. 45 is similiar and if I need my standard plinkin load for the 308 then its a 10 min switch and I am set to run it for 30 mins and get 400 rounds out of her.

I still have my ol rock crusher for 338, 45-70, and other calibres and she will stay faithfully by my side. you never forget yer first.... LOL
 
First of all you want to keep this cheap I see. And you're only looking at around 2000 to 3000 a year. If you are SURE that's all you need then why not look at a single stage press? For things like the .44Mag I load and shoot I don't use enough of it to justify buying a caliber conversion kit for my Dillon 550. Instead I load on a Hornady Lock N'Load. I can pretty easily do roughly 150 rounds an hour without rushing or skipping any of the sensible checks. So a couple of hours one evening and you'll have 300 rounds to keep you going for a month or so.

Now this is IF you are being honest with yourself about the amount you shoot. And IF you won't be led into shooting more by the lower cost of your reloaded ammo.

Still, even if you did "lie" to yourself (best of intentions of course :d ) and you shoot more than that if you have the time to put in a couple of hours per week a single stage can still push through that same 150 per hour. So an hour a week or four hours a month at some point will produce 600 rounds a month or 4800 per year for that four hours a month of effort.

And a single stage of this sort is also a good lead in for rifle reloading. For rifle it's a bit slower since the higher requirement for accuracy requires weighing every charge where on the handgun ammo I use a dipper that drops the right weight give or take a small amount. So rifle reloading is limited to around 50 or slightly more per hour.

The question that comes now is will your family life GIVE you that hour or two a week to reload? That's where the progressive comes in. And in a more minor way the turret press. These CAN make more ammo. But for some folks their larger advantage is that they can make the ammo that they require in less time at the reloading bench. And if time is tight due to kids or taking the wife over to see the outlaws then a progressive can maximize your hourly production so you can get what you need out of the time you can devote.

But if time isn't an issue then from the numbers you're posting a single stage becomes a viable option.

When I had the couple of 1000's that I was given I also found them to have some quirks or just plain outright problems that needed fixing.

On both of them I found that when the carrier came up that the whole die plate pushed to the side slightly because the carrier wasn't centered correctly. To fix that I had to drill out the holes in the upper carrier that the die plate locks into for the post screws. That gave me more play to allow the die plate and carrier to float over to centered and then I tightened the screws down.

The primer tray and track sometimes jammed and wouldn't feed when nearly full. A couple of extra notches filed into the rear of the post that the pin runs against gave it more jiggle to keep things flowing better. Not perfectly but better.

The light spring on the primer ram wasn't enough to keep the carrier up off the pin so the plate could rotate. So I added a home made bracket with an outboard plunger and spring so it was more positive.

The plastic primer track got worn with age and started rising up out of the zinc alloy carrier. So I drilled in from the side and tapped it for a set screw to put a slight pressure on it and lock it into position.

A side sheild made from aluminium roof flashing that snapped onto the support posts was needed to direct the ejected primers down through the openings in the base and into the collection bucket. Otherwise about 1:3 went shooting out onto the floor.

The spring detent in the die plate isn't strong enough to hold the plate from turning when locking and unloading the die rings for adjustments. So I drilled and put in a pin that stops the plate from rotating when in position. This last isn't needed but it makes life a lot more pleasant.

The auto indexing setup on the 1000 is OK when new but seems to wear easily. The ones that came on the presses I was given were worn enough that they were more trouble than they were worth. I removed those parts and made them into manual indexed presses and found that was way less frustration for finding that one sweet spot only to have it change within an hour. But to be fair mine were rather worn as I say.

So the quirks can be fixed rather than lived with but some of them require a bit more work and metal working skills than some folks normally have.

Because of all these issues that I found I can't say I recommend them.
 
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