Lee Pro 1000

[pilot_dc]

Thinking of getting a lee pro 1000 to load 45ACP. Anybody know if I'll be able to use it for 300WSM?

The Pro1000 is in my price range, if there's something else that would do both caliber's for around the same money I'm open to ideas

 

[happiness is a warm gun]

Check out Lee website to see if the 1,000 will handle both rounds. www.leeprecision.com .I have heard mix reactions about this press. One friend that owns one, raves about how good it is. The gun shop I deal with said he'll order it form me, but didn't want to hear about any complaints if he did order it for me. Apparently they are very fussy. There is no other progressive presses in this price range that I am aware of.

I also use a Lee 4 hole Turret press and have had no real problems with it and I've loaded 10,000 of thousands of rounds. with it. Lee's great to deal with and take good care of their customers. Their service is excellent, the part are inexpensive and order are processed very fast. Lee carbide dies are excellent and I would highly recommend using Lee dies.

 

[BEARMAN]

The Lee PRO 1000 can only load pistol cartridges with the exception of .30 carbine, 7.62x39 and .223. A USED SINGLE STAGE PRESS WILL LOAD MOST ANYTHING YOU WANT TO RELOAD. Check out the gun shows, put an ad up at the gun range, check out www.ebay.ca search "reloading equipment" located in CANADA. I have a PRO 1000 in .45acp and have loaded over 30,000 rounds on it.

 

[hunter64]

Also check Lee web site under the seconds and used section at http://www.leeprecision.com/cgi/catalog/browse.cgi?1151296519.1573=/html/catalog/surplus.html

don't see any 1000's in .45acp but you can call them and ask if they have any seconds. They usually go for 100-125 bucks because of some flaw that I could never figure out. I have bought 3 of them for friends and own two myself and have never found out what the seconds problems were and you save about 80 bucks and get a full two years warranty with them. The most finicky thing about the 1000 is the powder measure if you get a good one with tight tolerances than the machine will run and run without a hitch. If you get a powder measure that is not machined correctly they it will spill powder once in a while and the powder drops down on to the shell plate and into the primer feed mechanism and you get lots of jams. Very simple to fix and operate and parts are cheap and plentiful. The dillion guys will chiming in and say what a piece of crap but for 100 bucks and dillions start at 500 and go up from there you can't beat the price. I load for 5 calibers and all I have done is bought different die plate carriers for 10 bucks each and a shell plate for each caliber. To change calibers you take the powder measure off, 10 seconds at most, raise the ram put a small block of wood under the carrier and with an Allen wrench loosen a set screw and pull down on the carrier so it detaches from the machine. Change shell plate and put back in, adjust the case feeder, put the new die plate on top and install powder measure and adjust and away you go. Sounds like alot but can be done in under 5 minutes with no problems at all. Try that on a Dillion and I have personally watched a friend take nearly 25 minutes to get it up and running again.

So for a Lee 1000 and all the dies that I needed I have about 400 bucks total and any other machine will be around 1400.00 or more. My 2 cents.

 

[t-star]

i think if i remember correctly the case length has something to do with with the center rod - that's why it's limited to 223 length - and it only has 3 stations which means you'll be lubing your rifle cases before you resize them- also i find my 44 mag cases get stuck in the tubes-sometimes- it's the rims sticking on the plastic- this doesn't happen with 45 acp - if you want to go both, take a look at the lee classic turret- it's action rod is long enough to take 30-06 and more

 

[HPL]

i think if i remember correctly the case length has something to do with with the center rod - that's why it's limited to 223 length - and it only has 3 stations which means you'll be lubing your rifle cases before you resize them- also i find my 44 mag cases get stuck in the tubes-sometimes- it's the rims sticking on the plastic- this doesn't happen with 45 acp - if you want to go both, take a look at the lee classic turret- it's action rod is long enough to take 30-06 and more

I have a Classic Turret. It's great. It's like they took every complaint about the old turret press and took care of them. I have both the Classic Cast and the regular turret press and the Classic Cast is definitely worth the extra money.

With the old turret press, I had to take the little black plastic auto-indexing thing off the ram for loading 30-06 because otherwise there wasn't enough ram clearance, but the Classic Cast can handle 30-06 with no modifications necessary.

I have no problems recommending the Classic Cast turret press for loading rifle ammo, but for pistol ammo, you'll probably want a proper progressive press otherwise you'll be spending forever loading up cartridges.

 

[prosper]

I prefer loading my rifle cartridges on a single stage press.

Then again, I don't load rifle cartridges by the thousand

 

[HPL]

I prefer loading my rifle cartridges on a single stage press.

Then again, I don't load rifle cartridges by the thousand

I like using a turret press to load rifle ammo because I load several different calibres so switching dies is easy with the turrets and the dies are always set properly because you install them in the turret and that's it, you don't have to re-seat the die every time you want to do something different.

 

[t-star]

we always hear from somebody that prefers the single stage- fact is, you need at least two single stages with a bench mounted powder measure in between to even come close to turret press- other than that, it's a game of screw in screw out -it gets tedious even doing 50 round lots, let alone 2-300- with the new lee turret being a 4 holer, i'd be inclined to put a rcbs lube die in station 1 and a trip type powder measure like a dillion or something at 3 so it could take rifle powders-

 

[prosper]

Never said it was faster. I usually work in stages, and the stages are often separated by several days. Polish/clean brass on day one. Come back later, decap/neck size. Trim if necessary, then wash brass in ultrasonic cleaner. Wait a day, and prime brass, then put it into cupboard until I'm ready to load it. When I load, I'll sit in the basement weighing out charges. Then take them outside to the press and seat the bullets. For my process & workflow, I see zero advantage with a turret press, especially given that I load for a dozen cartridges, and multiple projectiles for each.

If/when I start loading for a handgun, the level of precision needed at each stage decreases, so I'll certainly go progressive