Thinking about reloading .223, what would you pay for a used Lee Pro 1000?

Wantabe_ Warrior said:
$400 for 13 hours of work? Sign me up! FAST! It would take me, at my current job, about 36.4 regular hours (before income tax deductions) to make. Spending my Saturday to make that much savings? Sure!
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Keep in mind that is assuming your press and equipment is all paid for already. Technically, the Lee reloading set up is going to cost around $400 (by the time you buy the press and necessary accessories) so the first 13 hours you cover your equipment costs. It's not until the 3rd thousand that you start saving $. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from reloading, just keepin' it real ;)
 
KNO3- said:
Canam...8000rnds for $1,996...with tax ($2235.52) it works out to $0.279...haha i really meant "just" under 28 cents. Not sure when i next time they will do this though. good time to buy 10 or so crates.

Oh and its the norinco...brass and reloadable.
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Oh puuuhlease...Did you really just compare a black friday monstrous deal that comes once a year to what reloading costs if you were to walk into a store and buy components any and every day?

I reload 223 for 17c with Hornady FMJ 55 grains, CCI 400 primers, IMR 3031 and range collected brass. Only reason its so cheap is that i scored 1500 FMJ 55grain bullets for half price of what i normally pay. Usually my cost is about 26c to 28c.
 
KNO3- said:
...30 seconds for 1 round? thats pretty bad...
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See that's the thing, you've got a lot of steps that all add time when your working with a Lee 1000. Even the simple task of shaking out the media after tumbling adds time (pita with a necked case vs. a straight-walled pistol cartridge). Then there is trimming the case length, applying lube, knocking the primer out, resizing, removing the lube, priming, adding powder, seating and crimping. Makes 9mm reloading look like a chimp could to it!
 
KNO3- said:
This was something iv been tossing around since id make more at work for the 13 hours so why not just work a day and buy the ammo. But to me it would still be worth it to learn how to reload and load my own ammo...im still cheap though and dont want to buy an expensive press...and between all my expensive hobbies and expensive wife i still have to save where i can ;)
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Same kind of deal I'm in (sorta). Just had my 2nd back back at work in over 2 months AND I'm off to college in September (I have the funds and they're safely stored away from me), AND I'm after a new truck AND I want to build an AR-15 :)cool:). Well at least my 45 isn't gnawing away at my funds currently (If my tongue will stick to the barrel of a gun before I fire said gun, I don't want to shoot it ;) )
 
Runningfool said:
Keep in mind that is assuming your press and equipment is all paid for already. Technically, the Lee reloading set up is going to cost around $400 (by the time you buy the press and necessary accessories) so the first 13 hours you cover your equipment costs. It's not until the 3rd thousand that you start saving $. I'm not trying to discourage anyone from reloading, just keepin' it real ;)
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Yes, your right. Thank you.
Now, again, I HAVE NO REAL/PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE WITH THIS (RELOADING) STUFF. But I found this (w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=c0cjz_4iDlM) video too. Now, I know prices are going to be different, but it sounds (to me) like some... interesting numbers to consider.
 
Red_Liner740 said:
Oh puuuhlease...Did you really just compare a black friday monstrous deal that comes once a year to what reloading costs if you were to walk into a store and buy components any and every day?

I reload 223 for 17c with Hornady FMJ 55 grains, CCI 400 primers, IMR 3031 and range collected brass. Only reason its so cheap is that i scored 1500 FMJ 55grain bullets for half price of what i normally pay. Usually my cost is about 26c to 28c.
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Yes i did just compare the black friday deal, your right...its only once a year so just buy enough to get through at least 1 year...only buy at that price once a year and you always have it at the sale price.
 
I loaded .223 on a Pro 1000 for about 4 years. It does work, but it is slow, finicky and I would not recommend it to a new reloader. IMO you need 4 stations to do a good job loading rifle and the Pro 1000 only has 3. If you are on a budget, for about the same cost you can get a Lee Classic Cast Turret press & dies etc. It has 4 stations, vastly improved leverage (important for full length resizing) and is far less finicky. Less fussing around and it turns out ammo fairly fast.

Personally I would never pay more than $150 for a used Pro 1000 (which is how much I paid for mine).
 
KNO3- said:
Yes i did just compare the black friday deal, your right...its only once a year so just buy enough to get through at least 1 year...only buy at that price once a year and you always have it at the sale price.
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If you shoot less than 8k a year thats a sweet deal. However, I'm on par for a 15k year for .223. It all depends on what type of shooting you do, and just how much of it you do.
 
GunfighterAlpha said:
If you shoot less than 8k a year thats a sweet deal. However, I'm on par for a 15k year for .223. It all depends on what type of shooting you do, and just how much of it you do.
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You must spend an awful lot of time at the range. I wish I could get out even half that often these days.

I've got a Honrady LNL AP for reloading my 5.56 mm. Works great. Would like to get the auto case feeder and auto bullet feeder as well, but I haven't been out shooting enough since the kids were born to justify the added expense. Of course, if someone wanted to sell me a Mr. Bulletfeeder for a good deal, I wouldn't say no :)
 
KNO3- said:
good info, Thanks! 30 seconds for 1 round? thats pretty bad.

No pistols right now, i really like to shoot in the bush so i have held off, maybe hoping the laws would change? but i dont think i can much longer. Theres a 9mm i really want, thinking it will be next. I was even thinking of getting an antique revolver so i could take it in the bush but anything i liked was at least 5k.
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Could be more than .30 sec per round. What will make the difference is the brass prepping. it's the most time consuming of all the process. I am not sure how you will do it on a progressive Lee... The first part will not be progressive for sure: Clean, Press, remove and cut , burr deburr , clean pocket primer, mesure brass, clean again.
After that you would be ready to start reloading for real. This first portion of reloading will take at least 30 sec per round for a new comer.
 
KNO3- said:
Yes i did just compare the black friday deal, your right...its only once a year so just buy enough to get through at least 1 year...only buy at that price once a year and you always have it at the sale price.
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There are certain fallacies that you are relying on. One is that anyone can get in on that deal, when it sold out within a day or two and two is that this deal with be here next year.

In the end, you have to take the average price of bulk 223 and compare it to the average price of components. Reloading wins, unless you are shooting milsurp 7.62x39, everything else can be reloaded cheaper.

This is how i reload
decapping die in a single stage, decap all ### number of brass in a single sitting. I can do one every two seconds when i get going...SSmedia tumble, this cleans out the brass and primer pocket. Full length resize, again in large batches, trim on an RCBS three way trimmer, this trims, deburrs and bevels the case mouth in one step. Prime, this is done with the help of my fiancee we can reprime 500 in 10 min when we get going. powder drop and bullet seating is done on a Dillon 550.
 
I think that a turret press would be a better way to start for a newbie. You can get the lee classic turret setup (with almost everything you need) from wholesale for ~260 bucks. I think the real problem with loading 223 on the progressive is the case trimming. With the turret you can single stage the capping and depriming, the do your trimming off the press and use the turret for prime(however I think it's easier to use the hand tool), powder drop, bullet seat and factory crimp. If you decide to move to a better press later you can sell the lee for a good portion of what you paid for it. There is nothing wrong with lee equipment for the beginner. You just need to start loading so you can find out what you like and don't like.
 
I do reload 223, but only for my bolt gun f-class rifle. For my AR I buy ammo for it in bulk. If you run your shopping list through SFRC for 1000 rounds of components it comes to 300 with the shipping plus tax. Canada Ammo regular price is 318 with the shipping plus tax for a 1000 rounds. It would appear that reloading would save you 18 bucks per thousand however if you save your brass it has a value of about 65$ per thousand. So

Reloading costs about 300+tax buying in bulk cost 253+tax per thousand.

Now this post is about to be flamed. There will be a ton of folks that chime in on how their reloading costs are much cheaper than I am stating. However unless you have a highly modified delorian that can go back to the future then you are stuck purchasing at todays prices for components and for ammo.

Back to your original question 200 bucks is a fabulous deal for a lee pro and some components.
 
A Lee 1000 is a great way to start reloading and build some patience. Fairly rare though for a person to continue to use a 1000 if reload in volume or for accuracy. Had one for pistol cartridges then went the Hornady LNL-AP route. Based on cost only reload rifle when want accuracy and then single stage works well (along with good dies, i.e. micrometer die, not even so much for adjustability as for consistency). With ChargeMaster and single stage press can get a pretty good rhythm going. The 1000 is better than nothing but are likely to end up with something else eventually. Its a pretty small and long lasting investment to buy better and may find interest in another hobby or end up with accuracy rig at some point.
 
JBD said:
I do reload 223, but only for my bolt gun f-class rifle. For my AR I buy ammo for it in bulk. If you run your shopping list through SFRC for 1000 rounds of components it comes to 300 with the shipping plus tax. Canada Ammo regular price is 318 with the shipping plus tax for a 1000 rounds. It would appear that reloading would save you 18 bucks per thousand however if you save your brass it has a value of about 65$ per thousand. So

Reloading costs about 300+tax buying in bulk cost 253+tax per thousand.

Now this post is about to be flamed. There will be a ton of folks that chime in on how their reloading costs are much cheaper than I am stating. However unless you have a highly modified delorian that can go back to the future then you are stuck purchasing at todays prices for components and for ammo.

Back to your original question 200 bucks is a fabulous deal for a lee pro and some components.
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PER 100 rounds:
Primers - $3.50
Powder- $13.00
Projectiles - $12.00

= $28.50/100= $0.285 a round.

Thats for a plink Load not even at start loads. For running 3 gun or "military" style drills accuracy isn't a concern inside 50 yards. Combat effective hits are all I'm looking for with this load. Precision is a completely different matter.
 
Many years back I started reloading for center fire rifle, loading for precision as well as cost. I had the RCBS, a rock chucker or crusher, single stage, slow but accurate and I wasn't loading that much. I got out of shooting for a long time, sold everything off. I got back into shooting a couple of years back, for hand gun, I bought the Pro1000. Picked it up in the US for $200 all in, set up for a 40, so I had to buy a set of dies for the 9 as well. Sold the 40 dies for $30 so the net cost was only $170 for the press. I have reloaded over 16,000 rounds with that press and expect to load 16,000 more. At $15 a box, I would have spent about $4800. I can't believe I would have spent that much, I had to double check that. Instead I reloaded for about $7 a box for a cost of $2240. Thank God my wife doesn't read this! I'd have to say that Lee more than paid for its self.
Of course that is a handgun caliber, not a center fire rifle, but I'm thinking about reloading for my .223, and if I do, I'll pick up another Pro1000 for that. I don't think I'd be loading 16,000 .223s, so I figure is should last a long time.
 
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