Lee Pro 1000?

[fortkevin2]

Looking to upgrade from a turret to progressive and the Lee Pro 1000 seems to be in my price range.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewproduct...tnumber=363062

I know a lot of you guys probably use Dillions or RCBS's but does anyone have any experience with lee's pro 1000? I've been loading 9mm luger and 38 special on the turret and with how much I've started to shoot, I'd like to be able to crank out some more rounds.

[l98ster]

I have a pro-1000 that i used for 9mm and 38 special. I too bought it because the price looked right. However, the old saying is true...you get what you pay for.

To be honest, after all the primer feed problems (1 out of every 20 doesnt feed), and the auto indexing calibration issues, my bet would be your single stage turret would be somewhat quicker.

I used mine for about 1.5 years, so I did give it an honest chance. I took very good care of it as well. It just never worked the way a progressive should.

I have since upgraded to a Dillon 550b and never looked back. I have about 8000 rounds through it already and havent had a single issue!!

However, for the money, and a little patience, it may be worth it to you.

With that being said, I would be glad to sell you mine. I will even throw in the dies for 9mm and 38/357!!

-George

[riverwalker76]

The Lee 1000 is a great press ... BUT ... you have to set it up right, and tweak it. There are several videos on Youtube on how to do this, or you can call Lee and they will help.

People who have problems with them never set them up like they should be set up. They take a lot of adjustment to get them to work flawlessly. It's definitely worth the $160 to buy one, and with a little patience it will work as well as the $600 deals.

[Valornor]

I second the above post (assuming I"m not slow in the posting). I bought one in .40S&W and it works great. I also use the same press for .380 and .30 Carbine. I had to tweak it, and to be honest I never got the shell feeder to work correctly but I don't mind sticking them in by hand.

The primers tray has to have primers in it for reliable feeding, I've never had any issues with indexing.

My complaints are as follows: the chain that works the auto powder takes a bit of tweaking, if its too tight, it'll break, if its too loose it doesn't pull back the dispenser all the way and it will short change your cartridges I have also found that the auto dispenser, dispenses a few tenths of a grain less then the listed starting load. The powders I have been using are flake, I might have better luck with ball. Removing primers from the feeder can be a bit of a pain.

Those are my main complaints, but for 170 bucks, and considering I'm loading for .08 cents a round. I'm honestly not going to complain to loudly.

It only takes out a few minutes to switch out for a different caliber and I can load about 150 rounds an hour. Its been a great set up for me. Someday I'll be cool enough to go with a Dillion or Hornady, but right now Lee is good 'nough for me.

[Hook686]

I bought the Lee Pro 1000. I went back to the Lee Classic Turret press. With the Pro 1000 I spent more time correcting errors than actually producing ammunition. I experienced my first rounds loaded without powder in the case with the Pro 1000 ... I cannot watch 4 operations taking place at one time. When loading ammunition, I personally like to verify each operation as it occurs. Everyone is different.

I loaded 9mm, .30 Carbine, .357 magnum, .38 Special, .44 magnum, and .44 Special on the Pro 1000. At one point it seemed to be reliably cranking out 9mm. I changed to .357 magnum and it took hours to get it to reliably yield .357 magnum cartridges. Going back to 9mm was again a pain in setting it up and getting it to produced without errors. At one point I thought a separate press set up for each cartridge might be a viable solution. After the null loads, I will no longer trust my reloads from the Pro 1000.

[Scorch]

I first got my Pro1000 in 1986. It took me literally 1/2 hour to take it out of the box, mount it to my reloading bench, and start turning out good ammo. Within a few days, I was turning out 200-300 rounds per hour. Once I figured out how to keep the primer chute clean, very few issues. I have used it for 24 years now with no complaints. I load 223, 22-250, 9mm, 357, 44 Mag, 45ACP on it, no issues.

Changeovers with the Pro1000 are a snap: remove the turret, unscrew the Allen-head bolt holding the shell plate carrier onto the ram, pull down to remove the shell plate carrier, swap the cam rod, put the other shell plate carrier in place, tighten the Allen head bolt, replace the turret, put a primer tray in place, start feeding cases. That easy!

My brother has a Dillon 650, he loves it, but it takes him 1/2 hour just to get the thing set up to start loading, and I am done by then. I don't know what the magic of blue paint is.

[McClintock]

I've loaded close to 10,000 rounds of 9mm, and about 300 rounds of .223 using a Pro 1000. I've had the same experiences that most of the others have. For the price, it's an okay press, but it definitely takes some fiddling to set up and keep it running smoothly. Probably most of the problems you'll experience will be with the primer system, but if you keep it clean (a can of compressed air is almost an essential tool to keep on your bench if you use a Pro 1000) and full of primers, it should work quite well. You definitely need a consistent, smooth stroke of the lever to keep primers from flipping, trying to go too fast will flip more primers than not, and I've also snapped my share of bead chains. Replace the brass one that comes with the kit with a steel one from Home Depot (the chains that you use for drain plugs in your bathroom sink work well), and it will last longer.

Disassembling and cleaning the press (which you will probably have to do on a regular basis) is quite straightforward, and caliber changes do not take very long at all.

If you want to reload rifle on it, I believe Lee only recommends .223 on it, other cartridges may be too long for the auto-advance to work properly, and I'm not sure what shell plates will reload other rifle calibers, but you may run into problems there. For .223, I basically end up using it as a single-stage press, mostly to satisfy my own quality control needs.

I've since had a glass of the Blue Kool-Aid, and switched to a Dillon 550, but the learning experience of using a Pro 1000 was worth it; it was a good starter press to learn on for me. My $0.02.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!
McClintock

[Tacoma]

I started with a old 3 hole turret then went to a pair of 1000's . ( The primer conversion was so finicky, I wanted to set one up for each size and forget it. Both were still somewhat problematic. )Tried a Dillon Square deal for a while and had primer problems with that one too. I'm now using a new 4 hole Lee Classic Turret and am content. 3-4 rounds/min with better consistency and allot less "tweaking" to change cals /keep it running.

[DocAitch]

I've loaded with one and while it is possible to make decent ammunition, it requires strict attention. The primer feed has to be kept full or the primers will fail to index and tie the machine up . In clearing that lock up, you will almost invariably short stroke the machine and create a squib. The 1000 also only has 3 die stations so the seating and crimping is combined.
For about $355 you can get a Square Deal B, for $406 you can get a Hornady LnL and for $420 you can get a 550B. You will be much happier with any of these than with the Lee.
DocAitch