I found that I eliminated most of the quirkiness of my Pro 1000 simply by using Magtech primers. For whatever reason, they just feed more consistently, don't go in sideways and seat flush more often. Out of 800 rounds per sitting, I'll only get one in sideways, as to CCIs where I'll get 15-20.
The problematic nature of the Lee progressive stems from a few places, some inherent by design, some that can be somewhat mitigated with hacks, and some you just have to live with. The biggest issue with the issues list is that once one happens, they all happen as a result one one failure. One problem will usually initiate the rest.
1) Primers flip on the ram. The primers are allowed onto the ram only when a case slides by the 'sensor' which pulls a spring and allows the ram to drop slightly down so that the primers can slide up and over the lip of the ram and on top. There is lateral pressure on the primers as the trough that the primers feed from the tray ends up acting like a little ski jump. If the primer ram goes up or down too fast, there's too much possibility of a primer rolling onto it's side rather than simply sliding onto the ram. This is also a similar issue if the ski jump trough gets too low on primers and causes too little lateral pressure.
2) Primers get seated half way. If a primer gets seated half way either by a case with a wider rim gap (not sure the technical term,) by not pressing the lever hard enough, crimped case pocket, etc etc, there isnt' enough clerance between the shell plate and the carrier for the half primed case to rotate from that station to the next station.
3) Primers get stuck between the shell plate and carrier. As mentioned above, there's not enough space to accommodate a wayward primer and too high of a chance of a primer just either not seating or getting dropped into the primer ram area too early. There isn't a designated area for an unused primer to go if it doesn't get picked up properly.
4) Plastic ratchet. If you stop half way through the lever movement, you must continue in that same direction. The ratchet, and drive gear are both nylon and strip very easily if you change directions. Getting to them is not easy either.
6) Plastic ratchet + case removal 'windows.' If you want to pull a case from the system if the powder looks low, the primer didn't seat right, it's a bad case -- whatever, you cant simply pull a pin from that station and slide the case out. You have to raise the lever until the ratchet is disengaged and then turn the entire plate until that case reaches one of two 'windows' that allow the case to move off the station. This is also a problem if you want to insert a single already-primed case as you can't 'skip' the primer ram sensor unless you raise the arm to a certain height to disengage the ratchet, put the primed case in the LAST station, the turn the entire plate backwards two stations to put the case under the powder drop, and then continue as normal.
7) Case feeder tubes. Thin cheap plastic. If you bend one and get a kink, it won't feed cases right. These are right in front of your face too, and not out of the way in the back similar to other presses.
8) Collator. Needs a hack to drop cases in the right way, doesn't feed itself.
9) Z bar. The case feeder lever has some springloaded 'give' to it in case something gets jammed, but once it pops out, it tends to keep popping out. Lee shows you how to bend it back to make it stay better after this happens, but it's not perfect.
10) Small breakable parts. The case holder springs, ejector wire, case sensor, primer ram spring sensor, powder bar return spring, powder hopper screws, drive ratchet, drive gear, etc etc are all small easily lost or breakable parts.
11) Table = primer catch. You have to drill an extra hole in the table somewhere in the frame for spent primers to get caught and fall through. The body of the press is a the primer catch. There's a hole in the ram for spent primers to fall through, and then a ski jump for them to slide out of and a catching funnel i the top of the press body. This also causes the olympic-hopeful spent primers to go skipping across the table.
12) Shellplate conversions -- not really an issue as much of as an annoyance -- shell plate changes are nowhere near simple on a Lee. Toolhead and shellholder changes on a Classic Turret can literally happen in under 10 seconds total (if you stop to read this novel of a post in the middle) but changing a shell plate on a Lee Pro requires removing the entire carrier from the press and remembering that certain cheap plastic items are threaded backwards. (Righty loosey!)
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That all being said, I love my Pro 1000. Now that I've gotten it all figured out and most of the bugs worked out, and tricks for preventing one issue from causing all of the others, I can (semi)easily and safely (every case is visually checked for powder before a bullet it seated and every case is felt for primer depth) load 400+ cases per hour. Considering I was getting almost 250 per hour on the turret though, it's not a HUGE improvement. The cost is great though (and I can't afford other companies' progressives) so I really can't complain. I'm considering getting another just to load 223 with (although i'd still do all my resizing and priming on the Classic Turret as I do now.)
The main problems with the
Classic Turret are that even when you get really good at it, you still can't get much past 250 per hour, and that the priming pez dispenser takes some practice to get used to or it'll drop live primers on the floor. Compared to the Lee Pro -- those are pretty easy issues to handle.
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Editted to add: Any of you that have Pro 1000s you hate, I'm going to start a Lee Pro shelter to find good uses for abandoned, unwanted and untamed Lee Pros.
...just noticed there is NOOOOO issue number 5. (mp reference... must be getting sleepy.)
