Done with Progressive reloading

I myself would sell the Pro and buy a Classic Turret Press. I am now getting just over 200 rounds an hour with mine if I try. Most times it is around 175ish. Loading .380, 9mm, .223 and .308 on it. Nary the problem.

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I prefer the smaller 9 mm on the Pro1000, dedicated to that caliber. The bigger cases and bullets of larger calibers like 40 and 45 and most revolver stuff are easier to manipulate on the turret. I have the Pro1000 setup so I don't have to handle a case or a bullet until reloading the tubes of the feeders. It can be done either way, but personally I would say a turret is a disadvantage for 9mm (or smaller).

gsc3zny said:

Has anyone else ever dropped down to single stage from progressive? I bought a Lee Pro 1000 with all the goodies-bullet feeder, multi tube assemblies, shellplates, etc but just could never get it to work right. I bought a single stage Lee press and really enjoy it. Yes, I cannot produce hundreds of rounds in an hour, but it is more relaxing producing 50 or so than it is having to stop every few minutes to make some adjustment on the progressive.

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Conversation I've heard many times:

"I have a Lee progressive loader for sale if you know anybody that's interested."

"Oh? Why are you selling it?"

"I bought a Dillon."

You. Get. What. You. Pay. For.

35W

My first progressive press was a Hornady LNL. It sucked. I could not get it to run after 5 months of total frustration I bought a Dillon 550B. It runs flawlessly.

Buy the best - Dillon - and never look back!

But on the flip side of that coin, BDS did do a wonderful set of write ups to work the kinks out of a those lee progressives. Im not a lee user, so i dont know if its the same press. But i do know it was pretty in depth and full of seemingly useful information.


Which leads me to my next thought, why was i looking at that Lee thread since i don't own one. *shrugs* That i will never know.

I am selling it, and all the accessories not in this forum, however. I am in no hurry to mass produce ammo. Just want to size 50 one night, prime the next, load and crimp the next. BTW, for just handgun ammo, is it really necessary to have a factory crimp die?

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Hey folks, there you have it. He wants to make 50 rounds a week. He really doesn't need a progressive or even a turret for that. If he's satisfied with that rate, there's really no reason at all to put the money and effort into a higher-production machine.

gsc3zny said:

I am selling it, and all the accessories not in this forum, however. I am in no hurry to mass produce ammo. Just want to size 50 one night, prime the next, load and crimp the next. BTW, for just handgun ammo, is it really necessary to have a factory crimp die?

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The FCD is not necessary, assuming you have another crimp die.

I have a bunch of Lee stuff I like, even use the FCD on most of my Dillons. It's not a "hate Lee" attitude so much, just a dislike of things that don't work.

If your blood pressure will stand it try and get a Lee bullet feeder to work for a few thousand rounds...

I never moved up to a progressive, been reloading for about 10 years now, no problems producing the volume to shoot as much as I want, I like a single because its relaxing for me and I personally prefer to be more involved with each round and feel its much safer this way.

There are usually two major complaints with the Pro 1000: priming and the auto index. If you can't solve them there's still another option. You can sorta, kinda convert your Lee to a Dillon 550 lite by converting it to manual indexing.

Pull out the indexing rod, remove the priming post and take off the case feed apparatus. Now its a manual progressive without a priming station.

To use it you start by manually feeding a case and sizing it. Lower the ram, pull the case and use your hand priming tool to prime it. Reinsert the case and manually index it to the next station, then add a new case in position 1. Yes, it's now slower than a true progressive but it's still significantly faster than doing it all single stage. And the frustration level is dramatically lower.

I started with a RCBS Rock Chucker and several years later purchasd a Dillon 550b. I found I still prefer the RCBS over the Dillon for rifle. This is mainly due to the volume of rifle reloads being much less than pistol. Until last week my Dillon had sat unused for about 15 years because I prefer shooting rifle over pistol when I get time at the range. I am now retired so I can spend time at both ranges. I tried to reload 223 on the Dillon but had problems with the powder drop and getting the brass to stand up straight in the sizing station. Since setting the Dillon up last week I have cranked out over 1,000 different pistol rounds and shot about half of them.

Elkins45, I sorta did that when I started match shooting. Out of OCD, I first only installed the resizing/decapping die in station #1 and resized/decapped all the cases. I then chamber tested all the cases in the match barrels to sort out any over-bulged cases (this was pre-bulge kit days) and cleaned the primer pockets. I then hand primed all the cases.

Then I reloaded in progressive mode with the resizing/decapping die removed from station #1. The rounds per hour is very high this way and seems to produce more consistent OALs as there's less tilt effect of shell plate from not resizing cases. I did this in pursuit of utmost consistency in reloading match loads but it also circumvented the primer feed issue. For range practice/plinking loads, I press primed and reloaded in "normal" progressive mode.

raddiver said:

But on the flip side of that coin, BDS did do a wonderful set of write ups to work the kinks out of a those lee progressives. Im not a lee user, so i dont know if its the same press. But i do know it was pretty in depth and full of seemingly useful information.

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Yes, it's the same Pro 1000 press OP posted on the other thread - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=8965013#post8965013

On that thread, we addressed the most common primer feed issues and resolutions but did not discuss basic press set up and routine operations. Perhaps such discussion would have helped OP with introduction to Pro 1000 and avoided much of the problems. Perhaps I will do a detailed Pro 1000 initial set up and operations support thread with resolution mods and troubleshooting guide.

Which leads me to my next thought, why was i looking at that Lee thread since i don't own one. *shrugs* That i will never know.

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Maybe people are curious about presses they never got to use and interested in how thousands of Lee users successfully reload with a such subpar/low quality/piece of junk press?

When I started reloading, I was planning to get a Dillon progressive as that's what all the other match shooters used. Only because my reloading mentor trained me on both Dillon 550B and Pro 1000 that I considered it. Like everyone else, I thought since it was a cheaper press, it could not load as accurate of match loads as the Dillon. My mentor laughed at this and said my pistols won't know the difference as long as the finished rounds had consistent powder charges and dimensions. We even did comparison range tests with rounds loaded on both presses and the shot groups were comparable.

Had I not had that introduction to Pro 1000, I too would have been a Dillon user from the start and would be wondering what all the Lee Pro 1000 issues were about.

Knowing what I know now, if I were to do it over again, I would still choose Pro 1000 and that's why I bought 2 more kits so that I now have dedicated set ups for 9mm, 40S&W and 45ACP. It is nice to walk up to the bench and simply place a handful of cases in the collator and start reloading after verifying a few powder charge drops.

I, too, left a progressive. I started with an RCBS single. I bought a 650 and hated it. I tried a friend's RCBS Pro 2000 and didn't care for it. After several months, I bought the Redding T-7 and I enjoy reloading again. It fits my way of doing things and using the RCBS case activated powder drop, I can produce plenty of rounds. I prefer watching each die do its job one at a time and handling each round when it is finished. Lord knows, I am not knocking the Dillon so keep the long knives sheathed, progressives may not fit everyone.

I as well dropped from progressive to single about 15 years ago. Started with a RCBS set up. Was new to reloading. Had a few squibs. Decided I wanted more control over each step. Not hard to bounce out a couple hundred on Sunday morning. Besides, I never did figure out how you tumble after to size and deprime as well as trim with a progressive. Gives me the opprotunity to inspect each case.

Besides, I never did figure out how you tumble after to size and deprime as well as trim with a progressive.

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When I'm doing a bunch of 223, 308, or 30-06 I do exactly that. Didn't seem real hard to figure out. Tool head with de-prime die in station 1, lube die in station 2, size/trim die in station 3. Run a few thousand through then chunk them in the tumbler.

When you're ready to load them, use another tool head with the powder drop die, bullet seater die, and crimp die.

jmorris said:

I have a bunch of Lee stuff I like, even use the FCD on most of my Dillons. It's not a "hate Lee" attitude so much, just a dislike of things that don't work.

If your blood pressure will stand it try and get a Lee bullet feeder to work for a few thousand rounds...

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My blood pressure is high enough. A better way to say that is, "Warning, save your blood pressure. the Lee bullet feeder was created on one of Richard Lee's bad days."

As many know, I love to tinker....and tinker I did to help a good friend get his Pro 1000 to work.....especially the primer feed. We got it working quite well actually, but it requires cleaning more often than other machines (and lots of graphite), and the primer feed works with CCI primers 10 times better than other brands we tried.....like maybe that primer was the "designed with" primer?? It also does best as a dedicated press....that is one caliber. Fortunately, they are cheap enough to do just that.

Been using a buddies LNL, wouldnt buy one. Too much tinkering and troublshooting. I just dont trust it. Not tried a Dillon but its not worth the money to me. The Rock Chucker gets everything in my shop.

I bought a Lee Pro 1000 with all the goodies-bullet feeder, multi tube assemblies, shellplates, etc but just could never get it to work right.

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I'm not bashing Lee here. I have many of their products and they work fine for me.
However, judging all progressive presses by a Lee Pro1000 is like judging all cars by a Ford Pinto.

I personally prefer to be more involved with each round and feel its much safer this way.

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I use to feel the same way but "To err is human..." I trust my automated machines more than a lot of folks.

As a matter of fact I can count on one hand the reloaders that I would fire their ammunition out of one of my firearms and I know hundreds of people that reload.

I have 3 Lee pro 1000, and a lee pro was my 1st Press

I still have not had any Primer issues, or indexing issues... Maybe im just Lucky... But if it was that much of an issue, youd think 1 of my 3 presses would have an issue.... Only real MOD I have done is a Small Bungie in place of the chain for the Powder dropper...

Now I dont use the case feeder in .223 or .357.... and I size and de-prime my .223 all at once..... and then load.. and they really work well for me...

I also have the bullet feeder for 9mm and it works Flawless....

Just like any technical piece of equipment... some are just not for some people... is what It is

Anyways.... back to Loading

have you ever tried a dillon setup?

Me????

was originaly gunna get a dillon... But wasnt sure if Reloading was for me so didnt wanna drop $500+ just ta find out

That said.... 3 Presses later... ya I kinda Like loading

One of the great assets of a progressive reloader is that the process can be adjusted to fit the needs of the user. Install only the dies needed to accomplish desired outcome and pull away on the handle.

While the progressive presses are designed to load from fired case to finished round, and probably the majority of progressive press users use them that way, there are times this is not desired.

Like Walkalong, I hand prime when using my progressive, although I prefer to clean my cases after resizing. I resize and clean cases shortly after shooting and store the prepared cases for a future loading session. The progressive press with only a resized die and case mouth expansion die makes that go very quick.

I have adjusted my process and made custom drop tubes so that I can switch cartridges and crank off as little as 50 rounds in no time, or spend an evening or two building inventory.