Anyone else impressed with the Lee 1000 Progressive Press?

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IronWW, You can buy extra disks from Lee but it is cheaper to purchase the double disk kit. It comes with the required hardware/risers and a full set of disks.

At this point I own 4 Safety-Disk powder measures and 6 or 7 sets of disks! Cost wise I can afford one for every pistol caliber I reload for.
 
Amen to PapaG's post. They're a fiddler's dream. I also had two and went back to single stage loading. Never again.

Besides powder spills and priming problems, I found that if the presses aren't used for a few weeks, they get balky and odd things happen. Takes a while to troubleshoot these issues...as well as pull the bullets on rounds you're suspicious of.

One thing about a progressive; if it's having problems, it can make a lot of bad product fast.
 
The only thing I've noticed about storage is that I need to clean out the resizing die before I start going to town. It can (will) have old gummed up lube in it if you didn't clean it out before putting it away. I always check the setup on my first few rounds and only after everything passes inspection do I start going to town with the press. This seems to do the trick.
 
How do you all rate the disk or double disk measure. I'm really ignorant of the Lee measure. And I will confess it(Lee disk) is one reason I haven already got one. How much will the double disk throw?
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The double disk kit works well but changing the disks can be a pain.

It will cover most any powder charge you would need. It can throw 40+ grains of most rifle powders.
 
I actually purchased 2 Pro 1000 presses for my first setup used from a friend who was getting out of it due to health problems. One was setup for 9mm the other for 45 Colt. I used some video's posted by Cowboy T to find out the ins and outs and produced a few thousand rounds of both 9mm and 45 colt. I did sell them though and pick up the Lee Classic Turret and Lee Classic Cast (single stage) when I got into more calibers such as 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 45-70 and 12 ga shot shells. This was due to my personal requirements for my ammunition needs and not due to how they Lee Pro operated as I just didn't need that much speed for my needs. If I ever do I wouldn't hesitate to buy another.
 
I have had mine for awhile now and really like it. Like others have said, with some really minor and simple mods, you can make it tick like a clock. As others have also said though, you need to keep it clean or you will start to have problems. I periodically take mine apart and clean it good. The beauty of the machine is the simplicity. It takes about 30 minutes to completely strip down, clean and re-assemble it.

I hate caliber change outs too... which is why I sacrificed the enormous cost of $12 per turret so I never have to touch my dies except to clean them. I even bought a second powder measure (that set me back a whopping 1 box of .22 in a trade). This way I can bounce between my 2 favorite calibers without moving even the powder measure. The shell plate takes about 3 minutes to change between small and large calibers.

I hear a lot about them not being good for high quantities of output. I have to ask... What constitutes high output? I can easily process about 300 to 400 rounds per hour. I shoot 200-400 per week so, for me, that is plenty.
 
I currently have and use 3 lee pro systems.....

They work really well for me.... like em alot... didnt want to be swaping out Calibers so I just got 3... 9mm..357... and 223

I have not had any real issues to date.... 2+ years with them... On all Mine I use a Little bunge Cord in place of the chain... works very very well.... And as stated just be sure the Primer shoot is full and ya wont have any issues....

On my 9mm I use the Bullet Feeder and Case feeder....... Besides an occasional case feeding upside down from falling into tubes that way (just flip it and move on) it works flawlessly... and can bang out 100rds in about 15minutes....

I see a LOT of people bash the Lee Pro 1000.... No it isnt a Dillon... and YES its only $180ish..... when I looked at getting press #2 i looked and looked at a Dillon.... but my 1st Pro for .223 worked so good... Figured WHY... If I had any issue I could always swap a part till a replacement arrived....

.223 is the only real issues per-say.... Priming .223 is a Pain anyways... 223, 5.56, Crimped Primers... etc etc etc..... so Over Time I have sped up my process by hand Priming with a Lee Primer.... then using the Case Feeder I can bust out 50rds in about 10 minutes...... i also De-prime and size with a separate shellplate with the Sizing die only, lube 50 cases, drop em in the Feeder... and Bust those out in about 5 or less minutes... ill do about 300 in 40min or so....

In .357, I guess im more worried since most are MAG rounds.... so I do 1 case from size to Bullet at a Time.... i have used the case feeder, and have a Bullet Feeder for it, but dont use em yet... Now I did just get a Henry Rifle in .357 so I may start using the feeders since I will be shooting a LOT more .357:D

yes it does take a BIT of fiddling, I havent really had ta do too much.... setting up a Bench ta hold 3 systems was probobly the hardest thing ta do;)

It sint too bad ta change calibers.. maybe 10 minutes ish... But for the cost of everything Like $80ish (including Powder drop)...... I just went for a NEW system... But thats just me....

For the $$$ I dont think ya can beat it... it will do 1 case at a Time faster than a single stage for Turret... and can go full Progressive if ya want..... I really like being able ta pop into my loading room... and in an hour or so have 100 .223, 100 9mm, and about 40 .357 for my next range day


Anyways... i love Mine......
 
On my 9mm I use the Bullet Feeder and Case feeder....... Besides an occasional case feeding upside down from falling into tubes that way (just flip it and move on) it works flawlessly... and can bang out 100rds in about 15minutes....
Click to expand...

If you do this you will never get another upside down case again.

DSC_0431.jpg

A must have mod that will help with production.

That paired with a clean press,loaded primer tray,smooth operation, and tapping the primer tray every once in awhile pretty much eliminates problems.
 
MrWesson said:
If you do this you will never get another upside down case again.

DSC_0431.jpg

A must have mod that will help with production.

That paired with a clean press,loaded primer tray,smooth operation, and tapping the primer tray every once in awhile pretty much eliminates problems.
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Ya know... i had HEARD about this mod.... just spaced it

Thanks

gunna do it today

:)
 
progressive

I have that loader...among some others that I use and have not had any problems with it. That being said, the center rod that rotates the plate is plastic. People that I know who have had one for a long time, had that center advancing rod fatigue and break on them at a fairly early stage. I removed that rod and advance my plate by hand...I am sure that the next question is then why have a progressive? I just like having more control over the rotation and not waiting for the center rod to fatigue. The loader has been great other wise. I do have other loaders that I use for specific rounds. I like being able to pop a plate in with a die set already in place and ready to go rather that installing a die set each time. FWIW
 
I have that loader...among some others that I use and have not had any problems with it. That being said, the center rod that rotates the plate is plastic. People that I know who have had one for a long time, had that center advancing rod fatigue and break on them at a fairly early stage. I removed that rod and advance my plate by hand...I am sure that the next question is then why have a progressive? I just like having more control over the rotation and not waiting for the center rod to fatigue. The loader has been great other wise. I do have other loaders that I use for specific rounds. I like being able to pop a plate in with a die set already in place and ready to go rather that installing a die set each time. FWIW
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I can respect that.

Just keep in mind the replacement part is very cheap. When I place parts orders with LEE I always buy doubles of everything because of how cheap it is(the part you speak of is .50 cents).
 
I never used the case collator (always feed them to the tubes by hand) since it didn't come with the press and I was too cheap to buy one. I figured I don't need it anyways since I like to inspect the brass as I put feed it back into the reloader tubes. But if I ever do get one, great to know.
 
There again, it becomes easier to like the Pro1000 if it doesn't include any add-ons. I am very partial to the case feeder, but it does add complexity and the greater probability that something will cause a glitch in the rhythm.

Some prime off the press, have no case feeder or bullet feeder, and think they have a good machine, although a very incomplete progressive definition.

You do highlight that one should not build the proverbial house on sand and should get the basic press working well first.
 
Mr. Wesson....Point well taken. I had to laugh...I thought I was the only one that kept several duplicate parts laying around....even on things that do not normally break...lol.

This one instance probably boils down to me just wanting to advance the process at my pace and not the tool's pace. Lee is more forgiving than the Dillon press. However, for production, Dillon will flat crank out some rounds.
 
RealGun, I was actually saying (or trying to say) I don't use the case collator (red funnel looking thing on top of the case feeder tubes) since it wasn't included with the kit. I DO use the case feeder. No real problems with the case feeder (can't imagine reloading any other way).
 
I just started reloading a scant 2 months ago and I started with the Lee tinkertoy (as I endearingly refer to it). As others have stated if you don't mind or even enjoy (like me) tinkering with it to make it run good then it is a HUGE bang for the buck. I'm reloading 9mm so far on mine (still not sure if I'm going to goto another setup for 223 or not but if I do it will be another Lee of some variety) and it works awesome with my mods. I'll have to break it down to get pictures up on this thread sometime. Basically though my two major mods are a crescent moon shaped peice of business card placed between the powder hopper and the bushing that seals up to the disks to make the bushing seal even better (I have VERY little leaks). The other is taking a bobby pin (found in a wally world parking lot :p) and opening it up to about 25* and using that in place of the reuglar round ejector pin. This make the round eject about 1/3 of the cycle earlier giving it almost zero chance of getting stuck in the loaded round chute. I also managed to find a way to use the original chain with almost zero chance of breakage by putting the chain splicer right on top of the chain hole in the shellplate carrier. That way the chain doesn't ride up and down in the hole and has much less chance of catching and snapping in the hole as well as at the edge of the turret holder.

BTW thanks OP for making me think of one other mod I can make with a random item found at wally world. I found this odd little 1/4: brass nob with a set screw in it and I'm going to throw that on the end of my primer tray shaker to make it hold up against the ridged column tighter.
 
Interesting Rush,
Curious what your mods are fixing? I had trouble with every chain I've tried (usually eventually break). So I understand anything that says "chain mod". As you can see in the pic I posted of the pin on the primer tray, I replaced the chain with a piece of 22 AWG wire. Works great.

What are the other mods you have there?

On my press it seems like the stock/factory finished round ejector works fine.
 
On my press it seems like the stock/factory finished round ejector works fine.
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If the chute is dirty or in general not lubed and clean they will pile up in there(my 9mm lubed lead bullets are the worst).

His mod ejects them earlier and I assume the pin trampolines them into the container. Not a bad mod but powdered graphite will get the job done.
 
Rushthezeppelin,,, Great MODS

Now i assumed the spilled powder was from the underside of the powder drop? I will for sure try this Mod before I load .223 next time... I am also gunna look at the underside gasket/seal see if i am getting spillage there also... just occurs with .223 and large Powder Loads over 25gr....

I do like the bobby pin.... .223 is the biggest issue since they are sooooo top heavy... Ill try that as well... just gotta find one :D

Like I mentioned... The Bunge fix on the Chain works sweet.. 1st thing Ive done on all 3 of my Lee Pro systems... never an issue since
IMG_20131021_073049_251_zpsb7df4e54.jpg
 
I never per say had a problem with my powder drop spilling. I noticed a gap between the gasket and the disk when first setting it up before I even had powder to thrown in.

Interesting powder return mod on yours. Although iuno if I like the way you eliminated the double charge failsafe by doing that.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III
 
Rushthezeppelin said:
I never per say had a problem with my powder drop spilling. I noticed a gap between the gasket and the disk when first setting it up before I even had powder to thrown in.

Interesting powder return mod on yours. Although iuno if I like the way you eliminated the double charge failsafe by doing that.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S III
Click to expand...
Ahh makes sense on yer Powder Drop.... I am still gunna look at the MOD on mine as well as the Underside..

Not really sure I could do a double Drop.... unless i am COMPLETELY stupid.....LOL... since it progresses to next stage.... its just not possible 99.8% of the time.... if i do have a case issue or something and stop the process, double charging, would be top on my mind..... But I see the concern...... I was never able to get the Chain/spring to work well.... and have never had an issue with the bungee......
 
I SEE THE LIGHT.....LOL... and thats not good

Ok that could be the dropping/spill issue for sure.... ill check mine
 
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