Pro 1000 issues

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J_McLeod

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I got my Pro 1000 working tonight for the first time. It was great while it worked. My first load with it was some MBC 147gr with 4.8gr of HS-6, and i was able to get a cyclic rate of about 400 per hour.

After about 120 rounds I short stroked the press (still used to the turret), and it jammed up. I unjammed it and got it rotating again, but it's still not priming cases. I think I messed something up on it, because it's harder to move the lever than it was before. It's making a grinding/squeaking noise that seems to be coming from the part of the primer arm that is supposed to rub against one of the bars of the frame. It didn't make that noise previously.
 
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The worst thing you can do with Pro 1000 after you run into any issue is continue to try cycling it as you can cause additional damage.

The best thing you can do when you run into any issue is to STOP and investigate what caused the issue. If you are not familiar with the Pro 1000, it may be best to clear the shell plate and restart with station 1 after checking the press for proper operation.

The grinding/squeaking noise may be coming from shellplate carrier rubbing one or more of the frame posts. Loosen the hex bolt and rotate the shellplate carrier to see if any part of it was making contact. The pin on the right of the feed ramp should be contacting the notched frame post to rattle the primer tray to keep the feed ramp full of primers.

To check on your priming issue, clear the shell plate and check the press operation one at a time.

I would first check the condition of the primer feed ramp surface for any gouging that may happened when the press jammed. Using a paper clip, move the primers up in the ramp and drop a primer to see if it slides down freely into station 2 - look for any snag/catching of the primer and clean/smooth the surface.

Second, I would activate the case sensor (push the black plastic piece out to drop the primer push rod) and see if primer will slide into station 2. If it doesn't, use a paper clip end to push down on the column of primers from above. If the primers slide down, you may need to clean/smooth the ramp further.

If you can't get the primer push rod to drop, especially if you see powder leakage, you got some powder that leaked from a charged case that was not primed. You probably have some powder that leaked into the primer seating rod area and under that's keeping the rod from moving freely. To clean powder from this area, you need to remove the shell plate carrier from the ram, remove the shell plate (remember, it is left hand threaded so turn clockwise with an allen wrenth to loosen with a Phillips screwdriver/allen wrench in station 1 to hold the shell plate from moving) and remove the primer feed attachment and clean powder form the hole with rod/spring.

Do not use oil/lube on any of these parts as they will attract powder particles. Wipe them with paper towel and reassemble. Replace the shellplate carrier. Lube the center hex rod above and below the shellplate carrier lightly with motor oil (or comparable) using your finger tips and adjust shell plate timing by cycling the press several times.

Refill tray/feed ramp with primers and cycle one case through to see if it primes. If it is priming the case well, you are good to go.
 
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This threads about a month old, but I thought I'd bring it back instead of start a new one.

After this happened I took the whole thing apart, cleaned it and put i back together. Since then I've had a few problems with the primer feed. The most rounds I've been able to load at once was 38 tonight before it stopped feeding primers. There were plenty still left in the feedtray, but it looked like one had somehow flipped or gotten stuck near the shellplate. I guessing there is somethere there that I've missed that keeps causing jams, or it's a few granules of spilled powder that somehow get there each time I'm loading. Any ideas or suggestions? I really like my pro 1000 when it's running, but that takes some work.
 
I keep a can of compressed air on the bench and blow out any that falls in the primer feed attachment (really works well and works fast). I also use a paper clip bent at the end to help push down on primers if one doesn't go into station #2 fully (this is one of my quality checks I keep a close eye on and will prevent what follows next).

If you forget to prime a case and charge it, smaller grained powders will fall through the flash hole and all over the shell plate carrier/primer attachment area - always be sure to fully cycle the ram lever up/down and ensure the primer falls into station #2 fully before pushing up on the ram lever to seat the primer.

One benefit of using larger flakes like Unique/Promo is that if you forget to prime a case, powder won't fall through the flash hole like smaller grain powders like W231/HP-38 (and you can always prime the case later). ;)

But like you, so many powders I like are small grained and I just learned to be careful with my reloading cycle steps.

Of course, when I am loading match grade cases that were resized on single stage press and hand primed, I don't ever have the press priming issue or powder leakage through flash holes.
 
I've been meaning to get a can of air and always remember at the wrong times. I have Unique, but like HS-6 and 231 better, and they spill through flash holes. I learned from last time and was careful to move the lever all the way up and down, but somehow it's still sticking. I'll have to clean and start over. Thanks for the advice. I'll have to pay more attention to the primer cycle and when it moves into station #2. Most of the time I just see them in the chute until they prime a case.
 
When the case in shell plate releases the primer push rod down as the shell plate rotates, the entire column of primers will drop down to push the next primer into station #2. Try watching the primer feed attachment while manually releasing the primer push rod with the black plastic actuator. Once you get used to this motion, your eyes will train to the movement of the primers as you bring the ram lever back up and catch if they don't move down - and this is when you use the paper clip to push down on the column of primers.

When you clean the shell plate carrier/primer feed attachment, I would look closely at the feed ramp surface and make sure there's no indents or burrs that may have been caused by flipped primers. This surface really needs to be clear so primers slide down freely without snagging.

If you are sticking with the small grained powders, practice identifying the press steps (#1, #2, #3, etc.) and count cadence as you reload to not skip any step.
 
I put a little bit of powdered graphite on the feed ramp then spread it around/rub it in with a primer. Helps keep things flowing IME.
 
Tonight I took the press apart, cleaned it, put powdered graphite and oil in several places and put it back together. The primers jammed a few times at first, and then I got into a rhythm of spraying that area with canned air every 10 rounds or so, and didn't have any more problems. Loaded 140 rounds before I ran out of MBC 147gr bullets and called it a night. I also got the case feeder working well. I'm much happier with it now. Thanks for the help.

If only I can the adjustable charge bar to work right. Works perfectly with the auto disk on my turret, but for whatever reason I can't get on the auto disk on my pro 1000 properly. I usually try for a bit, give up and load something else.
 
It sounds like your leaking powder. Is the hopper turned the right way? Is the screw that holds the hopper on snug? Is the upper assembly tight to the bottom? Is the powder through die adjusted correctly so the trivle of the charge bar is correct?

I took the rubber bushing out of mine when it was new & cleaned the dust off. I'm not sure if it helped or not because I didn't know to check the other stuff yet.
 
Sounds like two things I find troublesome when I've got my Pro up and running with short cases.

1) 9mm cases tend to spit a bit of powder out as the press indexes. This seems to be because they're short and many powder charges fill the case very near to capacity. The only solution I've found for this is to mind how hard I press the handle so it doesn't create a fast stop on the plate.

2) If your indexing is just a bit off, you'll flip primers on the priming arm. Sometimes all you have to do is adjust the index screw a fraction of a turn and you'll clear the primer flipping/crushing issue right up. You need to turn to the screw to advance the shellplate marginally further. (Don't ask me which way to turn it, I can't recall off the top of my head.)

And 400-rp hour might be pushing it a bit. I find if I run around 300-rph I have few issues with my Pro.

Good luck and HTH.
 
I don't know about this press. It took me an hour and a half to load 128 rounds tonight because I kept getting primers stuck. I think the cause is leaking powder getting the in shellplate carrier and jamming the primers, but I haven't yet figured out how the powder getting out of place.
 
J_McLeod, I too shared your frustration at first with my Pro 1000 but the following really resolved my primer feed issues.

In a rush to reload, how many of us just fill the primer tray and start the reloading session? I am guilty of that but soon learned a quick minute spent on checking the proper primer feed attachment function will save a lot of frustration during the reloading session.


After cleaning/lubing my Pro 1000, checking shell plate timing and weighing my powder charges until they are consistent (to allow settling of powder in the hopper); before starting a reloading session, I do a QC check of primer feed attachment.

I fill the primer feed ramp with primers and without any case in the shell plate, actuate the case sensor with my finger to see if the column of primers drop freely in the feed ramp and push a primer into station #2. If not, first check to see if the primer push rod is dropping with a "click" to allow a primer to slide down - Lee Precision has a nice video on this (if there's too much powder inside the primer rod tube, you'll need to disassemble the shell plate carrier to clean) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOhDMhYY9ug&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Then I look for obstruction that's keeping the primers from sliding freely and/or remove the primers and clean/polish the slide surface as necessary (some reloaders posted they use car polish/wax to make the surface slick but I just clean them with a Q-tip). If your primers are not sliding freely even after cleaning, you want to inspect the surface of the primer feed attachment for any gouging of plastic that maybe keeping the primers from sliding freely and smooth out the surface as needed. If the primer feed attachment is too far damaged, you may need to replace with a new one.

Note that if you are using a powder that's sized smaller than the flash hole, you'll get powder leakage when a primer is not seated in the primer pocket and the case is allowed to charge with powder.


During my reloading session, since the Pro 1000 primer feed attachment is gravity based that may not fully insert a primer into station #2 base if there is any obstruction in the feed channel (maybe few flakes of powder that may leak from operation of Auto Disk), I watch the column of primers in the feed channel as the shell plate clicks into station #2. If I don't see the primers dropping to insert the next primer, I will check and/or use a small precision screwdriver/bent paper clip to help push the next primer fully into station #2 as partially inserted primer will bind and may cause flipped/sideways primer when the primer push rod comes up on the upstroke of the ram lever. If I see any obstruction/debris, I will use compressed/can air or small brush to keep the area clean.

When I refill the primer tray with more primers, I will also reinspect the base of the primer feed attachment for obstruction and clean as necessary.
 
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Thanks for the all the replies.

I have a can of air at the bench now and spray the whole thing down about every 5-10 rounds to get rid of any spilled powder. I can feel the primer seat each time, so I can tell when it doesn't and something is wrong. Usually what happens is a primer gets flipped on it's side somehow. That's how it is now when I left it. Usually I'm getting around 30-50 rounds complete between jams. They rarely happen close together, which leads me to believe that the cause is not damage but obstructions that get in the way. I'll take a look at the video.

I'm thinking about trying a new powder in it to see if it'll work better with a flake type. Maybe Clays or Universal.

Have you tried the Pro1000 with .223? I just bought an AR and am thinking of upgrading my Pro to do that too.
 
J_McLeod said:
I have a can of air at the bench now and spray the whole thing down about every 5-10 rounds to get rid of any spilled powder.
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5-10 rounds? That way too frequent. I think you may be leaking powder from the Pro Auto Disk with each slide cycle. I would check for that leakage first.

For me, between 100 primer tray refills is when I do a spot cleaning/brushing of the shell plate. I only need to use the canned air when something falls inside the feed ramp that I cannot get to with the small brush.

I'm thinking about trying a new powder in it to see if it'll work better with a flake type. Maybe Clays or Universal.
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Actually, larger flake powders like Unique or Promo/Red Dot will work even better as the flake sizes are larger than typical flash holes and won't fall through the flash hole as much if you don't get a primer seated. But you trade off the accurate metering as they vary .2-.4+ gr charge-to-charge in my Pro Auto Disk (even with the charge variations, loads are still accurate enough though :)).

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Right about the time I got the Pro 1000 I practically gave away a can of unique because I didn't like the way it metered. Might have to get another one.
 
I've never noticed much leakage from my turret. I think I'll try putting the Auto Disc from the turret on my Pro1000 and see if I get the same problems. I like the turret's return method better. It's faster and might also be cleaner.
 
If you keep getting primers turned sideways, you might also try adjusting your index. If the timing is wrong the shellplate will try rotating while the primer is dropping into the punch position and it will turn sideways. You want to adjust the screw so that when you turn the screw slowly, you advance the shellplate until it just by itself jumps to the next position (the detent ball underneath will pull the shellplate in advance of the screw) and then turn the screw another 1/4 to 1/2 turn in the same direction to take up the slop from the detent ball pulling the shellplate ahead of the screw. Sounds kind of complicated but once you do it a few times you'll understand.
 
Another reason I've seen primers turn sideways is the surface the press is mounted to isn't steady. The case will usually stick a bit on the expander, so there's a catch in the downstroke. If that shakes the press too much, the primers can jump and the first primer can catch the ram and flip.
 
I cleaned out everything tonight and tried again, but the primers kept sticking. So I took it apart, and when I turned over the shell plate carrier, about 10-20gr of HS-6 fell out. That might have been part of the problem, though it cycled well empty. Tomorrow I'm going to call Lee and ask for a new primer feed and case sensor clip. If that doesn't work I'm seriously considering sending the while thing back and getting a Hornady L&L.
 
I've been paying more attention to the timing, and adjusting when it's off. Had the timing adjusted right the other night, but the primers still wouldn't feed. There's a scratch in the primer trough. I called Lee yesterday and the billed me for a new one. If the parts don't work well enough, the Dillon factory is only 90 minutes away.
 
I have a Pro 1000 that I use for 45 and 9mm...I gave up using the primer station and hand prime each piece using the Lee Auto prime hand gizmo....works great and allows me to inspect each piece of brass while priming.
 
I press prime 45ACP cases on the Pro 1000 without much issue as the heavier LP primers seem to slide into station #2 base easier than lighter SP primers. Even with the feed ramp surface clean and smooth, I am about 98% with feeding of SP primers in the Pro 1000. When I don't see the column of primers move down in the feed ramp as the resized case clicks into station #2, I use a small screwdriver or bent paper clip to help push the next primer into station #2.
 
I gave up using the primer station and hand prime each piece using the Lee Auto prime hand gizmo....works great and allows me to inspect each piece of brass while priming.
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I know a couple of guys that do it that way, it frees up a station for a powder check or FCD. I think they switched to the Pro Auto Disk or used the upgrade kit to allow them to move the powder drop to the first station though.
 
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