Is it just me or is Lee underappreciated?

[Artemas2]

The biggest problem with the Pro 1000 (other than having only 3 die stations) is the dwell time between shell plate rotation and primer feeding. The shell plate indexes into position just a fraction before the primer is lifted by the seating punch. Anything that slows the primer down as it slides onto the punch means you get a sideways primer.

As mentioned, keeping the primer system full certainty helps as does wiping the chute out periodically with a Q-tip.

Lee reportedly updated the Pro 1000 a couple years ago with a new shell plate carrier. Locating pin(s) were added to help the shell plate index and I believe the timing/indexing was changed a little to give the primer more time to slide fully onto the punch. I haven't used the newest Pro 1000 so don't know just what has changed nor how well the changes work.

The amazing thing about the Pro 1000 is that it will progressively load ammo for $200 and comes with everything needed to do so. Really the only things Lee could add is the case collator and a cheap digital scale.

I've posted this before but, before I sold my Pro 1000) I was skipping the primer system and priming off press. An extra step but it simplified press operation and saved me the time of having to refill the primer chute. What I did was put the powder measure over station one. I then put the bullet seater at station 2 and a factory crimp die at station 3.

While I no longer have a Pro 1000 I still have a 4 hole turret press and use it for loading stuff I don't shoot a ton of. Stuff that I need but don't want to mess with setting up the progressive for. The turret press is simple, quick and reliable. But as with much of Lee stuff, the primer system is an afterthought. The little rocker deal works okay but manually inserting each primer is a pain. And the bolt-on primer feeder probably drops more primers than I do using my fingers.

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I did this after reading your post a few days ago. Thank you! I used an RCBS hand primer and did 100 rounds start to finish in 25 minutes and did not have a single stoppage with the Pro 1000. Skipping the on press priming and all it's headaches ended up being 10 minutes faster that the way I was doing it.

[jtcarm]

Some is great, some is junk.

The .300 BO die set I bought was junk. I replaced it with an RCBS small base set and only use the Lee FCD.

[camsdaddy]

I have a Lee turret and Lee Pro 1000. I load 38 and 9mm. I bought the turret in 2015. I purchased the 1000 a year or so after that. I have the components to swap either press over to either round. I have found that I shoot more 9mm so I leave the Pro set up for 9 and the turret for 38. I dont know how many rounds I have loaded between the two. I have two Maxwell House coffee cans full of used primers.

I have looked at buying Dillon but for my needs I cant justify. The presses I have work well. The only issue I have ever had was the 1000 didnt like S&B primers, which Lee only recommend two primers and S&B isnt one of them. IF I use CCI it runs flawless.

[ralph]

I always looked at Lee this way, some of their stuff is great, and some of it is junk.. I have a Lee APP, and it works great, one can remove primer crimps from 5.56 brass, for instance, without needing to readjust the tool for different case web thicknesses. With mixed brass, this is a godsend. But the downside of this set up is the "automatic case feeder" they put on this is, it's unreliable, finicky, and frankly more trouble than it's worth. I did about 3000 5.56 cases with the APP, and about halfway through, I removed the automatic case feeder, after watching it dump all the cases in the tube on the floor for the umpteenth time. By loading them singly, it went just about as fast, and I didn't spill cases all over the floor.. The execution of the APP tool itself is excellent, The feeding system on it is trash.. If they could come up with a feeding system that isn't a Rube Goldberg device, isn't made from cheap plastic, and actually works, They'd really have something here. But, as usual, their reliance on cheap plastic parts is this tool's Achilles heel.

[mmc45414]

The feeding system on it is trash.. If they could come up with a feeding system that isn't a Rube Goldberg device, isn't made from cheap plastic, and actually works

Some of us have used our Dillon feeders, if you have one handy:
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1081009
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1140469

[ralph]

Some of us have used our Dillon feeders, if you have one handy:
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1081009
https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....=1#post1140469

The problem I had wasn't with the drop tube, but rather when the case would drop from the tube into case feeding thing, they would drop through, hit the plastic thing that the case feeder slides on, and spill the whole tube on the floor.. It's pretty much worthless.. No matter how I adjusted it, it would still do it, I finally just took the case feeder off, and loaded them manually, this was I figure, probably faster as I didn't have to spend time picking cases up off the floor. the crimp removal tool itself is great, well thought out and works very well. Where Lee dropped the ball is the casefeeder itself. I'd be willing to spend more on this if the casefeeder actually worked, and worked with a minimum of dicking around, But, sadly this isn't the case, This is another Lee product that, if you want it to work, it'll require constant diddling around with.

[Pistol Pete 10]

Lee scoops are good.

[mmc45414]

The problem I had wasn't with the drop tube, but rather when the case would drop from the tube into case feeding thing, they would drop through, hit the plastic thing that the case feeder slides on, and spill the whole tube on the floor.. It's pretty much worthless.. No matter how I adjusted it, it would still do it.

Interesting...
I have also done several thousand through one of mine, and never had it dump a whole tube out like that. It was a bit of a PITA to get all set the way I wanted (why I ended up buying two so I could leave them set in 9mm and 223) but once I did it chugged along. If you are still interested in scrutinizing this I could take some pics and video of mine running, if you want to.

[mmc45414]

I have one in .45 ACP, and it would literally tear brass when bringing the round out of the die.

Was just loading some jacketed rounds and was thinking about this, as I was planning to do some coated bullets next.

The jacketed bullets drag sometimes, and I was thinking this could undersize some of the coated.

I started thinking that Lee would machine as few unique pieces as possible. I dug around and found a 45acp FCD and took it apart, and the die body was the same size, so the plug with the 9mm crimp dropped into the 45 die, so I can try it so it will crimp without sizing the exterior of the case, and it worked.





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[revchuck38]

Was just loading some jacketed rounds and was thinking about this, as I was planning to do some coated bullets next.

The jacketed bullets drag sometimes, and I was thinking this could undersize some of the coated.

I started thinking that Lee would machine as few unique pieces as possible. I dug around and found a 45acp FCD and took it apart, and the die body was the same size, so the plug with the 9mm crimp dropped into the 45 die, so I can try it so it will crimp without sizing the exterior of the case, and it worked.





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I was both too lazy and too unimaginative to do that. I just screwed the Lee taper crimp die back in and kept on truckin'.