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Lee Pro 1000?

dixidawg

dixidawg

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Years ago, I had a Lee pro 1000 and reloaded 9mm. Bought it from a friend, and is the only reloader I ever used. I got to the point where I could do 350-400 round per hour.

I long ago sold it as I got out of shooting for quite awhile (raising kids, etc.) I am back into it and am beginning to look at reloading again. ( 9mm, .45, and .38/.357) Reading here, I see that Dillon is the king.

Looks like a 550B is about 3-4 times the cost of a Lee Pro 1000? Why?

What are the main advantages of the Dillon over the Lee?

Is the output that much more from a 550?

Are the quality of the rounds that much better?

Is the whole process easier on a Dillon?


I realize the main shortcomings of the Lee (mainly the primer feed required close observation), but given that, I felt I got quite proficient with the Lee, and was just going to go get another one. But seeing that Dillon is the clear favorite here, I'm re-evaluating. What say you? Anyone used both the Lee and the Dillon that could give first hand comparisons?

Thanks,
Bob
 
I've owned both. The LEE is good if you've never used a Dillon. After using the Dillon, the LEE seems like junk, to me.
 
IMHO

If you used a Lee in the past why not get another one. A friend of mine
has a 550, before i bought the Lee i discussed the querks he has with
his. They are very similar, why pay 3 times the money.

I've never used a Dillon and i am not criticizing anyone who does,
but you will find folks in the forum that do use a Lee and do so
successfully.

Go to the Midway web site, check out the comments on the press
you want to buy..

JimB
 
dixidawg said:
In what ways? That is the part the I don't get.....
Click to expand...

Ever play that old board game "mousetrap" (back in the 70's, not sure if still made). Anyway, you pull one lever that makes this thingy go down, which flips a switch, which gets a ball rolling down a track, which trips another lever, which swings another rig, etc., etc., etc.. The whole setup of a LEE just seems "cheesy" to me. I would describe it as a contraption. Had to really keep an eye on things to make sure it worked correctly.
Once it was working, I could chunk out a pile of .38 Special rounds fairly quickly, though.
Once I had a Dillon, I never looked back. That Lee went on Ebay as fast as I could list it.
Lee makes good carbide handgun-caliber dies, and I really like their hand primer, but I wouldn't buy another Lee press.
 
I have done about 30k of .45acp last year and around 4k of .38 super this year on a Lee 1000. this is with 2 different presses. They are inexpensive enough just to get one of each caliber

They have their quirks. My .38 super press had a sizing die that was out of spec.

I don't have any issues with the priming system. My biggest one is the cases not being feed all the way into the shell plate and hitting the lip of the die.

The only thing that I don't like is that it has only 3 stages, so you have to seat and crimp at the same stage

I haven't loaded on a Dillon, but there is a reason everyone gets one....
 
I just acquired my second 550, complete with powder, primer and dies; it was a new press a guy bought and never used. I got it for about half of what he put into it; maybe less. I could have bought a casefeeder for my first 550 for a bit more, but I preferred having a separate press for each primer size.

HOWEVER, what I was considering was a Hornady Lock-N-Load. I suggest you research that, as it's a true progressive (the 550 is NOT) and is slightly less expensive. Yes, you can get a casefeeder for it as well.

I would NEVER buy a mere 3-station press for handgun ammo. The superiority of separate seating and crimping, the latter by a Lee Final Crimp Die to resize the entire cartridge, is too much to give up.
 
Last edited:
Why not go up one more step and get the lee load master. It has 5 stations auto indexes, and you can load rifle on it. They have there own quirks, like all of them, but once you work them out they're good and fast. I've seen them brand new on cabellas cheap. The new primer systen is suppose to be better. If I wasn't broke I'd be ordering one myself.
 
Scriv,

Did you get a LnL? I'm thinking of getting a progressive and am seriously considering a LnL. You also get 1000 bullets as a rebate if you get one. Not much for a handgunner, but not a bad score for a rifle shooter. The case feeder is what made me consider the Hornady.

B
 
bpm990d said:
Scriv,

Did you get a LnL? I'm thinking of getting a progressive and am seriously considering a LnL. You also get 1000 bullets as a rebate if you get one. Not much for a handgunner, but not a bad score for a rifle shooter. The case feeder is what made me consider the Hornady.
Click to expand...

No, I did not get an L-N-L and yes, I know about the rebate. I got a new-to-me, never-even-had-the-dies-in-it 550, complete w/Dillon .45 ACP dies, strong mount, primer flipper, low primer warning system, 1,000 primers (roughly), an unopened bottle of 231 and about 750 (probably once-fired) .45 cases for $250.

At that price, and with 4 550 toolheads sitting on the bench while my FIRST 550 was being rebuilt, how could I NOT get that second 550? Note further that Dillon now makes a case feeder for the 550 - which you still have to index manually.

That said, IF I WAS STARTING FROM SCRATCH, I would almost certainly buy the L-N-L. Ask Eddie Coyle how he likes his.
 
I have 2 Lee pro 1000's. Like Supermoto said, they are cheep enough that you can just get one for each caliber if you want. I can do about 500 rounds per hour on my Lee presses, and that's just taking my time, and watching everything happen.

If you had a Lee in the past, and were happy with the way it worked, and the results you got, save the money and get another one.

Adam
 
Years ago I had a Lee Pro 1000 in 9mm. I hear the new ones are alot better but the older ones had primer feeding problems bigtime. Do a search on 1911.com,GlockTalk,THR,and here and you'll see many Lee Pro 1000 owners that complained about the same thing even with the newer models as well. That being said the 550 or the L-N-L are much better presses and when you factor in the cost over the years you'll have them the extra $200 or so is peanuts. The Dillon and L-N-L both also have a higher resale value should you ever decide reloading is not for you. I bought my 550 new and my 650 used and without a problem I could sell either for what I paid for them. If you really want to go the Lee route consider what hhrgprez said about the Loadmaster. Let us know what you decide on.
 
lee problems

I have a newer Lee pro 1000 and i'm having primner problems
big time. I tried everyting i could think of. What confuses me is
how they flip sideways and jam...

JimB
 
As a former owner of one of those, I'm firmly convinced that the best thing to do is to de-cap and prime your brass ahead of time, on a single stage. The 100 is useless anyways as far as de-capping on the fly because the vibration causes powder from the cases down line to be spilled over everywhere, even on .38 brass, so I at least de-capped and sized all my stuff off the press. If you eliminate those operations the press would work fine as the low-budget option it is.
 
JimB said:
I have a newer Lee pro 1000 and i'm having primner problems
big time. I tried everyting i could think of. What confuses me is
how they flip sideways and jam...

JimB
Click to expand...

If you still have the black tab that keeps primers from feeding when no case is present. take it off, it causes alot of problems.

Primes tip because the shell plate it out of timing.

another thing to look at is that the metal spring bar is adjusted correctly to hold the case properly in the shell plate
 
Last edited:
OK

Supermoto, i'm familiar with the shell plate adjustment and did
do that. I had heard about the black tab but have not as yet
tried it. As for the spring, i'll take a look and give it a try.

thanks for the tips. Its frustrating. Last night in one hour
with all of the adjustments and tinkering i got about 35 good rounds
of 45acp...woopee.

I'm not complaining, i got just what i paid for.

JimB
 
When you adjust the timing, do it with a full primer tray, that way you can see if the ram if centered with a primer on it

Also make sure that the primer chute is clean and dry.

These presses will run without issue once they are set up correctly
 
powder spillage

Keep noticing powder spillage, would that affect the primers?? i
would guess it would...do i have a problem with the die.??

I would like to believe that once set up they are good to go,
i would gladly buy another, if it works , for the price its golden.

I am adjusting the shell carrier with a full primer tray.

JimB
 
JimB said:
Keep noticing powder spillage, would that affect the primers?? i
would guess it would...do i have a problem with the die.??

I would like to believe that once set up they are good to go,
i would gladly buy another, if it works , for the price its golden.

I am adjusting the shell carrier with a full primer tray.

JimB
Click to expand...


If powder gets on top of the primer ram then it will cause primers to tip. Where is the powder coming from, is it leaking from the powder discs, from the hopper, or is it spilling out when the shell plate advances then stops.
on my .38 super press. I clipped the spring below the ball that indexes the shell plate, that way it doesn't stop so abruptly. but I also put the bullet on before it stops on the final die
 
Powder spillage is the Pro 1000's middle name. The only way around it is to de-cap and size off the press on a single stage. And yes, the minute you get any powder in the trough the primer feed will bind up.
 
I don't have any problems with powder spilling on either of my 2 presses.

I had an issue with priming on my 40S&W press, but found out that the shell plate was just ever so slightly loose, allowing it to wobble just a bit. Once it was tightened up, it was fine.
 
inherent in design

My thoughts are that have a priming and powder station in the same
location is just a bad design. I don't know where the powder is
coming from. I am using bullseye powder in 45 acp.
I don't see any spillage resulting from an abrupt stop.

BUT i do see powder in the primer trough and on the ram continuoulsy.

I also tried Hodgon clays with the same results.

As mentioned, powder spillage may just be its middle name.

One of the guys on the pistol team has A Dillon 550. There's
a huge difference......... The action of the ram is smooooooth,
the primer is not installed at the powder station etc.

He does have some powder spillage, but its minor. He has
some rejects, but they amount to 1 or 2 out of 100, some of this
may be attributed to operator error.

One thing i don't like is that IT IS NOT a progressive press,
and has no casefeeder.

I would like to load some ammo for a practice or a match and walk
away. THis constant adjusting is not what i had in mind.

A Dillon might solve a lot of this, the SDB sounds like a good alternative, i only load pistol, no intentions of loading rifle.
Maybe even 2, one for each caliber, 9MM and 45 ACP

JimB
 
if it is spilling powder than there is a problem, is the powder hopper on the correct direction. letters on the left. is the hopper screwed in tight to the die? is the powder disk on correctly?

Every time you have a bad or missed primer, powder is going to come out of the primer hole, make sure you clean it off the press.

my .45 press will crank out 100 in under 10min with no powder spillage
 
last night

I had previously disconnected the plastic thing for primers. Didn't
seem to make much difference so i reconnected it.
For some reason it wasn't working. I check the letters on the powder
dispenser and they are on the left.

I pulled the lever a few times and saw that primers were pushed
up without a shell.

removed any residual powder from the primer trough, and started loading, i did about 50 rounds or so with only one missing primer,
might have been some powder residue fouling it.

Now what i have is primers being spit out onto the bench.
More than i would like, at least 15-20. How does this happen??

I weighed the powder out on several and it was on the money.
Primeres were seated correctly.

I think i'm headed in the right direction, now its the primer thing.

any suggestions??????

JimB
 
Primers get thrown out on to the bench when no case is present. So if they are feeding and no case it there, then they get bumped off the ram by the shell plate
 
OK

guess i'll have to keep a constant flow of shell cases in process.

If it works this way, i can handle it.

I have a complete shell carrier assy for 9MM, we'll see what happens
when i switch back to them.

meantime thanks for the help.

JimB
 
So I guess this description on Midway (and probably others) are false.

"...For added safety, primers and powder are fed only if a case is present..."
 
I rather have the primers feed when no case is present, then tip and get rammed in sideways.

But if you find primers feeding when no case is present a safety issue, then don't remove the black tab.
 

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