I have no issues with most lee products.
I have dies,molds, and had several of the turret presses over the years. I sold the turret presses to fund other things.
Well I bought a NOS Lee pro1000 of a NES member in hopes to load up some 38spl
Then convert the press to other cals.
My logic was simple. Cheap press to load up some bulk plinking ammo. 38spl, 30 carbine, 9mm and some bulk 223 ( cases are all pre prepared).
I had the press up and running after I watch some vids in about 40 minutes.
With in a short time I loaded up 200 rounds with only a few minor issues. Issues though that would drive the impatient or mechanically challenged to vulgarity and hammer blows....but hey for 150$ or so it's expected. Again my PC and camera are down so no pictures.
If you are not patient or don't have some mechanical insight this might not help. Maybe when I get my new PC and camera I will re visit this and update it.
Being one not to leave things alone that really don't need fixing when they are just "bothering" me a,little. I just had to tear into it and see what could be done.
1. The press has a gritty not so,smooth feeling. Function was fine I just could not take that grit feeling any more.
2. When the primer system failed it IS A PITA to correct.
3. The completed bullet did not like to fall down the chute when completed.
So last night I removed the carrier plate assembly. Takes a bit of angle of the dangle to get it out. What I found and corrected.
1. The under side of the shell plate and the body of the carrier had some noticeable rub marks. So I polished the under side of the shell plate and the flat of the carrier body. I also polished the portion where the case feeder slides. Took down any burrs and filed down the area where the finished shell slides out of the shell plate. I also bent the steel pin that pushes the finished cartridge out.
2. Primer system , what can I say it just doesn't get any more simple or shitty all in one swing....looking at how the primer system works I found some easy fixes.
A: first thing I found was on the primer feed ramp where the primer seating post rides there was some plastic flashing. Cleaned that up nice. Looking at this I could see why the primers would fail to complete travel onto the post.
B: when you look at the priming seating stem it's a simple design. The case indicator that turns the prime system on and off is simple. Basically a simple spring clip holds the seating stem a little high until a case triggers the lever.
So it was easy to see once the carrier was apparent what could be tuned. I filed the primer post top down with just a few passes of a file then polished it with a 1200 diamond file. Now the post sits ever so slightly below the primer feed. The primers drop flawlessly so far and settle in the little recess created by the slightly shorter post.
3. Finished shell chute, I polished the ramp the best I could with the dremal kit.
This has eliminated 95% of the loaded cartridges hanging up in the chute.
Over all I found the pro 1000 simple to set up and on th easy side to keep running.
It is what it is. A 150$ press complete with dies ready to load with minimum set up.
My press is a older design and not sure what is updated on the newer model but looking at pictures there are differences.
Now I'm not so,sure if caliper changes is worth the money or not. I don't know if the case feeder needs changing with each caliper and the priming system only comes with the small primer set up?
Over all this 1 hour tune up did wonders on how the press feels.
The primer system is really not bad , more problems I caused because I did not fully seat the primer. I am used to seating primers on the down stroke of the handle....
I have dies,molds, and had several of the turret presses over the years. I sold the turret presses to fund other things.
Well I bought a NOS Lee pro1000 of a NES member in hopes to load up some 38spl
Then convert the press to other cals.
My logic was simple. Cheap press to load up some bulk plinking ammo. 38spl, 30 carbine, 9mm and some bulk 223 ( cases are all pre prepared).
I had the press up and running after I watch some vids in about 40 minutes.
With in a short time I loaded up 200 rounds with only a few minor issues. Issues though that would drive the impatient or mechanically challenged to vulgarity and hammer blows....but hey for 150$ or so it's expected. Again my PC and camera are down so no pictures.
If you are not patient or don't have some mechanical insight this might not help. Maybe when I get my new PC and camera I will re visit this and update it.
Being one not to leave things alone that really don't need fixing when they are just "bothering" me a,little. I just had to tear into it and see what could be done.
1. The press has a gritty not so,smooth feeling. Function was fine I just could not take that grit feeling any more.
2. When the primer system failed it IS A PITA to correct.
3. The completed bullet did not like to fall down the chute when completed.
So last night I removed the carrier plate assembly. Takes a bit of angle of the dangle to get it out. What I found and corrected.
1. The under side of the shell plate and the body of the carrier had some noticeable rub marks. So I polished the under side of the shell plate and the flat of the carrier body. I also polished the portion where the case feeder slides. Took down any burrs and filed down the area where the finished shell slides out of the shell plate. I also bent the steel pin that pushes the finished cartridge out.
2. Primer system , what can I say it just doesn't get any more simple or shitty all in one swing....looking at how the primer system works I found some easy fixes.
A: first thing I found was on the primer feed ramp where the primer seating post rides there was some plastic flashing. Cleaned that up nice. Looking at this I could see why the primers would fail to complete travel onto the post.
B: when you look at the priming seating stem it's a simple design. The case indicator that turns the prime system on and off is simple. Basically a simple spring clip holds the seating stem a little high until a case triggers the lever.
So it was easy to see once the carrier was apparent what could be tuned. I filed the primer post top down with just a few passes of a file then polished it with a 1200 diamond file. Now the post sits ever so slightly below the primer feed. The primers drop flawlessly so far and settle in the little recess created by the slightly shorter post.
3. Finished shell chute, I polished the ramp the best I could with the dremal kit.
This has eliminated 95% of the loaded cartridges hanging up in the chute.
Over all I found the pro 1000 simple to set up and on th easy side to keep running.
It is what it is. A 150$ press complete with dies ready to load with minimum set up.
My press is a older design and not sure what is updated on the newer model but looking at pictures there are differences.
Now I'm not so,sure if caliper changes is worth the money or not. I don't know if the case feeder needs changing with each caliper and the priming system only comes with the small primer set up?
Over all this 1 hour tune up did wonders on how the press feels.
The primer system is really not bad , more problems I caused because I did not fully seat the primer. I am used to seating primers on the down stroke of the handle....
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