Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a question?

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I know the system's faults and limitations, except for one question:

Is it possible to have this kind of die setup: Station 1) Flare/Expander (with the powder measure in the right location too), Station 2) die seat, station 3) Lee Die Crimp/resized.

If it's possible, that may get me interested in Lee Pro 1000 (despite the quirks of the press), since it's only marginally more expensive than a turret press.

Re: Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a quest

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What are you looking to reload? I owned one for a few years. Sounds like you are looking to resize and prime off press, then finish out the ammo on the press? Or run it through the first time to decap and resize, then tumble off the lube and run it through a second time?

One of the problems you'll run into with the setup you described is that the powder measure has a specific location on the press that the chain attaches to. You'd need to change out to the spring loaded version or come up with an alternative to mount the chain to the press. Could it be done? Probably. But it's going to be a headache. You might be better off running the crimp through on another run through the press instead, or do that single stage.

Remember too, 7.62x39 is the largest rifle round you can run through the press. Converting the Pro-1000 will definitely take a fair amount of time to go from one caliber to another, and it will require a bit of tuning once you've completed the caliber change. I found myself just leaving it as my dedicated 9mm press for that reason, and doing everything else on my turret.

Ideally, push out 500-1000 rounds on the progressive before a caliber change. Less than that and I'm not sure that the speed benefits outweigh the caliber conversion time.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a quest

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I was thinking about doing pistol calibers through either this or the turret press. Since the pro 1000 is only a 3 station press, I've read that a lot of people complained about their finished ammo having feeding issues and a high rejection rate, mostly due to the fact that they didn't run their completed round through the lee crimp die (which also does a final resize).

If I have to run the completed rounds on crimp die separately, that adds a lot of time when it could have been done had the press been a 4 station press, or if it could be set up the way I described it in my question.

Currently I resize and check of length of cases separately, so I thought then I could forgo that first resize die from the lee pro 1000 altogether. I was hoping I could do the final 3 stages all on this press, but it sounds like that is not possible since lee designates station #2 as the flare/powder through die. Unless I want to bubba up the station and do some macgyver kind of stuff, which I'm not inclined.

So I guess this knocks off the Lee Pro 1000 from my list, as it doesn't seem to be all that much faster than a turret press if I want to go through crimping/final resize.

Re: Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a quest

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Honestly, if your dies are setup correctly, you should not need a separate station for crimping on pistol rounds. I did thousands of rounds with my Pro 1000- the only issues I had was during initial setup and tweaking. The Lee seat and crimp die should be just fine- There are some things that would screw you up:

1) Not adjusting the initial resize all the way down to the shell plate. Easy to make a bunch of ammo that won't chamber if you're not checking this
2) Setting the flare to be too much in the powder through die. If it's aggressive enough on the flare, it can also impact the case body, which won't be fully fixed in the seat and crimp station. Also overworks the heck out of your brass

I would suspect that the folks who have encountered issues are also using a mix of range brass. Some of it's a bit smaller than spec and may chamber correctly even if the sizing die isn't set right. If you set your dies based on that brass and think all is good after a dummy round test, you'll have issues.

The Pro 1000 will turn out fine ammo. Don't let incorrect user setup from internet commandos deter you if you are ready for a progressive. But just remember the caliber change issue.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a quest

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Having had a progressive press for better than 25 years now I can understand the draw of owning one. I feel that it is a big investment no matter how cheap and a person should investigate all options. I don't believe a press that can't perform all of the functions necessary to reload the ammo is any better than a turret press. After everything I have read about the Lee systems I would want to try out someones press first and discuss it with the owner and discover what it takes to make it work. Buying an inexpensive press that only leads to buying a more expensive one at a later date is false economy at best. I'm not slamming the Lee product I'm just saying trying one out first is the way to go.

Re: Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a quest

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Just to point this out, right now Hornady has their 500 free bullet promo on the Lock n Load Ammo plant- $166 value depending on the bullets selected. With Midway's price at $410, with the bullet promo, it sneaks into the price range of the Pro 1000, and I will say, definitely a better press.......
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
- Maya Angelou

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Re: Any one here have a Lee Pro 1000 that can answer a quest

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Well thanks for the replies guys.

Yeah I've been shuffling through my options, whether it's the lee turret, lee pro 1000, lee loadmaster, or even hornady LNL. I even looked at the Dillon 650 but decided it's probably overkill for my needs (that being said, the LNL AP is probably a little overkill as well).

Off the bat I am aware that Lee's progressive presses are quirky, and have caused lots of grief for some users. At minimum they need tuning or even user-developed "hacks" in order to run to satisfaction. The masochistic engineer in me thinks that's not so bad. What's a few extra hours of experimentation and press-smithing (vs gun-smithing heh), if the end product is a decent press that can produce good rounds? Maybe not as fast and smooth as a LNL or a dillon, but probably fast enough for me. I already own a lee single stage press and I see the quirks even with my current system -- the "easy" primer tray, for example, is sometimes not so easy.

Im still leaning away from the Pro-1000 though. Three stations without the ability to swap out where the powder-through station goes is kind of blerg to me. I can probably live with not having to do the final crimp on pistol rounds, but I may also use the press for 357 and .223, of which I definitely will need to crimp. Not sure I can bubba up a solution for placing a crimp die somewhere on the press -- even the masochistic me may have limits to how much patience and experimentation I'm willing to go through.

But nothing's completely off the table yet. I'll see what I can do about take a look at these presses in person, but more than likely I'll probably just read more reviews and watch people's how-to videos.

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