Izzoquazzo

Here's a picture of my new toys.

Thanks. Been there too. I'm comfortable with my loading process. I've done about 400 rounds this weekend this way and it's pretty fast and efficient.

Thanks for the offer, but I'm in Wisconsin. I have totally lost confidence in the priming system and just don't want to fight it anymore. I don't think it's really costing me much more time to hand prime and I'm more assured of the results so I will continue to do it this way. I've loaded 300 rounds this way so far without a single jam, double charge or no charge. I can live with that. For the record, I tried all of your suggestions before giving up. I'm pretty stubborn and don't give up easy. This thing has me befuddled. Thanks again for your support.

That's great but I've been all over the internet looking for a solution and found the same thing over and over. The priming system is buggy at best and unusable at the worst. I've tried a number of 'fixes' and nothing works. I'm sure there are some that do, but from what I've been able to find those are the exception, not the rule. Sorry to be so negative, but facts is facts. The other day I was on Lee's web site and checking their You Tube videos. After playing one of them on the priming system, another person's video came up in its place. He was trying to show how the 1000 worked and he ended up stopping twice to tear down and clean out the press due to priming problems. He was having the same problems I had and was just as happy about it. Just saying.

After several weeks I finally gave up on the priming system on the Lee 1000 Progressive. I used a Lyman Turret press in the 70s and 80s with little or no trouble. When I decided to get back into the hobby I talked myself into the Lee 1000, but boy I wish I had gone a different direction. I can't believe how cheap and poorly made this priming system is. Nothing but problems; no primer, primer in sideways, flipped primer, jammed up press due to floating primers. Enough is enough. I removed the primer seating rod and disabled it completely. I then purchased the Lee hand priming system. My new loading procedure is this for .44 SPL: 1. Using the Lee 1000 as a single stage I deprime and size the cases. 2. Cases are tumble cleaned. 3. Hand prime all the cases with the Lee Hand Priming tool. 4. Load cases into the case feeder on the Lee 1000 and remove the Sizer/decapper die. 5. Use the Lee 1000 as a progressive press for all other stages. With the priming stage eliminated, the press works great. I'm pretty ticked off about the quality of that system but at least now I can work around it and still produce good ammo.

I have a pair of Lipsey's Ruger Vaqueros in .44 Special. They have 4 5/8" barrels and are blued with consecutive serial numbers. I use them for Cowboy Action shooting. They are great fun and .44 SPL is my all time favorite caliber. In the past I have also owned (and wish I still did) a S&W Triple Lock in 4" and a Colt New Model Officer's Match 7.5" in .44 SPL. The Triple Lock was very nice, but that Colt shot like a dream.