Lee Pro 1000 Tip & Tricks

[dlewisp1k]

Well what I'm saying is if you're new to reloading please tell us what you're using to load (powder, amount, bullet, length). There aren't any "secret" recipes when you're loading for common handgun calibers.

I would hate it if you damaged your gun or hurt yourself doing something we could have identified as dangerous.

I guess I am new but I have been reloading for over 2 years on my single stage... I know and understand powder charges, bullet weights, etc... I know some people have been doing it for 20+ years...I am not there yet but I'd bet you a dollar that ill still be doing it in 20 years..

[TerryYu]

Yes, it looks like they have just updated it only a couple months ago. I bought my lees about a year ago and they don't have the bar. I'm really looking forward to getting the bar and the bullet feeder cause then I can go full auto on my loading.

[dlewisp1k]

Yes, it looks like they have just updated it only a couple months ago. I bought my lees about a year ago and they don't have the bar. I'm really looking forward to getting the bar and the bullet feeder cause then I can go full auto on my loading.

I agree I am going to stay away from the bullet feeder because I hear they are kind of tricky to get set up. Plus, I am loading 9mm and 40 SW with the same shell plate carrier but a different die turret of course...haha

[Chip_E]

I'm a computer geek that's wrenched on his car a bit (brakes, clutch, simple stuff) but I didn't have any problem setting up the bullet feeder. Just follow the instructions, and you shouldn't have a problem. If you do, drop me a line with your number, and I'll be happy to do the long distance assist. The bullet feeder and bullet feeder turret make it almost as automatic as a Dillon with a Mr. Bullet Feeder and case feeder....except for a fraction of the cost.

Again, not a huge investment...but a huge improvement in productivity.

[dlewisp1k]

Well then I may pick one up I am just curious about changing to different calibers. It's like 30 bucks. It couldn't hurt to give it a try. BTW does anyone know if there is a 223 shell plate carrier assembly available. I would rather spend 30 for the whole assembly rather than 10 and have to switch the plates around. Thanks.

[TerryYu]

What do you mean by shell plate carrier? It's not hard to swap the shell plate. Just one screw and pop off the turret.

[dlewisp1k]

I know but is rather have the entire assembly for 223.

[TerryYu]

Buy another press! At $175 they are cheap enough for that. I've got one for 9mm and one for .45

[dlewisp1k]

Well thays true Haha. I had mixed emotions when I went to order mine because I had heard bad things but I love it. It works great. The only small problem I have is with the primer system. Canned air and the occasional tap does the trick.

[TerryYu]

Sorry to inform you guys that I've just put in an order for a blue press. .38 spl just drove me over the edge of frustration and I need 4 holes in the turret for a factory crimp die.

I'll hold on to my lee pros as back ups but I'll finally be switching over to dillon by the weekend.

[Chucker]

Hey guys,

I may have missed it on the previous pages but does anyone have a fix/suggestion for cases getting hung up on the mouth of the resizing/depriming die on the up stroke? The other two stations don't have any issues but the first station sometimes gets caught trying to get the case into the die mouth.

From researching other places this is what I've tried so far:

- "Re-aligning" the press frame (didn't think this was the issue but tried anyway). The author of this suggestion stated that the frame can sometimes get twisted out of alignment so he suggested to loosen the top bolts that go into the towers and raise the ram feeding three pieces of brass into each respective die and then carefully tightening down each tower bolt. This didn't fix the issue but I didn't think this was my root cause anyway.

- "Shimming" the shell plate carrier. This seems like a plausible fix but the author of this suggestion states that a piece of paper between the ram rod and the shell plate carrier would provide enough carrier tilt to align the case mouth and die mouth. Supposedly, some shell plate carriers have a tilt or bias toward the operator. A shim on the forward part of the ram rod would tilt the carrier back from the operator, squaring the shell plate better with the die head. It didn't work either. To me, a 0.003" shim wouldn't provide enough offset but more importantly I didn't think you would get any offset at all because the ram has such a deep engagement with the shell plate holder.

Anyone got any other suggestions? This is slowing me down because I either have to stick a finger in there to tilt the brass into the sizing die or I accidently crush a case and have to extract it from the process.

[chibern]

Hey guys,

I may have missed it on the previous pages but does anyone have a fix/suggestion for cases getting hung up on the mouth of the resizing/depriming die on the up stroke? The other two stations don't have any issues but the first station sometimes gets caught trying to get the case into the die mouth.

From researching other places this is what I've tried so far:

- "Re-aligning" the press frame (didn't think this was the issue but tried anyway). The author of this suggestion stated that the frame can sometimes get twisted out of alignment so he suggested to loosen the top bolts that go into the towers and raise the ram feeding three pieces of brass into each respective die and then carefully tightening down each tower bolt. This didn't fix the issue but I didn't think this was my root cause anyway.

- "Shimming" the shell plate carrier. This seems like a plausible fix but the author of this suggestion states that a piece of paper between the ram rod and the shell plate carrier would provide enough carrier tilt to align the case mouth and die mouth. Supposedly, some shell plate carriers have a tilt or bias toward the operator. A shim on the forward part of the ram rod would tilt the carrier back from the operator, squaring the shell plate better with the die head. It didn't work either. To me, a 0.003" shim wouldn't provide enough offset but more importantly I didn't think you would get any offset at all because the ram has such a deep engagement with the shell plate holder.

Anyone got any other suggestions? This is slowing me down because I either have to stick a finger in there to tilt the brass into the sizing die or I accidently crush a case and have to extract it from the process.

Is this the same issue you're having?

I had the same problem and all I did was just rotate the die carrier one position over and re-seat all the dies. Everything lined up perfectly after that.

[Chucker]

Yes, that's exactly my issue.

I'll try moving all of the dies over one space tonight and give it a shot. Thanks!

************************************************************************************

OK, that seemed to help out a great deal. Instead of getting totally hung up, I occasionally get a little 'hitch' before the case goes into the die. I'm happy with it now.

In other news.... I finally broke my shell holder. This is the original component I've had since I bought my LP1000 new back in 1990. Needless to say, I've put quite a few rounds through this press. Symptoms of a crack in the holder in the location shown below are: Primers not fully seating, shell plate starting to rub and engaging the primer sensor. The first symptom is a little tricky to diagnose since the primers are very close to seating. Another possible symptom is inconsistent OAL.

Luckily, I had a spare carrier on hand. Other parts I've replaced are 1 drive bolt (last night), and a couple of nylon ratchets over the years.

Edited May 18, 2012 by Chucker

[Chucker]

Other tips:

As already known by the members here but worth re-enforcing was the addition of the factory roller handle and the case collator. Call me a slow learner but I've been dropping cases into each case feeder tube for years. The collator fills all 4 tubes in a minute or less. In all the years of reloading I've never felt the need for the roller handle...until I started reloading 9mm. The force required to resize these little buggers was enough to tweak my wrist a bit (approx 1500 rounds loaded in about 3-4 days). The roller handle eased the force and spread out the load on my hand. The foam on the roller will dampen the primer seating feel slightly though.

[chibern]

OK, that seemed to help out a great deal. Instead of getting totally hung up, I occasionally get a little 'hitch' before the case goes into the die. I'm happy with it now.

Glad it is "working". Not to state the obvious, but did you try moving rotating everything over one more spot? My cases slide in without a hitch at all. Maybe I got lucky with just having to rotate it one spot.

[Chucker]

Yes...sort of. Before I rotated any of the dies, I positioned the die head in alternate clockings just to see first. The next clockwise station (formerly known as the powder drop station) seemed to be the same in terms of case alignment. The next counter clockwise station (formerly known as the bullet seating/crimping station) seemed to have the best case alignment out of all three. If the 'hitch' gets too annoying, I might try the other clocking and reset the dies.

[kalifornia]

Hi guys don't know if its cool to tag on a question in this thread so let me know. Today I started my first ever reloads with a 1000 in 9mm. My question is: is it normal to see a slight flare on the case where the base of the bullet gets seated? And is there a trick to depriming a cocked primer without removing the shell kick out pin? thanks

[TerryYu]

Hi guys don't know if its cool to tag on a question in this thread so let me know. Today I started my first ever reloads with a 1000 in 9mm. My question is: is it normal to see a slight flare on the case where the base of the bullet gets seated? And is there a trick to depriming a cocked primer without removing the shell kick out pin? thanks

In regard to the flare, do you mean there's a bulge that you see through the case due to the bullet bulging out the brass? If so, there's a simple go/no go test to determine if that would be a problem. Take the barrel out of your gun and drop the loaded bullet in. It should fall in easily with no resistance and should fall out when you flip it over. If it fits in your barrel fine, don't worry about it. If you don't like the way that looks, buy a lee factory crimp die and it will squeeze the bullet down a thousandth or so and remove the bulge. If it chambers fine, it's not a problem.

I'm not sure what you mean about a cocked primer though.

[Chucker]

I'm not sure what you mean about a cocked primer though.

I think what he means is 'how do you remove a primer that got forced into the primer hole sideways/backwards'.

I always save those until I'm done with the batch or come to a good stopping point. Make sure the primer trough is empty then raise the ram enough so you can introduce the bad case on or near the seating station. After that, with the ram partially raised, you can back the shell plate all the way around (clockwise) until the bad case is at the depriming station.

[kalifornia]

yeah thats what i meant, how is a good way to empty the primer trough? I tried a paper clip, but they seem to want to just collect up at the top

Edited May 29, 2012 by kalifornia

[TerryYu]

I use a paper clip and a Tupperware bowl. I stick the paper clip in the bottom and flick it up. The primers fly out the top and are caught by the bowl. The one or two that are at the bottom you can push into the primer ram and the shellplate will rotate them off when you cycle the press.

[TerryYu]

If you keep tapping the primer chute the ones stuck in the top will fall back down. Or you can just pull the chute apart as it splits down the middle and they'll all fall out. That's probably why lee recommends cci primers only as their presses are good at mangling primers.

[TerryYu]

You can also minimize crooked primers by tapping the primer slide with your finger after hearing the click when your brass passes the case sensor nub on the upstroke. This helps center the primer in the ram. Crooked primers are usually caused by the primer not completely sliding into place via gravity. Small primers suffer from this a lot. Large primers seem to have an easier time sliding down the chute.

[Chucker]

yeah thats what i meant, how is a good way to empty the primer trough? I tried a paper clip, but they seem to want to just collect up at the top

Pretty much what Terry said. Split the trough and move the primers up with a paper clip or tweezers.

With 45 ACP, if the primer is driven in sideways I'll take a small pair of needle nose pliers and GENTLY rotate it out using an unscrewing motion. I don't grip the primer and just use the pliers like a fork to twist it. Don't know if it will work with 9mm and small primers. This is with an empty case by the way (no powder or bullet). Obviously, this won't work with a fully flipped primer.

Terry and others have brought up another important point about making sure the trough is full. I have almost no problems if I remember to keep the primer trough is full by shaking the tray.

[kalifornia]

thanks gentlemen