Lee Pro 1000

[MJinPA]

Anyone else start on a Lee Pro 1000 and end up loading on a Dillon 650? Really elevates your appreciation for Dillon’s engineering! Hard to believe I used to load 9mm in 3 separate steps!

 

 

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[yukonjon]

I’m with you. I started on a loadmaster and a 1000. Traded a gun for a 550. Shortly there after got rid of my Lee equipment and bought another 550 and a SDB. Just sold my SDB and bought a 650. Dillon all the way for me now. After using my buddies hornady loadmaster the other day I reconfirmed my love for dillon.

[woodrow]

No hate here. My first few years of reloading experience was with pro1k presses. I got one and over 100k loads later got two more. I still have one and added a 1050. Didn't like the 650. But my bench still has a pro1k on it and I still use it. The Dillon didnt make me apreciate Dillon. Thats just masturbatory. The Dillon greatness was expected. Dillon gave me appreciation for Lee's cleaver, inexpensive, very simple ideas.


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[Dannybot]

I use both Pro 1000 and Dillon 650.  I have run about the same number of 9mm through both; about 10,000.

 

The dillon is no faster for me, but you can just run straight through when you fail to decap a crimped primer.

 

 I have had just as many high primer seating problems with the 650 as I ever had with the Pro 1000 too.  But I have been sort out the seating issue with the 650.

 

I keep two Pro 1000’s around: one for 223 and one for .38 spl.  The 223 would be faster on a the Dillon, but would still require two passes...

[CodeSlinger]

Started on a Pro 1000, tried a friend's 650, ended up with four Pro 1000s.  I love em. 

 

On ‎7‎/‎26‎/‎2018 at 11:53 PM, MJinPA said:

Hard to believe I used to load 9mm in 3 separate steps!

9mms load just fine for me in one pass, not sure what you mean there?

 

On ‎7‎/‎27‎/‎2018 at 11:57 AM, woodrow said:

Dillon gave me appreciation for Lee's clever, inexpensive, very simple ideas.

THIS.

Case feeder is $240 motor driven for the Dillon, with multiple $40 caliber conversions... or a $12 plastic tray with no moving parts from Lee, and it works just as well for me.

People pay hundreds of dollars extra to get reliable vibrating primer tube fillers (PAL) just to avoid paying $350 for the Dillon one... and I stick a flip tray in my press and get back to loading.

 

Call me tight, but the cost of the Dillons just offends me, especially if you're loading multiple calibers.  For less than the cost of a 650 caliber conversion (Dies + Conversion kit + Quick Change), I can have another entire dedicated Pro 1000 shipped to my door.

 

I'm certainly not a fan boy, the Dillons are fine machines and I'm glad the people that like them are happy.  But the only reason I've found so far that would cause me to move on from a Pro 1000 is if I decide I need a bullet feeder.

Edited July 29, 2018 by CodeSlinger

[MikeRussell]

I started on a Pro1K, now I use a LoadMaster for loading and the Pro1K for depriming. I've got a Breech Lock Challenger for loading up hunting rounds as well. 

 

I'm a tinkerer, so I don't mind making adjustments here and there...and the ingenuity that Lee put into some of their products amazes me. The speed at which I can load on my LoadMaster is fast enough for me, and when set up right the consistency is there as well.

 

Now, if I won the Powerball or something, I'd probably have a couple of automated Mark7s on the bench, but I'm more than happy with my Lees.

[stick]

I started on a Lee Turret press.  I then got a Pro1000.  I had it for a month and I got tired of the priming issues.  I got a XL650 and I never looked back.  This was over 10 years ago.  I still have the Turret press and use it for load development and small quantity hunting loads.  But, Yes!  I agree the XL650 is a engineering marvel.

[MJinPA]

Started on a Pro 1000, tried a friend's 650, ended up with four Pro 1000s.  I love em. 
 
THIS.
Case feeder is $240 motor driven for the Dillon, with multiple $40 caliber conversions... or a $12 plastic tray with no moving parts from Lee, and it works just as well for me.
People pay hundreds of dollars extra to get reliable vibrating primer tube fillers (PAL) just to avoid paying $350 for the Dillon one... and I stick a flip tray in my press and get back to loading.
 
Call me tight, but the cost of the Dillons just offends me, especially if you're loading multiple calibers.  For less than the cost of a 650 caliber conversion (Dies + Conversion kit + Quick Change), I can have another entire dedicated Pro 1000 shipped to my door.
 
I'm certainly not a fan boy, the Dillons are fine machines and I'm glad the people that like them are happy.  But the only reason I've found so far that would cause me to move on from a Pro 1000 is if I decide I need a bullet feeder.

The priming system was so unreliable that I sized/deprimed, then hand primed, then loaded. The problems caused by a missed primer were maddening! Don’t get me wrong the pro 1000 is great for people that don’t load in high volume and like tinkering as much as loading. It’s like the fisher price version of a progressive press though. Once I started shooting uspsa, I just couldn’t take it anymore.


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[Steve RA]

I've got three of them - 9mm, .45 ACP and .223.  They work very well if, when you get one, you take it apart and discard any and all priming equipment.  

 

My process is, after sorting (only use one brand of brass for each caliber), depriming and cleaning, I hand prime the brass and store it in a 4 gallon plastic tub with lid.  Then when loading all you have to do on the press is size, powder and bullet.  Doing it this way you can load pretty rapidly.

 

I've been reloading since 1961 and have gone thru a number of the more expensive presses, had a couple of Stars, had one of the early RL-1000 Dillons and later a 650.  Since I don't shoot quite as much as I once did I've cut back on the equipment from where I once was.

[woodrow]

9 hours ago, MJinPA said:

The priming system was so unreliable that I sized/deprimed, then hand primed, then loaded. The problems caused by a missed primer were maddening! Don’t get me wrong the pro 1000 is great for people that don’t load in high volume and like tinkering as much as loading. It’s like the fisher price version of a progressive press though. Once I started shooting uspsa, I just couldn’t take it anymore.

 

Sooooo you're admitting that you can't figure out a Fisher Price toy?? , sorry had to take that shot haaha. I know Dillon fanboys like to toot eachothers horns to no end and that's perfectly fine. But there's no need to place non Dillon users in a lower echelon of fisher price, low volume and tinkering because of your own bad experience...with that aside. My pro1k wasn't perfect and is no way as refined as a Dillon. But that didn't keep it from loading tons of ammunition for me and I didn't spend more time tinkering than loading. When my pro1k was my primary press I was reliably loading 2k/month for 3 years before I got another press, which happened to be another pro1k haaha. "High volume" is a relative term. For some 2k/month for 3 years is high/low volume and for me that was normal. This was shooting USPSA, local action pistol, steel, 3gun and practice ammo. My bench has evolved and I currently run a pro1k next to a Super 1050, you want to talk about tinkering with a press - a nicely locked up 1050 with crushed and smeared primers will give you a fun time. There are plenty of people on here that currently run pro1k as well. 

 

No press, just like any gear, guns or whatever are without fault. If you're new to the Dillon then yea it's exciting and then the issues will arise with time. With any gear it's not a question of if it'll go down but when. I have an SL900, which is 650 for 12ga, and although mine hasn't broke, they're known to break frames. Everyone talks bad about aluminum presses like Lee and Hornady but for some reason Dillon aluminum frames are acceptable haaha. No priming systems are without issues. My Redding T7 system is weird. Hand primers can get weird, Forster Bench unit can get weird. Some more weird than others sure, but they all have their problems. 

Edited July 29, 2018 by woodrow

[andrewtac]

I started on a 1000 then went to a loadmaster.  I use the aftermarket primer system and it works pretty dang well.  That was my only complaint that was frustrating to sort, all other issues were pretty easy to figure out.  I wanted an automated 1050 and decided to skip Dillion all together and have ordered a mk7 evolution pro.  I’ll keep the loadmaster but will probably use it for small batch 300 blk.  The chrono guys were always impressed with my consistency at area matches, especially when I told them it was a loadmaster.  I think my record was 700 or maybe 750 in an hour with it, but that was with everything at the ready.  For the money the loadmaster is a great tool.  I was never going to upgrade unless it meant I didn’t have to pull the lever.

[FWSixgunner]

Why not buy a Hornady LNL AP and enjoy the worst of both worlds: high cost and tinkering!

It’s my first progressive after reloading for 40 years. I read hundreds of threads like this.

I do not mind tinkering, but a progressive press is for ammo production, not a tinker toy, and when you have to do the same s#!t repeatedly, something’s seriously wrong.

My google searches led me to a thread on AR15.com where a guy actually boasted he’d spent 40 hours tuning & tinkering with his LNL AP. That’s an entire work week. If you earn $20 an hour with paid vacation, you’re basically taking a week off that’s worth $800 and that $500 machine just went up to $1,300. No thank you!

I was thinking 650 but after reading this thread I might roll the dice with a Lee. A $200 Fisher Price toy beats a $500 tinker toy, IMO.

[xdr]

I have a Lee classic Turret, 2 pro1k's, a loadmaster and a 650xl and I use all of them. I could never get the loadmaster reliable for 223 but it is perfect for 9mm. The 650 is superb for 223 especially since I added a Mr BF. I also convert it to 9mm for my son and I to reload simultaneously. All are good tools just different approaches to doing the same thing.

For 9mm, I think the loadmaster is a much better value than a 550 though...also the Autodrum pro powder measure is very consistent...I wish it would fit on the 650. 

[Steve RA]

Why won't it fit on a 650 ??

[xdr]

It doesnt clear the primer tube. Its wider overall than the Dillon measure. 

[Steve RA]

Would rotating it any help ??  Or you could raise it up,  Lee has a part that will raise one.

[xdr]

Raising it might be the way to go. I oriented it so i could use the cnain to reset it on the downstroke as a safety measue  

[Steve RA]

Here is the part I was referring to:

https://leeprecision.com/auto-disk-riser.html

[Tom S.]

I had two Pro 1000's before moving on to the 650.  One was dedicated to 38/357 and the other to 9mm.  Had multiple problems with both and was always dinking with them to fix something.  Having primers go boom and a run of a handful of 9mm with no powder in a batch of 300 drove me to the Dillon and I've never been sorry.  Sold one press to an acquaintance for $50 and gave the other to a friend who used it for a few months and upgraded to a Dillon as well. The Pro 1000 makes an excellent sales point for 550's and 650's.  

[dannyd]

21 hours ago, FWSixgunner said:

Why not buy a Hornady LNL AP and enjoy the worst of both worlds: high cost and tinkering!

It’s my first progressive after reloading for 40 years. I read hundreds of threads like this.

I do not mind tinkering, but a progressive press is for ammo production, not a tinker toy, and when you have to do the same s#!t repeatedly, something’s seriously wrong.

My google searches led me to a thread on AR15.com where a guy actually boasted he’d spent 40 hours tuning & tinkering with his LNL AP. That’s an entire work week. If you earn $20 an hour with paid vacation, you’re basically taking a week off that’s worth $800 and that $500 machine just went up to $1,300. No thank you!

I was thinking 650 but after reading this thread I might roll the dice with a Lee. A $200 Fisher Price toy beats a $500 tinker toy, IMO.

 

If I lived closer I would come show you how to use the LNL.    Run two of them just fine.

[FWSixgunner]

 
If I lived closer I would come show you how to use the LNL.    Run two of them just fine.

Instead, how about you show the LNL how to feed Winchester SPP, because that’s where the problem lies.

[dannyd]

All I run is Winchester SPP and they work for me.   Over 50,000 of them.  They do not work as well as Federal or CCI.   

[Tokarev]

Process brass on a 1050 and wash in stainless steel media and allow to air dry.  Or buy processed brass from any number of sources.  Prime with a Lee hand priming tool.  Then take your Pro 1000 and remove the sizing die and replace with a powder measure.  Put the bullet seating die in the second station and your factory crimp die in station three.  The ammo just flies out of the press especially if you use the little drop tube case feeder.  The only weird thing is having to sort of reach behind the press to place a bullet at station two. 

 

I haven't tried it but it should be do-able to put the powder measure in station one, a bullet feeding die and dropper in station two and a combo seat/crimp die in station three.  With the Lee's short little stroke the press would be blazing fast!