Which Lee Press?

[bruce282]

I used to reload 20+ years ago for my 22-250, 30-30, and .44mag using a Lee single stage. Now I shoot 9mm, .40, and .45acp in IDPA and USPSA, mostly 9mm. I am looking to get a press and due to several reasons (space, money and the fact the wife and I are moving in mid 2008 to NC) I am going to get a Lee press. In a busy month I'll shoot 1,000 rounds, in an off month 400. I'm not worried about the .40 or .45 right, as I don't shoot enough of it to load it right now. I was trying to decide between the Pro 1000 and the Loadmaster, but then I read about the Classic Turrent Press, and now I'm not sure.

Any info from you red guys would be appreciated, one thing I have noticed is that most folks that reload have a single stage or non progressive press around for de-priming or using a Lee FCD etc.

Bruce

[Sparky_NY]

I used to reload 20+ years ago for my 22-250, 30-30, and .44mag using a Lee single stage. Now I shoot 9mm, .40, and .45acp in IDPA and USPSA, mostly 9mm. I am looking to get a press and due to several reasons (space, money and the fact the wife and I are moving in mid 2008 to NC) I am going to get a Lee press. In a busy month I'll shoot 1,000 rounds, in an off month 400. I'm not worried about the .40 or .45 right, as I don't shoot enough of it to load it right now. I was trying to decide between the Pro 1000 and the Loadmaster, but then I read about the Classic Turrent Press, and now I'm not sure.

Any info from you red guys would be appreciated, one thing I have noticed is that most folks that reload have a single stage or non progressive press around for de-priming or using a Lee FCD etc.

Bruce

I have owned the Pro1000 first, then the loadmaster. The loadmaster is worth the extra money BUT all the lee presses are a pain. Last year I upgraded to a Hornady LNL progressive and it has made life much easier. The most I could get from the lee presses was 200-300 per hour because of the constant fiddling required. I have hundreds of rounds that need to be pulled apart also from my days with the lee presses.

Give some consideration to the Hornady LNL progressive, its a little more than the Lee but a lot less aggrivation plus you can later add the case feeder and other goodies as money permits. The Lees worked, but I would never recommend them to anyone.

[abs]

I used to reload 20+ years ago for my 22-250, 30-30, and .44mag using a Lee single stage. Now I shoot 9mm, .40, and .45acp in IDPA and USPSA, mostly 9mm. I am looking to get a press and due to several reasons (space, money and the fact the wife and I are moving in mid 2008 to NC) I am going to get a Lee press. In a busy month I'll shoot 1,000 rounds, in an off month 400. I'm not worried about the .40 or .45 right, as I don't shoot enough of it to load it right now. I was trying to decide between the Pro 1000 and the Loadmaster, but then I read about the Classic Turrent Press, and now I'm not sure.

Any info from you red guys would be appreciated, one thing I have noticed is that most folks that reload have a single stage or non progressive press around for de-priming or using a Lee FCD etc.

Bruce

I have owned the Pro1000 first, then the loadmaster. The loadmaster is worth the extra money BUT all the lee presses are a pain. Last year I upgraded to a Hornady LNL progressive and it has made life much easier. The most I could get from the lee presses was 200-300 per hour because of the constant fiddling required. I have hundreds of rounds that need to be pulled apart also from my days with the lee presses.

Give some consideration to the Hornady LNL progressive, its a little more than the Lee but a lot less aggrivation plus you can later add the case feeder and other goodies as money permits. The Lees worked, but I would never recommend them to anyone.

Sorry about that slip of the finger! I have two Loadmasters, an XL 650 and a Super 1050.

Save yourself ALOT of aggrivation and just get a Dillon SDB. For just a little more $ you can save your sanity!

abs

[Miranda]

Hi

I run a 4 hole turret lee press.

I can get about 100 rounds done in an hour.

I think it is possible to go faster,

just not double that 100.

that is 400 strokes an hour

so I can see how a progressive press can speed the process.

One thing that slows me is the turret press case holder.

The 9mm case wanders a bit and catches on the edge of the die.

same with the case primer.

so it can be faster.

the good I can see is that I think you can go at 100 rounds an hour

with any caliber reloading and switch quickly amongst n betwixt them.

for the amount of shooting you do

I recommend a progressive press.

This is blue territory and you will be pointed at Dillon presses.

From what I have seen, it is good advice....

miranda

[.40AET]

I had a Pro 1000 for 10 years and gave it away when I upgraded to a Load master. Boy was I excited to start cranking out a ton of ammo. Off to the basement to set up my new press. I broke 2 different parts before I finished the first 100 rounds. I called Lee the next day and they were kind enough to sell me some new parts. Got them 2 days later and started loading again. This time the drive arm had the plastic pawl come loose and I was out of business again. Lee sold me some new parts and I spoke with the tech guy who couldn't understand why I was having so many problems. I went to the range and shot my first batch of ammo. I had 4 squibs. After beating the bullets out of my barrel I went home to try to find out what I'm doing wrong. After all, I used my Pro1000 for 10 years and never had a single problem. I called the tech guy again and he started getting a little testy with me on the phone. Then we got into an argument and I took a deep breath and politely told him that I would just return the press from where I bought it. (Damn was I pissed off) Thank God I bought it from Midway. After hearing my story they were happy to return the press and credit my account.

SKIP THE STORY: The big blue box showed up 4 days later.

Edited March 9, 2007 by .40AET

[Mick]

No Lee presses!

It's Dillon or nothing.

I bought a 1050 the first year they came out.

Don't ask me to guess how many thousands of rounds it has built.

I have a good guess.

All the USPSA shooters I know have Dillons and most now have 1050s

but allot started with 550s or Square Deals.

[Z Rider]

Had a load master frame cracked Lee did replace it but had nothing but problems. Now have a Dillon 650 - nothing but pleasure. Better to spend a little more money once than having to go out and spend more again. Buy a used one if someone is will to part with old blue.

[mda]

I have owned the turret press and the lee loadmaster, then I bought a Dillon. Wow what a difference. The lees can be very difficult at times and you will end up spending much more than the original cost in time and trouble. As other shave already said, "Don't waste your time with the Lee".

[G-ManBart]

My father bought a Lee Pro 1000 when they first came out because it sounded like a great machine. It actually ran pretty well with .38/357 all things considered. We never could get it to work with several other calibers. When I needed my own progressive press I got a Dillon Square Deal B and it's still working roughly 15 years later!

[Joe4d]

Another sugestion is the the Dillon AT 500 its the RL 550 frame without any progressive components, you use it like a turret press and can upgrade as time allows, If you only wanna reload pistol keep your single stage for rifle and get a Dillon Square deal B, Are ya noticing a trend here ?

[Bronson7]

I used to reload 20+ years ago for my 22-250, 30-30, and .44mag using a Lee single stage. Now I shoot 9mm, .40, and .45acp in IDPA and USPSA, mostly 9mm. I am looking to get a press and due to several reasons (space, money and the fact the wife and I are moving in mid 2008 to NC) I am going to get a Lee press. In a busy month I'll shoot 1,000 rounds, in an off month 400. I'm not worried about the .40 or .45 right, as I don't shoot enough of it to load it right now. I was trying to decide between the Pro 1000 and the Loadmaster, but then I read about the Classic Turrent Press, and now I'm not sure.

Any info from you red guys would be appreciated, one thing I have noticed is that most folks that reload have a single stage or non progressive press around for de-priming or using a Lee FCD etc.

Bruce

I have owned the Pro1000 first, then the loadmaster. The loadmaster is worth the extra money BUT all the lee presses are a pain. Last year I upgraded to a Hornady LNL progressive and it has made life much easier. The most I could get from the lee presses was 200-300 per hour because of the constant fiddling required. I have hundreds of rounds that need to be pulled apart also from my days with the lee presses.

Give some consideration to the Hornady LNL progressive, its a little more than the Lee but a lot less aggrivation plus you can later add the case feeder and other goodies as money permits. The Lees worked, but I would never recommend them to anyone.

Sorry about that slip of the finger! I have two Loadmasters, an XL 650 and a Super 1050.

Save yourself ALOT of aggrivation and just get a Dillon SDB. For just a little more $ you can save your sanity!

abs

The problem with the SDB is that he will not be able to load those rifle rounds.

Bronson7

[stubbicatt]

I have loaded cartridges on many presses over the years. I have had a LoadMaster, and it was OK. The Dillon XL 650 is a much better setup and less aggravation than the LoadMaster if one wants a progressive loader.

Currenly I load on a Lee Classic Cast turret press, which for me in my present situation, is a good setup. The price was less than $100 including the primer setup which costs extra. I have zero complaints of this press, and it has loaded several thousands of rounds of both rifle and pistol. The main reason I bought it is that I load military cases which require the primer pocket to be decrimped. I bought a Dillon tool for the decrimping task.

I full length resize the military case, remove it from the ram and decrimp the primer pocket, reinsert in the ram, seat a primer, dispense powder, seat a bullet and crimp. With this sort of case, this press is probably the fastest I have used. The 1050 has a decrimper, so it would be a good choice, but it is quite a bit more expensive than I am willing to pay for a hobby.

I can see now that the bulk of my reloading is pistol, and this turret press seems unreasonably slow for that task. Probably in a little while I'll get the XL 650 with the case feeder to speed things up. Until then, I can make about 200 loaded cartridges in 40 cal in about an hour on the Lee Classic Cast turret press.

The Classic Cast turret press is a quality piece, and I would not hesitate to buy another, nor do I have any qualms about recommending it to others. I am quite satsified with it.

Hope this helps with your decision.

Edited March 10, 2007 by stubbicatt

[TLD]

I had a lee auto index deluxe turret for about 3 years. I could eaisly load 150 pistol rounds in an hour, but didn't do much volume shooting. It was a good press. I traded it (i.e. sold it on e-bay for more than I paid) for a Redding T7 and BR3 powder measure as i was starting to get involved in highpower. Now I'm doing IPSC and it's way too slow.

I think I'll trade the Redding on a Dillon 550 very soon.

Edited December 9, 2007 by TLD

[JFD]

I agree the Lee auto-index turret press is decent for loading low quantities of ammo.

After about 2 years of tweaking a Pro 1000 while I did my loading on a 650, it now is reliable as long as I resize and hand prime as separate operations. Had to sell the 650, so I'm stuck with the Pro 1000 unless I want to wear myself out with the auto-index turret press, a Lyman turret press, or a single stage press. The Pro 1000 should keep up with my reduced amount of shooting.

[The Outsider]

I thought about a Lee Pro 1000 or LoadMaster, but after reading the horror stories, I picked up a used SDB in 9mm for $200. I'm very happy with the SDB and can't recommend it more highly. This is my first reloading press. I've had it for about 2 months and have loaded over 3K rounds without a problem. I can regularly crank out 250-300 rounds/hr. If I'm loading Open Major ammo, I load a little slower to ensure that every case is charged and no powder flips out of the case when it auto-indexes. Even at that pace, I crank out 200 rounds/hr easily.

If you can find one used, it is only a little more than a new Lee Pro 1000 and worth every penny!

[98sr20ve]

I thought about a Lee Pro 1000 or LoadMaster, but after reading the horror stories, I picked up a used SDB in 9mm for $200. I'm very happy with the SDB and can't recommend it more highly. This is my first reloading press. I've had it for about 2 months and have loaded over 3K rounds without a problem. I can regularly crank out 250-300 rounds/hr. If I'm loading Open Major ammo, I load a little slower to ensure that every case is charged and no powder flips out of the case when it auto-indexes. Even at that pace, I crank out 200 rounds/hr easily.

If you can find one used, it is only a little more than a new Lee Pro 1000 and worth every penny!

Just to give a counter point. The LM can work very well if you just know how to set it up. I am very pleased with mine and I know several over at Glocktalk.com feel the same. It does need a user that knows how to set it up. Thats the only hard part. Besides that, it has a case feeder that is a think of beauty on my 9mm setup. LOVE IT. Load just sye of 100rds in the case feeder, fill the primer tray, crank the handle 100 times, redo it all again. I just love the speed over my Classic Turret.

[Tokarev]

I've found the biggest hindrance to a high production rate in the Pro 1000 is tipped primers. This is usually caused by letting the primers in the feeder get too low in the primer slide or letting crud build up in the shell plate and the primer seating punch. Stop periodically and clean out the shell plate with some compressed air and a Q-tip and you'll save yourself a bunch of heartache. Also, it might save you some hassle if you take the case sensor off. With the sensor removed, the primer will have more time to make it down the slide and onto the punch.

The Pro 1000 is a pretty decent little design and would be a GREAT press if Lee used steel and aluminum instead of aluminum and plastic. I think they need to give the primer slide more angle too so gravity can assist the primers coming down the slide. Either that or come up with a spring assisted agitator that jiggles the primer feeder with each pull of the handle.

The Pro 1000 is a good little machine and can crank out the rounds as long as you keep the press fairly clean and oiled. The crazy thing about it is the cost. There's nothing else you can get for $120 (includes dies and powder system!) for the money that'll allow you to reload progressively. When things are going well, I can churn out 100 rounds in about ten or twelve minutes.

[David Sinko]

I started with a Lee Pro 1000 years ago and it was OK for the first few thousand rounds of .38 Special. Then I started having all kinds of problems with the priming and auto indexing. I bought a caliber conversion for 9mm and then had even more problems. I had to buy new parts from Lee and that still didn't fix the problems. I threw away the press but my brother salvaged the powder measure and said it's the best thing going when rigged up to his turret setup.

I now use a Dillon 550 and load for multiple cartridges. I believe it's the most useful and versatile press going. Lee makes some pretty good basic stuff like dies and case trimmers. And the Auto Prime is a great thing. But I can't think of a reason to buy any of their progressive presses.

Dave Sinko

[98sr20ve]

I've found the biggest hindrance to a high production rate in the Pro 1000 is tipped primers. This is usually caused by letting the primers in the feeder get too low in the primer slide or letting crud build up in the shell plate and the primer seating punch. Stop periodically and clean out the shell plate with some compressed air and a Q-tip and you'll save yourself a bunch of heartache. Also, it might save you some hassle if you take the case sensor off. With the sensor removed, the primer will have more time to make it down the slide and onto the punch.

The Pro 1000 is a pretty decent little design and would be a GREAT press if Lee used steel and aluminum instead of aluminum and plastic. I think they need to give the primer slide more angle too so gravity can assist the primers coming down the slide. Either that or come up with a spring assisted agitator that jiggles the primer feeder with each pull of the handle.

The Pro 1000 is a good little machine and can crank out the rounds as long as you keep the press fairly clean and oiled. The crazy thing about it is the cost. There's nothing else you can get for $120 (includes dies and powder system!) for the money that'll allow you to reload progressively. When things are going well, I can churn out 100 rounds in about ten or twelve minutes.

I know nothing about the Pro 1000. But the LM has a agitator built into the machine. I just loaded about 550 rds in a little over a hour with zero tipped primers. Not a single issue. Before that I was having issues but it was due to some damage in the arm from when I didn't know how to set the machine up. So those are the two points. It can work great but if you don't know what your doing you can damage something very minor that will cause you a headache if you don't know were to look. For $200 with dies it was a steal.