Lee 1000 problem

[minitruckster]

I just bought a Lee 1000 in the 9mm cal.i have it set up and working except every once in awhile the primer will flip on it's side and gets punched in the primer hole of the round.what is causing this to happen?

[petroid]

the design is causing that to happen. many experience it, few can fix it. I decided it wasn't worth dealing with and prime separately

[nagantguy]

It seems to be a symptom of the beast. Make sure there is no powder or debris under the priming stem and make sure you run the press handle smoothly and completely through its stroke with no stops or wobbles. And make sure your primer shoot is clean and clear of any burs or blockage. Winchester primers seem to run best in my 2 pros. After you've run one for a while you'll get a "feel" .

[kbstenberg]

Like Petroid I prime off press. Just my 2 cents. When I prime off press my #1 station is powder fill, my #2 station I seat bullets, my #3 station is my crimp station. Round is complete.

[oldfart1956]

Just for giggles using your thumb and forefinger squeeze the primer chute and make sure it's all the way together. When I clean&ArmorAll mine it spreads the chute apart sometimes. That's the only way I can see a primer rotating. Mebbe some primers are more round bottomed but the CCI primers (in mine) can't rotate. Curious. Audie..the Oldfart.

[Elkins45]

It happens because the primer doesn't slide all the way down the chute and all the way onto the seating punch. If it's only about half on the punch then it gets flipped when you try to seat it.

One thing to try is just to make sure you jiggle the primer tray right when the case trips the case sensor to make sure they advance down the chute.

[dikman]

I had the same problem. I found a youtube vid where the chap used the small vibrator from a mobile phone and taped it to the primer chute. The constant vibration jiggles the primers down the chute and keeps them feeding correctly. I used the small motor from a junked pair of battery-powered hair clippers to do the same thing. The constant noise from the vibration is a bit annoying, but I have no feed problems whenever I use it.

The pin sticking out the side of the chute is supposed to do the same thing by riding in the grooves on the upright column, but I found it's unreliable.

[petroid]

Also the shell plate is for 9mm and 40 which causes 9mm cases to be too far in/off center from the primer ram. Mikes reloading bench suggests using a #6 shell plate and modifying it for 9mm

[oso]

I would clean the primer chute and make sure the primers are filling the chute, check the primer seating stem motion (see that it is dropping all the way down) and check the shell plate timing. Watching the primers move down the chute and feeling the primer seating, with a preemptive tap or jiggle when needed, have become a helpful routine when using the Pro 1000.

[rbuck351]

The design of the primer slide is poor but they can be made to work. First you have to fix the powder thrower so it doesn't spit powder down into your primer slide. If there is any derbis, powder or other crud under the primer punch it can hold it up just a bit as the primer tries to slide on top of the punch the bottom edge of the primer hits the top of the punch and tips over on its side. Another issue is derbis in the primer slide that keeps the primer from sliding freely all the way onto the primer punch and not being aligned. The indexing of the shell plate needs to be correct or the primer can hit the primer pocket off center and be crushed or flipped. The primer slide can work itself apart. One of the main issues is leaked powder getting into the primer slide and the powder spitter is located directly above the primer slide. So, cut a piece of milk jug plastic that will just fit on top of the primer slide as far in toward the primer punch as you can make it fit and long enough to wedge against the outlet of the primer tray. Also sand the tops and bottoms of your powder discs until flat. This slows the leakage of the powder spitter. Oh yeah, deburr, polish and wax (JPW) everything the primer touches. And last, I keep an air compressor hose at my bench to blow off the bits of powder that leak despite all I have done to stop the leaking. Do all this and the vibrator motor shouldn't be necessary although it won't hurt. All three of my Pro 1000s work good now but it has been a ride getting them to work.

[Terryfromok]

Keeping it clean is a must. If there is spilled powder in the primer area, clean it out. Next important is never allowing the primer level to get to just the chute only. It needs the weight of primers behind to feed properly. If I see a primer jam in the tray, I simply flip the primer tray assembly with my finger to clear it. Get into a habit to check the primer chute often. I use Power Pistol in my auto disk with no leakage problems. Make sure the disks are assembled in the hopper correctly. Make sure the assembly works properly before you put powder in it. Does it return to the start position every time? Check the tightness of the brass hopper nuts. Not too tight and not too loose. When I first get a press, I thoroughly disassemble and clean it and lube it IAW the manufacturers specifications. I then assemble the press with the powder dispenser (without powder in it). Install a filled primer tray and everything else as if I was to reload something. I then cycle empty cases through the press several times to check for timing issues. You can recycle the brass later to remove the primers. Just plug the holes in the base to catch the good primers. I hope this helps.

[aspangler]

Take the primer slide apart, deburr, and paint with clear nail polish. a little JPW helps also. Make sure to watch the primers as the go down the slide to see if they are actually moving. A tap on the priner tray every third or fourth case works as well.

[minitruckster]

Thanks to all i will try all suggestions...hope it works

[dragonrider]

Like aspangler said take the slide apart and clean it, I used to apply funiture polish the slide and then polish it, make the slide slicker than snot, the less friction the better, primers will slide right down the way they should. Also another thing that helps is rigidity. A very solid, no motion bench mount will help a lot.

[Gliden07]

Has to be very clean. I polished the feed chute also, keep the primer try half full at all times, I tried the cell phone vibrator it does work but its a PITA!! I started to tap the primer tray every few pulls also. I learned how to load on this press as it was given to me. I still have it and use it to load 45 ACP only.

[rbuck351]

I got three of them for different calibers because I don't want to change anything once I have one of these diabolical machines working right. You will notice a couple of things common to most answers. Polish the slide, dry lube or wax it and KEEP IT CLEAN. I keep an air hose by mine when I load and give every thing a puff of air now and then to keep it free of bits of powder. If anyone has one of these they hate and are ready to throw in a pond, PM me. I could use another one.

[LAKEMASTER]

I placed a new in package (latest model) primer feed into my load master and have not had a flipped primer or any issue so far.

The only issue I've had 100%of the time is not checking to see if my brass has the little bevel around the primer pocket.

Mine will not not work with those no matter stay adjustment I make

[Pumpkinheaver]

Nature of the beast. Keeping the primer tray close to full helps.

[abunaitoo]

I just prime off the press. Never had a problem since.

For a mini vibrator, try the motor from an electric toothbrush.
Battery powered.
Wire it to a switch, so when the handle is pulled down, it turns on.

[rbuck351]

Priming off the press defeats the purpose of a progressive and the priming system can be made to work.