Lee Pro 1000

[Finster101]

I'm thinking about getting one. What's good and more importantly what's bad about them. They seem like a good bang for the buck.

Thanks, James

[Lefty SRH]

I have had one for many years and it has made THOUSANDS of .40's and .45 acp! Some do require constant tweeking/adjusting but then again you didn't pay Dillon prices. They are priced where when you wear it out you can throw it away and buy another new one. It should serve you wel for MANY MANY THOUSANDS of rounds.
Changing caliber is real easy too!

[Four Fingers of Death]

Most people will pan them, but they work ok and are very cheap. Do a search on youtube, there are lots of good videos out about them. San Fransisco Liberal with a Gun! is one guy who has several great videos there and give a good look at the unit. He has an excellent 9 part series on cleaning and tuning the press.

The are a bit fiddly at times, but deliver the goods cheaply if you keep an eye on the process.

I have several. The only real critism? Only three stations. When I use mine, I the run the loaded rounds through again with just the crimping die and do the crimp that way. Not really necessary, but I find that doing it that way makes for better quality ammo.

[357shooter]

CowboyT is the San Francisco Liberal. His video's are a must watch for a 1000 owner. Clean it, set everything right and they work well. The primer trough acts up when it gets dirty, there are a few other quirks. But over all they are tough to beat for the price.

[UNIQUEDOT]

I had one and it worked great, but since i load mostly lead i wanted a station for the m die and bought a loadmaster. The LM doesn't cost much more, nor do caliber changes and it offers five stations...much better press too.

[13Echo]

I have one for 45 ACP. I use it to decap and size before tumbling and then seat primers. I love the auto feed for those operations. Once the cases pass inspection I'll use the three stations to expand and add powder (station 1), seat the bullet (station 2), and crimp (station3). I prefer to inspect cases before and after seating primers so the extra steps don't bother me. I'm satisfied with the press.

Jerry Liles

[Old Caster]

I had one for a while and I think it would be fine for pistol or small rifle but I tried to load .308 and don't feel it was up to it. I went to a Dillon which is better and obviously more expensive. I think you should think real hard how much you are going to get into reloading and then make a decision whether you think the higher expense and higher quality is worth the difference. Ask around to see if you can try both.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I had one and it worked great, but since i load mostly lead i wanted a station for the m die and bought a loadmaster. The LM doesn't cost much more, nor do caliber changes and it offers five stations...much better press too.

It is funny, I have often fancied one of these and several gunstores I have asked have all said that they had too much trouble with them and don't stock the press, even though they sell a truckload of Lee 1000 presses.

I have two 1000s that I don't use anymore as I have picked up a Hornady LnL cheap. The near new one in 9mm I am about to swap for a bit of earthmoving beside my driveway and the old (bought in the late 70s) one in 38/357 will go to a beginner at the pistol club.

[Salmon-boy]

For the money, it's a good value. The setup instructions stink - google, youtube and SanFrancisco Liberal's site are your friend.

When setting it up, I suggest playing with it a bit. Read some, then play some more. Don't expect to load 1000 rounds your first sitting.

The only thing I tend to not like is the primer feed. Once it gets below 18 primers in the trough they'll start to misfeed. Keep the trough clean and free from any oils (including fingerprints), and keep an eye out for jams in the tray. A little flick will release it.

My real only want is (Don't cringe) a fourth station to factory crimp. Yes, even with cast boolits.

[jnovotny]

Just sold one to buddy for 50 bucks ....felt like I took advantage of him. Do yourself a favor and buy a sqaure deal from dillon you will be loading right out of the box with no tweaking.

[wallenba]

I have one that I use just for decapping with a Lee universal decapper, and for repriming and FL sizing. Don't bother with a bullet feeder kit. You can get them to work for a while, but sooner or later need to be reset during the loading session. I found hand feeding quicker. DO get the collater, it works very well. Once in a while one does get in upside down though. Check for that when filling.
Since I like using an 'M' die and seating and crimping separately, I bought a Loadmaster too.
You can do that with a Pro-1000 too, if you use two or more die plates, and just cycle the rounds again.
Don't try to run them too fast, and keep the primer tray filled and they run real good.

[piddlepup]

I just finally got mine working well. The trick was to have a very stable table to work on. Mine was 1/2" pressboard and after putting an old door on it and securing the Lee vise to it, it's now purring like kitten. The only things I have problem with is powder getting in the parts and the primers sometimes(very rarely) getting turned around or stuck in the shute. These can usually be resolved with a burst of air from time to time and paying attention to what's going on around you. Overall I'm pretty pleased with this press.

If you buy one, I would go to the hardware store and buy a couple of feet of the beeded chain they use for the powder measure. I busted mine the first day. Luckily they are very, very cheap to replace.

[Four Fingers of Death]

buy a couple of feet of the beeded chain they use for the powder measure.

In a way, I prefer the old auto disk measures, they had a strong return spring.

My mate modified on by drilling throught the rear of the base and anchoring a coil spring there and the other end onto the hole the chain goes through, works well.

Keeping a good head of primers in the flipper goes well, I replace them before they drop below the flipper, that way, no problems normally.

[vmthtr]

I just got a Dillon 550B and am going to sell mine. 45 acp and 9mm and 357 shell plates. It is up North at my Dads place.

[UNIQUEDOT]

It is funny, I have often fancied one of these and several gunstores I have asked have all said that they had too much trouble with them and don't stock the press, even though they sell a truckload of Lee 1000 presses.

I have two 1000s that I don't use anymore as I have picked up a Hornady LnL cheap. The near new one in 9mm I am about to swap for a bit of earthmoving beside my driveway and the old (bought in the late 70s) one in 38/357 will go to a beginner at the pistol club.

I think the problem is that there are more things you have to adjust on the LM out of the box and most folks probably don't read or can't follow the instructions on how to properly adjust it. The carrier on mine was loose right out of the box! i set mine up with out the instructions and then read them to make all the necessary adjustments. I never have problems with indexing or priming on mine (thousands of rounds and several calibers) and hopefully won't in the future.

[piddlepup]

While trying out Titegroup on my Lee Progressive I found I liked it better. First, Titegroup doesn't make the mess that Unique does all over my press. As a result my primers were all seated property and the press worked much smoother.

I also tried to load some S&B brass that I had found on the range. Big mistake. S&B's and my CCI primers did not like each other. Primers were mashed trying to fit into the pockets. Other people mention trying Winchester primers instead so I think I will try that next time. I hate to waste brass that just needs a little more TLC.

[odis]

I bought a Square Deal back when they cost 150 bucks, I wore it out a couple of years ago and rather then throw it away and buy a new one Dillon fixed it for free. My customer number is in the low 10,000s and since then well over 1.5 million have bought from them. I'm not knocking Lee its just that if you wear them out and have to replace them where is the savings? By the way I reload 38/357 44spec/ 44mag and 45 colt both mild and wild. I'm considering buying a 550B for reloading rifle ammo on.

[knifemaker]

Do yourself a big favor and pass up the Lee pro 1000 and get a Dillion. I made the mistake of getting a pro 1000 and everytime you turned around you had to stop loading and clean or adjust the damn thing. After getting hangups on primer feeding and squid powder loads, I canned the darn thing. I had several friends who also got rid of their 1000 and went to Dillion. In this case you really get what what you paid for it.

[hunter64]

The trick to the 1000 is the priming system. If you let the primers get low what will happen is the primer on the end will miss feed and not put the primer in the case where it is supposed to go.

Since you have no indication if a primer is in there other than feel, when you raise the ram to charge with powder guess where all the powder goes if there is no primer.

If you are quick and catch the feel of no primer then you rotate the cases out and have a look. If you are going along at a normal pace you will not catch it in time and the powder will dump thru the case and into the shell plate and now you have a 15-20 minutes clean up to get back up and running.

Many tricks have been added to the press to try and remedy this problem. Adding a rubber band to the shaft that the primer tray agitates on when it goes up and down. Adding a couple of washers under the back bolt to have the whole press at a slight angle to help feed the primers better. Polishing the trough that the primers go in so it is smooth as silk, etc.

Finally I had enough of the primer problem and would just run the cases thru the machine priming with no powder and no crimp so if a primer was missed no big deal. It ran really good, one extra step but no headaches after that.

I have 3 kids going to university right now and I knew the next 5-8 years it is going to be tight so I figured I would sell the 1000 and buy a Dillon 550b last year. 3 times the cost not including all the caliber changes but I will tell you that I should have done it years ago and saved myself the headaches.

If you want the 1000 I would suggest doing as I did and just prime first or prime off the machine. My 2 cents worth.

[Lloyd Smale]

Like some of the others have said. I hold off and save my money a while longer and but a square deal, 550 or a hornady lnl. You will eventually anyways.

[Reload3006]

They are a machine set them up properly and maintain them they will serve you well. Don't and they won't . I have a Dillon SDB ... its a progressive and your going to have to tweak it too. I guess there is no free lunch.

[DukeInFlorida]

I had a couple of Lee Pro 1000's. One was in 9mm Luger, and it was a pain to constantly tweak the machine to keep it working. Then again, I did manage to get 15,000 or so rounds through it.

I also had one in .223 Rem. It never did work well. I doubt that I assembled even 1,000 rounds through it. It was, at the time, a fast way to install primers, but the rest of the assembly failed miserably.

My own opinion, based on my experience with the press, is that they are good for low to medium volume of reloading. Something in the range up to 5,000 rounds per year. At that rate, the press will break or wear out in about 3 years, and then it would be time to replace it.

Another negative is the cost and trouble to change over to a different caliber. It's just as expensive to do so as to just buy another press from them.

My current go-to press is a Dillon 550b, which I love. The tooling change out is FAST and EASY. I can go from one caliber to another in mere minutes. And, the press is designed for that.

I can go from 380 auto to 30-06 at a whim, something that the Lee pro 1000 cannot do (.223 Rem is the longest round that their press will handle, and it doesn't do that at all well).

So, if you're only looking to make one pistol round, and at a volume under 5,000 a year, the Lee pro 1000 could be a cost savings option for you. If you need more versatility, or higher volumes than that, skip the kids toy, and go right to one of the big boy toys.

[sffar]

I like the Lee 1000. It does have it's quirks, but there's a learning curve with any equipment. I've found Lee very helpful and they've given good customer support for parts. I know a lot of people love their Dillon presses, and by all accounts they're excellent. I've never tried one. I already own the Lee with several shell plate carriers, so I'm not in any hurry to change. A fourth position would be helpful, but for revolver I don't think it's needed. Pretty sure Lee would make a custom expander like an M die has by special order.

[Ronbo256]

I like my 3 pro 1k's so I don't have to do caliber changes but they can be finicky beasts. I would probably buy a Hornady or Dillon today, but I could probably make a Loadmaster work better than the average bear also. If you don't work on your own car, you probably don't want a Lee pro 1k.

[odis]

They are a machine set them up properly and maintain them they will serve you well. Don't and they won't . I have a Dillon SDB ... its a progressive and your going to have to tweak it too. I guess there is no free lunch.I'm not looking to start a fight over square deals but I'm curious about the tweaking? Mine is a Square Deal what did they change when the made it the "B".

[dragonrider]

I use two of them one set up for 380 and the other for 9mm. I never change calibers on them, If ever I needed to I would just buy another press.

[Reload3006]

the powder measure the tweaking part for me has come in the priming set up.

[Four Fingers of Death]

the powder measure the tweaking part for me has come in the priming set up.

That is the only area where I have had any problems. If you are not on top of the game and don't keep it clean and with sufficient primers in reserve, this area will hiccup.

I have several and I have one from the late 70s which works like a dream one day, PITA the next. Theother one in 9mm works like a Swiss Watch