a cautionary tale for lee pro 1000 users

[nagantguy]

I have one lee pro 1000 that is set up.for one thing only, loading my favorite, general purpose, plinking, training, idpa, pest remover load, it runs smooth, loaded thousands upon thousands of rounds on it. last week some how a berdan primed nickel case got in my brass collection, which is a hodge poge as these are not match grade loads, though close enough for me. anyhow the decapping pin broke, with Lee dies the stem is one piece, as many of you know. looked in my box o stuff and had nothing that would work, a call to lee and a small.shipping charge had a few of the stems on the way....they get to my door, I take the broken one out, put the new one in and didn't tighten the looking nut enough and the stem fell out and could not be found anywhere!!! hours of going over the floor with a magnet, questioning myself as to if I really pUT one in. then this morning it dawned on me, it fell through the die, and straight through the hole in the she'll plate for spent primers to go and right into the piston or ram arm of the press, okay no worries unbolt the press turn it upside down and shake vigorously!
not only did the decapping stem come out after a few shakes and light taps with a hammer but spent and new primers fell out, the broken tips of 2 other decapping pins a very small spring and the red plastic cap for.one of my dental picks also was inside the hollow ram arm of the press. no damage was done, but the hollow.spot was almost full of crud, odds and ends, eventually it seems it would impede the movement of the she'll plate and I really did not like that there were a few unspent primers in there.

[dverna]

I have no idea how the Lee Pro 1000 is made, how it works, or why the ram is hollow. If it is that way to reduce costs, I would find a way to plug it. Should be an easy thing to do.

[17nut]

The hole is an "exhaust" for spent primers. As a case is sized and deprimed the spent primer exits through the hole in the shellholder and down through the stem/ram and out the side.

If it is filled with foreign bodies then ask yourself how they got there. Sloppy reloading procedures?
A smidgen of compressed air once in a while will do wonders on a reloading press.

I have more than 7k rounds through mine and there is nothing in that hole but air.

[nagantguy]

I understand why it's hollow, two reasons one being when you change she'll plates there is a male end that goes into the hollow and then is kept in place by a large set screw. the unspent primers I figure every once in a while a primer double.feeds and takes a ride on the bottom rim of the Sheppard plate and when a whole.circuit is completed, every 3 pulls the primer falls through the depriming station hole.
yes compressed air would work, and it's been 15 years since this press was disassembled and there was a handful of spent primers, 2 depriming pins, 6 or 7 unused primers and the stem I dropped in there last night, not to bad I guess seeing how my round count just for idpa this year is at 6000 .

[kmw1954]

I have a 1.125" thick bench top and before I mounted the press I cut a notch that is 1" deep and as wide as this inside of the casting under the press. Then mounted the press over this notch. So far everything has fallen straight thru into a pan under the bench top.

[aspangler]

I drilled s hole in the bench top and mounted the press over it. Then glued a piece of conduit in the hole. All my spent primers,etc. go into a coffee can under the conduit.