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Thread: Lee 6000 .38 Spl - The Journey Starts

  1. #81
    Boolit Master deces's Avatar
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    Today I have been doing some parkerizing, not everything I wanted to do but I got the Pro6k priming pin parked as well as two of the original short breech bushing that would always get rusted.
    I also made some tweeks the indexing system after I found a half split drive/clutch. No more forcible tilt on the shell plate when down and it is fairly quiet now.
    I ordered a KMS2 light kit, that will be here in a week.
    A couple other things are in the progress, that I'll comment on later.
    These men and their hypnotized followers call this a new order. It is not new. It is not order.

  2. #82
    Boolit Master deces's Avatar
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    I got the KMS2 light the other day, while a nice inclusion, I did not use the included TPU wire harness mounts. I did use a piece from the Harbor freight 5pk shrink wrap the pillar instead. The light is very bright, I am still debating if I need a powder check.

    I did manage to crush the goldish spring while reloading some .223. I did notice that the metal primer carrier tipped up over the plastic slide pusher and caused it to jam. Since then I have parkerized the small & large primer carriers, I also made them super slick with some molybdenum powder.

    More testing is needed.
    These men and their hypnotized followers call this a new order. It is not new. It is not order.

  3. #83
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    Quote Originally Posted by Finster101 View Post
    This press is sounding more and more like a six hole Pro 1000, as I had the same exact problems with the case feeder on them. At one time I had four of them running for different calibers because once you get one set and running smooth, you dare not touch it.
    id expect nothing more from lee. only thing worse would be spending 1050 money on that new lyman from the company with the worse customer service in the industry. at least when the lee breaks they will take care of it.

  4. #84
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    I did a big run with my 6000 today and 223 which I've been procrastinating. As expected crimped brass is not nearly as smooth as non-crimped brass as far as priming. They were well swaged, but they still aren't nice and radiused like a fresh pocket. Most went in like silk, but often I had to kind of double dip to get the primer to self center. A couple of times I had a primer that just didn't want to go in. This is no fault of the press, just one of the headaches of dealing with Lake City brass. As far as feeding the primers the press was at least as good as last time. I did have one powder spill due to a problem with my charging die, and that caused some issues. One great thing about the 6000 is how easy the shell plate removes. I blew out the powder and all was well. Case feeding with 223 was fine. I had 2 or 3 out of 450 tip over. Twice I had them not go into the shell plate straight. I can probably get it dialed in better, but I think you will just have to accept a couple of mishaps like that with tall and skinny cases with this case feeder. Short and fat like 45 acp runs like butter. I know in another thread some had talked about bullet seating issues. I've had no such issues. I never measured a cartridge (with bullet comparator) that varied more than .001" in seating depth. Honestly the biggest issue I had was with my double alpha powder checker which I'm hoping I just had setup wrong. It seemed the rod sometimes sank into the powder more, so I was too often getting false alarms.

    Again, is the Lee Pro 6000 a Dillon 1050 or 750? No, of course not. A 750 costs $740+$300 case feeder, call it $1000. A 1050 is $2500. Of course my $240 Lee isn't going to be as good. I'll take this Lee 6000 over a Dillon 550 or SDB anyday though, and it's definitely the best progressive Lee has made to date.

  5. #85
    Boolit Master deces's Avatar
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    Well said. I'm sure in short time Lee will continue to fix any of the pro 6k shortcomings since this is their primer press, now that the load master is discontinued.
    Honestly the biggest issue I had was with my double alpha powder checker which I'm hoping I just had setup wrong. It seemed the rod sometimes sank into the powder more, so I was too often getting false alarms.
    Is that the older Alpha powder checker with the sensitivity adjustment switch or the new one that is void of the old feature?
    Last edited by deces; 04-01-2023 at 02:34 AM.
    These men and their hypnotized followers call this a new order. It is not new. It is not order.

  6. #86
    Boolit Grand Master


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    The new style.

  7. #87
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    Well, you guys shamed me into working on the 6000 today. Been busy selling guns and dealing with some physical issues. Plus, the weather has been so bad it seemed pointless to reload.

    First I installed all the new bits and pieces. Loaded 250 rounds of .38 Spl.

    Cannot get the case feeder to function well. About 2-3% FTF. Most of the time due to an upside down case.
    Primer system is much better but not there yet. 8 unprimed cases but mostly my fault. It was working well for about 200 rounds and I stopped looking at it every cycle. It bit me. I have a vibrator I am going to install. See link below.

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    COAL is consistent and powder drops are excellent.

    The mickey mouse case feeder should be an easy fix. The primer system should work. I have not given up on it.

    BTW, part of the issue with the primer feed is caused by the case feeder. If a case is not at the priming station, the primer sits on the primer punch waiting for the next case. I found three primers under the shell plate when I started having problems with the press not cycling smoothly. Press is mounted well so the primers should not be falling off due to vibration while loading. I suspect the primer shuttle might be doing it but cannot be sure.

    Next run I will make sure to always have a case at the priming station. If I get a FTF from the case feeder I will rectify it. I may go back to manually filling the case feeder tubes instead of using the gizmo on top of the tubes.
    Don Verna


  8. #88
    Boolit Master deces's Avatar
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    Don, if you can I would highly recommend getting this kit printed up at a library or university. Also the "New Design American Accurate Collator" is a much better funnel than the cheapo red one.
    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5380589
    These men and their hypnotized followers call this a new order. It is not new. It is not order.

  9. #89
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Thanks deces. Living in the middle of nowhere has a few minor downsides. Not sure where I could get anything 3D printed around me.

    If I can get the press to run with cases feeding properly, I will buy a case feeder on eBay. They are going for less than $200. Not worth spending double that for a printer and my time to learn how to use it.
    Don Verna


  10. #90
    Boolit Master deces's Avatar
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    I agree, those kits on ebay are outrageous in price. There are a number of places that will print anything for you if you upload the .stl file, but you might want to change the file name if it's ammo or firearm related, they might deny it. I think my case feeder cost a bit over $20 printed at the university and the hardware. That funnel has been great at properly aligning 7.62x39 & .223 brass for me, it now comes with a SS insert for pistol brass, I have yet to try that though.
    This one is from china, pretty cheap. Even UPS does 3D printing now.
    https://jlcpcb.com/3d-printing
    These men and their hypnotized followers call this a new order. It is not new. It is not order.

  11. #91
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    I'm sure they are not for everyone, but I've found my 3D printer was the best reloading investment I've made since buying my first Pro 2000 progressive at the beginning of Obama bin Biden. 4 electric Collators, many plates for them, 5 bullet feeder dies, APP and 6000 case feeding improvements, and on an on. Worth every penny for me. I have a Creality CR-10v2 that cost me $500, no longer made....got them for the 300x300x400mm bed size. But $200 Ender 3's are big enough for collators for pistol or small rifle cases, and all bullets.

    People have been talking off and on about moving the powder measure to station 3 on the Lee 6000 for one reason or another....but that turns it into a 5 station press in effect.....so I got a wild hare and thought I'd see if by using a seater die with a window (thus far only made for rifle, but that could change) whether it would be possible to 3D print a coupler to feed and seat in the same station saving the station lost by moving the powder die to 3.

    I'm 74, with Cad experience designing architecture not 3D and had to unlearn more than learn with the free DesignSpark Mechanical 3D software. So if this old guy can learn it fast so can you guys. I really think DesignSpark is easier to learn for people with no cad experience than for professionals. https://www.rs-online.com/designspar...d-installation

    And tutorials are all over the web....

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rQJgyH93eY

    So.....





    First test shows some tweaks needed, but prints are cheap (this set maybe $3) but if perfected may be worthwhile for rifle. Should work for anything up to .308.


    I made a rifle shaker addon for Lee's Universal collator before I printed the electric collators (it works equally well for .223 and .308)....



    skip the "how to" go to about 4:30 in the vid.

    .stl files are on CastBoolits in the 3Dprint section for anybody interested. Will add the feedNseat .stls when it's perfected.
    Last edited by GWS; 04-11-2023 at 01:19 PM.

  12. #92
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Why move powder to station 3?

  13. #93
    Boolit Master deces's Avatar
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    That is pretty neat, I enjoy seeing the things you come up with here. I've been kicking around an idea in my mind to make a projectile collator shaker, a simple yet adjustable two piece design for different sized boolits. Where they are shaken to the outside of the dish into the adjustable sloped gate, rather than like with brass and then travel back to the center into the rotating drum tubes, like with Lee's new system. I guess it would need to be about 5" tall to do all this.
    These men and their hypnotized followers call this a new order. It is not new. It is not order.

  14. #94
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    Quote Originally Posted by megasupermagnum View Post
    Why move powder to station 3?
    It appears some 6000 press users find ways to spill powder everywhere trying to both prime and charge in station 2.....but I use a Uniflow instead of Lee's P.M. there, so maybe that makes the difference......but honestly I don't know. Seems to be a re-occuring theme over at THR.

    I use a Uniflow because I have extras and I bought the 6000 without.

    I did get the feedNseat to work better......redesigned just a tad. Plus, I had to fill a groove that caught and hung bullets on the slider inside the RCBS Gold Medal Seater....a little epoxy fixed that. RCBS had placed their caliber label in that groove to I filled it with clear epoxy, so I could still seat what caliber it was made for. (dumb place to put engraving IMO) I also made the ramp smaller around.

    The reason I want to feed and seat in one station is because I want to size in 1, "M" die expand/prime in 2, Charge in 3, Powder cop in 4, feed and seat bullets in 5. Taper crimp in 6. That's the plan for .223 rifle at least.
    Last edited by GWS; 04-16-2023 at 12:31 AM.

  15. #95
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    Very nice of you guys to do Lee's R&D for them.

  16. #96
    Boolit Master GWS's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Finster101 View Post
    Very nice of you guys to do Lee's R&D for them.
    Actually, my target is fellow reloaders not Lee. Their arrogance will insure they will never use any part of my meager efforts....TylerR's bullet feed die is another matter....they did copy that, except they replaced his external springs with one internal one. The steel body used IS a boon for reloaders at least. If they develop a metal feed and seat coupler....most likely won't happen....but I'd be all for it......idea given freely.
    Last edited by GWS; 04-17-2023 at 02:57 PM.

  17. #97
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    Quote Originally Posted by GWS View Post
    It appears some 6000 press users find ways to spill powder everywhere trying to both prime and charge in station 2.....but I use a Uniflow instead of Lee's P.M. there, so maybe that makes the difference......but honestly I don't know. Seems to be a re-occuring theme over at THR.

    I use a Uniflow because I have extras and I bought the 6000 without.

    I did get the feedNseat to work better......redesigned just a tad. Plus, I had to fill a groove that caught and hung bullets on the slider inside the RCBS Gold Medal Seater....a little epoxy fixed that. RCBS had placed their caliber label in that groove to I filled it with clear epoxy, so I could still seat what caliber it was made for. (dumb place to put engraving IMO) I also made the ramp smaller around.

    The reason I want to feed and seat in one station is because I want to size in 1, "M" die expand/prime in 2, Charge in 3, Powder cop in 4, feed and seat bullets in 5. Taper crimp in 6. That's the plan for .223 rifle at least.
    I guess I don't understand how they are spilling powder. I'm using a Lee auto drum powder measure on mine, and the only powder I've spilled has been my fault. As I mentioned earlier, I was using a homemade charging plug for 223, and I had one get in there crooked which spilled powder. Other than that, I don't understand how one could possibly leak powder when most plugs go inside the case neck. The powder measure goes inside the plug. The measure charges when you raise the case, not lower it, so there's no chance of anything happening there. Whatever, I guess some people can screw up anything.

    I think you have a good plan going. Are you using one of those special sizing dies for 223 that you don't need to trim cases? I don't want to talk you out of your project, but is there any reason you don't want to use the NOE powder through expander plugs to expand, charge, and prime all in station 2?

  18. #98
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    Quote Originally Posted by Finster101 View Post
    Very nice of you guys to do Lee's R&D for them.
    We tried for Dillon, but they don't care what we have to say. Dillon would rather remain in 1970 as a turnkey option riding on great customer support. Good for them. Lee listens to what we want. I'm hoping the new Lee expander plugs soon to be released will be similar to the drawing I sent them.

  19. #99
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    Quote Originally Posted by megasupermagnum View Post
    I guess I don't understand how they are spilling powder. I'm using a Lee auto drum powder measure on mine, and the only powder I've spilled has been my fault. As I mentioned earlier, I was using a homemade charging plug for 223, and I had one get in there crooked which spilled powder. Other than that, I don't understand how one could possibly leak powder when most plugs go inside the case neck. The powder measure goes inside the plug. The measure charges when you raise the case, not lower it, so there's no chance of anything happening there. Whatever, I guess some people can screw up anything.

    I think you have a good plan going. Are you using one of those special sizing dies for 223 that you don't need to trim cases? I don't want to talk you out of your project, but is there any reason you don't want to use the NOE powder through expander plugs to expand, charge, and prime all in station 2?
    Yes screw-ups are everywhere. Kinda like those early adopters who bought and screwed up RCBS's new 7 station progressive.....mine works great.

    In my case, I had bought RCBS's "tube RIFLE bullet feeder systems for .223 and .308 for that Pro Chucker 7 press....since they didn't make an electric bullet feeder. They are over $100 a piece and include an "M" die that expands RIFLE case necks with the famous "M" shelf, but for RIFLE...which Lyman invented and DAA and Noe also copied, for Lee's powder-thru dies for PISTOL. But they, like Lyman, made these PTX's to expand after charging. The purpose of both regular "M"dies and the "M" PTX's, are to make cases stick nice and straight on the progressive while rotating to the seater. Properly adjusted they all work really well.

    For "M" shelf PTX's, RCBS and Mr. Bullet Feeder made those powder-through PISTOL "M" dies for the RCBS Pro 2000 and Dillon 650s respectively. But for RIFLE loading, RCBS's new press with lots of stations, allowed room for an "M" neck sizer to be used just before the powder drop.

    Fast forward to now, Lee's new 6 station press was one station short to do the same thing I do on the Pro Chucker 7. So I decided to see if a feed and seat station could give Lee users the same capability. Which is to keep cases and bullets moving fast without hands and no bullets falling over and causing interruption. For rifle loading, the tiny mouths make the PTX, powder-through expander method less than reliable.

  20. #100
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    Yeah, and it seems the tiny necks don't work that great with my powder checker either. The good thing there is the difference between a filled and empty case is dramatic, there would be no mistaking an empty case. Zero chance of double charges with regular loads. What I did for a charging die was to take an NOE plug for a 44 caliber, drilled it through for powder, then on the bottom I drilled it to just under the shoulder diameter, I forget the size. I then drilled the center just over neck size. So it actuated off the case shoulder. It worked really well, right up until a case neck got in there crooked. I'm going to drill the neck portion even bigger, and/or chamfer it heavily. If I place an order with NOE, I'll try their powder through expanders. I've not tried them yet.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check