Lee 1000 Progressive loading press? is it ain't good

[George]

Hello, Just kicking this idea around as I was on Midway last night On my computer and had seen this deal they have a progressive press with there Lee Progressive 1000 press.For under $200 you can get everything you need to load 1 caliber yes even The dies. It does not say if it's a carbide die set that comes with it doesn't mention much about it.
But I was thinking If I want to reload another caliber, I load 44 magnum and 45 ACP right now. So again if I want to Reload another caliber it may be worth getting the whole kit and caboodle which would give me a progressive press With the die set for the caliber of my choice For under $200. What I am using now for a press is a Lyman Acculine Single stage press.
It's a older hand loading press that can be mounted on a workbench I have it mounted right now to a block of wood so I can use it any place.I do have the ram primmer before this lyman press that works very well I'm very happy with using it just to Prime cartridges. So what do you guys think about the Lee 1000 Progressive press? Yeah I know I'm probably going have to get a few other things but I do have some stuff now because
I am loading right now. Just didn't know if this is the direction to go in at the moment I don't shoot a lot.Well under 5000 rounds a year. Or should I go for something that gives me a better press and maybe a torrent press instead of progressive press.Thank you for your thoughts about this! at this point I don't have a lot of extra money to spend and have been spending on loading components bullets, powder primers and such. This is there deal ..http://www.midwayusa.com/product/525658/lee-pro-1000-progressive-press-kit-44-special-44-remington-magnum Thanks! George seen this too.. May be betterhttp://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/index.php?sid=a9a65ae4e0757902649c51176a08f62f
P.S.
Sorry for such a poorly written post from my cell phone using voice. It's hard to correct things on the cell.

 

[contender]

You will get a lot of different replies. Some folks swear by them, & other swear at them.

Myself,,, I started almost 40 years ago with a Lyman single stage press, and gradually added stuff to make reloading easier. I found that by buying quality products with a good warranty the best way to go. But when I got into shooting USPSA competition,,, I realized I needed a progressive press to keep it fun. I studied HARD into what to buy. Luckily at the time, the USPSA magazine would publish info about the "Nationals" & what equipment the shooters used. By a HUGE margin Dillon stood out. In fact, almost all active shooters I've encountered in all these years of competition, I can only recall one guy using AND keeping a Lee 1000. And this guy is "cheap" but buys more & more Lee 1000's,, "to keep spares & parts. For what he has invested in the Lee's,,, he could have easily bought a nice Dillon set-up.
I like trouble free, consistent quality, & value for my $$$$.
So after a LOT of studying,,, I bought my 1st Dillon. Now,,, I own 4 of them, to keep up with all my loading. I still use a pair of RCBS single stages for stuff,,, but if progressive is desired,,, Dillon, to me,,, is the only way to go. Add in their "NO BS" Lifetime guarantee, (and they mean it!) it's a no-brainer.

 

[98Redline]

I have a couple of Lee 1000 progressives. While they are certainly not top of the line presses I have turned out countless thousands of rounds of perfectly functional ammunition out of them.
Over 20 years or so have had a couple of parts fail (literally 2 parts), however Lee has replaced each under warranty, no questions asked.

There are a lot of better made progressive presses out there with more features or better construction and if I were buying a new progressive today I would probably go in that direction, however in my more cash strapped days, the Lee was and still is a solid press that will serve your needs without breaking the bank.

All of that said, it can be a bit finicky at times and can be a little troublesome to get all dialed in, however unless something catastrophic happens to them I don't feel the need to replace them.

 

[Bubba Leroy]

I mostly agree with the other replies, The Dillon "life time warranty" is hard to beat! But to get one with a case feeder, you will spend over 600 bucks! Probably get 3 Lee 1000's for that money. But the Lee 1000 is probably not for everyone, I wore out one,now working on the second one, but it took several years. They do have some problems, but most of the time its something I did wrong, or a Berdan case,etc. One problem I see a good bit, when using fine powder like AA#2, the powder measure will leak a bit into the primer chute and cause them not to feed good, a basket ball air pump will fix that, just blow it out about every 100 rounds. other than that it needs to be bolted to a good solid table, I have had a problem with primers not seating flush with CCI, but with Winchester or Federal no problem. Also I only put 50 primers in the hopper at one time, they don't feed as good as with a full box of primers.
I would recommend just starting out to load 38 sp or 45 Auto, 9mm and some other cals are a bit "ticky" to to get it feeding good with.

 

[Goldstar225]

Back in my IPSC days I bought a Lee 1000 to speed up my loading. When it worked it was fine. Let powder get in the primer feed and they would jam. Then more powder would leak out of the un primed case, leading to more jams. Then a close friend of mine had a tray full of federal primers go off on his Lee 1000. His face looked like he had taken a blast of bird shot. Fortunately he was wearing glasses so the injuries healed quickly.

Yes, I got rid of the Lee 1000.

 

[Snake45]

I used one a few years ago. Once you got it set up, and if you paid attention to what you were doing, it worked fine. I could crank 300 rounds per hour and I loaded thousands and thousands of rounds on the Lee.

I would NOT recommend it for a beginning reloader. Learn the procedure on a single-stage press, and then move up to the Lee or another progressive. Either that, OR have someone very experienced set it up for you and get you going on it.

I THINK all Lee pistol dies are carbide. I've never had any trouble with any of their dies and would gladly use them again, especially in pistol calibers.

BTW, I had to call the factory a couple times and always got immediate and cheerful help. Once I was even helped by Mr. Lee himself! :shock:

Lee's been in bidness a long time and their stuff is good. The VERY BEST? Maybe not, but certainly Good Enough, and always good value in the marketplace.

 

[contender]

To the OP,,, Told ya you'd get a lot of replies.

TitanX, I started with a 650 & the casefeed assy. It was my choice after a lot of studying. Then I had a friend GIVE me a SDB,,, all in pieces & parts in a box. I got it up & going,,, and decided to dedicate it to my "small primer" calibers, and let my 650 do all my "large primer" calibers.
Then I got a second SDB in a heck of a deal one day & while I didn't NEED it,,, I did decide to set it up, dedicated to one caliber, match ammo only.
Follow that one with another smoking deal on a 550,,, & a lot of extras,,, and I just decided I had to have it as well. It sees the least amount of use as I really enjoy the auto-indexing feature of the others.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Wellllll, even people who like LEE products generally will express reservations about the Pro 1000 . But yes, at various times they have been on sale for redicously low prices.

The explination from a friend that is a satisfied user, runs to the effect of. : It took a lot of adjusting to get to run right. You have to pay lots of attention to it, and make frequent adjustments as you go. It doesn't s@!# quite as bad as everyone says, but I wouldn't ever pay close to list price for one. And that's from someone who likes it.

My recommendations - If economical , and easy use for multiple cals.are important criteria, then LEE Turret with auto index, and convince yourself that 200-250 rd/ hr is enough for your needs. If your main need is whole buncha rounds per hour , then accept you need to pay to play, and get a good progressive.

 

[George]

I would be happy with 200 rounds a hour for my .45acp's and speed don't much mater to me with the .44 magnums. So maybe I don't need a progressive press. Maybe a Turret type would work well for me. I'm still new to this reloading and have been having good luck with my single stage press. I still could use that press for one operation in addition to what can be done with a turret press. You guys have been feeding my thoughts well and will keep me thinking as to what I want. George

 

[Mobuck]

The problem I ran into with LEE "progressive" was primer feed/handling. I gave up on mine and now use a Dillon(which isn't perfect BTW). Maybe it's my method of operation but every priming tool, accessory, or whatever seems to be the weak link in the reloading process.
I have hand priming tools from RCBS and LEE plus a bench mounted Forster and ALL have foibles/quirks/ weak points.

 

[RandyP]

Looks like I posted to your duplicate -everyone is here so I'll repost:

I am a huge fan of Lee gear - that said the 1000 doesn't always get the greatest reviews and only holds 3 dies -

With the Inline Fabrication case ejector system attached I can easily do 200-250 rounds per hour on my Lee CLASSIC 4-hole turret. It doesn't cost much more than the 1000. Even without the case kicker I was at 150-175 rounds per hour at a relaxed pace. Spare turrets for caliber changes are very affordable, the Lee 4-die carbide sets are great. Check out other sources than Midway for better pricing - like FSreloading, Titan Reloading, Graf & Sons etc.

A Lee Loadmaster would be double those outputs at less than a 1/3 the cost of Dillon 650 equipped with all the bells and whistles. Not saying the Dillon isn't the Caddy of presses, just that it does also cost the most for everything too. A Chevy is fine by me - lol

 

[loaded round]

Comments from two shooting buddies that owned them....POS! Both sold/scrapped them and bought Dillon's.

 

[Ka6otm]

While the Lee 1000 isn't a particularly good progressive, the Lee LoadMaster is an outstanding one and absolutely the best bang for the buck on the market. They have a lifetime warranty on parts and workmanship, so the only thing Dillon warrants that they don't is neglect and abuse, and you pay around $300.00 for that extended neglect and abuse warranty when you compare the LoadMaster to the Dillon 650. In other words, you could buy two LoadMasters and have around $50.00 left over compared to what you pay for the 650. In addition, the LoadMaster is a better design in a number of ways and one day I'll have to post a comparison I've done between them.

I did just that and have one set up for small primer, one for large and sitting just to the left of them on the reloading bench is a Dillon SL900, which is a good deal and the only one I would recommend.

Mike Dillon is the greatest salesman of extended warranties in history.

 

[The Happy Kaboomer]

Lee pro 1000=POS.......One given to me...NEVER worked right...Threatened to take a ball peen hammer to it....BIL interfered...Gave it to him.........Been running 2 SDB's with 6 caliber changes from Dillon for over 20 years.....No problems......I use Lee dies/molds/hand primers and other stuff they make......But will not ever own their progressive presses.

 

[rob-c]

If your not shooting competition , then a turret press is the way to go I load 380/38/357/44 on mine and I have a pro auto disc powder drop mounted on all of them so it's just a matter of swapping plates. Myself why I like the turret is your going faster but your also watching every step, and adding another caliber is as simple as buying the dies and a turret plate .if you do get a turret Google lee turret modifications probably the best one I think is adding a light so you can see the powder in the case .i still use my single stage for loading 300 savage and 30-30 but my wife and I don't shoot a couple hundred rounds in a range trip of those :wink: .