LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

[black_ump]

I have two questions to ask.

1. how do you like the lee pro 1000 ? I would like to get one in 45 acp and am currious do you have to buy the bullet feeder extra ? if so is it worth it ? does it spit pretty accurate charges ? opinions would rock.

2. I need some advice on reloading for my 45acp hk usc/ump clone, I have no experianc with how sub guns should feel and what kind of ammo is preferd, i dont want to run +p+ but i would like somthing that gets to where its going, I would like to enguage the steel plates at 100 yards. any suggestions on powders would be cool and load date would be pretty cool.

thanks in advance

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

Anything with small primers and no crimped primers, you'll be OK. Large primers like the 45 ACP and you'll do good if it lasts to 5,000 rounds. That's why I bought the Dillon. I went through 4 set up for 45 before I bought the Dillon.

9mm, 380 and 38/357 and you'll do OK. I really don't think you'll like the Lee PRO 1000 set up fror 45 acp.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[rogue308]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I have a Lee Loadmaster that works great. I crank out about 400 rounds an hour and it's all reliable ammo. My last one had atleast 100,000 rounds loaded on it. You will have to tweak it every now and then so if you are one of those people who have a hard time figuring out how shit works I wouldn't recommend it. I wouldn't ever reload rifle on it, I keep a single stage press around for that.

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I cannot speak for the indivual piece of equipment that you have. But the past experience with not one but multiple Pro 1000s set up for 45 acp has been sharply different from what you state. Maybe your model is different. But the poor quality of the material of the castings and engineering of the linkage, is just not top level quality. At least not for large primer cartridges. After I bought the Dillon 650, I wondered why I put up with the Lee Pro 1000s as long as I did.

 

[rogue308]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I have a Loadmaster, not the 1000. Just wanted to point out to the op that for a few bucks more he could have a progressive press that I believe is nice anyway. 90% of my pistol reloading is .45. Don't get me wrong, you will never catch me bad mouthing a Dillon but for a fraction of the price and 400 rounds an hour I'm happy.

 

[Victor N TN]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

Not a problem. You express your experiences and I did mine. I just have a problem with ALMOST every LEE press I have used. Single stage or progressive.

Good luck.

 

[Mike_R]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I have a Lee pro 100 that I use to load .45 ACP and while I am not as experienced as some on this board I have had good luck with it. Getting everything dialed in was an exercise in frustration for me as I had never used a progressive press but once I separated all of the operations out and adjusted everything one step at a time it worked well for me. I have loaded thousands of rounds of .45 so far with no problems. They have a pretty decent warranty IIRC. I can't vouch for all but I'm happy with mine. As far as the bullet feeder I place the bullets by hand, and it seems to go quick enough for me.

 

[dighawaii]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

If you're getting started and must have a progressive press, a LEE 1000 or Load Master will do the trick.

Many years ago when I was shooting multiple calibers heavily, economics (time and money) forced me to go with five Lee 1000's. Overall, I feel that I got my money's worth out of these machines. I also stocked up on additional primer trays, primer feed assemblies, shell tubes, etc. I was a happy camper.

While reloading 9mm one day, I was in my zone and pumping these rounds out like gang busters. After putting in a fresh primer tray of primers, in mid primer stroke, I felt an unusual resistance but I was "pumping" and best explained as I couldn't stop and then KABOOOOOM and a blinding flast! Not only did the primer that I was seating explode, it ignited ALL of the primers in the chute and then up to the primer tray. There were plastic fragements everywhere. Fortunately, I was wearing safety glasses but I had plastic shards in my face and chest and deep enough to draw blood. The explosion was loud enough to make my ears ring for over 2 weeks! The Doctor told me that luckily the blast did not perforate my ear drum. But the ringing was constant.

My entire gun room was pouring smoke. Even my neighbors came out to see if I was alright.

When my ears stopped ringing, I raised enough courage to re-enter my gun room which was a mess. After determining what caused the explosion, I re-evaluated the Lee primer system and surmised that plastic with NO SHIELD was a chancy design. Suffice it to say, since that day, I have NEVER used those machines again. Yup, I just dumped them. Didn't want this to happen to anyone else.

Now in retrospect, I held economics over my health (although it was innocently).

Since, I have chosen to go with a Dillon 650. The primer system has a shield surrounding the primer tube and the only direction for a mishap blast to go is up. It might blow the plastic primer rod through the roof but I am confident that this is a MUCH SAFER design. Other companies offer the same or similar design but I simply chose to go with Dillon.

So if you choose to go with a Lee loader, please use caution when reloading.

Another note: After buying the Dillon, I was extremely impressed with the fit and tolerances of the machine. The Lee's became more and more loose over time and never felt as "tight" as the Dillon did out of the box.

This is just my experience with the Lee 1000 progressive press.

Aloha,

Tom O.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I also have the Loadmaster. It works well for pistol ammo but I still wish I had bought the Dillon 650. I picked based on getting two calibers for the price instead of one. After setting it up it runs well but I've had a powder issue or two.

 

[Scatt_Nasty]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I'm also contemplating on purchasing the Lee Pro 1000. After getting the anniversary kit (single stage) I was very dissapointed with their primer system and how cheap the powder dispenser was. Looking at their picture and seeing the same plastic crap in the pro 1000 kit makes me nervous. I will only be using it for .40 S&W so I'm not sure if I should take the plunge or not.

If priming is the only issue people are having I will resize/deprime, tumble, hand prime and then run them through the pro 1000.

 

[Buckoman]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I've loaded 1000's of subsonic 9mm for my silenced smg. No problem. Deffinately a go.

 

[koz]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I've loaded over 50,000 9mm, 38/357, and 40SW (All small primers) on my Lee 1000. I've messed up plenty of primers on crimped cases, but never had a real problem. I measure power randomly and it's always close enough for pistols/sub guns. That said, if I had it all to do over again, I would start with a Dillon. You'll probably end up there anyway....

 

[rrflyer]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I reloaded over 15,000 rounds on my lee pro 1000 for 45acp before it finally gave up.

A friend of mine has one setup for .223, 9mm major, 38 super, and 45. I have a dillon 650 now and it is nicer but for 9X the cost.

 

[samnev]

Re: LEE pro 1000 and reloading for sub gun ?

I have been loading 45 ACP on my Dillion 550 for about 15 years for my Colt 21/28, Reising Model 50 and several 45 ACP hanguns. Too many thousands of rounds to count. Never had a single problem and if I did Dillion's Lifetime Warranty is not BS.