Reloading Equipment

[BILGERATED]

Hey all!
I have a question about the Lee Pro 1000. What do you think of it for 9mm and 357mag? Any help would be great!

 

[J.Brown]

I have a load master, very similar in design and function. the load master is a 5 stage. i load 9, 40, 45, 44mag and 223 on it and once you get used to how it operates and where to watch while your running it it works flawlessly. it only acts up when im not paying attetion. ive contmplated the pro 1000 however i like the 5th hole for crimping.

 

[BILGERATED]

Good call, I didn't think of that. Crimping is a must for 357 mag, right?

 

[alucard0822]

I load most of my handun calibers on a pair of pro-1000s. They work OK, but the biggest disadvantage is only having 3 holes for dies, so post sizing and crimping have to be done on a separate press. The crimps produced by a seating/crimp die are terrible, and the Lee dies do not upport the case, often times buckling it, especially in long calibers like 357 mag, the case will likely buckle before you get a crimp sufficiently deep, and then it will be uneven. The factory crimp die is wonderful, and all but eliminates any functional problems with your ammo, and especially in 357mag it is critical to crimp lead bullets sufficiently.

If I had to do it over again(and I still might), I would probably get the loadmaster, or if you are looking to shoot a lot(I do), a Hornady L&L AP if I was going to shoot a lot of a variety of calibers or Dillon if I was to shoot a TON of one or two calibers.

I have probably loaded upwards of 50,000 rounds over a pair of pro-1000s, RCBS rock chucker and classic cast turret presses, and they have held up ok, However I would consider an ideal set up being a single loadmaster or Hornady LNL progressive with case feeder and a good single stage like the Rock chucker or lee classic cast. Lee is definitely the best deal in reloading, but if you consider the thousands of hours worth of work, several thousands you spend on components and guns, and enjoyment you get from loading and shooting, a couple hundred more for a quicker and MUCH smoother press is definitely worth it. I never thought there was much difference, loaded ammo is loaded ammo, but from playing around with a Hornady, you can definitely feel the difference, much smoother and felt dead solid compared with the really flexy pro-1000 and clunky loadmaster, hardware, powder measure setup and the retension spring were far better too. I am not sure if the price difference would make it worth it for the casual shooter, especially being it cost a couple times more than a loadmaster setup. However caliber change kits are relatively affordable compared to the Dillon, the Hornady is slightly cheaper and feels just as good as a 550B setup, it's closest competition.

 

[J.Brown]

I crimp every thing, rifle ammo to keep the presures even, pistol to keep the seating depth from changing in the mag/cylender, ecspecially the .44 mag. in a nut shell alucard has summed it up pretty good. loadmaster works great for me, im thinking about adding a second press to my bench and amlooking at the hornady l-n-l, as far as the dillion, i cant seem to seperate with that much money when the lee works great for me.

 

[midcountyg]

I have loaded many rounds on pro 1000 presses, and literally wore out two of them a few years ago. Keep in mind they served me well for years and loaded thousands of rounds. I now have another pro 1000 set up for .40, and three loadmasters for .45, 9mm, and .223. I thought the loadmaster would be a big improvement over the pro 1000, but I was dissapointed. All the Lee presses work well once you have a feel for them, but the parts are all cheaply made. I haven't messed with the Hornady, but if I were to replace my presses I would give them a look. My next time around I will probably spend more money and get something with fewer plastic parts.

 

[Cowboy T]

Here are some videos on how to do a takedown / clean / reassemble of a Pro 1000.

http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/pro1000.html

I have two Pro 1000's, one for .38Spl/.357M and another for .45 Colt. For the money, the Pro 1000 is very hard to beat, especially if you need to load *lots* of handgun ammo. The one thing to be careful of is that you keep the press clean, *especially* the primer feed mechanism. When it gets dirty, it can feed primers sideways. But just keep it clean, and they're great. Thousands of rounds have been loaded on each of mine.

As for the crimp, I do somewhat heavy .357M with cast boolits, and the third station (bullet seating/crimp die) does a fine job of a heavy crimp if you ask it to. You don't really *need* the Lee Factory Crimp Die if your bullets are properly sized, but yeah, I agree it'd be kinda nice to have it. :-)

 

[Caeb75]

Eddie...
If you can wait till it warms up a little, bring up some components, and I'll let you get some crank time on the 650. Blue Kool Aid is good...

 

[Baumer]

I've loaded both the 9mm and 357mag on the Lee Pro1000, .45acp also. It's functional but can be quirky. To workaround the crimping issue I bought an additional turret and put the 3 caliber crimp dies in it. After loading the rounds I would swap to the crimping turret and crimp in single stage fashion by disabling shell plate rotation. Obviously this kinda defeats the purpose of a progressive reloader but.........

These days I run a quirk free 5 station Hornady LNL AP.

Baumer