Lee Pro 1000 Reloader - so what's the big deal keeping it running?
- From: martywittrock@xxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 12:02:31 +0000 (UTC)
I've seen several posts to this forum by various reloaders that the Lee
Pro 1000 keeps getting jammed and will not reload right. I've seen
post after post about primers not loading right and getting jammed. If
you read this post, you'll love that Lee Pro 1000 Reloading press again
and skip that $500.00 investment on a used Dillon or RCBS progressive
reloading press - keep on readin'.....
I bought my Lee Pro 1000 off EBay about a month ago and had decided to
just go the route of progressive reloading - it made a lot of sense to
me to pull the lever and make a bullet with every pull. But once I got
my press in the mail, pulled it from the box and set it up - it was a
nightmare to run. It came with .38 Special and .357 Mag dies and was
all setup to run those right out of the box. Like the posts mentioned,
it jammed up, primers didn't seat right (or got jammed sideways),
on-and-on-and-on.......until I read a post here on Google that made
complete sense.
The author of that post mentioned that the biggest mistake made by
fellows that reload is to use a thin coating of oil (like WD-40) on the
surfaces of their shell carrier and to the shell plate. Unlike most
fellows, the author of that post mentioned that he used a thin coating
of grease on those surfaces and made sure that the primer tray was kept
clean and always full of primers. So, taking his advise, I did the
same thing:
1.) I disassembled the entire press and cleaned every metallic part of
it with automotive brake degreasing fluid, rubbing the parts dry with a
clean shop rag. For the plastic parts, I used rubbing alcohol and a
set of Q-tips to clean the primer tray and feed assembly until it felt
completely dry of any residual oil. When everything was clean, I then
put all the parts on the table to reassemble the press bit-by-bit.
2.) I started reassembling the carrier first and applied a thin coating
of gear grease (like you use to grease the front end of a car) to the
carrier surface and the shell plate where it mates to that surface.
Just get yourself a small glass jar with a lid and pump a small amount
of gear grease into the jar to use from time to time. Take a small dab
of it on your fingertip and wipe onto the surface until you get a nice
even coat of grease on it. This may take about 2 - 3 attempts to smear
it on evenly. Installed the spring and ball into the third postion
(bullet press position).
3.) Installed the primer pin+spring assembly (including the shell
sensor wire and shell sensor) to the carrier into the carrier assembly.
On the OUTSIDE surfaces that slide up and down on the primer feed and
carrier I applied the same thin coating of gear grease to allow free
movement of the primer feed, making sure NONE of the grease met the
primer feed and primer pin. If you do, then you have to use a Q-tip to
wipe it clean again, but it'll be fine. I then mounted the newly
cleaned and lubed primer feed to the carrier.
4.) Installed the lubed shell plate to the carrier and screwed
everything down with the connecting rod to the shell plate (the one
with the twist in it). Tightened everything up on the carrier assembly
to lock everything down.
5.) Installed the carrier onto the reloader's base and tightened it
down with the hex head screw on the carrier's body and tightened to the
actuating rod on the press. Installed the turret bracket (top of the
reloader), shell advance (plastic piece that pushes the shell into the
shell plate) and connected the wire rod that moves the shell advance to
the bracket/spring at the top right corner of the press.
6.) Finally, I installed the turret of loaded .38 Special dies onto the
press for a dry-run. I noticed that when I pulled the handle it felt A
LOT smoother than it did when I first set it up and ran it. I also
noticed that it needed to be adjusted so the shell plate aligned
correctly to each process step. Look under the carrier assembly for
that adjustment - it's a phillips screw head adjustment. Move it CW or
CCW to allow the shall plate to snap to each process step correctly
aligned. If you assembled it right, the primer pin should be exactly
in the middle of the shell plate like it would be ready to load a
primer. The final thing I assembled to the press was the shell ejector
pin.
7.) Finally, give it a dry run for function for each process step
(de-primer/sizer, primer load/charge load, and then bullet press). If
it makes a bullet in great shape - you're in business. Keep reloading.
Just make sure you keep the primer tray full and the primers are
getting constantly fed.
8.) When you get down to 10 primers in the tray, the press will give
you fits with primers feeding. Get used to it - the laws of physics
apply here and the primer feed is not a perfectly designed assembly - -
even if it were Teflon coated it wouldn't feed to the last primer. Lee
needs to work this issue sometime - otherwise it would be a flawless
process. Also, you really need to drill a small hole (about the size
of a small nail or paper clip) at the base of the primer feed tray and
cover to keep primers from spilling all over the place when you first
mount the tray to the feed. Just pull the nail (or the wire) away when
you slip the tray into the feed. If you do this, then primers will
drop from the tray like they should and into the feed with precision -
- just make sure they're all right side up, too.
This is how I did mine. It runs like a brand new press and I've now
reloaded 200 rounds of .38 Special, 200 rounds of .357 Magnum and just
did 100 rounds of .44 Magnum without ONE FLAW. I'm amazed how well
this Lee Pro 1000 works for what I paid for it - - and it was FAR less
than the Dillon or RCBS presses are in price - even on EBay. Not
knocking them, but you can't really go wrong here with the Lee Pro 1000
press if you maintain it. JUST DON'T USE THIN OIL (like WD-40) TO LUBE
IT - - that's the recipe for disaster since that kind of oil will
spread everywhere and will cause the primer feed to gum up once there's
enough residual gunpowder to cause the gum-up condition to happen!!
USE GEAR GREASE and use it SPARINGLY (thinly spread on surfaces)!! If
you do, it won't gum-up your press!
Also, everytime you change the shell plate for a new caliber, just wipe
up the grease on the carrier and the shell plate and apply a new
coating of grease to make everything perfect for the next reload
session. On occasion, you may have to disassemble the press and
maintain it - but I haven't had to yet and it's still working GREAT
after MANY reloads!!
Keep on reloadin'.....! MJW
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