I switched things around on my Lee presses

[Caveman Jim]

I have a Lee Pro1000, a classic turret and a classic single stage press. Yep, they're all RED!!!
I had the pro 1000 set up for pistol cartridges 40S&W and newly acquired 9mm 4 die set. Being as the Pro1000 is only a three hole progressive I had to do the final phase and crimp on the single stage press, taking up more time and effort to complete one round.

I had the classic turret press set up for 223 and 300 blackout but was not satisfied with the erratic seating depths that I was seeing. The problem seems to be that the turret has so much slop up top that I was having to mic each round. Depending on the measurement I would have to adjust the seating depth down or go to my collett bullet puller (in my classic single stage press 3' away) and raise the bullet slightly then again try the seating depth. It's been a royal PITA
I'll tell ya.

I know, third world problems right. I cannot spend money that I do not have on a better press but I like the ease of changing calibers.

Here's what I decided to do, I switched the rifle cartridge loading to the Pro 1000 since i have the #4 shellplate. I only need three stations anyways, I prep and prime all my brass before they hit the reloading press, pistol too.
I removed the 223 and 300BLK dies from the 4 hole turrets placing them into the 3's and the pistol dies into the 4 holers and adjusted each set.
It took a bit of work but I'm hoping the results will be favorable.

Thoughts?
(besides ditch the cheap setups and go blue)…

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[oremike]

The 4 dies in the 4 die press makes sense to me. If you still have trouble with the rifle seating you can do the loading on the 3 die machine and set the final depth/crimp on the single stage. I load all my personal rifle ammo on my Rockkchucker. Yes it takes awhile but it is good ammo hand tailored for each rifle.

 

[ma96782]

Whatever WORKS for you.

Aloha, Mark

 

[robertvarner]

Once you go BLUE,
you'll never be through.
But if you stay with RED,
you'll always be excit-ed!

Hey, don't be hatin'!

 

[TTSX]

My thoughts are, I've never been fully satisfied with Lee products and you're highlighting part of why. They're the cheapest and they give me the cheapest results. Going just ONE step higher has yielded satisfactory results without having to make anything work

 

[Caveman Jim]

Yeah I guess some don't enjoy a bit of a challenge sometimes, that's what Lee's are all about.
I have time on my side so I'll just adjust when needed. The Pro 1000 gives me pretty consistent results with pistol calibers.
I have entertained the thought of a Pro 4000 but I would still have to change out dies and shellplate each time. It might not be so bad since I usually only load 500+ at a time.

Like I said, I've got no desire to spend $2-3000 or more for a fully/semi automatic progressive setup.

 

[P7M13]

Three hole, eh? I have another die carrier for ya, Jim.
PM me your address and I'll mail it up.

 

[Member 34319]

I might be selling a progressive!

Id leave the progressive to the pistol rounds. If anything, prep the brass in a single stage a step or two ahead in bulk so you don't have to worry about the lack of a station on the progressive.

If anything, perhaps switch up your process a bit.

Im going down to just 1 press and it's a single stage RCBS Rock Chucker. I might upgrade to a better single stage, but in the end I'll only have one. I don't try to do everything all at once though. I prep everything one part at a time. I also only do one caliber at a time. If loading 9mm, which I am currently working on, I am decapping a few thousand all at once. Then I resize them all at once. This is where I'd normally stop and put them through the progressive for the rest, freeing up a stage for powder checks and crimping on a separate stage than with seating. Instead, since I'm trying to sell the progressive, I'll now be belling them all at once. Then prime all at once. Lastly I'll charge with powder and seat all at once.

You may already be do similar, just throwing out some thoughts.

 

[gmerkt]

Thoughts?
(besides ditch the cheap setups and go blue)…

Good on you for making stuff work.

I'm not an equipment snob. I like what works. In my scaling back project of the past few years, I ditched a lot of equipment that was little used or became redundant from shedding guns with cartridges I no longer loaded. But at my peak, shall we say, I had rainbow colors for brands. I liked what worked best for the least money. If it took more money to make it work right, I'd spend it. I had stuff from Lee, RCBS, Redding, Lyman, Hornady, Forster, Wilson, and yes Dillon.
The vast majority of my experience is with single stage equipment. I used a Rock Chucker for 20+ years. Then Lee came out with the Classic Cast press, the opening in it is larger than the RC, easier to load .30-06, so I thought I'd try one. Many years later, I'm still using the Lee Classic Cast. And, I might add, the bore for the ram didn't loosed up with use like it did on the Rock Chucker. Which is a point of maintenance that some people overlook, the ram should be cleaned and oiled periodically.

I've tried a Lyman turret press. I think looseness may be inherent to the design of turret presses. I hated the Lyman, overpriced ca-ca. It didn't stick around long. Caveman, you might try sending your Lee Classic Turret press back and see if they can tighten it up or replace it with one that is tighter. By design, it should be capable of consistent bullet seating depth.

I had a Dillon 550 set-up for a while. It didn't really make sense for me to have it, I'm not a competitive shooter needing mass amounts of ammo. But I wanted to try it. It was best for loading pistol cartridges; I found it to be fairly fiddly. I loaded some .223 and .308 on it to see how it went, I could never get reliable powder metering on the .308's. When loading rifle on the Dillon, I sized and primed the cases separately. You can't do it all in one pass on a 550. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Going back to the single stage was actually a joyful experience.

The Forster coaxial press, that was somebody's good idea that didn't work out for me. An upside to reloading equipment that doesn't work out for you, there always seems to be someone else who wants to adopt it.

 

[Caveman Jim]

I might be selling a progressive!

Id leave the progressive to the pistol rounds. If anything, prep the brass in a single stage a step or two ahead in bulk so you don't have to worry about the lack of a station on the progressive.

If anything, perhaps switch up your process a bit.

Im going down to just 1 press and it's a single stage RCBS Rock Chucker. I might upgrade to a better single stage, but in the end I'll only have one. I don't try to do everything all at once though. I prep everything one part at a time. I also only do one caliber at a time. If loading 9mm, which I am currently working on, I am decapping a few thousand all at once. Then I resize them all at once. This is where I'd normally stop and put them through the progressive for the rest, freeing up a stage for powder checks and crimping on a separate stage than with seating. Instead, since I'm trying to sell the progressive, I'll now be belling them all at once. Then prime all at once. Lastly I'll charge with powder and seat all at once.

You may already be do similar, just throwing out some thoughts.

YEP, many laying in wait.
I don't resize pistol brass until I'm ready to load.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Good on you for making stuff work.

I'm not an equipment snob. I like what works. In my scaling back project of the past few years, I ditched a lot of equipment that was little used or became redundant from shedding guns with cartridges I no longer loaded. But at my peak, shall we say, I had rainbow colors for brands. I liked what worked best for the least money. If it took more money to make it work right, I'd spend it. I had stuff from Lee, RCBS, Redding, Lyman, Hornady, Forster, Wilson, and yes Dillon.
The vast majority of my experience is with single stage equipment. I used a Rock Chucker for 20+ years. Then Lee came out with the Classic Cast press, the opening in it is larger than the RC, easier to load .30-06, so I thought I'd try one. Many years later, I'm still using the Lee Classic Cast. And, I might add, the bore for the ram didn't loosed up with use like it did on the Rock Chucker. Which is a point of maintenance that some people overlook, the ram should be cleaned and oiled periodically.

I've tried a Lyman turret press. I think looseness may be inherent to the design of turret presses. I hated the Lyman, overpriced ca-ca. It didn't stick around long. Caveman, you might try sending your Lee Classic Turret press back and see if they can tighten it up or replace it with one that is tighter. By design, it should be capable of consistent bullet seating depth.

I had a Dillon 550 set-up for a while. It didn't really make sense for me to have it, I'm not a competitive shooter needing mass amounts of ammo. But I wanted to try it. It was best for loading pistol cartridges; I found it to be fairly fiddly. I loaded some .223 and .308 on it to see how it went, I could never get reliable powder metering on the .308's. When loading rifle on the Dillon, I sized and primed the cases separately. You can't do it all in one pass on a 550. It just wasn't my cup of tea. Going back to the single stage was actually a joyful experience.

The Forster coaxial press, that was somebody's good idea that didn't work out for me. An upside to reloading equipment that doesn't work out for you, there always seems to be someone else who wants to adopt it.

I agree, I've always been one to make stuff work and put the majority of my $$$ in good components. To me, technique on whatever press is what makes consistent ammunition.
I'm not shooting as much as I used to (less trips to the range) but I use up plenty of ammo every year.
I've only been loading for about 10 years and the way my arthritis is progressing might not be able to continue for another 10. Knock on wood.

 

[3MTA3]

Yeah I guess some don't enjoy a bit of a challenge sometimes, that's what Lee's are all about.
I have time on my side so I'll just adjust when needed. The Pro 1000 gives me pretty consistent results with pistol calibers.
I have entertained the thought of a Pro 4000 but I would still have to change out dies and shellplate each time. It might not be so bad since I usually only load 500+ at a time.

Like I said, I've got no desire to spend $2-3000 or more for a fully/semi automatic progressive setup.

The Blue Borg has conferred on a plan to assimilate you:

• RL550 BL (no primer or powder system version of the RL550C) $395 Sell the Lee gear to help offset the cost
• Reuse your existing dies and Lee powder system(s)
• 550 tool heads to make cartridge swaps easy peasy lemon squeezy; $33 new ~$20 used

The only downside is that everything will be precise and trouble free. You will have to find something else to keep you occupied since you will be spending less time fixing issues and pulling bullets so you can seat them properly.

Here is one gent doing just that

 

[Caveman Jim]

Thanks for that brother, that was the model that piqued my interest when I was looking at getting into rolling my own.
I'll keep that in mind if I win the lottery. So I can buy a bigger boat to take all my new Dillon buddies fishin.

 

[DizzyJ]

Sorry, gotta say it.

Go blue. Use all that spare time you'll have to go fishing.

For pistol:
Takes me about 2 hours to go from empty spent casings to 1,000 fully loaded cartridges. No issues with bullet seating depth or powder charges (at least with bullseye powder). I use the rock chucker supreme for onesie twosie stuff, but there's no way I'd try to load 100 + anymore that way.

Rifle I load single stage, but I expect a lot more performance out of my rifle cartridges.

 

[3MTA3]

Thanks for that brother, that was the model that piqued my interest when I was looking at getting into rolling my own.
I'll keep that in mind if I win the lottery. So I can buy a bigger boat to take all my new Dillon buddies fishin.

We are coming for you, Jim...

 

[P7M13]

You will have to find something else to keep you occupied since you will be spending less time fixing issues and pulling bullets to you can seat them properly.

I had a Lee Loadmaster, and my Hornady LnL AP took a helluva lot more maintenance than the LM ever did. The Dillon 650, in contrast, has had the least maintenance.
Yep on the ram maintenance. Had a RC Jr that was pretty sloppy but it sure made good ammo. Now have the Classic Cast too.

 

[Caveman Jim]

We are coming for you, Jim...
View attachment 1135685

I WILL NOT ASSIMILATE!!!!



yet

 

[Caveman Jim]

Sorry, gotta say it.

Go blue. Use all that spare time you'll have to go fishing.

For pistol:
Takes me about 2 hours to go from empty spent casings to 1,000 fully loaded cartridges. No issues with bullet seating depth or powder charges (at least with bullseye powder). I use the rock chucker supreme for onesie twosie stuff, but there's no way I'd try to load 100 + anymore that way.

Rifle I load single stage, but I expect a lot more performance out of my rifle cartridges.

I'm retired so I'm not in a hurry except to be the first arsehole at the boat ramp at O dark-thirty.

 

[DizzyJ]

I WILL NOT ASSIMILATE!!!!



yet

I had such high hopes for you…..

 

[3MTA3]

I WILL NOT ASSIMILATE!!!!



yet

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