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I have a chance to buy one of two Lee reloading presses and I just want one. Whichever one I don't want is already spoken for but I get first choice.

One is a Lee pro 1000, and one is a Lee Classic Turret Press.

The pro 1000 has 3 holes for dies. The Classic Turret has 4 holes.

I notice that die sets come in threes, and am wondering what the 4th hole is for on the Classic? Do I need something extra to fill it?

At Cabelas.com, the Classic with 4 holes costs about $30 more and will reload rifle ammo but the Pro 1000 will load only up to .223, or so it says.

Please, what am I looking at here and which one do I want? I mostly want to load pistol and .223, but it would be nice but not necessary to load for my .270.

From what I can see, the Pro 1000 feeds shells and primers automatically, and the Classic requires the shells to be inserted by hand and a button pushed for a primer. ???

Both outfits are ready to use, set up on a bench and are said to be complete. There are no dies - he sold all of them.

Advice please?

Thanks. :)
 
The pro 1000 has 3 holes for dies. The Classic Turret has 4 holes.

I notice that die sets come in threes, and am wondering what the 4th hole is for on the Classic? Do I need something extra to fill it?

short answer No.

long answer.....The 4th hole in the turret can be used for whatever you want. Like a trim die or crimp die. SOme people prefer to seat the bullet and then crimp whereas the lee and some other dies does the seat/crimp in the same operation. if you do the seat/crimp in a separate ops, then it allows you to more or less get the LOA as you dial it in the seat step.

you can also use it for a trim station, like a dillon case trimmer, but if the turret is revolving, then the trimmer cord will get twisted.

im thinking, that lee had in mind the crimp station or their FCDs.


At Cabelas.com, the Classic with 4 holes costs about $30 more and will reload rifle ammo but the Pro 1000 will load only up to .223, or so it says.

again. Yes and no. The case feeder on the Lee Pro 1000 will handle the 223 but doesnt sort thru them as well as it does with shorter cases.

there is just barely enough between the shell plate carrier and the dies to load '06, but the case feeder wont handle the '06. Also, the powder measure maynot be able to throw enough powder for the '06.

also, i havent tried any '06 on my Pro 1000, but im thinking, with the extra force required to size it, the shell plate carrier could be pulled from the ram on the up stroke. ive had it happen on some 223 that wasnt lubed well enough. The connection between the shell plate carrier and the ram is just a friction fit.

Please, what am I looking at here and which one do I want? I mostly want to load pistol and .223, but it would be nice but not necessary to load for my .270.

If you want to load larger then 223, then i would go for the Classic. However, im not sure how they set it up for a true progressive...ie powder thrower if thats what you want. im thinking you can use their Auto-Disk Powder measure but im thinking that it will need to clear the priming system. Im thinking you can use a funnel in the flare/charge die since its designed that way. but you will have to manually drop powder into the funnel.

From what I can see, the Pro 1000 feeds shells and primers automatically, and the Classic requires the shells to be inserted by hand and a button pushed for a primer. ???

You are correct with respect to the Pro 1000.

im not sure about the Classics Priming system, but i wouldnt design it for the user to "press" a button to feed primer. but thats just me.

Both outfits are ready to use, set up on a bench and are said to be complete. There are no dies - he sold all of them.

Advice please?

Thanks. :)

some comments:

If youre not mechanically inclinded or dont have any patience, i would skip the Pro1000. It can be finicky at times and the priming system is the worse offender. with that said, i dont fully progressively reload my ammo. i do however use my pro1000s to progressively:

Pistol:
> deprime/size
> flare

Rifle:
> deprime/size

for the Rilfe cases, i will trim them here if needed.

I polish all of my cases after these steps. some people do it first, i dont. I do have to visually check/clear the flash hole for any debris, but i use that time to also separate the cases by headstamp and sometimes by caliber.

i prime by hand using the Lee Auto Prime since i can "feel" how the primers are being seated into the case. It also allows me visually inspect the case more when handling the cases.

If im going to reload them, then i will put them in trays. if not i put them in plastic bins so that they are primed and ready and all i need to do is to put them in trays, charge, seat/crimp the bullet.

I load using reloading trays so when i drop the powder into the cases, i can visually check each case before i place the bullet.

thats how i do it and it works great for me.

I have and use 3 Pro 1000s and 1 turret press. i dont have the Classic, although i wouldnt mind having one.

The PRO 1000 is a progresive press. Im not sure about the Classic with regards to the powder dispensing system.

the Pro 1000s priming system isnt the best and can malfuncion if you dont keep the priming tray partiall/full as per the instructions.

the case feeder is a manual operation too. but it works!

also, when reloading small cases like 9mm, powder will get tossed from the case when the shell plate indexes. from what i understand, dillons SDB does it too.

one thing nice about the turrets is that you just need to set your dies once. of course, the seat/crimp and sometimes the flareing die needs to be ajusted depending on the caliber and use.
 
If you are just starting out,a turret press is a good idea,no moving parts to jam or break,and poutting in cases and bullets by hand is a very easy thing to do.A progressive like the 1000 will domore rounds faster but you have to know the basics to be able to run one safely..what to watch out for,that kind of stuff.
The 4-hole idea,I like. I always seat and crimp in a difeent step,makes die adjustment soooo much easier.
 
Thanks for the answers guys. I really appreciate it. I'm pretty sure I'll have more than one press when this is over.

I have a couple of friends who reload with rcbs rockchuckers, and they will teach me the basics, but I wanna get faster eventually. :)

Thanks again.
 
I have a Classic Turret. It works really well for us. (And we had never reloaded before it, for now, we only do .223)
We did buy the crimp die separately, it works great. We also have the Lee Auto-Disk Powder Measure, and there is an "extension" piece you can buy to make it clear the primer feed.
We've had a bit of issue getting the primer feed down. If you have the primer too far away from the little piece that it drops into, it'll flip itself over, which can be a pain. It just takes some getting used to.

Depending on the powder you use (We use IMR 4198) You might need to go through Lee's and buy the double disk kit for the powder measure. Sometimes (Depending on all of your personal variables) The holes in the measure, don't get large enough to drop enough powder.

Any other specific questions, ask away and if I know the answer, I'll be happy to help!
 
Thank you for the information. :)

I was advised to buy H335 because I'm told it measures better but I don't know that's true. That's what I have to try though so we'll see.
 

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