My $.02 On Lee Pro 4000 (Breechlock Pro)

[TommyFun]

No photos...

Background:
I've used all sorts of reloading equipment over the years and around 2020 and the Plandemic I spent some good cheddar to flush out a lot of the Lee equipment and put in some blue Dillon based gear. Since components dried up, why not spend that money on tools?

2020-2024 I was using exclusively Dillon XL750 and a Lee Breechlock Cast single stage. I have and had no bias towards press equipment, none are perfect and some allow you to load more ammo faster. Less press time and more other hobby time. Many years ago I actually had a member from this forum help me in my formative years get started on reloading.

A few years ago, Lee released a progressive style press that would take Breech Lock bushings. Genius idea I thought and after using their Loadmaster (which is an utter piece of garbage), I managed to get the Load master working properly. It takes a BS in engineering to get it to run right. I sold a Lee 1000 and a Classic Turret press with a lot of die heads to exchange for the Dillon 750.

Enter the Lee Pro 4000.

I ordered the press only, I did not feel the need to add the remaining accessories. I wanted to try this press out. Was it worth the hype?

TLDR: No, not worth it.

Setting up the 4000 was supposed to be simple, insert the proper shell plate, set up your dies in the Breech Lock bushings and load. Some functions would be manual since I was hand feeding primers, cases and bullets. This was ok, it was an accepted process for a $170 press, after all it was not a fine tuned Dillon or the simple cousin Classic Cast Turret.

I immediately ran into problems. The powder through expander die would catch the brass as it was being fed into it. Simply put, the pivot point of their shell plate carrier was not the center of the shell plate, it was the center of the ram which was centered directly below the station to put your sizer die. This gave the shell plate carrier the ability to articulate like your wrist on your hand posing a problem with alignment.

Contact with Lee stated to release the tension of the toolhead bolts, seat 4 cases in their dies and then tighten them back up once the alignment was correct. Don't adjust the carrier they said. If it comes to that, send it in (at $45 in freight, no thank you). Fiddling and farting with all permutations lead me to a dead end, no alignment was enough to satiate the brass from getting eaten by the dies in stations 2, 3 and 4. Alignment was still off.

After a weekend away, I came back and loosened the shell plate carrier and gave it some love with a dead blow. Clockwise to no help, counter clockwise to improvement. More love and the remaining stations started to align better. Snugged it down and then adjusted the toolhead again.

Finally we had improvement. I could run brass in a circle without destroying it.

My first load run was running some 90gr .380ACP, it was working albeit slowly and running it at around 1/2 capacity seemed to work well enough without a Safety Prime or a bullet and case feeder. It was serving its purpose.

Spent some time finishing up the 100 rounds of .380 and then moved towards using it as a processing station for .40 S&W. As a single purpose press for processing it was faster than a single stage press but slower than a true progressive due to no case feeder. It did work as intended and a few small tweaks here and there has allowed me to process around 200 cases of .40S&W.

I finished off the .40S&W by running 100 180gr XTP JPH's through, good crimp and alternating so I had one piece of brass in every other slot. Manually operating this way, one could find a rhythm (sort of) and could load with reasonable speed assuming you didn't lose your cadence or suffer from a short stroke that could easily change your pattern and throw you off.

All in all, I'll give Lee 5.5/10 on this press. Good idea, poor execution

• Lee Classic Cast Turret: 8.5/10 (-1.5 due to machining issues with the turret heads and requiring fitment and finish machining before use) High marks due to simplicity and reliability once set up.
• Lee Loadmaster: 3/10
• Dillon 750: 8.5/10 (-1.5 due to pricing)
• Single Stage presses: 9/10
• Lee Breechlock Cast: 9.25/10 (+.25 for ease of repeatable Breechlock bushing die settings)

I'm more comfortable running my Dillon 750 and my Lee Classic Cast Turret press than the Pro 4000. While I have a lot of Breech Lock bushings, I will not be setting myself up with a bunch of shell plates and extra die sets for it. I will (and did) set myself up with duplicate heads in my turret press as what's in my 750 for common calibers I shoot.

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Ok for a new reloader wanting to run single stage speed in a 'progressive' press
• Can be run as a manual indexing press rather easily

Cons:

• Requires fine tuning and tinkering
• Not as smooth as the Lee Classic Cast Turret but slightly faster (I personally think I can load faster on the LCCT)
• Simpler than their Pro 6000
• Way simpler than the Loadmaster
• Tweaking is not intuitive
• Cannot use Inline Fabrication ergo handles with case feeder, can use that handle if you don't have a case feeder installed.
• Shell plate can be finicky if full strokes are not completed.
• Too much plastic around the carrier, damage to case feeding runway requires a large disassembly to replace the plastic.

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[DizzyJ]

Appreciate the time you took to give the write up.

 

[red442joe]

Thanks for sharing.
I have four Pro 1000's, a Classic Cast, a three hole Turret, and a Single Stage.
Cost was the single factor in choosing Lee, and all mine were used.
It takes plenty to get running right. Once there, I try not to make changes. It's definitely fiddly.
Basically I don't change calibers, I change presses...
I enjoy working with my presses, and they ultimately make good ammo.

Joe

 

[P7M13]

Oh dude, you are a glutton for punishment! All that work when you have a 750 !
Thanks for writing this review and saving others grief.

 

[dangerranger60]

I can usually make anything work, but the loadmaster is the one that beat me! I finally abandoned the primer feed altogether and started only using pre primed cases.
I have used other Lee equipment and been pretty happy once I sort them out.
I am thinking of buying a 4000 as a one caliber loader. once setup for one caliber and one bullet shape it should not take much adjustment. I will again be using pre prepped and pre primed brass so all operations will be automatic except the bullet feed.
The 4000 has been out long enough that I have not seen issues with them. No one I know has had timing issues. I know 4 people that have them, and the Op is the first I have seen on the net that has this issue. DR

 

[TommyFun]

No one I know has had timing issues. I know 4 people that have them, and the Op is the first I have seen on the net that has this issue. DR

Well, that's good then. There still is some interference with the primer arm that interferes by about .005" with the shell plate carrier every so often. I may take the carrier off and bevel the edges, you can definitely feel and hear the pop when it catches and then goes into the slot. But... doing that will require the carrier to come off and means I have to realign it again. Not sure I want to attempt it while it's still on the press due to minimal access at that spot.

Could be why Lee 'support' wasn't much support other than saying it could be sent in. Maybe I got a Friday afternoon one.

@misterarman has one up for cheap right now. Considered picking it up for parts on the cheap.