Looking to buy my first press...

[swampratt]

yes i am.. I just go slow with already primed and sized brass that i did on my single stage Lee classic cast .

I then twist in my powder through expander die and set it up for station 1.
Then station 2 gets the bullet seating die .
then the 3rd hole gets my lee carbide crimp die and i size the case back down with this and done.

When beginning i manually install an empty primed brass casing and flare and fill with pull 1.
then slowly bring the press handle back up and now the filled case is in the second position where the
Lee primer seater is .......Be careful here if you pull the handle up too far the primer seater will flip the case out of the shell holder..SOOOO you do not bring the press handle all the way up.

I manually install a lead bullet and install another case into position 1 and pull the handle down and fill a case and seat a bullet in the first case.
Then bring the handle 3/4 the way back up and again and again and again...

It keeps plopping out ammo....
I just had to try it as the single stage is a bit slow for making a bunch of ammo.

Here is something else i have done.

The shell plate will not advance until you move the press arm a little ways.
I have a light load with AA#5 powder and i have a fairly quick 357 mag load 1300fps with the same powder.. just so happens my light load is exactly 1/2 of my fast hotter load.. so i do 2 pulls on the press arm to do a double fill on my case.

Remember I do NOT move the press arm enough to allow the shell plate to advance.

Neat things you can do with the Lee press.

When you go to set up the powder through expander die if you use one and the Lee powder measure together you should look down the hole that the powder comes out of to fill the case...Make sure the disc hole is completely over the through hole and all powder gets dropped into the case.

Pretty simple.
You can also adjust it too far and over flare the case..Well over flare to me anyway..I hate to work my brass too much.

You will figure it out soon!!!

 

[TheLastDaze]

press came in yesterday along with my tumbler etc... loaded 600 rounds with quite a learning curve...

I expected it to be finicky and to need some tlc when I bought it, only thing I've done was wet sand and polish out the bullet chute (all of 5 mins), it came with dies in it and 'adjusted' but I reset all the dies, with this set up I did have to work and guide probably 85% of the bullets when seating... I need to adjust for more flare to increase productivity but I wasn't concerned about it as this is my first time ever reloading..

glad I bought a bullet puller as I screwed up about 12 rounds, half of those the primer didn't seat all the way the other half didn't cap at all which let to more problems...

I quickly found out the wire for the case sensor was on half way from the factory, after cleaning and reinstalling it for another 5 mins I was off again... I found out very quickly when powder gets in the primer chute its a repeated problem, jams etc...

I plan to use graphite in many places that make contact as well as some on the primer chute... I had zero problems with primer tray feeding probably cuz its a new press and the markings on the arm haven't worn..

I will need a couple more primer trays as filling them lends down time when you're pumping quantity...

I also loaded a 380auto on accident !!!!! wow what a kick that would have in my LCP

with that can I assume I can reload 380 with the same dies??? maybe just reset them??

all in all I'm in this thing for $290 with all the tools I need to make ammo, with the square deal I would have spent close to $500 for the press alone....

I'm happy with its performance and know I'll be happy once I tweak a few things here and there... The whole point was to make ammo on the cheap and with lee you can definitely do that !!!!! It makes ammo that makes a bang just like any other machine, but I can make more bang for the buck

now I'm just awaiting for more casings I bought here from RickN then I should be stock piled and able to collect my own brass.. and I have around 1100 rounds of factory ammo I can collect brass from as well....

I see me becoming a brass whore in my near future

 

[swampratt]

I do not have graphite on any of my parts on my lee 1000 and they feed just fine.
Keep an eye on the primer tray , make sure it is feeding primers because if it does not keep the channel full you will get a sideways primer or flipped primer when you go to seat one.

That is due to the rod that rubs down one leg to create vibration ... vibrate an olmost empty or 1/2 full primer channel and primers bounce and get contorted.

So you are using 5.7gr correct????


And not .57CC
Because they are not the same as you probably know.
I have a small chart i posted on my bench that tells me what CC each of my pistol powders will weigh.
But when that particular bottle is empty you must weigh and measure for the new powder.

ALL powder has a different VMD Volume Measured Density .. same batch no issues ...Different batch ,check it.

 

[TheLastDaze]

I let it get low a couple times like down to 7 primers, maybe that's why I seated one primer sideways ..... ops:

you are correct 5.7gr weighed 8 x before loading and was dead on, after loading about 200 rds I checked weight again and was perfect...

lee's charts don't show the CFE, so it took some trial and error and a little powder spilled before I got the right one I needed, .41cc.

so do you think I could load .380 with these dies?? my thinking is I would just have to set the dies down lower to accommodate for shorter casing...

and I completely see why you run your press the way you do, but for me being a beginner It would prove very difficult.. I pulled a couple casings that didn't get any powder (chain came loose) later I rant them through and skipped the decapping die, but on one I forgot.... and out came a new primer, I took it slow and easy for the most part and I would say took 2.5hrs for the 630 rds I made...

 

[TheLastDaze]

shot around 300 of my first reloads off today !!!! what satisfaction there is knowing as long as I have components no matter what the market does I can always replenish !!

I had only one failure to fire, one of the primers didn't go off.... good drill but disappointing nonetheless, I discarded the round as not sure I feel confident removing the bullet with my puller....