I have a LEE PRO 1000 for my pistols and even when taking my time it still produces ammo at an alarming rate...The auto-disc measure leaves a tad to be desired but once ya get it dialed it's ok for START loads for most non-magnum stuff and, I love the auto-prime feel.

Normally I'll de-cap and tumble before doing anything else and break "the process" up into two steps. Then add a third step and give the big stuff a trip through the FCD in another turret. Even with three steps it's still pretty quick and it cranks out the rounds.

For a three-hole under 150$ it's been serving me well of late and one can get creative with it, and turrets are only 10$ so......

Tonight I mixed it up even more making some 'snacks' for Boomer.
I've spot weighed drops when loading progresivley and they vary some so, not a giant issue for plinking or combat stuff but I wanted more controlled and better metered charges for fulll house stuff.
So I looked around at what I had on hand
Starting with prepped and matched cases, and the decap die removed, I run one case in manually, prime and flare it then pull it out for charging.
With a 5cc dipper I trickled my charges into the pan on my LEE "safety-scale" then charged the case manually through a funnel, then went back to the third station/hole on the press for deflare/seating.

After a batch is done I yank the turret and pop in the FCD in another turret and crimp 'em down.

Kinda fun doing it this way even though it takes around 5-6 mins per cartridge. The scale is uber sensative and I gotta close the windows and stuff and watch where I breath but I can get my charge EXACTLY to the kernal where I want them and after a while i got a nice mellow rythym going and there's no way the chages will be off, doubled or squibbed. Inormally do the full house stuff at Pop's as he's more set up for the one ataa time stuff.than I am.

So- we loaded up 3 batches, 15 rounds each for testing in Boomer.

200gr Nos JHP over 14gr 800x, Rem primer, PMC case cut to 1.275"

240gr Nos JHP over 14gr Blue Dot, ditto ditto etc.

240gr Nos JHP over 23gr H110, dito ditto....

These charges filled the cases nicely w/o having to compress so well see what we see w/ 3-shot strngs x 5.
So ,if it cools off some and these firess ever go uot we'll take some paper up to the hills and give the Ruger a run w/ these and a couple other home rolled recipe's.

It was fun doing it this way and if nothing else at least I know the charges are exact.

Stay tuned...

Sorry for the typos, this borrowed laptop is giving me fitts!!!

Weeeel....just got back from shootin' trap with yet another borrowed Beretta Silver Pigeon. (I must be doin' something right....peep's been trusting me with some pretty pricey shooters as of late and I'm diggin' it.... )My 20ga. is still in quarentine 'till next friday. California.....:x

Just swapped turrets and carriers and am on the back end of loading up 600 +, .38 Spl. +P's. (158gr SWC, 4.5gr of 231, Mag tech primers, mixed brass)Big shootemup coming next weekend on the South Bay Sportsmens property. Quail walk (20ga), target shoot and games/contests(Boomer, Jr., Peeweee will be gettin' some), BBQ etc. I'm prospecting to get in their club so...fingers crossed.

Back to the press for me, got a lotta more lever pullin' to do....after lunch, that is. Ummm... Bacon and Quail sammich sounds petty good right now....

I used the Pro 1000s for many years...even to the point of wearing two out. I did finally switch to the Loadmaster, but the 1000s are still a good value. Here are a couple tips that might help your production rates:

Two things can be done to increase the accuracy and dependability of the Auto-Disk measure:

When throwing larger quantities of powder (such as 21 grains of 2400 for .44 Magnums) I was disappointed with the consistency of the charges. Close inspection of the action of the measure soon revealed the culprit. The travel of the disk was insufficient to drop all of the powder into the charging chute and often left up to 1.5 grains of powder "hanging" at the lip formed by the angle of the chute and disk cavity. If the press was bumped just right, this powder might fall into the case; otherwise, it just stayed in the cavity and dropped a light charge into the case. This doesn't do a lot for accuracy. (This is not nearly as much a problem with smaller charges typical of .45 ACPs and equivalent)

The cure is simple. Using a Dremel tool with a small grinding head, carefully bevel the lip of the chute closest to the center of the measure base to a 30 to 45 degree angle. Check that the largest cavity you will use is completely over the chute mouth at full travel. Finish up with a bit of emery cloth or a Cratex polishing head on the Dremel to polish your ramp to a mirror finish and you are done. Now, every grain of powder in the cavity has no choice but to drop into the chute and end up in your case.

The powder cavities themselves can be "tuned" by careful trimming to throw the actual charge that you want. Choose the closest match to your selected weight then throw several charges and weigh them. If the charges are too light, carefully trim additional material from the cavity. For small adjustments, a normal chamfering tool works great. Remove material only from the top (non-slotted) side of the disk. Work carefully and check the thrown weight often. The old adage of "You can always take more, but you can't put it back" certainly applies here. Once you have reached your goal remember that this cavity is now correct only for the powder/weight combination you chose. If you switch to another powder, the weight can change dramatically.

The Pro 1000 was one of the first of the affordable progressives and can still be serviceable today. Two modifications can be made to make this press even more reliable and a little more trouble free:

The first involves primer seating. The primer seating stage consists of a floating rod that travels full stroke when contacting the base of the press at the bottom of the "return" stroke. As a result of the tendency of any press to scatter spent primers, they often end up trapped between the base and the shell plate, restricting the travel of the priming arm and causing the new primer to not be seated completely. A shim or washer glued to the base at the point where the primer rod contacts it causes the arm to move a bit earlier without regard for spent primers preventing the shell plate from "bottoming out". This will dramatically cut down on your "high" primer count.

The second modification would be to the case ejector arm. This thin piece of spring steel wire could have been designed just a little better. Its purpose is to slide the loaded round out of its slot causing it to drop into the loaded round chute. Unfortunately, many times it slides the round out a little late in the cycle and causes it to hang up in the chute. This can actually cause the loaded round to be trapped between the carrier and the die plate on the next press action, denting the case and stopping the action. Replace this wire with one made from a good-sized stainless steel fishhook cut to size and with the majority of the curve and point removed. Install the hook with the remainder of the curve turning inwards so that the loaded round encounters the curvature, gently starting it on its way out of the shell-holder as it revolves. Careful trial and error will allow you to adjust both the amount of curvature and the timing of the contact to enable the loaded round to drop cleanly into the chute just a tick earlier than the original wire did, eliminating hang-ups.

I used to load my .44s as a partial progressive. I would size and prime my cases on a separate press and then use the first station as the powder/belling one, the second as the seating station and the third as a final crimp. Slow, but a little more precise than the normal set-up.

Hope this is of some help.

SSL- interesting notes on the disk. They like to drop light charges. I usually end up a size or two larger for START loads, esp with flake powders.

I really like the feel of the auto-prime. If it stays clean and the tray is kept topped up it works amzingly well. And neat tip for errant primers!

The fish hook tip is a good idea. I'm gonna give that a whirl.

The whole press is kind of a Rube Goldberg sorta thing and I'm amazed at how well it works. It's a boon for loaders like me on a tight budget though. Plates, carriers, dies etc are all very reasonable.

For my progressive .44 stuff, I have 3 turrets. One with a decapper (after which they get tumbled), one with charge/flare and seat dies, one with FCD. Works pretty well for plinking and medium power stuff.

Thanks for the tips and the input.