Lee 1000?

[tgibson]

. be warned - reloading is addictive. since January Ive loaded over 2k 223, 3k 9mm and around 500 40sw. it defiantly adds a whole new dimension to the sport.

OH BUDDY!!!  Have I got a deal for you!!  I'll give you all the components you want and you can load until your hearts content!!  I've loaded just about 45k rounds in the last four years and I HAAAAATE it!!  What a pain in the butt!  I just want to shoot!  Let me know!   
Adios,
TG

[Jaggy13]

great information! i picked up a lb of unique today as well as a scale, media and some brass. deprimed a few but haven't set the othe die's yet.
I do really like the fact that unique is in most load data, also as others have said, it will be a little harder to double charge...
my main motivation is cost savings.
I do however enjoy taking the sport "to the next level".

Thanks again for all the help. Its even better knowing I will run into some of you at the range!

[RevolverLove]

great information! i picked up a lb of unique today as well as a scale, media and some brass. deprimed a few but haven't set the other die's yet.
I do really like the fact that unique is in most load data, also as others have said, it will be a little harder to double charge...
my main motivation is cost savings.
I do however enjoy taking the sport "to the next level".

Thanks again for all the help. Its even better knowing I will run into some of you at the range!

Jaggy, Come out and Shoot IDPA!! It's a ton of fun, nice folks. I've done the Nampa shoot for the last three months. I plan on making it out to the Parma shoot as soon as I can.

[Jaggy13]

I plan to start shooting idpa next month. havent been in a couple years and miss it.
gonna try and hit the first time shooters meeting, I'm a little rusty on some of the rules and procedures.

[RevolverLove]

I plan to start shooting idpa next month. havent been in a couple years and miss it.
gonna try and hit the first time shooters meeting, I'm a little rusty on some of the rules and procedures.

Next shoot is at Parma this Sat the 28th I believe. Next month because of the State Shoot Nampa won't have one. The new shooter night at Impact in the first week of Sept i think. Check the calander on the Parma club website. They list almost everything.

[luvmy45]

Come on out to next week's match... bring your gun and  150 rounds and you'll be good to go. Doesn't matter if you remember the rules or not, the SO's are great and will coach you. If you have the wrong gear, we'll let you shoot it anyway the first time, and chances are someone will loan you want you need for the match.

Of all the shooting sports, IDPA is my favorite, although after yesterdays match USPSA is running a close 2nd.

[Jaggy13]

Come on out to next week's match... bring your gun and  150 rounds and you'll be good to go. Doesn't matter if you remember the rules or not, the SO's are great and will coach you. If you have the wrong gear, we'll let you shoot it anyway the first time, and chances are someone will loan you want you need for the match.

Of all the shooting sports, IDPA is my favorite, although after yesterdays match USPSA is running a close 2nd.

My only concern is I'm on call that day. Need my laptop and a cell connection in-case I get a call.
gear I have covered, eye's, ears, holster, mag holster, Kimber 45 and 3 wilson mags.
Is there good cell service out there?
I'm sure I'll do fine, just have a couple questions I'm sure other participants could help me with the day of  the shoot. (Just don't want to test the patience of the SO)

[luvmy45]

Depends on your service provider. Sprint is good, the rest are iffy.

With my verizon, if I'm in the right spot I'm ok... if you drive up to the top of the entrance your ok as well.

If you found a good spot to leave your cell, and just check on it, if you got a call you could high tail it up the hill to good service and goto work.

The things we do so we can shoot! Gotta love it!

[Jaggy13]

Sprint service, so I'm hoping its all good.


moment of truth... Got 6 rounds loaded up tonight. gonna be honest, just a little nervous to load them up.
Everything spec's out.
I ended up with unique powder, took me a while to get the powder disc in the Lee to give me the grains I wanted.
Its not what the lee guide says it should be. for example lee specs 4.2 grains or .49 CC and lyman mim load is 4.4 - max load was 5.8 (9mm 115 grain) When I measured the dump of powder the scale showed considerably lighter grain that what the lee manual showed it should be. Through trial and error I ended up with a dump that gave me 5 grains even.
Lee's specs for FPS and lymans where consistent with the grain/fps difference, and 5 grains was what I had decided to load up.

One of the helpful hits I received was to get closer to 1100 fps to operate the slide on my 1911 chambered in 9mm.

I then compared some factory rounds to my loads with a micrometer as well as the lyman book.

It took a bit to get the die's dialed in so I wasn't flaring the brass too much and to get the bullet to seat at the depth I wanted.

Lastly, as warned... the primer tray is the weak link in the lee loader.

As long as no one throws up a red flag, I am planning on giving the rounds a test fire and see how it goes.

[luvmy45]

One of the things I like about the Lee 1000 is the auto case feeder. The primer tray, yeah... I found that I would have to bump it with my hand on every stroke to make sure the primers were moving around... never tried it but maybe a good cleaning and some dry lube on the primer tray and feeder arm might move things along... hmmm..

Here is a cheap case gauge... take the barrel out of your gun... and then drop each round in to the chamber to see if it goes in and out...

Also when loading new bullets, I will load up a magazine... go out to the backyard and aim at the ground, and cycle the entire mag through the gun by pulling the slide back and letting let go... that way I know if I the bullets will feed. too short and too long and you will have problems.

If you make it to Parma, just ask where pit zero is... it's a live fire pit, down below... you can go down there anytime with you gun during a match and handle your gun and ammo and shoot to make sure things are functioning.

Hope I make it out to meet you, should be a great match!

[Jaggy13]

So far, looks like I'll be there. Watched some of your video's too. I like it!
IDPA is only 2 shots per target now? We used to do 2 torso and 1 head.
Been a while....

[carharttfarmer]

to bad you cant just step out side a fire them into your lawn like i do when im checkin a load

you might be suprised when you jump to loadin 45 acp the charge wieght fo unquie with a 230 gr lead is 5 grains to i load my 9mm and 45 both with around 5gr saves time not havent to sdjust my powder measurer

[luvmy45]

Shots on target are Dependant on stage design. usually 2 per target, but sometimes it's 3 per, or 2 body 1 head, or even 6 per target.

Sometimes it's only 1 shot, had a course earlier this year... 1 shot... head shot only to the hostage taker... that was fun.

It is a blast, check out the state match videos from the past couple of years on the Parma web site, under photos.

[Jaggy13]

I grew up on a farm, used to shoot off my front porch....
Thats actually where I learned to shoot and what we used to do for fun about every day.
City boy now... May have to run out tomorrow night and give a test fire, now that I have it dialed, I want to crank out some ammo!
Thanks for the heads up on the .45 load data, hadn't thought of that yet. I still need die's and a shell plate before I can load those.

[Niner]

Jaggy if you are using a new Lee Auto Disk Powder measure you better weigh your charges every 20-30 rounds or so.  I had the same problem with the charge not being equal to what the Lee data said it should be.  Over time, the charge increased through the measure but still didn't ever get quite up to what the Lee book said it should be.  The powder sticks to the inside of the disk when it is new due to static electricity.  I found out on some of the Lee loading boards that running some powdered graphite through the first time would solve this problem, or you could just keep loading and your charge would eventually creep upwards towards what the Lee book says. I take this into consideration whenever I switch to a new disk size that I haven't used before.

[Jaggy13]

Niner, good to know!
As I have only loaded 6 rounds to test, I watched each and weighed each to make sure all powder was going in and that they were all uniform. My disc dispensed the same amount each time, so I hope its going to stay consistent. the Unique powder is also fairly large flakes, and none was staying behind. Lastly, this unit is well used but unfortunately I have no idea how much use or what disc's are used or in new conditions.
If I change a disc, I will certainly be on the look out for the "static cling" issue.

Schedule is looking good for a test fire this evening...(anyone have a riot shield I can borrow?)
Also looking good for Parma Saturday morning. (Gonna be an early morning!)
I'm excited! Probably won't sleep a wink Friday night...

[Jaggy13]

**update**
went out tonight and fired my test rounds. everything went to plan.
Its good to know everything worked correctly.
thanks again for all the great support!

[Grumblecakes]

Those first few always made my heart beat a little fast. But once you realize you did everything right and things turned out ok its a great feeling. Still gotta be ever vigallent whe charging and seating cases.

[popsgunner]

Try to document your reloading data, charges, bullets, OAL, crimp measurement, etc. a small notebook will suffice. gOOD TO LOOK BACK UPON.
oTHER THAN THAT, SHOOT SAFE AND ENJOY, WELL DONE.
 

[RevolverLove]

Good Job Jaggy!!! I'll be getting mine all set up this weekend and I'll also let you know how it went. I'm starting with the light loads for .39 Spl.

[Jaggy13]

Try to document your reloading data, charges, bullets, OAL, crimp measurement, etc. a small notebook will suffice. gOOD TO LOOK BACK UPON.
oTHER THAN THAT, SHOOT SAFE AND ENJOY, WELL DONE.
 

Going to do just that.

Next, I'm going to setup for .45 acp. I'm going to pick up another plate ($8 well spent in my opinion)
Dies and a shell plate.
I can get the 4 die set for not much more than 3. includes a factory crimp die. I'm going to get it, just to have it but do I install it stead of the standard seat die? Or just install later and run ammo through if I need to? or a single stage press?

Another .45 question. I have had some advice from others to load a "Lighter" load for target. If so I will most likely need a custom recoil spring as well. Is this worth it? Advised? If so what recipe and bullet weight do you recommend?
I'm shooting a stock Kimber SIS Government.

[fj40mojo]

I've shot lighter "target" loads with 200grn LSWCs for years in my .45ACPs and never bothered with a lighter recoil spring without any problems at all. I'd wait to determine that there is a problem beofre spending money on something that isn't broke.

[J Mack]

Another .45 question. I have had some advice from others to load a "Lighter" load for target. If so I will most likely need a custom recoil spring as well. Is this worth it? Advised? If so what recipe and bullet weight do you recommend?
I'm shooting a stock Kimber SIS Government.

Like Fj says
I load lighter "target" loads with 185grn SWCs over 4gr's of Bullseye for years in my .45ACPs and never bothered with a lighter recoil spring without any problems at all. I'd wait to determine that there is a problem before spending money on something that isn't broke.

[Jaggy13]

Thanks for the input on the target loads, seems like I could build 200 gr or smaller for a lot less than 230 gr.

Any thoughts on the die question above?

[luvmy45]

You don't need a lighter spring... but you'll enjoy it more 

I use a 12.5lb spring in my 1911 with my game loads. 230gr at about 750fps,

The recoil spring is kind of a misnomer... it really does'nt do anything for recoil, but it does ram the slide forward after the shot... heavy recoil spring will cause your gun to dip as the slide slams forward... lighter spring, gun will be eaiser to shoot for followup shots.

There are other tricks to tuning the gun as well... and this is for games that we play with gun... not for self defense. For self defense stick with the factory recommend spring.