Topic: Lee 1000?

[fj40mojo]

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?

No you do not install the factory crimp die in place of your seater. Totally different animal. You will set your seater die to seat the bullet and take all or most of the bell out of the case and the factory crimp will finish the job.

[Jaggy13]

No you do not install the factory crimp die in place of your seater. Totally different animal. You will set your seater die to seat the bullet and take all or most of the bell out of the case and the factory crimp will finish the job.

So its one of those things I have just in case? Or should I make it a practice of running every round through it? I have a three stage press and seem awkward to have 4 dies...

[RGinIdaho]

Recoil springs do act to slow the slide so that the frame is not battered.

[RGinIdaho]

So its one of those things I have just in case? Or should I make it a practice of running every round through it? I have a three stage press and seem awkward to have 4 dies...

If your size die is within tolerances and your taper crimp is properly adjusted, then the factory crimp die is a wasted step.

Use your barrel (out of the gun) as a cartridge guage, that will check for proper sizing and OAL issues. The barrel method only indicates that the loads will work in your gun, not necessarily others.

Proper taper crimp for .45acp is .470". Some go as tight as .468. I like to go with .469 and have run my loads in many 1911's and a few glocks without issue.

I'm not familiar with the LEE 1000. 3die press and a powder station/die or 3 dies total including powder?

The best process is to seat and crimp as seperate steps. You can seat and crimp in one step but it might deform some bullet nose designs. Not really a big deal with pistol bullets but if freaks some folks.

[luvmy45]

Recoil springs do act to slow the slide so that the frame is not battered.

I've read articles going both ways... mostly from the gaming point of view... and hence the invention of the shok-buff, which I do run, and does prevent me from doing a slingshot type slide drop on my gun... but I don't do that so it's never bothered me.

I've also read that steel framed guns don't have many issues with frame battering, but the ???ium type lightweight frames can suffer frame issues.

I've seen some threads on the time difference between heavy springs and light springs... and the difference in the speed of the slide in recoil has been negligent... however the speed in the slide moving forward does change...

Then there is the recoilmaster guide rod... but we are into a different thread with that topic. :-)

[RGinIdaho]

BK,
I agree, we are drifting...

But;

I don't know about all that. But as you already know, there are a FEW things that I don't know.

For many years;

lighter loads + lighter springs = good to go

heavier loads + heavier springs = good to go

Timing the gun for faster sight recovery is a good thing. My sights return to the same spot with my loads + 18.5lb spring. Of course I run closer to 170pf in .45acp. If I drop the load then I see the sights dive deeper into the notch and need to go to a 16lb.

[luvmy45]

Drifting away... I'd say we agree

Bringing it back... unless you want to run all your bullets through the die again with the Factory crimp die, just go with how the press is set up. I loaded thousands of .45 on my Lee1000 when I had it... the .45 and 9mm take a taper crimp so seating and crimp in the same process is ok... I prefer the taper crimp in it's own station, but the Lee press does work the way it's designed.

Load up a few hundred and have some fun!

[Jaggy13]

loaded up 50 for this weekend, seems like I had some "smiley" faces on a couple of the bullets just above the brass.
Does that mean my crimp die is too high?
out of 50 I had 2 that failed to chamber, the rest ran perfectly.
Both had noticeable imprints on the bullet from the crimp die.

[luvmy45]

Pull the barrel out of the gun and drop each round into the chamber - This is the easy way to chamber check your rounds.

Did you get a caliper? Are they to spec?

[Jaggy13]

yup, have a franklin digital caliper that friend gave me.
Haven't double check those 2 rounds yet, but was curious if my crimp die is set up incorrectly.
at the range, I just set them aside. didn't want to mess with them.

[luvmy45]

The seating/crimp die should be a taper crimp, if I'm not mistaken... it's not rolling the brass to crimp it, so there shouldn't be any mark from the "crimp" part of the die.

It is possible that there is some bad brass, I get about 1 out of every 200 or so in my brass that is bulged or something and won't seat. That's what I get for scrounging range brass all the time :-)

Also, check the seating stem... it's 2 sided one for RN one for SWC, if your getting marks in your bullets, it may be because the stem is flipped the wrong direction... probably not, but just something to check.

If you get at chance, post a pic or two of them, nothing beats a photo. :-)

[coyotehunter]

Jaggy13,
Don here, I work at Cliff's and have used a Pro1000 for several years.
I have  loaded about 16,000 rounds on it now so if I can give you a few tips on making it easier to live with, stop by the store.
If need be, as time allows, you can stop by my house and will let you see what I have done to mine to make it hum.
I load 38's at about 600 rounds per hour with the bullet feeder in place.
I don't use the bullet feeder for the 230 gr. 45's because the feed fingers seem to drop bulletts that don't have a crimp grove.
Let me know if I can help.
Shoot safe and have fun.
Don

[Jaggy13]

Jaggy13,
Don here, I work at Cliff's and have used a Pro1000 for several years.
I have  loaded about 16,000 rounds on it now so if I can give you a few tips on making it easier to live with, stop by the store.
If need be, as time allows, you can stop by my house and will let you see what I have done to mine to make it hum.
I load 38's at about 600 rounds per hour with the bullet feeder in place.
I don't use the bullet feeder for the 230 gr. 45's because the feed fingers seem to drop bulletts that don't have a crimp grove.
Let me know if I can help.
Shoot safe and have fun.
Don

I've been in a couple of times, Don I will definitely take you up on that offer!


Attached is an image of the bullet I referenced above.

[attachment=1]

[luvmy45]

That doesn't look like a crimp die mark, almost looks like the bullet was crooked when it started to seat and the case was pushed into the bullet.

What bullet is that Berry's?

[Jaggy13]

 Got them at sportsmans. not berry's. other white box that were 115 gr and 24.99 for 250... I know, not much help.
So, do I need a bigger flair? I turned it down a bit because the bullets where just falling in the brass when I first set it up.

Also, measured the rounds and tested with my barrel last night. The rounds are within spec, but... my barrel seems to not like them that close to max at the base of the round. .3885 (.391 being book)
Is that where that Factory crimp die would come in handy?

[popsgunner]

Are you flaring the case mouth enough to allow the bullet to sit in about a 1/16 of an inch ?, then when you taper crimp adjust it just enough so you see a slight"polish ring" around the case mouth.
Anytime you are in Nampa come by the shop, I run dillon 650's and can show you what I mean about flaring and crimping.
Pops

[birddog1989]

Attached is an image of the bullet I referenced above.

Looks like it went in kinda cock-eyed.  The main purpose for a Lee Factory crimp die is to separate the crimp step and seating step.  You have a tendency to get better, more consistent ammunition doing that, at least that's what they say  .  The main benefit of it is that the die has a carbide sizing ring.  When you are seating cast bullets it will re-size the big ones so you are less likely to get rounds that fail to chamber.  I was having problems with that a few years back and checked them in a cse gauge just to make sure nothing was wrong with my gun.  It turned out it was my reloads so I slapped a factory crimp die on my progressive press and haven't had that problem since. Good shooting.   

[RevolverLove]

Well I finally got my table set up and my press is ready to go. I'm playing around trying to get my Lee Safety scale calibrated. One question.

I'm loading 38 Spl 125 Gr Jacketed using unique powder. The book says to use the .5 Lee dipper. The starting load is 5 grains. When I dip in a full even .5 dip on the scale it looks like it reads 4.7 Grains.
The Reloading book does say the dipper may not give a charge up to the starting grains. But they don't say how far off it would be. Just that it's Safe.

So how do I know if A) the scale is correct? Yeah when I zero it out the balance beam does come up to the little zero mark. (It IS VERY sensitive however) But how do I know it's really working right.

And how do I know how much in grains that little .5 dipper holds?

Or am I just being an old lady and worrying to much?   

[popsgunner]

Throw the dippers away, get the Lee powder dispenser that mounts on the press, You can NEVER dip the same amount every time, lots of frustration not enough loading, loaded tons of rounds using the disk system, never had a problem. You've got  a scale great job.

[RevolverLove]

Loaded up my first .38 Spl tonight. All went well except that like Jaggy, I'm getting little smiley faces on the bullet during the crimp process. I checked after seating the bullet and there is no marks. The bullet is within spec for overall length. I did dial in about a half turn more crimp and the marks are much less. Can you put too much crimp in?

I also screwed in the die tighter against the shell plate and that also helped. Still getting them to some degree on 3 out of 4 rounds.

Tomorrow is the big day as I will take them to the range. Should go fine.

My auto disk is throwing way light. Using the disk the book says weight in at only 4.6 grains. I'm loading for 5 so I have to use the trickle powder. Got to be a better way than having to dump out the charged cae to weight it, trickle more powder and then funnel it back to the case.

[RevolverLove]

*** Update***

Ta Da!!!! All went well at the range. Shot 18 rounds from my GP-100 357 Mag. I shot 38 spl of course.
Using the little Lee dipper at .5cc which the book says is less than the starting grains of 5 but an "acceptable" charge. Ha!! Wrong!! It was like a pop gun!! Zero recoil wussy loads. Next were the ones I loaded to 5 Grains exactly. O.K. that was acceptable but not like a factory load. Next I'll try something in the middle like 5.1 or something silly. Could not tell any difference between the light crimp or the heavy one.
I can see why everybody writes down every little thing. You need to to experiment and get the correct load you want.

[Grumblecakes]

i only recently started taking detailed notes for my loads. it makes a world of difference to have notes to look at when you go back to the press when deciding what direction you wanna take your load. i even mark my brass with a sharpie so i can identify the cases later and check for pressure signs and what not. and i agree, the dippers are garbage. the biggest use for mine is to get the powder onto the scale.

also if multiple people use the weapon/ammo its good to take notes on them too. i've hand a few low recoil 9mm loads i worked up for the wife, they worked great for me, but almost every round was a ffe for her.(limp wrist)

[J Mack]

I can see why everybody writes down every little thing. You need to to experiment and get the correct load you want.

i only recently started taking detailed notes for my loads. it makes a world of difference to have notes to look at when you go back to the press when deciding what direction you wanna take your load. i even mark my brass with a sharpie so i can identify the cases later and check for pressure signs and what not. and i agree, the dippers are garbage. the biggest use for mine is to get the powder onto the scale.

also if multiple people use the weapon/ammo its good to take notes on them too. i've hand a few low recoil 9mm loads i worked up for the wife, they worked great for me, but almost every round was a ffe for her.(limp wrist)

Try: Reloaders' Reference, It's a life saver.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/reloadersrfrnce/
Added for Vista and 7 users:
I have recieved some messages from users having trouble running this package on Vista. Vista's default security settings will not allow users to change files in the \program files path. This is what creates the problems. 1 be patient with the install, it is slow, but will complete even on vista. 2. follow the instructions below to change the permissions on the Reloaders Reference folder

to allow user writes to the files.

1.) Open c:\program files and right click the Reloaders Reference folder.

Note: on x64 systems this will be the Program Files (x86) folder.

2.) Choose properties from the drop down menu.

3.) On the properties tab, choose security.

4.) On the security tab, click the advanced button at the bottom of the tab.

5.) In the advanced tab, click users in the list, then edit.

6.) In the permissions dialog, click the Allow box on the top line (Full Control) then click ok.

7.) When it returns to the Advanced tab, check the replace all existing box at the bottom of the tab and click ok.

8.) Click ok again to return to the security screen.

9.) Click users in the top window and look at the permissions in the bottom portion, full control should now be checked.

10.) Click ok to close the security dialog.

RR should now run without the read-only or linking problems.
Windows 7 Notes:

Quote:
1.) Open c:\program files and right click the Reloaders Reference folder.

Note: on x64 systems this will be the Program Files (x86) folder.

2.) Choose properties from the drop down menu.

3.) On the properties tab, choose security.

4.) On the security tab, left click to highlight "users" under the "Group or user's names".

5.) Below the "Group or user's names" box you will see, "To change permissions, click EDIT". Left click the edit button.

6.) That will open another dialog box, "Permissions for Reloader's Reference". Again left click to highlight "users" in the "Group or user's names" box.

7.) Below that box, you will see another, "Permissions for Users". Click the "full control" allow button. It will automatically check all the boxes except "Special Permissions". Leave that box unchecked.

8.) Click the "Apply" button in the bottom left hand corner.

9.) Click "Okay" and the "Permissions for Reloaders Reference" dialog box will close.

10.) Click "Okay" at the bottom of the "Reloaders Reference Properties" dialog box.

[Jaggy13]

I've gone through my initial 250 rounds now. I had to tighten my crimp a touch, adjust the flair and have fine tuned a few other things. now its running very smooth and reliable.

Last thing is to find a place I can get some bulk bullets without breaking the bank...   

Thanks to all for the great advice.

[J Mack]

Last thing is to find a place I can get some bulk bullets without breaking the bank...   

Link: http://www.boiseshooters.com/index.php/topic,10504.0.html