How to assemble the LEE PRO 1000 reloader

 The purpose of this website:

My Lee Pro 1000 was acquired sometime in 1993. At first, we had great fun reloading and going to the shooting range 'wasting' away the bullets we had reloaded. The Lee Pro 1000 is a fantastic piece of engineering. It enabled an amateur like myself to reload bullets at an alarming speed.
Alas, the novelty and pleasure of shooting wore off with time. The cabinet to which the reloader was affixed, was moved out of the house into the garage, with the reloader still attached to it. There it stood. After a few months, rust marks were evident on the reloader. Realising that I would most probably hardly ever use the reloader again, it was dismantled and packed away in a box. Then in 2002, my brother-in-law buys a handgun and we decide to reload, once again.

Fortunately, the reloader was packed away in a box. Most likely, this stopped it from rusting any further.
Nevertheless, the whole contraption was dismantled and cleaned. The plastic components were cleaned with a water based alkaline general purpose cleaner as other oil based cleaners contain strong solvents which could melt or soften the plastic components. The red coated metal body of the reloader was brushed with a paraffin based engine cleaner - anything stronger would strip off or damage the paint.
The other metal components were cleaned with diesel and thereafter, allowed to soak in engine cleaner for a day and then washed, again. As we were in a hurry to reload, the Lee Pro 1000 was reassembled, ready for use. Once assembled, a light spray of lubricating oil was applied to reduce friction and for lubrication purposes and to displace any remaining moisture (remember water was used to rinse the parts).

After all the cleaning, the unit was put to work to reload a few hundred bullets. It will be dismantled again, in the future to change the shell plate and undergo another cleaning.
That's when it dawned upon me that I might never use the reloader, again. What if my young son finds the box, some 10 or 20 years down the line and wants to make use of the Leepro1000 reloader? Will he know how to assemble the reloader?
This prompted me to take photographs of the process of assembling the Lee Pro 1000 to aid him when that time comes. Who knows, one of my daughters might decide to use the reloader, instead.

A fresh box has been prepared and the address to this website has been written on the face of the box under the heading, 'instructions'. Also, the website has been backed up on to a CD-ROM along with the usual things I normally store. If you want to save this website just go to FILE and SAVE and you'll be able to access this website offline as many times as your heart desires.
This website is for all those sons and daughters out there who might inherit their Dad's or Mom's :-) reloader, one day. Instead of selling it, they might opt to keep it and use it themselves. Ah! well. It's also for all those Dads who dismantled the Lee Pro 1000 and can't remember how to reassemble it :-)
Finally, if you found this website to be useful, CLICK HERE to send me a blank message with the subject line: "thanks Lee Pro 1000" - it'll make my day. Thank-you!
OR you could donate ONE DOLLAR or more into my paypal account ...... please! :-)

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I am no expert and I haven't reloaded in a very long while - however, these are a few of the things I have picked up along the way.

When working with the reloader one should wear goggles. At first, I wore my yellow shooting goggles but with time, I became complacent and stopped wearing them. I've never had an accident but I think it's best to stick to the rules and wear those goggles or at least some type of sunglasses or clear glasses to protect the eyes from a small blast that could occur if you're trying to press two primers into one casing. It could happen; some can sense that the lever feels different when the primer is inserted into the casing and stop immediately to rectify the situation. Others, may day dream and go ahead and press two primers together, boom!

At the shooting range, there is nothing more frustrating when you find that the reloads don't fit in the chamber of the firearm. This could be due to many factors. If you're using a revolver, than to a certain extent, it is not that bad. But .......... argh! a semi-automatic will not function after the first reloaded bullet gets stuck in the barrel or the next bullet refuses to advance into the barrel (or chamber).
Three reasons why that bullet gets stuck - one could be that it was over crimped resulting in the casing walls bulging in the middle adding a few more microns to the width. Remedy - turn the last 'die' anti clockwise so that the bullet head does not progress too deep into the casing. Could also be that the casing is expanding too much on the first and second 'die' - reduce.
Second reason could be that after reloading, the casing was not thoroughly cleaned to remove all the excess lubricant or the head was not perfectly depressed into the casing resulting in overflow lead onto the casing thus affecting the final width of the casing. Remedy - use an old thick screw to file off the excess lead from the casing.
These two can easily be remedied. I know it's labourious, but check each and every freshly reloaded bullet before going to the shooting range. Dismantle the semi-automatic and use the barrel only to check that each and every casing fits into the barrel. This is to minimise any problems that could arise at the shooting range.
The third painful reason happens to the revolver and the automatic equally as the bullet head gets stuck in the barrel. A screwdriver and a hammer soon takes care of the stuck head. Usually, this occurs when there is insufficient charge in the bullet. In other words, too little gunpowder. If this occurs more than once, your whole batch is insufficiently charged. You would have to recalibrate the second 'die' on your Leepro1000 to discharge more gunpowder.
Remedy - all the casings would have to have the heads removed and recharged and the heads recrimped. There is a tool which does this job of removing the head but I just cannot get to the name - it grips the head and casing separately and with a gentle tap, removes the head without harming the casing. If you're a roughneck, just put the bullet in a vice grip and rip the head off with pliers.
Sometimes, when reloading, no gunpowder is deposited into the casing due to using the incorrect opening on the second 'die'. It's best to reload in small batches. I had a painful lesson once when I reloaded 200 bullets, grossly undercharged. I only picked it up at the shooting range. In the end, I had to shoot with a revolver but since I only had 30 rounds for the revolver, to be shared by myself and my partner, the evening was ruined.

Never use someone else's reloads in your firearm unless you know that, that person is a competent reloader.

There is much more to say on this subject. I will add more information to this page, in future.

Inception     : 18 June 2002
First updated: 17 May 2003
Last updated: 12 Nov 2007