An odd way to buy Reloading Dies.

[Muir]

I loaned my 45 ACP dies out to someone, some time recently, and I have no clue to whom the loan was made. I have been looking for 45ACP dies, of any make, since the Shortages hit and there are none in any store. Today I was loitering about the Trading Post and I looked up on a high shelf and there was a Lee Pro-1000 progressive press in a box so old and dusty that it had turned chestnut brown. A squinted harder and it appeared to be labeled "45 ACP" so I had the clerk get it down. Sure enough, there was a set of 45 ACP dies inside. The owner came out and I explained my situation. He looked at the $189 price, looked at me, and said "Give me $40 and you can take the whole rig. Just get it the h-ll out of my store!" So now I have my 45ACP dies.... I'm tempted to toss the press into the dumpster. Had one in 38 Special. Hated it.

Too bad.~Muir

 

[j0e_bl0ggs]

An expensive set of Lee dies especially if you are going to toss the press....

 

[Muir]

Maybe, but I will use the automatic powder dispenser too. The press has got to go.~Muir

 

[enfieldspares]

There's a book in there Muir if you did but know it. "101 Uses for a Redundant Lee Press". Here's a few:

1) Take it to you local auto body shop, spray it blue, pass it of at a local gun sale as a rare prototype Dillon.

2) Put a metal lattice on the top and convert to a potato chipper.

And....

101) Tie a stout rope through the tool head or body aperture and use it as a boat anchor.

 

[Muir]

There's a book in there Muir if you did but know it. "101 Uses for a Redundant Lee Press". Here's a few:

1) Take it to you local auto body shop, spray it blue, pass it of at a local gun sale as a rare prototype Dillon.

2) Put a metal lattice on the top and convert to a potato chipper.

And....

101) Tie a stout rope through the tool head or body aperture and use it as a boat anchor.

You got that right!
I looked at the old price tag on that box and it was dated 1990! The press was almost as old as the guy who sold it to me.

I did have a thought tho...

The two aspects of the Lee 1000 that really sucked were priming and bullet seating. Everything else worked OK for the most part. I'm thinking of picking up a spare decapping die and utilizing the press as a speedy (ier) pre-sonic clean decapping unit for 308, 45 ACP, and anything else with that case head that I have a quantity of. I'll bolt it to a piece of plywood that can be clamped to my bench at need and put away the rest of the time.

Or I can use it for an anchor for my canoe after all....~Muir

 

[1066]

Personally I've got a soft spot for the Lee turret press and the Lee carbide dies for straight walled pistol calibres. In the 1970-90's I loaded countless thousands of .38, .357, 9mm rounds through a Lee turret - I stripped off the self indexing system and hand rotated it. The disc auto measure worked well and the carbide dies were excellent value at around £23 a set.
When the pistol ban came it I traded in my press to the government for £30 as it was getting a bit sloppy and went and bought another, I still have it now and use it for my .357 Winchester 94AE.

 

[bewsher500]

eBay it
​The shop of fools!

 

[Muir]

Personally I've got a soft spot for the Lee turret press and the Lee carbide dies for straight walled pistol calibres. In the 1970-90's I loaded countless thousands of .38, .357, 9mm rounds through a Lee turret - I stripped off the self indexing system and hand rotated it. The disc auto measure worked well and the carbide dies were excellent value at around £23 a set.
When the pistol ban came it I traded in my press to the government for £30 as it was getting a bit sloppy and went and bought another, I still have it now and use it for my .357 Winchester 94AE.

So did I. I spent so much time fiddling with that little screw that adjust the indexing that I figured it would be faster and more accurate to just do it myself by hand. Then something major broke and I scrapped the works.~Muir