Lee Precision Six Pack Pro Press

Start reloading with a progressive press like the Lee Precision Six Pack Pro. Learn tips and techniques from a seasoned reloader.

Reloading your own ammunition is something that has grown in popularity over the years. I can remember going to my friend Mitch’s house, where his dad had a reloading press set up. He was a military collector, so being a shooter who “rolled his own” ammo wasn’t a stretch. I was fascinated by the old single-stage Micro Precision “C” press on the bench. Little did I know then that I would one day get into that hobby myself, along with thousands of others.

I’ve been a reloader for almost 50 years, and a bullet caster too. I started out with the Lee handheld “whack-it-with-a-hammer” die set, and then when I could afford it I bought an RCBS Jr. single-stage press. I was happy. But, after a few years, I wanted to speed things up so I bought a Lee turret press, the four-station one. That way, I got a loaded round with four pulls of the handle. This worked, but I knew there were faster options out there. Several years ago I became a freelance gun writer, and lo and behold, Dillon sent me their excellent XL-750 press with the trimmings for a review. Now, I was set! After writing two reviews of that press, I used it to graduate to a higher plane in reloading – a loaded cartridge with each pull of the handle.

That was all well and good, but I wanted to try a different system for progressive reloading, to see what else was out there. So, I acquired a Lee Six-Pack Pro 6000 progressive press. I set it up and, to put it simply, it works great. I’ll get into that in a bit.

A Word Of Caution

I feel I must insert a quick word of caution here… if you are brand new to reloading, I suggest you start out on a single-stage press. You need to learn the ropes before moving to the more complicated progressive variety. After you’ve made a quantity of ammo and truly understand the process, then you might consider upgrading your equipment. Take this as you will, but I’ve seen it happen. New reloaders need some experience before becom ing “progressive.”

The Different Types Of Presses

Before we look at the Lee press, I want to describe the differences between press types. I’ve had many questions from friends and shooters who are curious about reloading. Some of them were confused about presses and how they work. Here it is, in a nutshell…

Single-stage presses have one shell holder and one die station. You snap the shell holder in place and screw one die in. You then perform that die’s function on all your cases. You decap and resize them all, prime them, expand case mouths (pistol cartridges), dump the powder, and then seat/crimp your bullets. It’s pretty straightforward. Single-stage presses and kits tend to be a bit cheaper since they do just one thing at a time, and most of them are very strong. I still have my old RCBS Jr. press… it’s still useful for things like bullet sizing.

Turret presses usually have 3-5 die stations on a removable plate but only one shell holder. You load the plate with your dies – usually two for rifle minimum, or three or four for handgun. You then snap your shell holder in and place a case in it. We’ll use a handgun case as an example since it requires the extra step of belling the case mouth which bottleneck rifle cases don’t need. Pull the handle to decap, resize, and prime the case and the die plate rotates to the next station.

A handle pull at station two bells the case mouth and drops the powder. The next handle pull rotates the plate to the bullet seater die. Stick a bullet in the case, and pull the handle. It will seat the bullet. If you have a four-die set, you will have a separate factory crimp die that would go in station four. If you have a three-die set, you’ll crimp the bullet after seating it in one operation. Pull the handle and the loaded round is ready to be plucked out. Four handle pulls produce a loaded cartridge.

Progressive presses do things differently. You have the multi-die plate or press head like the turret press but instead of one shell holder, you have a rotating plate with as many built-in shell holders as you have die stations. In the case of the Six Pack Pro, you have six. This allows you to add additional dies to check to make sure the right amount of powder has dropped (“powder cop”) or to add a factory crimp die, or a bullet feeder die. We’ll get into more detail later, but this is how a progressive press works:

1. Put your dies into the die station plate or head. After adjusting them and getting your powder measure set, you will drop a case into station one. Pull the handle and that case is resized and deprimed.
2. Pull the handle again and that case goes to the station two priming station and then up into the belling/powder drop die. At the same time, a new case goes into station one.
3. Pull the handle, and both cases advance. Case one goes to the bullet seating station where a bullet is inserted (either by hand or bullet feeder) into the belled case mouth and case two goes to the priming/powder die station. Remember, a new case has gone into station one.
4. Pull the handle and all the cases advance… case one, to the bullet seating (and crimping, if you don’t have a separate die for that) die station. The other cases behind it are being rotated to the next die stations.
5. Pull the handle again and case one drops into the collection bin and all the other cases advance.

Once the shell plate is fully loaded, you will get a loaded cartridge with each handle pull. That’s the beauty of a progressive press.

So, I “graduated” from getting a loaded round with four handle pulls with my turret press to a loaded round with each handle pull with the Six Pack Pro.

A Couple Of Tips

Here are a couple of things I found out after using both the Dillon and the Lee progressive presses.

First, you must move the handle all the way up or down, to its stop. Remember that you will be seating a primer with each handle pull and you must go all the way or the primer won’t seat. (Of course, if you prime off-press, that won’t apply but you still need to go all the way with the handle. Priming off-press is more complicated on a progressive press).

Second, something that was brought home to me on a few occasions… pay attention to the cases. By this, I mean that you should be peering into the case that just received powder to make sure it really got the correct amount and to make sure each primer is picked up and seated. I’ve had these two things go wrong on more than one occasion. Once you get into a rhythm with the handle, don’t go daydreaming about half-inch groups at a hundred yards… pay attention or you will regret it. Trust me on that.

Last, don’t turn your reloading session into a trial to set a new land speed record for loaded rounds. Sure, once everything is set and your components are loaded, you can turn out many rounds per hour. But, if you miss putting powder in a case, or if a primer doesn’t seat, or if by some reason a case falls over out of the chute… you’re going to have to fix those things. I suggest getting into a slow rhythm (there’s that word again…. I can’t help it, I’m a retired band director) with the handle and watching all the cases as they rotate.

Get into the habit of moving your eyes from the primer seater to the case after it leaves the powder measure. Make sure both of those operations happen with each and every case. There’s nothing worse than blowing up a gun due to a powder double charge, not counting what can happen to the shooter. Another danger can occur when a bullet gets bumped into the magazine wall and pushed back into the case from recoil with each succeeding shot because it wasn’t crimped properly. That causes a huge over-pressure situation… I lost a 1911 once due to that.

Or, to a lesser extent, having to stop your shooting session to retrieve a dowel rod to put down the barrel to tap the bullet back into the case so you can open the action after hearing only a pop when you pulled the trigger. There was no powder in the case, and the primer was just strong enough to move the bullet almost out of the case, but it still tied the gun up. Again, been there, done that. The moral of the story is to pay attention when reloading.

Six Pack Features

Here are some features as I see them…

Case Feeder. The case feeder comes with the press. You don’t need to buy it separately. You get four tubes to fill. Some other companies sell a case feeder that’s powered, that rotates a wheel inside a large bin over the press that aligns and drops cases down a tube. The Lee gets the same result by using a less-involved, inexpensive solution. They do sell a separate collator that snaps over the four tubes at the top. Dump your cases in the collator and give the tubes a shake… they’ll orient themselves and drop down the tubes. When one tube empties, rotate the assembly to the next tube.

Priming. My Lee turret press uses their old round primer magazine. I’ve had that come apart and spill primers all over. The new, triangular magazine has a sliding “switch” that either locks, allows you to open, or allows primers to flow. You slide it to whatever position you need. This allows you to lock it to remove it or to allow primers to feed. The primer bar itself is engineered to be simple and to be able to switch between large and small primers easily.

De-Activate Automatic Advance Easily. With the Six Pack Pro, it’s pretty simple to turn it into a single-stage press. You simply remove the index rod that runs down the middle of the press to the shell plate. Unscrew the die that secures it, pull it out, and replace the die. Now you can perform one function over and over at a single station, like sizing bullets using the Lee bullet sizer kit. This is handy.

The index rod. I put electrical tape on it to help it grip better… it indexes more positively that way.

Bushings. The die head utilizes what Lee calls spline bushings. These are oversized bushings that screw onto your dies and have large notches that the wrench provided can grab to easily tighten or loosen the die. I believe that this is Lee’s way of avoiding having to have replaceable die heads on top of the press. The bushings allow you to adjust your dies and, once adjusted, you can install or remove them with a quarter-turn. That way, you don’t unscrew your die from the press and therefore you won’t lose the adjustment you just made to it. It allows quick swapping between calibers. You could even leave your number two die (the powder-through/case-mouth-expander) attached to the powder measure if you have more than one measure – it’s worth buying more than one. My only kick about this concerns the wrench they supply for the bushings… it’s too short and it’s plastic. I wish it were full-sized and metal. Not a huge deal, but it would work better.

Case Feeder “Gate”. When I was researching this press, I saw several YouTube videos posted by users that addressed a problem caused by the included case feeder. That problem was that many cases would tip over after being dropped from the tube, in the process of being shunted into the shell plate. There were a couple of ingenious hacks these guys had made. I was considering having to do that until I unpacked my press and saw that Lee had addressed it by making a spring-powered “gate” to help hold cases upright when they came out of the feeder. This is a case of a manufacturer listening to its customers and solving a problem at the factory level. I think it says more about the company than it does about feeding cases into the press.

Removing A Case Is Easy. If you need to remove a case from the shell plate, you can swing the little retainer out of the way and pull the case. When all the retainers are in place, the cases are pushed to the rear of the shell plate holders, where they need to be in order to go up into the dies straight, It’s a good system – no pins to pull out and drop.

Caliber Swap Is Easy. On some progressive presses, switching calibers is both involved and expensive. With the Six Pack Pro, a swap involves buying the shell plate for that caliber and dies. That’s pretty much it. The case feeder has an insert you can move to adjust for case size, and the primer comes with both small and large inserts. A shell plate costs about $23 ($35 from Lee), and dies are whatever you choose to spend. (One plate may work for more than one caliber. I know that the .380 plate also works with .223). There’s a plastic “collar” included that goes around the shell plate to help hold small cases in the plate, but it snaps in and out. The swap is fairly easy and inexpensive.

Price. Many progressive presses cost well north of $1000. But, what if you can’t drop that kind of coin on one? Mind, I’m not knocking any brand of press due to price – there are some highly-engineered and well-constructed, innovative machines out there. But, for about $430 or so, you can get into true progressive reloading and have everything you need except a powder scale – you will need to buy one of those. That’s not bad. The nice part is, that this press works well and is a good value.

Easy Automatic Bullet Feeding. This is an extra, not included with the kit but I thought I’d mention it. You can get caliber-specific inline bullet feeding kits that occupy one die station, the one right before bullet seating. It’s not very expensive, something like $45-50, but it will help the job go quicker. Look for a future article on accessories for this press… it’s in the works.

Quirks

I just mentioned some features of this press… now I’ll go over a few of what I call quirks. These are not necessarily negative points, just things I’ve noticed as I use the press.

Priming: You need to pay attention to the priming process. I’ve had primers slip out from the “hook” that moves them under the case. It’s not a bad thing, but you will want to give it your attention. And, be careful while loading primers into the triangular-shaped magazine… the lid can come open and spill what you’ve put in there. The good thing is that you don’t need a separate primer flipper tray as the magazine allows you to gently shake them into the proper orientation.

Case Feeding. Watch the cases as they come down onto the feeder bar to make sure they stay upright. The feeder “gate” I mentioned above works well, but it’s easily moved out of the way so keep it facing the right direction.

Press Handle. The ball on my press handle came off, so I epoxied it in place. You may want to spring for the roller handle upgrade up front or order it from someone else. It will be a good $36-$40 spent. (They should include it with the press and add whatever it costs to make to the price).

Bushing Wrench. I mentioned it above, but Lee should send an aluminum, full-sized wrench with the press. The little-bitty plastic one is hard to use, as those bushings really lock things down.

That’s it. The press works well, but it could be improved a bit.

The Lee Advantage

I’m not quite sure what to call this section, so I’ll call the Lee advantage. What do I mean by that? Richard Lee designed his first loader for shotshells in 1958. He started out in his garage and went on to found the company that sports his name. This company has always been known for being innovative and inventing solutions (usually less expensive) to solve problems in the world of reloading. They came out with single-stage presses and then really hit their stride with the turret press. Later, they wanted to get into progressive reloading, so they jumped into that pond. We have before us the latest version of their progressive loader, the Six Pack Pro 6000. It will load rounds as fast as I can work the handle and is built of steel. It just plain works.

My S&W 1854 lever rifle and my old Model 629 will be happy now!

Another example of Lee’s innovation has to do with bullet molds. I’ve made thousands of bullets over the last 40-plus years, all with Lee molds. I’ve got a shelf full of them, dating back to the late ‘70s. At a time when manufacturers were coming out with steel bullet molds that were somewhat heavy and expensive, Lee introduced their mold line – all made out of aluminum. These molds were very light, made beautiful bullets, and were affordable. They also didn’t rust. Heck, you could buy a 6-mold version and their handles for less than what some makers were charging for a 1- or 2-mold pattern. The bullets I’ve made from wheel weights have been easy to cast, easy to load, and (for the most part) accurate. In my experience, they tend to drop decent bullets from the start if you warm them up first. I’m impressed with them.

I would say the Lee advantage has to do with designing equipment that works and provides solutions for reloaders at a cost that most can afford.

Summing Up

As I said at the top, I’ve been reloading since before many of you were born. (I know, I’m old!). Most of that loading was done on Lee equipment of one sort or other, with the RCBS thrown in for good measure. Other companies make really good presses, dies, molds, powder measures, etc. – this is a fact that I gratefully acknowledge. I’ve used a lot of it.

But, if you want to get into any type of volume reloading to feed your shooting habit and are on a pretty strict budget, you might want to give this press a look. I recently researched progressive presses and found out that some of them cost more than $5000 if fitted all the way out. There’s nothing wrong with those ammo factories… I just can’t afford one of them. They truly are wonderful machines. The Dillon I own is great and works well, but what if you can’t drop $1500 right now to get going? That’s where this press shines. For about ten percent of that five-grand setup, you can be in the roll-your-own ammo business and produce some serious numbers of reloads to fuel your shooting sessions. I think that’s great – it opens our hobby up to new shooters. If you’ve always wanted to try progressive reloading, here’s a good way to dip your toe in the water.

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About Mike Hardesty

With experience spanning over 45 years, Mike Hardesty has long enjoyed shooting and reloading. An inveterate reloader, he casts bullets and reloads for a diverse array of firearms, each handled with long-practiced precision. Living in rural Indiana, his homestead boasts a personal 100-yard range where he shares his love for guns to his four sons, their wives, and eleven grandchildren. As a recognized author, his writings have been featured in notable platforms like Sniper Country, Bear Creek Arsenal Blog, Pew Pew Tactical, TTAG, Dillon Precision’s Blue Press, and Gun Made, revealing his ongoing passion for firearms at the age of 72.