You get what you pay for. it "functions".... sort of - Lee Pro 1000 Progressive Reloading Kit For 9MM Luger

This is my first time reloading and I figured this would be a great starter press to learn on and be able to put out decent quantities of range ammo since I shoot ~500rds/week. To start with, it seemed well constructed, though the assembly instructions aren't good at all and some of them seem to be dated with pictures from previous press revisions (to be clear, I'm an engineer, so I'm not mechanically illiterate).

Got it figured after watching a couple YouTube videos. Bought a benchtop riser for it and got it all set up, dialed in my powder measures for the autocharge setup on the 2nd stage after some trial and error with the height of the die so the at case fully engaged to get the dispenser to fully actuate. The seating/crimping die on the 3rd stage is super easy to adjust and fine tune. Now, onto the things about this press that drive me absolutely crazy....

The spent primer collection tube on the 1st stage constantly falls off and got so annoying that I just stopped putting it back on and put a small bin under the riser to catch the spent primers... whatever. The shell holder doesn’t hold the shell in place well at all when the press indexes from stage 1 to 2, leaving the casing misaligned with the primer seating ram in stage 2, requiring manual alignment of the casing in the holder 80-90% of the time which slows the process down enormously. The biggest and by far the most glaring issue with this press, in my honest opinion and what is the killer for me is the primering system as a whole is absolutely ATROCIOUS. The case not being secure following the 1-2 index leads to misaligned, crushed or improper seated primers or what happens most often, which is no primer being loaded at all and the die dropping (wasting) a full powder charge in a case that should've had a primer, but didn't because of the HILARIOUSLY unreliable primering and inconsistent case retention following the 1-2 index. The primer feeding mechanism CONSTANTLY jams, flips primers, double feeds, etc. and is a massive headache to deal with to the point that after 1200rds I'm already looking for a better setup and may try the Six Pack Pro to see if it's any more reliable and if not I'll just return it within the 30 days and save for something better. I've wasted probably 100g or more of Accurate No. 2 because of this thing's hilariously unreliable primering. All the manual adjusting required with literally every crank of the handle almost defeats the purpose of buying even a basic progressive press which is what this is.