Lee Loader musings on time and quality...

[GoodOlBoy]

resizing it what burns me out quickest on the lee loaders. But a carbide die from lee in a single stage press hurries that along nicely.

never used an arbor press.. dunno much about them honestly

GoodOlBoy

[Mtnfolk75]

I also started loading on Lee Loaders back in the early 70's, loaded 38/357, 12 Gauge & 300 WinMag. Those old Whack-a-Mole dies are long gone, but they did make GOOD ammo. I upgraded to a RCBS Single Stage Rockchucker, that I still use BTW, in 1975. I have had other Lee Loader sets over the years, at one time I had 7 or 8 sets ( Back-ups to what ever I was loading & shooting then ). Like W.R. Buchanan, I have used a LEE depriming rod to clear flash holes for the last 40 or so years that I have been tumbling sized brass. I have narrowed my shooting down to .38 Special & 9mm in handguns, .223 Remington & .270 Winchester in rifles now, and have been seriously considering getting Lee Loaders as back-ups again. This thread may just be the catalyst needed to start my searching ......

BTW, I have already returned to the Rockchucker as my only press, just got tired of the constant tinkering required with the Blue Progressives I've had over the years ......

[GhostHawk]

I started long ago reloading .243 on a Lee Loader.

I've come up in the world some, I use a Lee Hand press now, although I have 2 other larger Lee presses in operation.

Lee flare tool pretty much lives in the biggest one, and the other is mounted upside and is devoted almost exclusively to bullet sizing and gas check crimping duties. Upside down means the checks don't fall off when you take your finger away.
Was not too bad with the bigger bullets right side up but those little .224 checks are so small and fall at the drop of a hat.

[Dave Bulla]

Yup! Use them all the time.

A couple points though. Someone earlier mentioned having issues loading cast boolits due to their larger than jacketed size. I ran into that also but there is a simple fix. All you do is after sizing, lift the die body of the case to flare the mouth. (The flare tools come with handgun calibers but for rifles can be bought separately from Lee) Charge the case with powder while out of the die, then set the boolit on the case mouth and set the die back over the stack and seat normally. All you are doing is NOT trying to drop or push the boolit through the die (cast boolits are often too large and will get sized down if you force them).

Also, for flare tools, before you order anything custom made, consider the caliber and determine if it crosses to any handgun calibers. For example, 35 Remington can use a flare tool from the 357 kit, 45-70 can use one from a 45 colt kit etc. I believe the 30 carbine MAY come with a flare tool that would work for any 30 call rifle set. You get the idea. The Lee website has parts listed for all the kits and most are surprisingly cheap. I've bought quite a few over the years to fill out partial kits. I've always had the parts at my door in 2 to 3 days too.

[WRideout]

I never used a Lee loader for metallic, but I did have one for 20 ga shotshell, which I used for quite a while. Sometimes I had trouble getting a tight crimp, but then I found that I could squeeze the whole unit between two flats on the moving parts of my 12 ga press; that cured the problem. I sold the loader off to someone on this forum, when I no longer had a 20 ga shotgun.

A friend of mine, who shoots mostly semi-auto pistols, and has never reloaded asked me what model of Dillon progressive he should buy. I told him to go with a single stage press, and work up to the progressive. I am not at all sure why people love those progressives, but I have never felt a need.

Wayne

[Wayne Smith]

I only recently bought my first Lee Loader and I love everything about it but the hammer part. It just gets old is all and I find it awkward. So of course I get the most unoriginal idea about it and start looking up what arbor press would work so much better.

Does anyone have a favored model that works just right for this application???

I use my Harbor Freight 10 (5?) ton press. It is severe overkill, but it is inexpensive, and i have one because of that. I have turned wooden plugs to compress BP with it, too.

I started with the Lee Loader - two of them, actually. A 30-30 for my Dad's rifle, and a 16ga. for my single shot shotgun. I was 16. A lifetime later (now 62) I am learning to use the 310 tool.

[glockmeister]

I have never had a Lee Classic Loader. Started out with a RCBS single stage in 1972 and still have and use it. I had a RL550B for a while but quit using it and back to my RCBS. I now also have a Lee Classic Turret 4 hole press, like it because it drops the spent primers down the center of the ram and into a plastic coke bottle. I have disabled the progressive feature and use it as a single stage. Is it slower, yes, but I'm retired and no longer in a big hurry. I may get a Lee Loader or the hand held loader just to play with. I also use a Lee primer tool. I now enjoy life in the SLOW lane. Y'all take care, John.

[condorjohn]

A friend of mine, who shoots mostly semi-auto pistols, and has never reloaded asked me what model of Dillon progressive he should buy. I told him to go with a single stage press, and work up to the progressive. I am not at all sure why people love those progressives, but I have never felt a need.

Wayne[/QUOTE]

I think it's because they were told "Every time you pull the handle. a loaded shell drops out". Not quite that easy...

[myg30]

I too started reloading with a lee loader in 30-30 back in 83 ( not long ago) and now have several that I use from time to time. I single stage load rifle and some pistol as I'm never in a hurry to reload. My SDB does get to load other pistol that I might need to do a quantity of when shooting at a friends. Other than that the lee single stage and hand loaders trump.

Nothing tickles me more than a new reloader/caster asking " What's the fastest way...", especially talking casting boolits. My reply is generally Never be in a hurry to cast or reload !
It's the fastest way to get hurt !!!

Mike

[Lefty Red]

I kept my 16 H&R feed with a Lee Loader when growing. At one time, I had the old black and red cardboard boxed loaders in 270, 30/06, 30/30, 243, 38, 44, 45LC, 303, and 45/70. Lost them in a divorced and knowing her she threw them away not knowing what they were worth.

I have one in 44 Magnum and 45/70 and 303 now.

I sold off all of my progressive presses and right now a lone LEE Classic Single Stage sits in the bench to load my single shot pistols in 300 BO and 44mag. I wish I had a Lee Loader in 300 BO to build up loads at the range. Making rounds at the range always bring folks around to ask questions.

Jerry

[Bmi48219]

I started with a 12 gauge Lee Loader and several cases of Remington hi base paper shells in the 60's. Had several since, .38/357, 9mm, 41 mag, 30-30 & 30 carbine. Still use the 9 & 30 carbine. The bullet seating stud on the 9 will loosen & drift off the setting every 5-10 rounds. Anyone have a fix?

[mdi]

I have never had a Lee Classic Loader. Started out with a RCBS single stage in 1972 and still have and use it. I had a RL550B for a while but quit using it and back to my RCBS. I now also have a Lee Classic Turret 4 hole press, like it because it drops the spent primers down the center of the ram and into a plastic coke bottle. I have disabled the progressive feature and use it as a single stage. Is it slower, yes, but I'm retired and no longer in a big hurry. I may get a Lee Loader or the hand held loader just to play with. I also use a Lee primer tool. I now enjoy life in the SLOW lane. Y'all take care, John.

I got my first Lee Loader, 38 Special, in 1969 and used it, just like the instructions said for about 18 months before I could afford a scale, then mebbe a year after that I got my first press and dies. I think my introduction to reloading via a Lee Loader was very beneficial to my understanding of the process. I still own 4 even though I have 4 presses, 4 powder measures, and 3.2 metric tons of assorted reloading tools.

I got my Lee turret 14 years ago and disabled the auto index 13.9 years ago when trying to set up the press and it indexed when I didn't want it to. I prefer batch loading and I'll process mebbe 100-300 rounds at a time doing one or two operations (my 45 ACP and 9mm loading; size/deprime and flare. Next time mebbe prime, then, on another occasion, charge and seat bullets). I have never had any need for 500 rounds an hour even when I was working 50 hours per week, so batch loading on my hand indexing turret works best for me (I like reloading and if I reloaded all my needed ammo in an hour, then what would I do for fun?).

Wouldn't have been able to do any of this if it without the Lee Loader...

[cliff55]

First lee in 380 auto 1972 can't tell you where it went.
Still have my 22 hornet set from 1977.
Let my 38/357 go with the RBK when I sold it.
Loaded good ammo. Still at home in 72 Mom was not impresed when i set off a primer.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Actually, the idea of using an arbor press isn't a new one. It's been mentioned several times in other threads and seems to work quite well, so if the hammering bothers you it would seem that you're on the right track.

I started my reloading adventure with a Lee Loader in .38 Special in 1966. Then another, followed by another, and things just grew from there.
Now I have a whole shop full of stuff, but haven't used a Lee Loader in years. Like EDG mentioned, I do very often use the base and depriming punches to knock out old primers before putting the cases in the tumbler. I think the real turnoff was the occasional primer going off during the seating operation, powder burns on the fingers, and the priming rod launching up and smacking the ceiling. That caused me to buy an RCBS squeezer priming tool, but I usually set the new primers with the priming arm in my press. Occasionally though, depending on what and how much I'm loading I'll seat the primers with a 310 tool because I can do that at the kitchen table instead of being out in the shop.

[Screwbolts]

This is a great older thread, as I scanned threw it I didn't see reference to the I believe it was 1982, that the world record 1000 yard group at that time was hand loaded at the bench with a LEE loader that was used to load the 300 win mag case used to shot the group.

Ken

[SSGOldfart]

I carried my 308 and a 222 to Vietnam with me,as well as a 30-06 310 tool. Spent many a hour just loading because we could we made a few that shouldn't be shot just in case Charlie got a hold of them, them were some really good times even in the bad place.I wouldn't want to do it again,but I miss those brothers.