Limitations of the Lee Classic Loader

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Other than speed, what are the limitations to the Lee loaders? Forgive me if this old ground, but I am new to reloading and don't plan on doing a lot (at least not yet). The price on the Lee loaders is certainly attractive at less than a set of dies...

[MT Chambers]

No full length sizing, which is very important with hunting ammo, I just don't like hammering on ammo. It's the old adage with all things Lee, you get what you pay for.

[303british.com]

Not being able to full length resize your brass isn't a limitation. You didn't say which action type you're reloading for. If it's a bolt action or single shot, then getting a LL is a sensible option. Neck sized ammunition, loaded to the pressure levels you'll get with a Lee scoop, won't stretch the cases for many reloadings.

Hunting ammunition does not necessarily need to be full length resized. That was one writer's opinion from an old outdoors magazine many years ago. A few people repeated it, and the rest is history. You neck only size and run your finished ammunition through your rifle before you go on your trip. You'll be at the range anyway.

Here's an article about using the LL.

http://www.303british.com/id31.html

The only difficulty I see with new reloaders is priming by tapping the case onto the primer. There is a small learning curve to get it right. Generally, most people baby the hammer and it takes four or five strikes to fully seat.

Speed is the only thing that bothers most people, but it shouldn't. These tools are great for beginners or experienced users. I have reloaded at the range, on hunting trips and when visiting relatives who I did not care to see. (My wife makes me go...)

If you like reloading, you will end up buying more equipment. The LL will be another tool in your reloader's bag of tricks. If you determine that reloading isn't for you, then you're not out any money. If you're like me, you'll give away your LL to someone else. Then you'll buy more. It's a fair estimate to say that I've given out two or three hundred of them to young people, old people and in betweeners.

Have at 'er!

[Multigunner]

I always used the still capped fired cases once as snapper caps before neck sizing to reload.
The firing pin strike is enough to micro size the fired case to the chamber just enough that the action closes easily on the reloaded cartridge.
This works fine with a bolt action, it might not work quite as well with an autoloader or lever action. Full length resizing is usually considered a must for reliability of auto loaders.
Some autoloaders slam load with such authority that cases are typically sized back down by several thousandths any way. This was a problem with the first few U S .30-06 versions of the Lewisgun, resulting in addition of a stop to limit forwards bolt movement, the rimmed .303 didn't need the stop.

When working up loads I mark case rims and rotate each neck sized reload 180 degrees on second firing of that case. From then on the cases are perfectly centered in the chamber, firing pin indentations are dead center of the primers.

[Sonnypie]

Mostly speed.
I still have a Lee Loader in 12 gauge and 20 gauge.
I have various Lee dies for presses.
The Lee hand press is a good and reliable tool you can sit and crunch out good ammunition with.
Then things start going up from there.
But for the ground floor starting, Lee Loaders are a great beginning.

Pick your loader here.

Hand Press. The "Nutcracker".
Pick a set of dies. PISTOL or RIFLE ?

I personally reloaded a lot (several thousand rounds) with a Lee Hand Press in 9mm. I could set there in my room on my bed and crunch rounds out.
That same press still works for me as a sizing press for cast bullets.

So gander through those links above. (Which are also the best prices I've found for Lee stuff.)

And Welcome to Reloading!

[Texantothecore]

The only limitation that the Lee Loader has is that the rounds supposedly do not work well in auto loaders. Other than that, you will be using a tool that held the record for smallest group at 1,000 yards for 7 years in the 1990s.

1,000 yard shooting requires perfect rounds and the Lee Loader delivers those.

[stubshaft]

Speed only. I have an old Lee loader benchrest set for my 223 which included a neck reamer. It assembled ammo as good as anything else I shot. Years later I got the BR bug and got all blinged out with L.E. Wilson dies and arbor rests. It was nothing but a fancier version of a Lee Loader and the arbor press took the place of the mallet.

[Bret4207]

It's like a lot of tools- you give it to a bone headed guy that won;t follow the instructions or use his head and he'll have problems. Give it to a guy who observes, thinks, alter his method to fit his needs and you can produce ammo of equal quality to anything coming out of the factory or off a high dollar press. It's a slow method, but that's okay when you're learning.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Thanks for the input so far, just to answer some of the questions asked. I would like to load for my bolt action 30-06, mostly cast plinking loads with red dot or something similar. I would like to buy once fired brass as I don't want to burn through 50+ factory rounds just to get my brass. My dad may be interested in running some of them through his 30-06 bolt gun as well. Do they need to stay in the same rifle?

[Single Shot]

You will find that the Lee Loader is a great tool. I have some I have used for 20 years. I still take one to the range when working up a load.

In addition I have several Lee presses. One is from the late 60's and is still working fine.

Everyone has their preference on tools. On my bench, everything is Lee red except for a Saeco lubrisizer.

[jcwit]

Speed only. I have an old Lee loader benchrest set for my 223 which included a neck reamer. It assembled ammo as good as anything else I shot. Years later I got the BR bug and got all blinged out with L.E. Wilson dies and arbor rests. It was nothing but a fancier version of a Lee Loader and the arbor press took the place of the mallet.

Yup what he said. I have a set in .223 that I take to the range and use with a Sinclair Arbor Press. I fire the same 5 cases over and over, they now have over 70 reloads on them. I will add they are not loaded anywhere to near the max, they are loaded for accuracy.

I have other sets in pistol calibers 38 spec, 357 mag., 9mm, 30 carbine, that I take to the range for working up loads, they are harder to use with the straight walled handgun calibers tho.

[Maven]

Nice to see Steve Redgwell posting on this site again. His site has a wealth of information about the .303!

[Aloxite]

Thanks for the input so far, just to answer some of the questions asked. I would like to load for my bolt action 30-06, mostly cast plinking loads with red dot or something similar. I would like to buy once fired brass as I don't want to burn through 50+ factory rounds just to get my brass. My dad may be interested in running some of them through his 30-06 bolt gun as well. Do they need to stay in the same rifle?

Brass fired in another rifle is formed to that chamber. If that chamber is tighter than the one in your rifle then you got lucky and don't need to full length resize.

One thing you could do is buy once fired brass that has been full length resized. I bet if you put a thread in the want to buy area someone would help you out.

[mdi]

Regarding speed of Lee Loaders http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeEl9wZyabc. A finished cartridge in 40 seconds. My 30-30 Lee Loader takes a bit longer, but I'm not well practiced with a Lee Loader. I believe the only "drawback" is neck sizing only in bottle necked cartridges and occational need to change underwear when priming handgun brass (I occationally pop a primer when priming .44 Magnum brass, but none with 30-30, or .38 Spec.)...

[frkelly74]

I had the problem of not being able to chamber loaded rounds when using fired brass that had unknown history. If I had tried to chamber them first I would have caught it, but I was on my own in uncharted water way back then, learning from my mistakes. Popped primers bothered my folks more than they bothered me, they weren't quite sure what I was up to.

[Dave Bulla]

It's like a lot of tools- you give it to a bone headed guy that won;t follow the instructions or use his head and he'll have problems. Give it to a guy who observes, thinks, alter his method to fit his needs and you can produce ammo of equal quality to anything coming out of the factory or off a high dollar press. It's a slow method, but that's okay when you're learning.
__________________

+1

I have these for nearly every rifle I own and a couple that I don't. The number one drawback is when loading calibers that require a crimp. To crimp a loaded round you leave the die standing upright, take the round out of the bottom of the die and invert into the top of the die. You put the decapping base over the primed end of the round and give it a couple taps with the mallet. A taper in the die makes a crimp. The problem is, that end of the die is "opened up" for ease of adding powder and the bullet so the case is unsupported. If you go to the top of the reloading hand tools index page you will see a sticky about the lee loader. Go to page 8 and look at the pic's by heathydee and the adapter he made. I had the same idea before I saw his pic's but had not made one. I've since added one for my 45-70 kit and it works amazingly well. Now I need one for my 32-20, my 30-30, and my35 Remington. Sadly, I love leverguns so most of my ammo needs to be crimped. For that matter so does the 44 and 357.

And just to clarify, you CAN get a decent crimp without the adapter bushing but the bushing makes it super easy to keep the case straight which gives a better crimp.

To give you an idea of quality of ammo, I shrank my group size in my iron sighted 30-30 from about 2 to 2.5 inches at 25 yards down to 1/2" by switching from factory ammo to hand loaded rounds loaded in a Lee Loader. I don't know what I could do with a scope on that gun.

[Junior1942]

All of my 45-70 Handi-Rifle rounds are loaded on whackit Lee Loaders. I said "Loaders" because I use two. One is set up for the Lee 450FP and the other one is set up for the Lee 5003R. The loaders are so cheap there's no reason not to have a loader for every bullet style I shoot.

[Texantothecore]

As with all hammer issues, "Requires considerable force" = use a bigger hammer. There is absolutely no problem with using a 24 oz framing hammer plus a piece of wood to neck size your round. 2 lb'ers have also been used.

Building a deck with a 16 oz hammer is really hard and slow, with a framing hammer it is way easier.

[mdi]

Hmmm, sounds like I "need" another tool; a 24 oz. Dead Blow Hammer...

[HeavyMetal]

My first experience with reloading was with a Lee Loader in 30 Carbine.

An interesting experience and it got me started in reloading and casting a short time later.

If you do some searching, and have some patieince, look for one of the older target Lee Loaders. These come with neck reaming tools, and a old style lee priming tool.

I picked one up in 308 for about 30 bucks on line and it's awsome.

It won't replace my Dilllon but it does make great ammo!

I will also agree that it is a great starter tool.