Lee Load Fast, sorry if OTT

[dromia]

I'm talking shotguns here so apologies if its off topic and needs to go the journey.

Shot is cast in a mould of air.

About ten years ago I saw a Lee Load Fast 12 guage reloading press in action and was seriously impressed.

Didn't have the dosh for one then although the price wasn't dear.

I've been trying to get one now for a few years but can't even locate one, never mind one that is for sale.

Lee don't list it any more but they do have the manual on their site.

Anyone know what happened to this press and any suggestions, other than b*****dbay as to where I could get one.

The Load All is a good buy and I rate it for my Black Powder loads but I've got a space on my bench for a Load Fast.

Any suggestions, help appreciated.

[Trapshooter]

I have one of the Lee Load-Fast machines. It came with a wide selection of powder and shot bushings, and I bought the primer feeder. I was impressed with the machine's flexibility and output. Like most Lee products, there are quite a few engineered plastic parts, but it will crank out shells with the best of them if you are using good hulls, and don't run into any snags. I never had any broken parts, and it made an awful lot of shells for a tool that cost less than $100 new.

There was one problem with the press design. Once a shell was started, there was no way to take it out of the loader until the shell was finished. If the wad went in crooked or there was some other problem, the only solution was either tear the press apart, or to hack off the top of the shell with a knife (and clean up the spilled shot and / or powder). Being a frugal reloader, I got pretty good at taking the press apart to fix problems.

When I first got it, most shell heads were brass, and the Load Fast worked quite well with them. Winchester AA and Remington Premier hulls always worked ok, but the dove and quail hulls that people tossed didn't. The sizer on the Load Fast didn't handle the brass plated steel heads too well. I think the problem was caused by the difference in springback between the steel heads and brass heads.
When a steel headed shells progressed to the eject station, some wouldnt eject without a fight.

I got tired of fighting it, and bought a MEC. The Lee was stacked on the back shelf. Eventually I bought a MEC sizer, and time to time still use the Load Fast for special loads after first sizing the shells.


Trapshooter

[dromia]

Thanks for that Trapshooter, you'whetted my desire for one even more now. Sounds like my sort of thing as I don't load a lot of shotshell, around 50 each a month BP in 12 and 10 bore for a monthly BP clay shoot.

Do you know how long they were made for?

If you or anyone ever see's one for sale can you point me in its direction, I'm in the UK but more than pleased to pay for packaging and shipping on top of the price of a press.

[Mohillbilly]

dromia I too owned a load fast, alas in a move the presslocked up and was forced into retirment for lack of parts.I had produced about 5000 rounds with it,and it had done a good job on win AA hulls.The primer feed needed watch'n as it would fail to feed some times...I belive I'll get an MEC next.They seem to be better in parts and there will be a lot more of them around.........