compact and portable kit

[Ben]

+1 or more to Wayne! Should you really decide to seriously reload rather than just have the capability in an emergency, you will appreciate the quality and utility of the Huntington Compact. I've tried the Lee and others, and there is no really logical stop between the Lee Loaders ("Whack-a-Mole") or the Lyman 310 Tool if you just need to load a few rounds occasionally as in for hunting, etc at the low end, and the ability to do some serious reloading with all the processes possible. This topic has been hashed and rehashed dozens of times, and the end result is always that in actual practice for SHTF situations or other survival considerations, it would be best to pack an equivalent weight and volume of loaded ammo (the best way to "store" your components! ) but it is fun to speculate and if you really need or want to assemble such an outfit, by all means, have at it. I have done this on a more directed basis where I carry portable loading gear to the range for load development, etc, and I have gone to the 310 for a few "fun" loads and the Huntington for "serious" target work. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Froggie

PS To Ben: I too saw your set up when you posted it earlier, and it strikes me as a great exercise in design to answer the questions from the OP, and also serves to reinforce my contention about carrying loaded ammo if you are serious about having enough ammo available for survival or SHTF situations... Can you imagine how many boxes of 38s you could carry in that same case? Don't get me wrong, I like what you did, but it's a matter, to me at least, of how to best solve a supply problem. How many bullets and primers, and how much powder would you normally carry? How many loaded rounds would you ultimately be able to produce?

PS to Froggie,

I never made the portable kit with the intentions of fleeing Zombies or how best to deal with an Apocalypse .

I made the kit ( as I stated in the earlier post ) for my grandson who will probably never have a large reloading bench to work off of. Fleeing from danger and counting on this kit to provide ammo in an extreme emergency condition never crossed my mind.

Just for the record however, I also believe that in an extreme national emergency situation, that a heavy stash of loaded ammo will be much more useful than large quantities of reloading components which can take a considerable amount of time to produce any sizable amounts of ammo with a hand press.

He will have , when he is an adult, a :

( A ) 38 Spec. / 357 Mag. lever action rifle

( B ) and a 38 Spec. / 357 Mag. revolver that he will need ammo for after I'm dead and gone.

This kit will provide him that ammo and do the job VERY WELL. He can load on his kitchen table and when finished , put his tools back in the box, close the lid and slide everything back under his bed.

If he chooses at a later date in his life to graduate onto more sophisticated bench mounted reloading equipment to reload his ammo , that would be his prerogative at that point in time.

Ben

[MBTcustom]

I'm a big fan of the Lee loaders here. They work just fine in lever guns, especially because after five loadings, you can usually make it back to your bench press to push the shoulder back. That's a lot of shooting.

[Green Frog]

Sorry Ben, I didn't mean to do anything but provide useful information. I guess we all have been in a situation where a loading bench was not a possibility and still wanted to reload... your "loading bench in a suitcase" serves to perfectly fill the need for "kitchen table loading" or "motel room loading" as well as "apartment reloading" of course and would be great if needed that way.

However, when people start talking about carrying pliers to scrounge wheel weights off of cars, etc, I have to surmise that they are thinking of some sort of bug-out/survival scenario. I heartily subscribe to your ideas for the purposes intended, but would still maintain that this question is most frequently posed in terms of the latter purpose and as such I stand by my answer. That may be "thread drift" but it also is the likely direction of the topic's development if past events are any prediction of the future.

BTW, when doing some test firing of a reproduction single shot rifle so I could meet a deadline, I once loaded 38-55 cartridges in a motel room in Etna Green, IN, and I have loaded 32-40s on the line for classic rifle matches... those 310 tools do still work! I started with the Lee Hand Press for some in-the-field loading, but when the opportunity arose to get the Huntington unit found it to be superior in many ways for the applications to which I put it. With rifle calibers, at least, the idea of a good supply of components with just a few cases (20-50) makes sense. I put all of that in a 50 cal ammo can when needed. Just my experience, YMMV.

Froggie

[Reg]

Skeeter Skelton had a really good article on this back many years ago. I think he used a Lyman nutcracker and all was in a small surplus musette bag.
If I were to update it, I would go for the Lee hand tool mainly because of the $110.00 difference.
You can buy a lot of powder and primers for that !!

[rking22]

I just plain like loading on he whack-a-mole Lee loaders ,its slow pace and relaxed production rate suits my mood . Life is way too fast paced for me these days. I like my hobbies kinda oldschool. Besides ,sometimes hitting something helps!
Nuthing wrong with the hand press at all ,mine ain't going nowhere ,but I like the classic better for my uses. The dillon in 38 special anit going anywhere either , I ain' stupid ,just like to relax and slow down at times, my story and I'm stickin to it.

[blueeyephil]

Skeeter Skelton had a really good article on this back many years ago. I think he used a Lyman nutcracker and all was in a small surplus musette bag.
If I were to update it, I would go for the Lee hand tool mainly because of the $110.00 difference.
You can buy a lot of powder and primers for that !!

I think I have the gun digest with that article. I've read it several times over the years. One of the main things about the article was picking out the caliber. He picked .357 since it could do anything in a handgun he needed. In a revolver could be loaded mild to heavy and you don't have to look for your brass. I think those arguments still apply for a bug out situation if you're in the country. I've always planned on putting together my kit. I've got the Lee hand press with the primer seater, a 10 lb pot and ladle, and molds. Just haven't taken the time to work up various loads and make dippers for them. Maybe someday.

[geargnasher]

Lee hand press, simply because that's the only hand press I've used. It has enough nutz to do FL sizing if necessary and doesn't require a table or hammer to use. I would NOT use a whack-a-mole kit for any kind of production work, or depend on one for leverguns. Just my .02.

I put together a kitchen-table kit for my uncle that fit in a little canvas satchel about the size of a large purse that contained a .45 Colt Lee loader, scoop calibrated for 7.5 grains of Unique, a brick of primers inside a padded box, pound of powder, 1K sized/lubed boolits, Lee hand primer with #11 shell holder, primer pocket cleaner, and Lee hand trimmer and deburr tool. A 1-quart saucepan, mould, handles, container of lube, and ladle could have been added, too.

If I'd been making the kit with a hand press, I could have included the press priming mechanism, boolit sizing die, and a bottle of liquid Alox and been able to do gas-checked rifle boolits as well.

Gear

[Artful]

I use a Huntington W hand press but I would have not problem using a Lee hand press - advantage is you can use all the regular dies you use in your regular press and can full length resize unlike a nutcracker.

[Green Frog]

A couple of additional observations...
1) I'm at a bit of a disadvantage when using the "whack-a-mole" method as I frequently load at night in a campground or motel room. The sound of hammering has brought angry comments from my neighbors!
2) Having used both the Lee Hand Press and the Huntington, I prefer the latter by a lot! I already had the Lee and had been using it for almost a year when I got the chance to buy the Huntington at a favorable rate. As soon as I had the opportunity to do a test run with the Huntington, the Lee was immediately traded. Just my experience, YMMV.
3) Obviously, I have thought about and acted upon the concept(a lot) so this isn't just idle speculation... "been there, done that" and have a pretty good idea what actually works. I really like Ben's idea if one is going to do a medium large amount of "kitchen table" (or apartment, or hotel room, or campground) reloading.
4) I still submit that if it is your goal to be ready for a disaster type event, the best way to "store" a significant amount of reloading components for such "SHTF" situations is as assembled rounds packed tightly in boxes. JMHO, YMMV!

Froggie

[barrabruce]

Well I use my whack a mole in the press like a arbor press..no noise.

But I do a lot of depriming with a deprimer made out of a pair of pliars and use a single old lee hand primer to seat primers.
I use an old shell ground down with a push rod to seat my bullets shutezn style and use a powder measure to load the cases.
I have on hand all the other bits but do mostly don't need any at the range.

Another style
I use a small pipe cutter to ring my unsized brass so as the bullet can seat down on it and load it so the the ring and the nose are engraved with the bullet when chambered.

O.K. it fits into a spectacle case I only need powder primers and cleaners and a bit of Dacron and a case or two.

Not what you are looking for but I shoot a single 30-30 try to emulate the shutzen sort of thing.
Works good enough for me and I have a ball.

Of cause I use a lee whackem set and can load cases and have a full legth sizer vice type a overall length cutter primer pocket cleaner and chamber tool.

cleaner rags brushes etc etc all go in a ammo tin.

I just need a arbor press of some sort for the whackem dies and I'd be set.
Or one of the hand presses.

For shtf I'd hope I'd have enough primers powder lead etc. But be probably too busy to worry about things helping the neigbours out cleaning up the mess and getting on with it.

I hope I get to melt in the big flash of blast wave than to malinger with the survivors.
Barra

[rdlange]

So I'm different. I like the 310 for years in several calibers, especially for de-prime and prime. Best with two handles. And the Lee Hand press for M dies and bullet sizing dies and occasionally whatever else is convenient if I don't have a 310 for it. Have Lee Loaders and a turret press and never use them. JMHO...

[Lefty Red]

Hell, this is my everyday reloading kit! I could drop a few things and add some powder and bullets and it could be taken as is.

[1Shirt]

Guess I am just an old fashion traditionalist! Started with a 310 tool, and if I were going to make a bug out reloading set up, it would be that with dies for 357, 30-30, and probably 223 (would also include sizeing dies). Would have a pound or two of 2400, 200 ea of appropriate size primers, and appropriate lee dippers. Would also have 100 blts. for each cal. and a single cav mold for each with a set of handles, 10 lb of lead in ingots, a small melting pot (lee) and a small lead dipper. Would all fit in a standard brief case. That said, at my age, have no intention in bugging out, so this is just my thoughts on the subject.
1Shirt!

[Green Frog]

Hey 1Shirt, they need to learn not to p1$$ off us old guys. We're too old and tired to run so we'll just hunker down where we are and shoot 'em!

Froggie

[CastingFool]

A while back, I picked up a Lee hand press in a trade. I couldn't see the need for another press, I traded it off to someone else. I'm almost beginning to regret it, but trading it yielded a very good supply of Bullseye.

[singleshot]

I like and use the whack-a-mole kit! It's the smallest, lightest kit out there, and it's what I take when hunting! Therefore, I picked it. If you alternate plinking loads with full power loads in a case, you never have to "reset" the shoulders!

OTOH, I really like my Lee hand press! Convenient little bugger.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, when I take my Ruger 77/44 and my Lee whack-a-mole kit, I NEVER have to worry about the placement of the shoulders.

[Texantothecore]

I use the Lee Classic Loader as well as a Lee hand press and they both work beautifully.

My reloading kit fits in an ammo box as I never have time to reload at home and usually end up reloading at the range.

If you only shoot one type of round it is more efficient to carry finished ammo but if you, like me, shoot different rounds at different speeds depending on what type of hunting you are doing, the portable reloading kit makes more sense.

[RogerDat]

I'm a rookie at reloading but for what it's worth... If the purpose is to provide offspring with a simple to use reloading kit that is portable the Lee Loader with instructions seem the simplest for 38/357. If they already know how to use a press and won't have trouble figuring out which die does what and setting up the dies something more such as the hand press adds features or options to what they can do. Along with some weight. If casting equipment is included again they would need to know how to use it, and it would need to be basic. Tool to remove wheel weights seems out of place for anything but world war Z or a buried cache to deal with confiscation.

For SHTF I'm in the camp of plenty of ammo. You might want to share. When I headed down to Fla. for a family funeral right as a Hurricane was coming in I packed basic camping gear, rations, a side arm with 3 speed loaders plus 150 round as spares, long gun with 3 20 round loaded magazines and a 500 round sealed pack as spare. Did not take up much space, never needed to leave my trunk but if family or their friends had need I could have spared some. There have been a couple of bad hurricanes that left good chunks of Fla without organized law enforcement for awhile. Main path of hurricane missed them, slept inside their house so all that stuff became extra junk in the car for the trip. Best outcome as far as I was concerned.

[charliek]

What is the date of that article?

[flintsghost]

I started out with a Lee Loader years ago. I then went to a rockchucker when my wife gave me one for christmas. Over the 45 years since I've loaded some on a 310 tool and I even loaded some on an old hunting die specialties hand press. Either could be handy at the range for a load development exercise but both are a lot of trouble to use. Especially if you have other bench mounted tools at home and have grown somewhat lazy as I have.