Vintage vs New Lee hand press.

[Smk SHoe]

I usually use the hand press at the range. During load development, I will have all cases prepped and primed. Then set up my harrell's powder measure and throw five charges. Seat the bullet with the hand press and shoot. Gives me the ability to re shoot a group with promise or do a big skip of powder charges if they are garbage. That way I don't have a box of ammo loaded at every .3 grain increments. Also lets me play with seating depth.

[3006guns]

Just to add to an old thread......

I have one of the original Lee hand presses...bought it when they first came out for a whopping $13.95 plus shipping. I was astonished when they raised the price to $19.95 some years later.......profit mongers!

The press works well except for the two shortcomings mentioned, i.e. the ergonomics of the handles and the small primer storage. I really don't feel that the handles are all that bad, just something you have to get used to. The primer "catcher" is another matter. Too many times I've been caught with it full and unable to remove the shell holder until a few were "cherry picked" out through the tiny priming hole.

Now, I owned a bench mounted press years ago (forgot what brand) where the ejected primers came out an angled hole in the side of the ram. This kept the primers out of the works, but you had to have a bucket under it since there was no tray or catcher. It actually worked pretty well. It struck me that such a modification to the Lee really wouldn't be that hard.......just drill a hole at the appropriate place. I've meant to do it for years and I think as soon as my shop clean up is done, I'll give it a go.

What could possibly go wrong?

[hpdrifter]

Just to add to an old thread......

I have one of the original Lee hand presses...bought it when they first came out for a whopping $13.95 plus shipping. I was astonished when they raised the price to $19.95 some years later.......profit mongers!

The press works well except for the two shortcomings mentioned, i.e. the ergonomics of the handles and the small primer storage. I really don't feel that the handles are all that bad, just something you have to get used to. The primer "catcher" is another matter. Too many times I've been caught with it full and unable to remove the shell holder until a few were "cherry picked" out through the tiny priming hole.

Now, I owned a bench mounted press years ago (forgot what brand) where the ejected primers came out an angled hole in the side of the ram. This kept the primers out of the works, but you had to have a bucket under it since there was no tray or catcher. It actually worked pretty well. It struck me that such a modification to the Lee really wouldn't be that hard.......just drill a hole at the appropriate place. I've meant to do it for years and I think as soon as my shop clean up is done, I'll give it a go.

What could possibly go wrong?

To each his own, but I think I'd rather empty my ram every 20 rounds than have to fight contain each and every individual primer. Just got to remember it!!!!!

[GhostHawk]

For me the answer was a Frankford Arsenal hand deprimer. It will deprime, catch and hold a couple hundred primers. Then all brass gets a citric acid wash, rinsed, a brush in the primer pocket, and a roll on a towel on my leg to remove any stubborn grime.

From there, light lube on the fingers and transfer just enough to the brass as I resize.
Resizing die is clean and stays clean.

YMMV but it works for me.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The Small Primer Storage and Handle Ergos were two of the problems I engineered out of the BPM press. It will hold about 50 and it is easily emptied, and the shape of the Handles which I made longer and more "palm friendly." (i.e. no casting flash or just deburred)

I had a Lee Press in hand as well as many pictures of the Huntington Press while designing my tool, so once again nothing new here other than the fit and finish of my tool, which is enough to warrant a look at something "new to the market."

I have never been good at coming up with New ideas, and I realized this many years ago. Very few people are, and that's why they get the big $!!!

But I also realized at the same time that I could probably improve on your idea and, probably make it better than you did. I excel in my Finishing Techniques, and Attention to Detail. Others place a lower priority on these factors and that's their problem, not mine.

After looking at several of the Hand Presses in Landy's thread above it became clear to me that the Lee Press was simply a redesign of the earlier Lyman Hand Press. Not too hard to see in those two similar designs, so apparently I'm not the only one who does this. Really didn't think so

Very little is completely new when you start talking about reloading ammunition. There is a certain number of operations that have to take place, and they all can be done several different ways. They have evolved from simple Hand Dies to Progressive Reloading Machines and everything in between. Even Hand Dies have evolved from Wilson's to Lee's point being,,, "There's a Butt for Every Seat."

However since there is only a limited number of ways to actually do each of those operations, it soon becomes obvious that even though you may be able to improve the tools to do those operations, you are never actually going to accomplish anything that is truly "new!

And this is true across the spectrum of reloading tools. There is 15 different ways to knock primers out, ranging from simple punches, to incorporated into stand alone dies, to combo dies, to dedicated tools.

Nothing new to see here, just different labels and paint jobs.

The last thing that I saw that I "think" was a new concept was the introduction of "Quick Change Die Systems" from both Lee and Hornaday. They were slightly different ways of doing the same thing put to new uses. Both of the overall concepts had been used for a hundred years for various other tasks. Breach's of Cannons (Lee) and Breach's of AR Rifles.(Hornady) Just old ideas put to different and thus new uses.

Randy

[gwpercle]

I have two of the new ones. I use them for everything except really hard sizing. I do all of my loading on hand presses.

Same here except I have two of the old non breech lock presses. If you don't mind buying a breach lock for every die you own , 2 for $10.00 , or Lee now sells a breech lock eliminator for $14.95!
I never had any problems screwing so the old ones are fine for me.
I like the hand press and load all handgun and 30-30 with them.
Gary