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Thread: Lee Classic Loader - process improvements?

  1. #21
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by NoZombies View Post
    Priming tools usually seat the primers so that they're recessed a few thousandths below the case head. Using the lee loader hammer method, the best you can hope for is flush. The combination of the lee loader and a hand priming tool can produce very accurate ammo, although it will do so slowly.
    I was rereading this thread and saw this reply so I went to my shop, got my 30-06 Lee Loader out and primed 4 cases (HXP). I used CCI LR primers and all primers were about .003"-005" below the case head. I didn't try any of my other Lee Loaders, as I remember checking all primed cases with my finger looking for high primers. IIRC all primers seated on my Lee Loaders were below flush...

    FWIW priming is easy with an arbor press and I can't remember popping any primers when I used a dead blow hammer...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

  2. #22
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    I like the method of removing from the sizing die and then priming instead of doing both in one shot.

    I'm still playing with my process. I have noticed it makes much less noise if you're working on something very solid. Working on an outside stone porch was very quiet comparatively. When I get my rockchucker set up I doubt I'll use my lee loader as often, but you can bet it'll be going in a bug out bag.
    "There are no solutions there are only tradeoffs" ~ Thomas Sowell

  3. #23
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    Guys don't forget that if you have a drill press in the garage it makes a really nice arbor press. I promise you won't hurt it a bit as the forces necessary to size cases and seat boolits is about what it takes to drill a 1/8" hole in aluminum.

    I use mine more as an Arbor Press to push the pins in my Hand Presses when I assemble them more than for anything else.

    This method makes seating primers with the Lee Loader much more predictable. Do push the case out of the die first, then seat the primer in a separate operation.

    In fact if you use the Lee Loader in a "batch loading process", like you do on a single stage press. IE: knock out the primers in all the cases, size all the cases, prime all the cases, charge and seat bullets, you'll find you can go much faster and turn out better ammo.

    You need a loading block to do this right and preferably two of them.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Regardless of which loader, tong tool, press,etc I use for the other steps, I almost always go back to one of my hand priming tools for that step. Most commonly I use the early Lee tool (aluminum with screw-in shell holders) or 310 tong tool from Lyman. I also prefer my old Jake Simmons tool for priming rifle cases for schuetzen. The only t.ime I ever prime on a press is when I use my Star or Dillon Progressive presses... I can’t even remember the last time I primed a case on a single stage or turret press. (Sometime back in the early ‘90s, maybe??)

    Those of you involved in this talk about Lee and Wilson hand loaders and their “originality” should go back and look at the tools made by companies like Bridgeport Gun Implements (BGI) for the buffalo hunters and their Sharps, Ballard, and other big single shots as well as the smaller ones for S&W revolvers. Lee and Wilson are “Johnnie come latelies.”

    “The Rime of the Ancient Frog”

    PS, I've gone back and found a couple of pix from the Inter-Web to show these early tools. These images are not mine, but I believe them to be in the Public Domain. The first is a display of the basic S&W set with all parts and a description. The second is a Ballard Rifle tool set showing the re- and decapper on the left and the loading tool with seating stem on the right, both sets were available in the 1880s.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by Green Frog; 06-22-2018 at 10:25 AM.
    "It aint easy being green!"

  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master

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    The Lee Loaders work quite well used as Lee designed them and as per the instructions. I enjoy the simplicity (I can load a 38 Special round in a little over one minute when I weigh the charges). Not criticizing the other methods posted as I prolly have used most of them, but for me I often just want to get back to the original methods, original simplicity and original fun and satisfaction...
    My Anchor is holding fast!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check