Some Tricks to Load Faster with the Lee Load All Press

[John Boy]

Step 1 - De-prime all cases in one step and then set them on the bench straight up, base down
Step 2 - Take an inverted sleeve of primers - place on work bench - slid the paper cover back that will put the primers on the bench upside down
Step 3 - Separate the primers with your finger to give them some space from each other
Step 4 - Pick the empty hull and press down on one of the primers - it will partially go in the primer pocket
Then, fully seat the primer and then do your normal reloading steps

I don't use the Lee Primer Feeder because it's a PIA if the primers start to jam up in the feed channel of the tray ... in addition the all plastic feeder is expensive

[Jackpine]

I will not claim to be any expert, but I have loaded with a Load-All, every MEC Press from the 250 to 9000, plus others, and with few exceptions have found auto primer feeds to be worthwhile, at least for me. I also dump 50 to 100 primers upside down on the bench, just in front of the press. With single stage presses, I run the press arm with my right hand, and as I am pulling the arm for the deprime stoke, I am reaching for a primer and drop it in as I am doing the upstroke. My hand is there and ready to grab the hull and move it to the prime station. On progressive presses that do not have auto eject, I grab a primer as I start each downstoke and drop it in, then grab the loaded hull, which has to be taken out anyway, drop it in the EZ Pack and grab a new empty hull.

I find that I lose not time, as I am losing no benefit of the left hand anyway, and there are no mishaps from a misfeed, there is no time spent with loading primer tray, no running out of primers and not realizing that fact. (any possible time that might be gained by the feeder is more than lost by the one screw up that occasionally always happened to me.

The only exceptions that I have found, in terms of efficiency, with presses I have used, is with the MEC 9000 and the Pacific/Hornady 366, where you have auto ejection of the finished case.

Just me two cents; your mileage may vary, but give it a try and see.

[MT Chambers]

The easiest way to load on that Lee is to pitch it out and get a used Mec 600.

[toallmy]

I have loaded a lot of shells with a load all and picked up every primer from a little bowl with my left hand , although it would seem the right hand would do the most work the left hand stays pretty busy moving the hulls around , dropping the sizing ring on them , dropping the charge + setting the wad . Don't forget to seat a wad before you drop a shot charge ,,,,,

[Ranch Dog]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I find the Load-All II extremely easy to use. Mine is a II, pre-2K, so it has the primer feeder which I have not had any issue with. I also figured out how to operate the press to a complete crimp stroke for 3" hulls, I place a .25" plastic gas seal in the primer chamber to limit the down stroke. With a variety of different card wads thicknesses (for 2¾") and gas seals (for 3"), you can also accommodiate small changes to the two standard lengths. (Another little tip worth mentioning (12 Gauge) is if you don't think your star crimp is well enough defined, make the stroke on the last station and then place a 20 Gauge card wad on top of the hull and stroke it again.

The Load-All II instructions do not cover how to empty the hoppers; I understand that Gauge Conversion Kit instruction do, but I have yet to see a copy of those. I figured it out on my own some years back, and I added a little bit of an improvement to the hopper. I cringe when someone says that the press must be removed from the bench and turned upside down! Here is how I do it, I remove the powder and shot hopper.

Start by spreading the handle down near where it pivots against the carrier pins.



If you want to make it easy to empty powder and shot without making a mess, take a few minutes to drill a hole in one corner of the bushing storage box. I chose to drill the hole in storage box rather than the cover (embossed with the Lee logo) because I operate with the only the cover on the hopper and didn't want a hole in the hopper cover while the press was in use.

I used a 7/16" to drill the hole in the radius of one corner of the storage box. It is very easy to pour the powder from the hopper directly into a powder canister. Turn the cover the opposite direction, and you can empty shot into storage as well.

[toallmy]

I take it off the stand by popping the side's loose wear the body is held by the handle , I hold a little hard cover book over the shot side and pour the powder out first just so you don't get any powder migration , then just pour out the shot with no problems .