Lee Hand Press - a pain

[Bazoo]

I look for the acculine press on occasion and would get one if it was a deal. It would be nice for tent camping where you might mount it to a stump over a long camp. I like hand presses in general.

One of the things touted about the lee when comparing between it and the Buchanan is the price, I've done it myself. However there is another reason the lee appeals to me over the Buchanan, that is that the design is similar to a bench mounted c press; it's familiar. Another reason that I initially like the Lee over the Buchanan is aesthetics. I know those aren't important to many people, and their not the major selling points for me, but if a tool looks good to my eye I'm more inclined to go for that one.

[44magLeo]

The Lyman hand press was mentioned. Does any one have one, and if so how well does it work?
I was bidding on one on Ebay awhile back. Didn't win it.
It's an interesting design.
I like my Lee hand press. It works well. I like to use my bench press to do the sizing, then use the hand press at the range for load testing.
When I find one that seems like a good one I can fine tune it on the bench press. I think I can control bullet seating for COAL better on the bench.
Leo

[Wayne Smith]

Somewhere on here I posted pictures of my HDS and my Buchannan side by side and, if I remember right, a 30-06 case in the shell holder to give some context. Now a friend has my Buchannan so I can't easily repeat the process.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Wayne: You better get that press back!!! That serial number has your name attached to it. It is a low serial numbered tool and will be a collectors item as soon as I stop producing these. I am working on the last run as we speak and it will end at #250.

Randy

[Wayne Smith]

Randy, he's a fellow deacon and a retired machinist - I'm not worried about getting it back. He will soon be set up with his own equipment.

[John Van Gelder]

During the winter months when I have no desire to load out in my unheated shop, I use my Lee hand press exclusively. No complaints here about the design.

[nhdon]

Well here is the only problem I have ever had with either of my two hand reloader presses (lee) . The handle sticking up over the die will not let my foster bullet puller turn 360 , so it can be a pain getting pulled bullet out. About hand presses I first got to use one around 1950 a tong tool ?? not sure about name or do I remember much about it as it did not belong to my family. Have a nice day. Don K

[Green Frog]

nhdon,
From the date given that tong tool was almost assuredly a Lyman 310 tool. By that time, the Winchester tong tools were antiques stashed away in attics and basements awaiting rediscovery, or in the hands of a true hard core fringe group of reloaders. BTW, do you remember whether you enjoyed using it?

As for the problem with the Forster bullet puller, I really have very little to go on as I’ve always used an inertia (hammer type) bullet puller in hopes of saving the bullets... I have never used a collet type puller, so I’ve never experienced your problem. When you use that type of puller, can you salvage any of the bullets, or are they all scrapped?

I will say that regardless of the type, style, or brand of hand press you use for loading I would expect that you would have the same problem with that type of bullet pulling... it’s just the physics of the hand type press, a limitation we would have to deal with.

Regards,
Froggie

[Wayne Smith]

Froggie, I use my RCBS puller on bullets and boolits and have never had to scrap one. The collet fits around the boolit and often slips off if the neck tension or crimp is solid. Light boolits don't work too well in the inertia puller. I've had heavier boolits that slip on the collet come out with the inertia. They both have their place.

[Alferd Packer]

I noticed while using mine today, that there is one spot, on the side the die goes into which likes to push on the web between thumb and finger on my left hand. I think a little pipe insulation and a few wraps of tape will fix it. Or possibly wrap a bit of leather around it and sew it on snug so it stays put.

But I have no real complaints with mine. It does what I need it to do.

Why not cut the fingertips off either cloth gloves or some heavy duty work gloves and wear those to cushion your hands, leaving the dexterity of fingertips to manipulate and or grip cases.
I say only cut off the tips and try it because you may want to keep the rest of the glove to cushion fingers for gripping handles for pulling apart.
Leather driving gloves may work better or thin leather chore gloves with the tips removed, maybe start only with the trigger finger and thumb removed or just split the end of each with a razor knife or blade.

[Alferd Packer]

I have a Lee hand press. I like it a lot. But for the life of me I can't figure out why Lee thought the knife-edges on the handles was a good idea.

I can't be the only one to notice the discomfort of the Lee Hand Press. And I'm sure brighter minds than mine have figured out a clever solution. So what do you guys do? Wrap it in leather? Wear gloves? Fill in the frame with foam?

Some people thru no fault of their own have more sensitive hands and therefore should utilize an old pair of gloves preferably with the fingers cut off so the cases can be inserted without having to remove the gloves all the time.
You can even add a few pieces of duct tape to the palms of the gloves for added padding.

[Bazoo]

I sanded the edges on my hand press. But I sand the edges on guns and everything.