Does anyone have/use the small Lee C press?

[Alan in Vermont]

I have my loading equipment at a friends house where he has a huge bench, good lighting and (nice in the summer) AC. Not far away but still not "right here" if I need to do something minor with a press.

I am also thinking it would be nice have a lightweight press that I could take to the range. When working up loads I could take a box of prepped brass, measure and scale and experiment right there.

My first thought was a Lee Hand Press but then I moved on thinking that a small "real" press would be a lot more useful at times. With a universal decapping die I could pop out the primers from fired stuff and put them right into my tumbler, which is here, in my outdoor shed, where the noise is no bother.

So, that brings me to the little C press that Lee makes. Small, fairly light, and plenty adequate for decapping and seating, or sizing small cases and neck sizing bigger ones.

Problem is that nobody has one on the shelf where I can run my hands over it.

I have always used an O frame press, where there is plenty of room to get a finger behind the case to get it out of the shellholder. The Lee looks like it would be awful tight in that respect and might require grabbing them from the side instead of fore and aft.

Do any of you use one and is there adequate clearance for the fingers between the cases and the press frame?

[Mike W1]

I leave mine set up with my Auto Prime II and can't remember ever having any finger space problem. On the other hand I guess I usually only use that to prime pistol/revolver cartridges.

[joec]

I have the Lee Reloader Press which is the C press of which you speak. Now I also have a Lee Pro 1000 and a Lee Classic turret as well as a hand loader press. Now I use them differently in that I load 45 acp and 9mm on the Pro 1000 with all the options other than the bullet feed. However due to the fact it is a 3 die turret I use the Lee Reloader for the final crimping using the Lee Factory Crimp die for those rounds. Now I use the turret for my 45 Colt rounds as I fill them 99% of the time with black powder so hand measure using the funnel. The hand press I use at the range to decap my 45 BP brass to get them in soapy water quickly after shooting using the universal decapping die.

Now to the Lee Reloaders press besides using it to decap and with the Lee FCD on 9mm and 45 ACP I also use it to prime brass 12 gauge shot shells to be loaded with black powder. Now I use dowels to load them but have a problem with putting in large pistol primers which these shells use. So I use the primer set up for the Lee Reloader and a 12 ga shot shell shell plate. A picture of that procedure below.

[Model29-2]

You can still use the little C press at the range. I have bolted mine to a piece of 3/4" plywood scrap, which I then clamp to the bench at our range with C clamps.

[Bill*]

I use one and never noticed it to be too cramped. I just went up and checked...You will not get your fingers completely behind a larger case, but plenty of room to get your fingers "past center" to grasp them well enough to pull them forward and out. I suppose you could turn the shell holder 90* sideways and slide them out left to right or vice versa if you prefer

[Fishman]

I use one for a lot of different chores. I originally got it for my daughter to use since it was cheap and easy for her to see what was going on. Currently my lee o press isn't even mounted. I've used the c press for sizing everything including 300 win mag, of course I've also done all of that with a lee hand press. Just no nickled rifle cases :)

I like to turn the shellholder at a 45 angled toward the brass I'm working on. It's quicker.

The press is so inexpensive, it's a no brainer in my opinion.

[zuke]

I've had one for decade's and love it,you wont go wrong.
I spent a weekend decapping a 5 gallon pail of 9mm and the built in primer catcher was great.

[44Vaquero]

I have 3 of them! One is always set up for priming with a Auto-Prime II and the others for whatever is needed. I have even used them for case forming 400 Corbon from 45 ACP!!! The olderet one is close to 20+ years old now.
It's a good product!

[joec]

I didn't mention however it works great with the Bulge Buster kit from Lee with a FCD (parts removed) for 45 ACP cases. I also put a funnel under mine that I got from Harbor Fright (3 funnel set use smallest). Drilled 3 holes starting with a 2" bit down about a 1/3 way through the wood block, then up from the bottom with a 1" bit followed by a 1 1/2" then drummeled it smooth. This was followed by a 1" through the steel plate then a 3/4" through the top of the bench. Set the funnel in and tighten down the press, add a piece of plastic tubing to the end of the funnel and good to go. It catches every primer every time.

[44Vaquero]

Joec, how about this? A 5/8 drill bit 3 screws and a wide mouth water bottle!

[Alan in Vermont]

Thanks to all the endorsements I will be getting one. Story of my life, so many gadgets, so little money.

Thank you to one and all.

[dragonrider]

Way back in the early days of my reloading life I had one, broke it in half resizing some 30-06. I replaced it with a Lee Challenger, still got that.

[joec]

Joec, how about this? A 5/8 drill bit 3 screws and a wide mouth water bottle!

Sure that would work just not with my bench setup. The tube worked great however as I have a plug on the end like on my Lee Classic turret plastic tube. I have checked it also over time to see that all primers made it into the funnel and it does as well as all the dust from them. I also use the Lee Bench plates with my other presses so I can swap them out including the Lee Reloader Press. I have the metal plates on all the others but use the wood with the Lee C press as I like the extra height on it. I keep it mounted most of the time and use a second bench plate for my Lee Pro 1000 and Lee Classic Turret presses.

[1hole]

I got two "Reloaders" some 12-15 years ago for de- and re-capping. Have a Lee Universal decap die set up basically like post #10 for one and a Lee Autoprime 2 on the other; love that system!

Of course I wondered just how weak and springy the little alum alloy "C" presses would be compared to my "rigid" cast iron Rock Chucker. Set up my .001" reading dial indicator and FL sized .30-06 cases from the same box with the same dies and shoulders set back the same. Bottom line, the RC flexed almost 3 thou while neither Reloader moved the needle enough to take a reading. The little presses certainly aren't as massively stong as the big iron but, within their limits, they ARE more rigid! Lube your cases well and I doubt you would ever break one.

And, as an aside, I've seen photos of RCBS' "Partner" presses with the same sort of frame fracture Dragonrider mentions.

[W.R.Buchanan]

If you are cramped for space at your house you can do the "Universal New Reloaders Setup" which is a 2' x 3' piece of 3/4" plywood clamped to a Black and Decker Workmate.

I did this for many years and it works great and I still have everything except the plywood which I gave to my Bro in law to clamp in his Workmate to reload on.

IF you got 3 of those little presses and set them up in line on your bench You would have a very efficient loading system. Use a Rockchucker or other strong press to resize your brass and do other things that require some force and just use the small presses to load processed cases.
IF you do pistol cases it would be Expand/Flare/Charge then move to next press and Seat bullet, move and Crimp,,,, one completely done round in about 15 seconds.

This whole setup could go to the range too, as the Workmate folds up into a 2x2x1 square, Or you could also get a Lee Hand press to do remote work.

All of these presses are in the $30 range new and there is plenty of used ones on ebay.

Nothing wrong with the small Lee press for doing light duty work. I just wouldn't try to FL size a .300 Weatherby case on it.

Randy

[runfiverun]

i put my dillon size trimmer on top of the little c-press.
i often wish i had a few more of them to actually reload with as all my o-frames are used for swaging.

[pastor]

i have one of these presses and have not had any problems with it, at this time i have it mounted to a 2' piece of 2x4 and i c-clamp it to whatever is handy and use it to size my cast bullets with a lee push-thru sizer
got mine new about 6 months ago under 30.00

[Alan in Vermont]

The issue over which Lee to get ended up solved by default. My shooting/reloading buddy picked up an RCBS Partner press the other day. That one will end up being part of our range loading box.