Lee hand press for depriming

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I've never used a Lee hand press...and ordered one last night.
I have one application where I think this will be good, please correct me, if I'm wrong.

Every winter, our local police use our Club's range for qualifications in the snow. If I'm lucky enough, I get the snow/ice covered brass...and/or during the first warm spell, when the range snow/ice melts, I get to pick up the wet brass.

http://i640.photobucket.com/albums/uu127/JonB_in_Glencoe/snowicerangebrass122014_zpsc0cbaed2.jpg (http://s640.photobucket.com/user/JonB_in_Glencoe/media/snowicerangebrass122014_zpsc0cbaed2.jpg.html)

It's best/easiest to deal with wet brass right away, if it's deprimed. So I usually use a universal decap die in my bench press, but the press gets thoroughly soaked. Then I clean the brass in a hot citric acid bath, then dry, then tumble clean...then it's gets sized,trimmed,ect...

ANYWAY, I'm thinking, instead of getting my bench press all wet, which is a pain to get it clean/dry, then re-oil, without unmounting and disassembly...I'm thinking the Lee hand press will be the way to go. It should be easy enough to clean/dry the hand press afterward.

any opinions ?

[jaguarxk120]

I would find a old CH alloy press, then clamp the thing down to one of the shooting bench's.

De prime the case's and spray the press down with WD40

[jmort]

You are on the right track. I have a couple few Lee Hand Presses. I like them for a change of pace and for reloading away from the bench.

[country gent]

One of the hand deprimers would allow the brass to be deprimed while picking it up. a harvey, Pope style, or one of the other hand deprimers work easy fast and comfortably. I use one I made for depriming all my brass. Its aluminum pliers style No shell holders are neededIt will deprime from small piatol cases to te big BPCR cases. Most of these units weigh less than a lb and fit in a pocket. Simple and easy to use.

[Green Frog]

Do any of the cases have crimped primers? If yes, I'm not sure any of the solutions mentioned will work, otherwise any of them will. For simple depriming however, that Lee will do any of them. I frequently watched one of the best Schuetzen competitors I ever knew decap his 32-40 cases between relays at the range... he would do about 20 or 30 in less time than it takes to tell about it. If it weren't too cold and miserable at the range when you pick the brass up, you could do it right there and leave most of the slush and mush right there! This is one time that WD-40 would perform as advertised... after I finished for the day I would sluice the tool and die with Water Displacing formula #40 and let the excess run off so it would be ready to use the next time! Sounds like you're on the way. 8-)

Froggie

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Do any of the cases have crimped primers? If yes, I'm not sure any of the solutions mentioned will work, otherwise any of them will. For simple depriming however, that Lee will do any of them.
...snip
Yeah, there usually is some 556 with crimped primers.

I did look at a Harvey decapper...it's simple and light, although besides costing more, it won't do anything else. ya never know, I might find other uses for it?
I may find other uses for the Lee???

[MT Chambers]

There's something to be said about depriming and resizing the case in one go.

[Wayne Smith]

There's something to be said about depriming and resizing the case in one go.
Not with brass in that condition. That wet I agree, deprime, clean, dry, and then proceed with processes that require lube.

[MT Chambers]

I'd just clean and dry the cases, then deprime and resize in one go, I don't usually have time to do extra steps in my reloading unless it is critical to accuracy.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I do not recommend using one of my presses for this operation. In fact my recommendation is to wash that stuff off and let it dry and then deal with it.

Then you wouldn't be defiling any of your tooling.

If you wash, let dry, then size and decap and then tumble to remove lube you are starting with clean brass direct to loading. I don't clean Primer Pockets very often.

The only step you are adding to the process is the washing the goo off the brass step. I feel this is a no brainer. I don't like water around any of my tools even my Lee Hand Press. I damn sure wouldn't let it near my BPM Presses.

If you are wet tumbling then you don't even have to let the stuff dry.

Randy

[.455 Webley]

I get a lot of my brass from a gravel pit up near Grand Marais MN and clean it up with a quick rinse with a hose. A lee press to de-cap with would speed along the drying nicely. Do they have standard threads or use that quick lock system?

[opos]

With the Lee hand press you have to stop..remove the shell holder and dump out the spent primers about every 20 cases or so..there is no place for them to go but to sit in the ram...just a nuisance but still there.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Lots of great input. I appreciate it.



I get a lot of my brass from a gravel pit up near Grand Marais MN and clean it up with a quick rinse with a hose. A lee press to de-cap with would speed along the drying nicely. Do they have standard threads or use that quick lock system?
Yep, 223/556 cases dry lots easier when it's decapped. It seems all the New Lee hand presses are all breechlock. The older ones, if you can find one, will just have standard threads.

=================

Randy,
I wouldn't dream of using a "work-of-art" press like yours for grubby work like this. I wish I could afford one, they are beautiful.

[garym1a2]

Get the one you hit the pin with a hammer. these have a simple base and no die. Try lee sku# 90102 or 90103.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Get the one you hit the pin with a hammer. these have a simple base and no die. Try lee sku# 90102 or 90103.
well, now I feel foolish, I didn't even know Lee made such a thing?

[Frogfeatures]

Lee Classic Loader ?

[William Yanda]

I use a Lee hand press with the universal depriming die to deprime bulk lots of 1X brass in various calibers.
Biggest drawback is the limited capacity for spent primers. I soon learned to keep count, otherwise the cavity filled, and one more primer wouldn't fit OR fully exit the case making it difficult to both remove the shellholder and empty the ram.

[Sasquatch-1]

I recently bought a Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Hand DePrimer Tool. It works very well and works on many different cartridges with the change of one of the three bushings included. I purchased mine for about $35.00.


169055

[fng]

Help please I need a Lee hand press -
a friend lost everything in a fire, uninsured, I'm sending him what supplies I can spare, but since his shop burned down he's got no place to mount a press so I'd like to send him a Lee hand press if any of you have one you're not using I'm posting a WTB so I can help a brother in need

[Green Frog]

Get the one you hit the pin with a hammer. these have a simple base and no die. Try lee sku# 90102 or 90103.

I was thinking of this very thing for wet, dirty cases (especially those with crimped primers) and it really would be just as quick if you have a flat space to work on. Of course that's all this outfit does, but there would be no carryover of slush and mush to your other tools and your brass would be ready to clean. The Lee punch and base sets would handle the crimped primers by design and the standard ones by default.

Froggie

[country gent]

If going the punch and base route make you own base from heavy steel 1 1/2" tall and with a cut out to let primers pass thru otherwise they fill up quick needing to be emptied and picking the lee base up distrinutes spent primers everwhere. LOL. A taller base with a 3/8" hole out the back allows primers to drop thru a small metl pan tos et it in will catch the primers as the fall thru. I have made these new bases up and they work much better for long runs. A [piece of thin wall 3/8 hobby brass tubeing can be solder in and a length ot tygon tubing ran from it to a trash can also. I hand deprime all my BPCR ammo before cleaning as I dont want that fouling in my dies and press. The hand helds work great for me

[2wheelDuke]

With the Lee hand press you have to stop..remove the shell holder and dump out the spent primers about every 20 cases or so..there is no place for them to go but to sit in the ram...just a nuisance but still there.

I see that as a bit of a feature. I can decap brass and not worry about the spent primers going all over. I just keep a ziploc bag handy to empty the ram into.

[mdi]

Hmmm. Mebbe I'm slow, but what's wrong with letting the brass dry out before messing with them? I think I'd bring them in outta the cold and stay warm for a few days until the snow/water evaporated or if I was in a hurry, I'd dry them in my oven. Problem solved?

But, get a Lee Hand press anyway. They can be used for a lot of tasks and put away, without taking up bench space...

[mdi]

If going the punch and base route make you own base from heavy steel 1 1/2" tall and with a cut out to let primers pass thru otherwise they fill up quick needing to be emptied and picking the lee base up distrinutes spent primers everwhere. LOL. A taller base with a 3/8" hole out the back allows primers to drop thru a small metl pan tos et it in will catch the primers as the fall thru. I have made these new bases up and they work much better for long runs. A [piece of thin wall 3/8 hobby brass tubeing can be solder in and a length ot tygon tubing ran from it to a trash can also. I hand deprime all my BPCR ammo before cleaning as I dont want that fouling in my dies and press. The hand helds work great for me

I've deprimed brass with a pin punch and a deep socket. Put the socket in a vise and a bucket/can/whatever under the vice. Insert pin in case, put case/punch on inverted socket (1/4" drive) and punch out the primer, it falls into the bucket. Nuttin' special to buy or make as I already have all these tools. But a Lee Hand Press is invaluable so Id recommend one anyway...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Hmmm. Mebbe I'm slow, but what's wrong with letting the brass dry out before messing with them? I think I'd bring them in outta the cold and stay warm for a few days until the snow/water evaporated or if I was in a hurry, I'd dry them in my oven. Problem solved?
a few days? Problem is corrosion.

Generally, when I get a large batch of Range brass whether is icy or dry, I deprime and clean via a Hot Citric bath, then Dry in a basket on the wood stove or on a picnic table in the hot sun...depending on the season. So I'd rather go through the drying process once, as it's a bit of a pain, and it's more of a pain (with 223/556) if the spent primers are intact.

[Mk42gunner]

Another vote for a Lee Loader style decapper. You may not even have to buy anything to do it this way.

I deprimed several thousand .45 and 7.62mm cases one Westpac with nothing more than a 1/16" pin punch, a small hammer and a socket to rest the case on. It was slow, but it gave me something to do when I was bored and didn't want to read.

Robert

[Bayou52]

I have a LEE Haand Presss and find it particularly well suited for depriming simply because:

1. I can bring it inside and decap on the couch, and

2. Decapping is the stage that requires the least amount of exertion/force, and thus the hand press is easy to use in this stage.


Bayou52

[W.R.Buchanan]

When I designed my Hand Press one of the considerations I wanted to get past was the limited capacity of the Lee Ram which is about 20 LR Primers. That's why mine has the Shell Holder that it does, and captures Spent Primers in the Plastic Tube which is pressed onto the nut below. It will hold about 100 LR Primers and is the same system that C&H uses on their 444 Series Presses. My tube is a little shorter.

All that said I still have a pretty complete set of Lee Punches and Bases for Depriming most of the cases I shoot when I only have a few to do. These tools cost only a few $ and are very useful and are definitely the way to go when you've got really Stubborn or Crimped in Primers. These tools would also be much easier to clean up after depriming a bunch of dirty brass.

I would make a piece of 2x4 about 18" long with a counterbored hole near one end that would hold the base and about a 3/8" hole thru. You'd clamp the 2x4 to your bench with the hole over a trash can. You could do a lot of cases in an hour and the total cost would be $10.

This is the easiest way to skin this cat.

If you are going to buy these tools, I suggest buying from Dennis at Titan Reloading as he is a site sponsor and the cheapest place to buy Lee Tools.

Randy

[mdi]

a few days? Problem is corrosion.

Generally, when I get a large batch of Range brass whether is icy or dry, I deprime and clean via a Hot Citric bath, then Dry in a basket on the wood stove or on a picnic table in the hot sun...depending on the season. So I'd rather go through the drying process once, as it's a bit of a pain, and it's more of a pain (with 223/556) if the spent primers are intact.
Comon Jon, corrosion in a few days? Letting brass dry inside is less corrosive than allowing them to sit in the wet snow/water...

[GhostHawk]

I destroyed a pin trying to deprime a Berdan primed 7.62x54r range pickup. So I go to Lee Precision, I see they have the generic depriming pin. I did this with my Lee Whack a mole set btw. So I ordered 3 at less than 3$ each. Found a piece of 2x2, drilled a large hole in one end with a step drill, small in the other.

Works for everything. When in doubt, drop it in, find the hole, give it a whack. If the pin is crooked it is berdan, throw it away, use it for cake cutter, powder dipper, it goes in the big jug of assorted bad brass not to be reloaded.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Comon Jon, corrosion in a few days? Letting brass dry inside is less corrosive than allowing them to sit in the wet snow/water...
I'm not sure what R+P uses in their 45ACP factory ammo, but I've seen corrosion inside a spent case, even after I thawed and rinsed some icy brass but didn't tend to it quick enough...2-3 days.

[OBIII]

You might get a better response if you post this in the "Helping Hands" forum in "Our Town".
Let me know what type of brass he uses and I'll try to help him out.
OB


Help please I need a Lee hand press -
a friend lost everything in a fire, uninsured, I'm sending him what supplies I can spare, but since his shop burned down he's got no place to mount a press so I'd like to send him a Lee hand press if any of you have one you're not using I'm posting a WTB so I can help a brother in need

[fng]

You might get a better response if you post this in the "Helping Hands" forum in "Our Town".
Let me know what type of brass he uses and I'll try to help him out.
OB

OB,
Will do, thank you sir.
-Fred

[Ickisrulz]

One of the hand deprimers would allow the brass to be deprimed while picking it up. a harvey, Pope style, or one of the other hand deprimers work easy fast and comfortably. I use one I made for depriming all my brass. Its aluminum pliers style No shell holders are neededIt will deprime from small piatol cases to te big BPCR cases. Most of these units weigh less than a lb and fit in a pocket. Simple and easy to use.

I have been using the Harvey tool for a couple years now and love it. I decap cases as I shoot and it keeps my presses nice and neat. No need for shell holders and everything I shoot fits in it nicely.

[smoked turkey]

I use my Lee hand press for decapping 45-70, & 45-120 cases when BPCR for decapping at the shooting bench before dropping the case into soapy water for the initial cleaning. I agree that there are other tools that will accomplish this but I have found the Lee tool to be very good for range decapping.

[Artful]

I don't like water around any of my tools even my Lee Hand Press. I damn sure wouldn't let it near my BPM Presses.

Randy

Darn, there goes my plans for the underwater reloading video in the pool
- I was still trying to work out how to get the powder in without getting it wet anyway.

I use one of the cheap Lee C presses for the same thing - depriming before cleaning.

[williamwaco]

I would spread that brass out on a black plastic garbage bag in the sun on my driveway.

even in cool weather it will be dry pretty quick.

[725]

I use the Lee hand press and Lee Universal depriming die. Does what I need. Use it in front of the TV to break the routine. Once the primer is removed and the pocket cleaned, I start the sizing, etc.

[gwpercle]

Don't feel foolish....The Hand Press is a neat item , one of Lee's great ideas.
I bought one , used it for so many things I bought a second. I started out de-capping , but found loading all handgun ammo and 30-30 rifle ammo with it was a breeze.
Could reload inside the house , even packed the setup into a gym bag to reload at my office desk .
Try one you'll like it !
Gary

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Well, the Lee hand press arrived today :mrgreen:

It is smaller than I thought it'd be?
It is cute for sure and has a nice feel to it, although it has the typical Lee press 'finish' on the Ram and/or Ram contact areas...which during functioning, it makes the sound similar to corduroy pants on a Big Boy. But it's smooth, so I'm not complaining...and I suspect the argument for those machining lines left as a 'finish' is (besides saving money in the finishing dept) that they hold lube.

Now, it's nice enough, I'm not sure I want to use it for wet icy brass.
I'm thinking the suggestion to use a long Decapping pin, small hammer, and a chunk of hardwood with a few caliber specific 'stepped' holes through it, is the way to go for that task.

Thanks everyone.

[country gent]

Those machine marks hold more lube than you think Jon. And in a travel press or one used in nasty conditions a thicker than normal lube may be good to consider. a heavy wax based grease may help seal water and crud out of the ram casting joint. I might even consider checking the wall thickness of the casting and if thick enough drill and tap for a 1/4 28 grease zerk. This would allow easy lubing and for grease to be used to push crud out easily.

[gwpercle]

Throw that wet brass in a dehydrator , the kind you use to make beef jerky, spread the wet brass out in a single layers , on the trays and let it run until dry.
I don't like to get water in and around my reloading stuff either.
Another method is put the brass in pillow case or mesh drying bag , secure the top well and throw it in the dryer. Do it when wife isn't around...she might object. Mine doesn't but the food dehydrator is my preferred method.
Gary

[marlinman93]

I recently bought a Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Hand DePrimer Tool. It works very well and works on many different cartridges with the change of one of the three bushings included. I purchased mine for about $35.00.


169055

I can't understand why everyone who reloads doesn't use one of the Frankford Arsenal tools to deprime brass prior to cleaning and sizing! That is the easiest, quickest way to deprime brass, and it doesn't matter if the cases are wet, dry, dirty, or whatever. (short of plugged full!)
The tool works better than anything I've ever used previously.

[GhostHawk]

I am with marlinman, I got one of those deprimers, do it upstairs while watching tv or utube on the big screen. After they are deprimed they get citric acid washed, dried, primer pockets cleaned with small brush or qtip.

Then dried and into my dies clean and shiny with just a smear of lube on my fingers.

My brass has never looked so good, my dies are happy. I can normally see pistol brass clear to the primer hole with a good wash, swirl/swish soak swirl/swish soak then rinse twice.

It was not that expensive, and I really like the way it fits my reloading and lifestyle.

[gwpercle]

With the Lee hand press you have to stop..remove the shell holder and dump out the spent primers about every 20 cases or so..there is no place for them to go but to sit in the ram...just a nuisance but still there.
That's my only complaint with the hand press...other than that they are just plain handy !
I bought one , found so many uses I bought another . Enjoy reloading at the kitchen table , my office desk and even done some sitting up in bed !
Just wish it had a better used primer system.
Gary

[jmort]

"...they are just plain handy !"

Yes sir

[dudel]

"...they are just plain handy !"

Yes sir

Mine works just great with the Lee sizers. Easy to use upside down, don't even need the catch bin.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I bought one , found so many uses I bought another . Enjoy reloading at the kitchen table , my office desk and even done some sitting up in bed !
Just wish it had a better used primer system.
Gary

You mean like this? It holds about 100 spent primers

Randy

[Texantothecore]

When you empty the spent primers from your hand press dump them into a mason jar. They may be useful to you during times of ammo shortages.

The primer storage then becomes a feature, not a bug.

[MarkS]

Northwest Florida here and clay pits are one of my spots for picking up free brass. Just have to wash and rinse the clay out and off the cases before spreading them out on old aluminum trays to dry in the sun. Then they get put in my Frankford Arsenal tumbler with crushed corn cob media and a few drops of wax before sorting.

[eljefeoz]

You mean like this? It holds about 100 spent primers

Randy

That looks the goods. :) Tell us more...

[farmrboy]

I carry a Lee hand press with a universal decap die and a coffee can of brass in my Kenworth. gives me something to do if I don't feel like reading while setting at the loading dock. Primers go in a ziplock bag till I get home.

[gds45]

I use the hand press if swmbo is around, especially if the tv is on. Too much noise.
I have a Lee Classic Loader for every caliber I load in my SHTF bags. Course I'm now too old to "bug out" so I'll have to bug in. :bigsmyl2::redneck:

[W.R.Buchanan]

That looks the goods. :) Tell us more...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?301776-Introducing-the-Buchanan-Precision-Machine-Hand-Press

Here's all the info on the first run which has been sold out. 2nd run coming soon.