Anyone use the old Lee Loader for shotgun shells?

[duckear]

I picked one up on a whim.

NOS. 50+ year old, NOS. ;)

I have used the Lee Loaders for rifle, but never shotgun.

Tips?

206599

[762X51]

I picked one up on a whim.

NOS. 50+ year old, NOS. ;)

I have used the Lee Loaders for rifle, but never shotgun.

Tips?

206599

I wish Lee still made these...heck there are a lot of things I wish Lee still made.

[megasupermagnum]

I'm not all that impressed with mine in 12 gauge. It works, but the crimp leaves a lot to be desired. You can't even resize cases. The Lee Load-All II is a big improvement. I screwed my Load-All II to a 2x4, and I can clamp it to any bench. This kit made by Lanes reloading looks to be well made. Plus it allows cases to be resized.I am considering getting one in 3" 20 gauge. They are cheaper than what classic Lee kits go for on ebay too.

http://www.lanesreloading.com/

[duckear]

I'm not all that impressed with mine in 12 gauge. It works, but the crimp leaves a lot to be desired. You can't even resize cases. The Lee Load-All II is a big improvement. I screwed my Load-All II to a 2x4, and I can clamp it to any bench. This kit made by Lanes reloading looks to be well made. Plus it allows cases to be resized.I am considering getting one in 3" 20 gauge. They are cheaper than what classic Lee kits go for on ebay too.

http://www.lanesreloading.com/

Their site is 'interesting'.
Curious what the quality of their stuff is.
I don't see where their stuff resizes the base. It looks like a remake of the Lee kit.
Funny, when you click on the instructions tab, a Lee instruction sheep pops up.
:confused:

[EMC45]

I have one in 12 and 20. They work ok. They don't resize the base or provide a really good crimp/fold, but will load some shells.

[largom]

I started handloading with one of these in 12 ga. when I was 12 yrs. old. Still have it. Have not used it for 60 yrs.

[trapper9260]

I have the one for 12 and 410 ,That is how my dad and my brother started to reload with and then went to a Lee Load all and then I went with the Mec. I still have all the others .I gfound after I run them in the Mec to re size and de prime that use the both other reloaders work out ok. I use the 410 on e for 3 " because I am able to load it easyer then use it on the mec.

[longbow]

Yeah, I've got one too. Used to use it a lot. My gunsmith friend bored it a bit deeper so I could load 3" 12 ga. hulls. Works fine. I started my slug loading career with it about 45 years ago... maybe 50 years ago. Getting old fast it seems.

I followed the same route as trapper9260... Lee Loader, Lee Loadall then Mec Sizemaster.

Longbow

[Iowa Fox]

Like most my age a Lee 12 ga loader launched me into my reloading venture. I have a 12 & 2 410's, they actually worked pretty good in the old paper hull days. When plastic came along my crimps were horrible. That sent me to the MEC folks. I've spent a ton on reloading & casting.

[RMc]

Yes, the Classic Lee Shotshell Loader is still a valued adjunct to my shotshell handloading bench.

- The shot dippers are the perfect size for dipping proper Black Powder charges for cartridges otherwise assembled on a shotshell loading press.

- The sizer/crimp die does a beautiful job of increasing the crimp radius after separate roll crimping is completed. Using a Rockchucker press with an old loading die inserted as a stop, insert the finished roll crimp shotshell into the lee die and use the press ram (w/o shell holder) to press the shotshell into the Lee die. Lower the ram and remove the Lee die and eject the roll crimped shell - now sporting a well beveled radius. Talk about smooth feeding shotshells!

[richhodg66]

I have a couple of these and have used them, but for about the same as you have to pay for one now, you can find a used Load All which works a lot better. I have a Load All in 12 and one in 20 and have both bolted to a short piece of 2x6 I can clamp to my bench.

[smkummer]

I use them for 10 gauge as I only shoot about 2 boxes a year. They are useful to show a new shooter that you can reload, then buy a mec junior, sell the lee loader and don't look back.

[nitro-express]

I used the resizing ring from the LEE Load-All to size the bases. LEE sells these, are parts.

I've made up bunkhouse kits to streamline the operations. Handy tool, great for those specialty shells. Just bout 3 sets today, 20 ga 2 3/4", 16 ga 2 3/4", and 10 gauge 2 7/8". I already had one in 12 ga 2 3/4". I've bought a few over the years, sold them all when the price went to high to not capitalize on the market.

I've paid as little as $10 for a set, and as much as silly lots for others when I needed it. 410 sets are a hard find, but an easy sell.

Nitro

[longbow]

Hmmmm... I have a resizing ring too but was thinking it came with the Lee Loader. Maybe it came with my Lee Loadall II... that's one Lee product I wouldn't buy again! The Lee Loadall is pretty good but the Lee Loadall II is pretty flimsy. It works and may be a bit faster than the Lee Loader but I'd just use the Lee Loader if I had to choose.

The crimping with the Lee Loader is a bit iffy in my experience but if (there's one) everything is right it works okay. Something else I bought were Lee star crimp starters in both 6 and 8 fold so using those before trying to crimp also helps. Not sure if those are still available or not.

I used to take my Lee Loaders for rifle to the range and work up loads there. Didn't do that with the shotgun loader but it did used to go with me to our summer property up the coast from Vancouver.

Handy tools when you don't have a lot of money or you want something very portable.

Longbow

[W.R.Buchanan]

My Lee Loader is an older one made by Mecham and was the predecessor of the Lee Tool, I mean the exact predecessor. I think Lee originally worked for them and then bought them out.

I have supplemented it with various accessories over the years like the crimp starters and wad guides and most importantly a little Sinclair Arbor Press. I use mine mostly for depriming hulls that I screwed up. I can easily push a live primer out without it blowing up in my face.

As far as the Crimp goes it is hit and miss, mostly miss. However you can load all the way to the last step and then Roll Crimp Closed which makes shells as good as anything else.

I use it enough that it has a permanent place on my loading bench.

Randy

[kaiser]

I have on hand my first reloading “kit” that is a 16ga Lee Loader. Before the “Load all II”, it provided shells inexpensive enough for those of us just starting out in life with limited funds! I found out quickly that anything I loaded was going to have to be used within a few weeks because the crimp would likely come unfolded. Using candle wax to seal the crimp did help, but alas it would eventually unfold. I also found that the hulls I acquired could not be used an infinite amount of time. The data that came in the box provided effective loads and the whole kit with all the components to reload would fit in a shoebox for travel to new hunting grounds. I now have many kits in various gauges and calibers for those occasions I may want to load a few “specialty” loads at a destination that offers a variety of game “critters” not listed on the initial menu. Lee provided the means to get started in the reloading hobby “ back in the day” as it currently does in the 21st century.

[Robbin2bears]

My son was given several boxes of reloading materials recently and one of the items is a rotary turret press for shotgun. We can’t find any pictures or data on it but it seems to have a lot of parts - red plastic inserts, powder holder/shot holder, autoprimer and base. Any clue what we have or where to find info?

[farmbif]

robbin, post picture. rotary turret press for shotgun, there are several brands, mec, pacific/hornady, RCBS, ponsness warren, Dillon and probably more I'm not thinking of.
what color is it?

[toallmy]

My son was given several boxes of reloading materials recently and one of the items is a rotary turret press for shotgun. We can’t find any pictures or data on it but it seems to have a lot of parts - red plastic inserts, powder holder/shot holder, autoprimer and base. Any clue what we have or where to find info?

I had a ' lee load fast ' at one time that sounds very similar .

[rbuck351]

At 14 yrs old, I started loading with the lee loader in 12 ga which worked ok. I bought the lee 6 point crimp and a wad guide from some other brand. This plus using the proper wad column and paper hulls worked quite well. I still have it as well as a 410 and a few rifle calibers but haven't used any of them in many years. I moved up to a Texan press which I still have.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I finally figured out how to get a decent crimp out of my tool.

First your stack height has to be correct. You can figure this out if you have a regular shotshell loading press and do everything on it up to the crimp. This will show you where the stack needs to be so you can duplicate it manually.

I used a LEE Pre crimper to start the crimp. However you need to squash the crimp down pretty hard to where there is only about an 1/8-3/16 hole in the middle.. This takes multiple pushes on the crimp starter. I used my Little Sinclair Arbor Press and had to get pretty serious with it in order to get the crimp started deep enough to translate into a good finished crimp.

The secret was getting the Crimp started deep enough, the rest took care of itself.

You can easily see these crimps are more than satisfactory.

Randy

[megasupermagnum]

It doesn't hurt to use AA hulls that can be crimped fairly well with bare hands either. :D

Randy, if you built a nice compact shotgun reloader, I'd buy 2. I like the Lee Load All II, but I admit it has faults. If you machined A Lee Load All II out of aluminum, Dies for it from steel, added guide rods like your metallic press, and made the final crimp die adjustable, I'd buy one at just about any price you asked for.

[rbuck351]

Randy is spot on with the crimp and the AAs do crimp better than a lot of others. The old paper 6 point hulls were pretty good as well.

[W.R.Buchanan]

A lot more to a Shotshell Loader than a Metallic Cartridge Loader. Using someone else's dies would be the way to go, but it would get awkward when you got to the Charging/Wad/Shot station.

I've actually looked at how I could modify my tool to do it. I can do part of the steps, but not all of them. I can do sizing, depriming, and re-priming, and I can do Pre-crimp and Finish Crimp but not in the same step. But you would have to do them in batches which isn't the way to do shotshells. You need to go from start to finish in each hull for shotshells.

If I designed a shotshell tool I would instantly be competing with MEC and Hornady and of course Lee. I could make something that looked nicer and maybe even worked better but it would probably be more expensive, adn there in lies the Marketing Rub.

Just like that new Turret Press on the cover of Handloader Magazine for $1200 !!!

It doesn't do anything any better than anything else,,, I just looks and feels nicer.

The market is going to be very narrow.

Unlike most Democrats who propose solutions to "perceived problems" but never really think them thru.
I do try think them thru.

Problem here is,,, this has already been done pretty well. The Lee tools worked good once you figured them out. And the only thing missing from the instructions was the point I made above about how far to close the Pre Crimp. The only other problem I saw was if you got too heavy on the pre-crimp you could collapse the hull, it had to be done in about 3 separate pushes.

I will continue to Cogitate on the subject.

Randy

[megasupermagnum]

Believe me, I've been thinking about it for years, but I don't have the skills to make it happen. I'm not a MEC fan, and I'd bet if more people tried a Ponsness Warren, they wouldn't be either. There's lots of ways to make a high end press, and as you stated, there isn't much room there. Most people paying that much are going for a progressive anyway. It's the small, portable area that shotguns are lacking. Yes, the Lee hand loader set can make shells that go bang. I wouldn't say that do all that great a job, and they are are slower than dirt. I really do think the Lee Load All II concept is a gold mine, unfortunately untouched by Lee in what, 30 years? Maybe more. I just love the concept of a small and portable press with next to no adjustment, only loading by feel. Honestly I don't think you can improve on the top half of a Lee Load All II. The powder/shot hopper and charge bar/bushings combo is perfect. If I were to build one, I would use all of that straight from Lee. The plastic base Lee uses is ok, but could be better. Something aluminum, and with a couple tabs so you could clamp it onto a table would be great. The Lee sizing ring is fantastic. There are faster ways to size a case, but I think that ring absolute perfection for what it is.

Really the problems of doing a Load All II concept come down to the dies. I love the layout, and the concept, but the dies are lacking in execution. Along with that, I think it would greatly improve the feel of the press to have 3 or 4 guide rods for the top half to slide on. The single square tube Lee uses is fine, but it doesn't have that great feel like a Ponsness Warren or your hand press. The decapping and capping works great on the Lee, no need for changes there. Same with the drop tube. I love how the Lee has both a 6 and 8 point crimp on it, no need to change anything. I also think spinning pre-crimp dies are useless on a single stage. If I was to build one, I might just buy the brass pre-crimp dies from BPI, and bolt both on. Now we come to the Achilles heel of the Lee Load All II, and the hardest one to solve. That is the final crimp. I love the idea of crimping by feel, but you need to be able to adjust the depth of the crimp. Depending on the hull you use, or what you are loading, you need that to be adjustable. I definitely prefer the Lee style outer body to a MEC's cam crimp which sucks. If you could make the center flat section threaded so you could adjust that deeper or shallower, you would have completely fixed the problem. If you were ever seriously considering such a project, I'd be glad to draw you what I had in mind, and see what you think. This would basically be a tool head made in a CNC of billet aluminum, and a base also CNC milled. A kit to be used with a bunch of Lee parts if you will.

[Robbin2bears]

I’ve tried uploading a photo but it fails to load every time. It’s definitely a Lee. All the extra parts have the Lee logo and all of its red. We haven’t unloaded all the boxes yet so some missing parts may emerge. There’s lots of supplies and some equipment to sort out, from projectiles to brass to primes and powder plus powder droppers, trickles and such. It’s old - powder brands I’ve never seen before of Bullseye. If you know of anyone who loads .222 REM Mag, .280 REM or .30-06 Improved, let me know. The brass is in original shipping boxes!

[W.R.Buchanan]

Believe me, I've been thinking about it for years,
If you were ever seriously considering such a project, I'd be glad to draw you what I had in mind, and see what you think. This would basically be a tool head made in a CNC of billet aluminum, and a base also CNC milled. A kit to be used with a bunch of Lee parts if you will.

I'd be interested in seeing some drawings of your ideas. Never know it might be feasible.
Send me something or PM me.

Randy

[Polymath]

A local guy had a set of 410 bore loading tools but didn't want to part with them. So I made my own. I fiddle and tinkered out in the garage for a couple hours and the set I have now work very well. When I accumulate a couple boxes of empties, I make up some. I roll crimp the raggy ones after trimming but if they have a good mouth then I fold crimp them. Stupid expensive up here.