Thought on the LEE Load-All - Is it worth my time?

[Hanzy4200]

I have never ventured into shot shell reloading. My needs will be minimal, focusing primarily on loading buckshot and slugs. I image maybe 200 shells a year. Is the LEE Load All worth the time and money or should I look for a used MEC?

A side note, I have a older MEC Jr that was given to me for free. It has a lot of rust and I honestly don't even know if it is capable of loading anything decent. I'll try to upload some pictures of it.

[Spedsterguy]

I like the LEE, it is a great simple design that WORKS.If you price powder and shot bushings for the MEC you will see its not cheap to set up. The LEE on the other hand, you can get the complete bushing kit from LEE for $9.00

[sharps4590]

My situation is similar to yours except for the slugs. A couple hundred rounds a year would be a lot for me. The only shotshell loader I have is a Lee Load All, except for the original Lee loader I have that Dad started me on. The Load All works fine for me.

[longbow]

I used to have a Lee Loadall and liked it. It worked well.

Now I have a MEC Sizemaster and a MEC 600 Jr. I mostly use the Sizemaster but I bought that used for about 1/2 the price of new. The 600 Jr. I bought used for $25.00 so a real good deal. If you could find a good used MEC or if yours is functional they are a better machine but at much greater cost if you are buying new or "normal" used prices. My used Sizemaster cost about 3x what a new Lee Loadall costs.

If your MEC requires parts they will probably cost more than a new Lee Loadall.

If you aren't loading a lot the Lee is just fine. 200 shells a year is not a lot.

My $0.02 worth.

Longbow

[Walks]

No, it ain't

[toallmy]

It won't hurt or cost much to clean up the Mec even replacing a few parts , until you start buying bushings , or adjustable charge bar . I have and use a load-all quite a bit and as mentioned above the box of bushings covers about all you will ever need to load , but they are not as affordable as they were .

[WestKentucky]

The MEC shouldn’t be too bad provided everything is there. Steel wool and oil is your friend.

Fwiw, I had MEC loaders in 12ga and 20ga for a while and disliked them because I didn’t understand the entire process of shotshell loading. I regret not keeping them, but I have ended up with other loaders for 410, 20, and 16. If I buy a 12 loader then I will buy a load all. If you end up on the market and run across a used Ponsness Warren duomatic then don’t be shy, they are a great press once you get to know how it works.

[Gewehr-Guy]

I'm not sure how expensive a Load All is now, but when I bought mine they were around $40 new. I loaded several thousand rounds with it when I used to shoot trap, and it worked well. Eventually a older neighbor gave me his old slightly rusty 600 mec, so I cleaned it up , and started using it instead. I would try to clean up your rusty one , and give it a try, it will probably work OK for you, unless it is missing too many parts. But if you find a cheap Lee, they will load good ammo too.

[Garyshome]

The lee will do the job, But no comparison to a MEC.
I had a mec jr sitting around here covered in spider webs for a couple of years .....couldn't give it away for $25. Sold it on ebay a few months ago for $150+shipping

[richhodg66]

I have Load Alls in 12 and 20 I have used for loading eound ball loads and they work fine. I'm still just dabbling in shotgun loading, but I'm going to start loading trap loads for 16 gauge and 12 gauge soon.

I see the Load Alls for sale cheap all the time, I think I payed about twenty bucks for each of mine. I can't see how you can go wrong, especially if you're just shooting a few hundred a year.

[Shawlerbrook]

Like said above, the MEC is a much better tool. I have bought , sold and used both. If you feel you will never load more than a few boxes and can get a Load-all cheap, then do it. But if the cost for a used MEC is only a few bucks more , then that’s the way to go.

[Hoss29860]

Im currently using a lee load all 2 and only currently loading buckshot and slugs so the only thing i use the lee for is depriming resizing and priming then the pre crimp and crimping i hand load my power wad and buckshot or slug .

[rbuck351]

I have a 12 and a 20ga lee and they work good enough for casual shooting needs and both of mine came with all the powder and shot bushings. They are a bit crude and slower to operate than any of the other brands I have used but they do work. I would first try to get your mec going if it doesn't need a lot of parts. You will like a mec a lot better than a lee. If you can find a used press of about any brand that is complete (texan, pacific, bair even an old herters) you will probably like it better. The only issue with other presses is the powder and shot bushings. Some are not so easy to find and some are expensive. It's not likely you will find a used press that will have the proper powder bushing in it for the powder you want to use for slugs or buckshot. The Lee will have everything you need at a decent price if you can find one.

I am currently using my 20ga Lee for loading #4 buck and in order to get 20 pellets in each shell I have to set each layer of 4 pellets in carefully by hand. It makes a very nice loaded shell but it does take some time. Casting the #4 buck is slow as well but in the end I have what I want and I couldn't buy it at a store now anywhere.

[longbow]

With regard to powder bushings, I use a scale and Lee powder scoops for powder when I am loading slugs. I have Universal charge bars in my MEC Sizemaster and MEC 600 Jr. but for slugs I generally use Lee scoops checked with my scale and dump by hand into the hull. Same would apply to Lee Loadall if an appropriate bushing is included/available.

If you have the bushings, fine, or if you are only going to use one or two powders and same charge weight each time then bushing cost is minimal but if you want to experiment and try different powders and charges bushing costs will add up. The Lee scoops offer inexpensive versatility for about any powder/charge you want to try.

Longbow

[ih772]

I have a lee load-all for 12ga and I have the 20ga conversion kit too. I load about 500 rounds of each gauge per year for shooting clays. I also load 12ga and 20ga slugs and buckshot rounds on it as well.

I'm happy with it and not really interested buying something else. I wish I had one for .410 but I'm not sure they ever made one.

[Walks]

When Lyman got out of the Shotshell reloading gear in the early 1970's I believe they sold the design rights of their "EASY" Shotgun press to LEE.
Lee changed everything to plastic and pot metal. Had a friend buy a Lee, broke twice, he threw in the trash and bought a MEC Sizemaster.

[rick benjamin]

I have Lee's 12 and 20 gauge shotshell loaders. Justified picking up other peoples perfectly good hulls for my reuse. Was into 3-Gun, needed 12 gauge slugs but shelves were empty for slugs. Borrowed a couple rounds from another competitor and shot over my chrony chronograph. Then bought a 12 gauge, one ounce forester type slug mold. Made some velocity matched slug rounds using unique powder, felt spacers, etc. Turned out to be exceptionally accurate to 100 yards.

[Hanzy4200]

As the Load-All is on back order everywhere, I decided to toy with the old MEC. I spent about 30 minute spraying a scrubbing, and I'll be darned if the thing doesn't work! I ran a test shell and it looks incredible! The only thing I found was there is nothing connecting the bottom of the charge bar to the powder/shot tube. I'm sure I can jimmy something. When I got the MEC, it came with probably 400 assorted wads and even a half bag of shot. There's a bag full of hundreds of these odd aluminum "pellets". The are cylindrical, about the diameter of a pencil, and flat on both ends. Any idea what these are?

Now I need to find a buckshot and slug mold. This should be fun.

[elmacgyver0]

When Lyman got out of the Shotshell reloading gear in the early 1970's I believe they sold the design rights of their "EASY" Shotgun press to LEE.
Lee changed everything to plastic and pot metal. Had a friend buy a Lee, broke twice, he threw in the trash and bought a MEC Sizemaster.

Your "friend" must be a bit clutsy, I have a couple that have lasted for years. I now have a couple of old Pacific's that were given to me that I have restored.
I haven't used the Pacific's yet but look foreword to it at some point. I can make bushings on my South Bend.

[John Boy]

First shot shell in the 60’s for 12 ga was the Load All. Still have it plus the 16 and 20ga, plus for volume loading .. 2 MEC’s

[Ausglock]

I use a Lee load all to load 00 buck and slugs.
have a look at my post on the simple hitek coating thread.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?204174-simple-Hi-Tek-coating&p=5147278#post5147278
I use a 4 pin roll crimper in a drill press.
There are pictures of the rounds as well as data.
post # 14096
My Lee is a 1985 vinatge.
Aslo have 2 Pacific DL 105 presses too. But never use them as the Lee is easier to swap between load types.

[6pt-sika]

If you’re going to load day 25 shells every month or two so be it . I’ve never used a Lee shotgun loader so I cannot say anymore than that . I’ve got MEC single stage loaders for everything from 8 gauge to 410 and other then the 8 n 10 the others are used just for buckshot , punkin balls , slugs and Bismuth . For bird target loads I use MEC 9000’s for the 12 , 16 , 20 , 28 and 410 . Now with that being said of money we’re no object I’d use Ponsness Warren 800+ machines for all those I have in 9000’s as well as a PW LS-1000 for 10 gauge 2 7/8” but I’d still use the single stage MEC’s for slugs buck etc and of course the 8 single for everything . I truely HATE the time it takes to load large quantities on a single stage years ago I’d load 800-1000 on PW loaders in an evening and I can do that now with the 9000’s I just don’t think they’re as dependable as the PW loaders . But economy is important now .

[megasupermagnum]

I have a Lee Load All II with 12 ga, 16 ga, and 20 ga sets. I had 3 MEC's at one time. I also have a PW 375 with 12 ga and 16 ga tool sets. My PW is now my main press. I still use my Lee for quick and short testing runs if I don't have my PW set up for what I want, as there is zero set up time, just slap whatever gauge set you want in there and use it. I sold one MEC, one I use for 10 gauge currently, and the third was a gift, so I wont sell it. That one sits in the corner unused. If I had the means to shoot more, I'd buy a 12 ga PW progressive, and get 10ga tooling for the PW 375. Take that for what it is. The Lee is not a waste of time.

[6pt-sika]

I have a Lee Load All II with 12 ga, 16 ga, and 20 ga sets. I had 3 MEC's at one time. I also have a PW 375 with 12 ga and 16 ga tool sets. My PW is now my main press. I still use my Lee for quick and short testing runs if I don't have my PW set up for what I want, as there is zero set up time, just slap whatever gauge set you want in there and use it. I sold one MEC, one I use for 10 gauge currently, and the third was a gift, so I wont sell it. That one sits in the corner unused. If I had the means to shoot more, I'd buy a 12 ga PW progressive, and get 10ga tooling for the PW 375. Take that for what it is. The Lee is not a waste of time.
“If” one isn’t already used to other machines I would think the Lee is fine , however if a person is used to this that or the other I’d look at it kind of as a step backward . But as said earlier if said person is new to loading and only plans to a box or two at a time then it oughtta be perfect . But personally if I wasn’t going to load anymore than eight boxes a year I’d just opt to buy factory (well if ammo was readily available).

[DavidB56]

I decided to get back into a little shotshell loading when the store shelves became empty. I bought a Lee load all just in the nick of time. The other brands were all sold out. I found a old Neidemeyer in my boxes of stuff and haven't been able to get a good crimp on it.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I loaded these yesterday on the Lee Load-All II press. The recipe came from the Lyman 5th Edition Shotshell Reloading Handbook, and were almost as specified, which in part accounts for the good results. Hulls: Win. AA, Primer: Cheddite 209, Powder: 20 gr. Red Dot, Wad: Claybuster substitute WAA12, Shot: 1 1/8 oz. NP No 7. Three or four of the crimps raised up slightly, but another trip through the crimper with a little more pressure solved the problem.

280526

DG

[gpidaho]

I have a large accumulation of shotgun presses. Ponsness-Warren, Mec, Texan, C&H, Pacific and Lyman along with the Lee Load ALL II's and several hand kits. Lee, Russian and Survivor kits. In use, The Ponsness-Warren 375 for birdshot and the Lee Load All for Buckshot and slugs. Gp

[dsh1106]

I agree with Gp, the Ponsness-Warren 375 makes some of the nicest shells I've seen. I will own of these some day!!!
I use my Lyman Easy Loader for most anything I do at the moment, I have everything setup for roll crimping.

Scott

[pworley1]

The Mec is a better press but I don't think it produces any better ammo than the Lee. For the volume you described the Lee is all you will ever need.