new member - Lee Loader supplies question

[Wayne Smith]

Are you using any case lube when you size? If not that explains it. Yes, it will stick and stretch on the way out. If you are using case lube that shouldn't happen. RCBS case lube is STP repackaged. get a stamp pad and a bottle of STP if you don't have any case lube. If you have lanolin in almost any form, snow seal, bag balm, or oilskin treatment it will work just as well and soften your hands at the same time! STP wipes off easily with a rag, just a little lanolin I just leave on.

Since you are shooting a solid revolver I'd shoot it. After shooting it I'd pull the case just to see if it split and if so where the piece of brass went! That being said, I'm curious and an experimenter. I was 16 when I got my Lee Loader, I realized the potential for popping a primer so I went ahead and deliberately popped a couple so it wouldn't surprise me when it happened accidentally. If you are not, pull it.

[RogerDat]

Using Lee case lube. Might not have used enough. Will try some more brass, using more lube, after Turkey day. Check each case as I go to confirm I'm putting enough lube on to prevent "stretch marks". I was putting a dab of lube on my finger and thumb then rolling the next 5 cases between them. If I still see stretch marks I'll try the snow seal and get more generous, or the STP

I recall STP we used it as assembly lube, was used in a sucker bet you could make with a rookie. Bet you can't pick up this screw driver by the shaft with just you finger and thumb. If the shaft was wiped with STP there was no way.

I might consider feeding it through my 357 since it has a longer and stronger cylinder as well as heavier frame but then again why take the risk of sending pieces of brass down the barrel or getting it jammed in the cylinder. I probably would not reload this suspect brass again so might as well pull it now. If someone else wanted to experiment I could send them the brass. I'm getting too old to learn to wipe left handed.

[Wayne Smith]

Well, yah, I did tell you that you would need a bullet puller!

[RogerDat]

Well, yah, I did tell you that you would need a bullet puller!

And I being smart enough to recognize good sound advice when it's directed right at me.... bought one

[Dave Bulla]

That groove doesn't look like anything I've ever seen on a case. Usually the crimp in the case is just a crease. That looks like a flat bottom channel. I also didn't notice the friction marks until you pointed them out.

Just curious, is your Lee kit new or old? I'm wondering if you might not have a little bit of internal rust. Might be worth while to swab it out with some solvent and maybe even put some steel wool on a rod chucked in a drill and polish the inside of the die a tad.

If you have actual rust, I recommend you buy a bottle of Evapo-Rust from your local auto parts store and soak it in that for a couple hours. It cleans up with water and simply melts rust away. It's not harsh, you can put your hands in it without any PPE and it just flat works.

[uscra112]

I lived in Fowlerville myself, 2000 to 2009. My best reloading sources were the gunshows at Mason, Birch Run, and Grand Rapids. The Powder Keg had nothing for reloaders. He also charged me $50 for a transfer, and lost half the stuff that came with the rifle to boot. (Although he found it again about a month later.) There's a chain sporting goods store in the strip mall on the north side of Grand River just a bit west of the Walmart in Howell that had some stuff. Can't remember the name. Did much of my shooting at the Shooters' Corral out west of Leslie, not to annoy my landlord too much - which is not to say that the occasional woodchuck didn't meet my .25-20. I always followed the old poacher's rule - one shot only. It's the second shot that gets you in trouble.

[RogerDat]

That groove doesn't look like anything I've ever seen on a case. Usually the crimp in the case is just a crease. That looks like a flat bottom channel. I also didn't notice the friction marks until you pointed them out.

Just curious, is your Lee kit new or old? I'm wondering if you might not have a little bit of internal rust. Might be worth while to swab it out with some solvent and maybe even put some steel wool on a rod chucked in a drill and polish the inside of the die a tad.
.....

Kit is new and not all rounds ended up with that defect. All of the ones with that ring have it at same distance from case mouth (5mm). Found some cases I did not do yet with the ring. It looks like a "heavy" version of the stop line for the original bullet. Almost appears to be rolled or crimped into the case. Sizing just makes it more pronounced.

The cases are stamped R P on the base, internet indicates this is Remington-Peters. Over on the highroad site I found a discussion were some people stated RP would sometimes put a cannelure type groove in the case as an added crimp for heavier lead bullets, such as the 158 gr. I tended to purchase.

This post here has a picture. In the picture the thin ring below the normal cannelure is like what I have on mine close to the case mouth. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...=1#post2333730

The discussion on reloading with the cannelure was generally saying its OK to reload because the cylinder takes the pressure load. These folks just reload them until they burn through. http://www.missouriwhitetails.com/fo....php?p=2435307
Others just treat them as scrap.

[Wayne Smith]

Personally I don't treat them as scrap until they fail. I've yet to have one fail!

[Greg B.]

Have a look at the Los Angeles Silouette Club web site. Lots of very good free info on cast boolits. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook is another excellent cast boolit loading manual.

[RogerDat]

Have a look at the Los Angeles Silouette Club web site. Lots of very good free info on cast boolits. The Lyman Cast Bullet Handbook is another excellent cast boolit loading manual.

Have been reading http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm from a link on that site.

Both the Lyman reloading and casting manuals are on my must purchase list but I was hoping to purchase from one of the local reloading sources suggested by members instead of Amazon. Support local business that support the shooting community. Just a bit of a drive to get to any of the ones mentioned have not been able to get the free time yet. Am considering the Lee reloading book but since it is only available in hard cover it's more expensive than the Lyman reloading book. Since I'm just learning figure I can learn a lot from any decent manual, the Lee reloading manual did get better reviews on Amazon but wonder how the experienced people here rate the two reloading books.

Planning to go purchase the Aroma 1000 watt hot plate today, one with cast iron burner. Have a stainless pot and ladle from Salvation Army store. Figure for turning "dirty" scrap into ingots the pot and hot plate would be better solution than contaminating a melter from Lee. Will have to see if hot plate is suitable for casting of boolits or not, may need a real melter for that part of the operation.

[Darto]

Roger I have copied about 50 to 70 thereabouts of Lee Loader charge cards, for different calibers (lee loader made their loader in 101 calibers according to an old Lee add I saw).
If you want a copy of a /zip file of these (.jpg files zipped up), I can email them as an attachment.

If there was a site to post the file online I would do that, in case anybody else want it.

By the way I got the pictures from enlarging eBay auction listings, they usually show the charge card.

[RogerDat]

Roger I have copied about 50 to 70 thereabouts of Lee Loader charge cards, for different calibers (lee loader made their loader in 101 calibers according to an old Lee add I saw).
If you want a copy of a /zip file of these (.jpg files zipped up), I can email them as an attachment.

If there was a site to post the file online I would do that, in case anybody else want it.

By the way I got the pictures from enlarging eBay auction listings, they usually show the charge card.

Clever idea getting the images from ebay. I'll PM you with my email address. I have a couple of sites where the images could be put online, can whip up an index web page for listing them all, send you the link to the page or list of links to the images and you can post it.

[Wayne Smith]

Roger, after all this I at least am curious how they shoot. That's the one thing you haven't told us.

[RogerDat]

Roger, after all this I at least am curious how they shoot. That's the one thing you haven't told us.

So far have been unable to get any annoying family member or in-law over to test fire them.
I can't shoot on my own property, houses on all sides but my neighbor lives at the back of 10 acres and has a berm, just been too busy to go visit him. Maybe this week end. Really looking forward to finding out how the good ones shoot.

On the ones with the grooves in the cases I'm figuring just not worth it, that groove is just too deep.
Sorted through the brass by head stamp and only have about 50 cases like those. I'll try sizing a few with lots of lube see what the results are. Bottom line is I can purchase 100 used cases for $15 and while not highly probable it is possible that I could do a lot more than $15 in damage with a single failed case. I'm worried that the brass will split all around the case on the groove and get fired along with the bullet. As deep as the groove is that wall is pretty thin.

[rintinglen]

I would not sweat that groove. It looks like a cannelure that was put in the case to prevent a bullet from seating deeper in the case. I have loaded and fired many thousands of rounds from similar brass--a police agency used to qualify with a 110 grain JHP at a range that I was a member of. I had a 5 gallon bucket of that stuff which had the same "groove" you are showing.

[John C]

I agree that those cases are probably fine. Even if the extremely remote chance one of those cases did let go, it's far enough up that the case would still seal the chamber and the boolit would likely fire just fine. I'd definitely shoot them.

[drtoddw]

The Internet archive has a copy of Modern Reloading (1st Edition copyright 1996, 2000 reprint) by Richard Lee. This book doesn't seem to be much different from my newer version. I would probably double-check the data for any particular load against updated information; what I've checked hasn't been any different. I can't vouch for copyright but I believe that the internet archive ascertains that copyright is not being violated. I did have difficulty getting a readable copy trying to download a .pdf copy but was able to get a very clear, readable copy by using the "View On-line" option to the left. As always, the reader assumes all liability for the use or misuse of the information found in the document...I'm just passing the link along for "educational purposes".

http://archive.org/details/Modern_Re...by_Richard_Lee

Edit to add: I just tried the ".PDF download" instead of the ".pdf download with text" and the copy was very good.

[RogerDat]

The Internet archive has a copy of Modern Reloading (1st Edition copyright 1996, 2000 reprint) by Richard Lee. This book doesn't seem to be much different from my newer version. I would probably double-check the data for any particular load against updated information; what I've checked hasn't been any different. I can't vouch for copyright but I believe that the internet archive ascertains that copyright is not being violated. I did have difficulty getting a readable copy trying to download a .pdf copy but was able to get a very clear, readable copy by using the "View On-line" option to the left. As always, the reader assumes all liability for the use or misuse of the information found in the document...I'm just passing the link along for "educational purposes".

http://archive.org/details/Modern_Re...by_Richard_Lee

Edit to add: I just tried the ".PDF download" instead of the ".pdf download with text" and the copy was very good.

What a great resource. Thanks a bunch for posting it. I have already read a chapter or two, and printed off the starting load tables for the calibers I might reload so I can try and find a single powder that will cover my needs without purchasing a bunch of different powders. With an eye toward those powders that will support using a Lee scoop. Might be impossible to get a single powder that will cover 38 special to 45 LC to 303 British but even getting it down to two powders would be good. With powder supplies a little iffy knowing what I'm going to need so I can purchase if I find it is a good thing.

I also noted the insistence on only two brands of primers being appropriate for use with Lee auto primer systems. That is important safety information.

[uscra112]

Not totally optimal for all three of your named cartridges, and you won't find it in the Lee manual, but Red Dot comes pretty close, when using boolits. Look up "The Load", connected with C.E. "Ed" Harris.

[Wayne Smith]

Don't be too reliant on the Lee manual. You will find that they tested no loads, simply copied powder company data, and often not a lot of that. You will find a better selection of data in the Lyman or the Sierra manuals.