Since the first time I ever used one, I have been a fan of the Lee Loader.
Now, a lot of people don't know what I mean when I mention the Lee Loader. They envision one of the cheap aluminum C reloading presses, but that is not what I'm talking about. In fact I did have one of those for a short period of time. It was given to me; I never used it and quickly gave it away to somebody else.
No, when I mention the Lee Loader I am referring to the simple reloading kit-in-a-box that Lee now refers to as the "Classic Loader". It consists of a single multi-purpose die and a few accessories, all packed into a pocket-sized plastic box, that allows one to reload ammunition without the aid of a press. The only thing necessary for reloading besides the kit and components, is a plastic- or wood-faced hammer. You can even leave the hammer at home and use a short, heavy stick in the field, if you wish.
Each Lee Loader is designed to load a single cartridge, .30/06 for example. So if you have one for .30/06 and you wish to reload .308, you must buy another one for .308. Included in the box is a set of instructions, including a cartridge drawing and load data for that particular cartridge. Also included is an appropriately sized powder dipper. Formerly produced for a wide range of different rifle and pistol cartridges and shotgun shells, all of the shotgun versions and all but a few rifle and handgun cartridge versions have been discontinued.
It is worth noting that the Lee Loader neck sizes only. This is good and bad. The good is that it is capable of producing extremely accurate ammunition, and cases loaded in it tend to last a long time. Also, in most bottleneck rifle cartridges, no case lube is required.
The bad is that the ammunition thus produced is only suitable for re-use in that particular gun, and may not fit another gun of the same chambering. Also, Straight wall cases of relatively high pressure, such as .357 and .44 Magnums and .30 Carbine, may require that a case lube be used.
Used for what it is designed for, though, the Lee Loader is an extremely useful little kit, even if you already have a more elaborate loading setup.
It works like this: Place a fired case base down in the decapping chamber, and use the hammer (that you supply) with the decapping rod to drive out the spent primer. Place the case into the die and drive it down flush with the hammer, to resize. Place a new primer into the priming chamber, set the die (with case inside) on the priming chamber, and drop the priming rod into the case which is in the die. Now is the part everybody hates: use the hammer to tap the end of the priming rod until the case come back out a fraction of an inch and seats the new primer.
That's right, you use a hammer to tap the new primer into place. It's not as bad as it sounds, and you can hear the sound change as the primer seats. Still, you may occasionally pop a primer until you get the hang of how hard to tap. No biggie; there is no powder in the case yet. Just wear eye protection.
OK, almost done. Take the die off the top of the priming chamber and set it, with the case inside, on a flat surface. Pour one dipper of powder into the built-in funnel in the die mouth, followed by a bullet, base-down. Now insert the bullet seater (that is attached to the side of the priming chamber) into the top of the die and thrust it down forcefully with the heel of your hand. The die has a screw adjustment for seating depth. You can drive it down with the hammer, if you would rather not use your hand.
In most cases, you are done. If you wish to crimp the bullet in place (for a lever action rifle, for example) there is a crimping shoulder in the other, funnel end of the die. Stick the bullet end of the loaded round in that end, place the decapping chamber over the case head to protect the primer, and give it a couple of light taps with the hammer to set the crimp. Done!
This takes less time than describing it, and once you get the hang of it, you can load a few rounds of ammo in the time it takes to set up a conventional press.
Also, assuming you already have some cases that were fired in your rifle, you can buy a Lee Loader and enough components to produce 100 rounds of ammo for less than it would cost to buy 100 rounds of factory hunting ammo. How's that for a cheap way to get into reloading?
