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Jesse's Hunting > Gun Room Articles > The Gun Room > Getting Back to Basics with the Lee Loader
Getting Back to Basics with the Lee Loader
Andy Moe - JHO ProStaff
- Montana
November 23, 2005
The older I get the simpler I like things. Though my eyes need a bit of magnification, I really like peep sights. My idea of a good carry gun is a Winchester 94 in 30-30. I like cast bullets and love black powder shooting. I have been the route of hi-tech, hi- speed, and low drag. In my reloading room I have 4 loading presses and vast amounts of supporting equipment… all good quality tools made to the industry’s highest standards.
I love reloading but these days I tend to stick to the friendlier, classic chamberings: 308, 30-06, .223, .222 and so on. The "Super Magnums" and the "Shorter-than-Short Magnums" hold little appeal. I no longer agonize over the difference in ballistics between a flat base or a boat tailed 165 grainer fired from a healthy 30-06. If I need to worry about that slight difference in trajectory I’m probably be shooting farther than I can see, anyhow.
It was probably this middle-aged attitude shift that tossed a Lee Loader into my lap a while back. Produced by Lee Precision in Hartford, Wisconsin, the Lee Loader is a simple little kit for loading cartridges that’s been around as long as I as remember. The kit consists of a combination sizing die/bullet seating die, a de-capping rod, a knock out rod for the casing, a primer seating unit that also doubles as a bullet seating unit, and a powder scoop that corresponds to a load data chart provided with each unit.
As basic as it gets
The classic Lee Loader kit is about as straightforward as a reloading tool can be. Simple instructions allow anyone, from novice to benchrest competitor, to load accurate, consistent rounds. |
The cases are tapped in and out of the sizing die with a plastic mallet or a piece of hard wood. At $21 a unit they are about the simplest and least expensive way to get into reloading that there is. Like me, a few of the older readers might have cut your reloading teeth on a Lee Loader. This isn’t my first experience with the Lee Loader. Back in my impoverished youth I loaded a few hundred rounds of 44 magnum with a Lee Loader before I “graduated” to an old, beat-up, single-stage bench press I bought 2nd hand. Loading for a rifle cartridge using the Lee Loader was going to be a new experience for me.
The Lee Loaders for bottle-necked rifle cartridges only neck size. While this requires that you either use brass from cartridges that were fired in your rifle, or check the brass in your chamber before reloading, the sizing is minimal. The rifle resizing is remarkably easy. You don’t even need to lube the case necks when using this tool; in fact, you’re not supposed to use any lube whatsoever. You’ll see why later on.
Out of curiosity and a perhaps touch of boredom, I purchased a small selection of Lee Loaders at my favorite Trading Post some time back. The owner, George, had a few new-old-stock units he let me have at a bargain price. I gathered up some of my favorites, 30-40 Krag, 308, 257 Roberts, .222, 30-06, and lastly .223 Remington.
With a bit of late fall prairie dogging left to be done I especially wanted the .223 unit so that I could do some comparison testing between ammunition loaded in conventional dies and the Lee Loader. Some may think this a waste of time, but it bears remembering that benchrest shooters regularly use a unit much like the Lee Loader to make their loads, though usually they employ a small arbor press to push the case in and out of the neck sizing die. Lee states that for seven years the “World 1000” bench rest accuracy record was held with ammunition loaded with a Lee Loader. Indeed, for a while Lee offered a “target” model with a hand priming tool and an inside neck reamer. Certainly I’d be getting good, serviceable ammunition, but would it be better than what my bench-mounted tools could produce? I was curious to find out.
The loading sequence with the Lee Loader is almost the same as with conventional dies. After the case length is checked and trimmed if needed, the case is de-primed and resized; then re-primed, charged with an appropriate powder, and capped with a bullet of choice. There is one major difference with the Lee unit. With conventional equipment most shooters break the sequences into stages. They resize all the brass, and then prime all the brass, and so on, finishing with seating the bullets. With the Lee Loader you continue working with each case until you have completed the loading process for that particular cartridge. The process is pretty straight forward.
The first step is to set the fired cartridge into the de-capping chamber and to tap out the old primer with the de-capping pin. The case is then checked for correct over-all length and the primer pocket cleaned.
Resizing is next. Placing the case into the sizing chamber and using a plastic-headed mallet or a block of wood, the case is driven into the sizing die. It takes a good deal less effort than you’d think to seat the cartridge flush with the base of the die. I use a chunk of white nylon underneath the sizing die, and a smaller piece between my “hammer “and the casing. Being the cheap sort who didn’t want to spend $30 on a plastic mallet, I use the handle of a medium sized screw-driver. The smaller piece of nylon accommodates the irregularly shaped handle and allows me to hit the case-head squarely. It’s an odd set-up but it illustrates the fact that almost any non-marring item you can get a grip on is suitable for setting the cases into the sizing die. The nylon under-pad will also afford me a tough surface to set the die against should I decide to load at the range or at the kitchen table.
With the cartridge case fully seated into the sizing die it’s time to insert a fresh primer. A live primer is placed cup-upwards in the priming chamber. The sizing die, with the cartridge still inside, is inverted and set into the priming chamber. They are machined to a close fit so that the primer pocket is automatically aligned with the primer. The knock out rod is then inserted into the case mouth from above and is tapped with your mallet until you feel the primer seat fully into the pocket. Theoretically, the primer cannot be crushed or seated too far because the sizing die and cartridge rest on a spring-loaded plate that is compressed around a priming rod that is ground to seat the primer .003” to .005” below the base of the cartridge. This doesn’t take into consideration varying primer pocket depths and any built up residue should you choose not to clean the primer pockets. I was a bit leery of seating primers in this method but it proved to be satisfactory.
In their First Edition reloading manual, Lee stated that this is one of the only priming methods that assures you won’t crush the primer, but; as with all priming procedures you are cautioned to keep your face away from the area directly over the case mouth. Good advice! I did manage to set off a primer with an over zealous whack but, in fairness, the nickel plated brass I was using had very shallow and irregular primer pockets.
The primer was seated fully but for some reason I didn’t think it looked deep enough so I ramped up my seating force from a few “taps” to a couple of “smacks.” Bad move. The primer detonated but there was no violent reaction, and neither I, nor the tool took any physical harm from it. If it wasn’t for the bang I might not have noticed it. Lee’s instructions correctly state that normally, primers are fully seated with a few light taps of the mallet. After a few cartridges you’ll be able to feel the primer seating and know when it’s completely seated.
During the priming stage the cartridge case will be set back a short distance out of the sizing die. This is expected. From here on, all operations are performed with the base of the cartridge in the de-capping chamber. This prevents the live primer from coming into contact with any hard surface during the charging and bullet seating operations.
With the sizing die set over the de-capping chamber, the case is given a light tap with the knock-out rod to free it from the die. Leaving the die in place over the cartridge, a charge of the appropriate powder is poured through the top of the sizing die into the case below. Now you can see why there is no lube used on the case necks: the sizing die also acts as a powder funnel. If lube was used the powder would accumulate on the residue in the die body.
Every Lee Loader contains a powder measure that corresponds to a list of powders and bullet weights for that particular cartridge. I have observed that the charge weights the scoop will throw are generally equivalent to starting loads for each given powder. While the dipper arrangement will not provide for powder charge adjustment, it should produce usable velocities and accuracy when used with the powders listed in the load data provided with the kit. A 1.6 cc dipper is provided with the .223 Lee Loader kit. My powder of choice for this cartridge is IMR 4895 and. according to the kit’s table of loads. A 1.6cc measure will equal a grain weight of about 22 grains. This is the starting load for bullets weighing between 52 and 63 grains. That fit my plans nicely.
With the powder charge in place, the bullet can be seated. Again, the die and charged cartridge casing are left in place with the base of the cartridge resting in the de-capping chamber. A bullet is set into the top of the die and the seater rod (integral with the priming unit) is set on top. A few light taps with the mallet are given to begin seating the bullet. The overall length is checked and the adjustable stop on the upper half of the sizing die is adjusted so that the shoulder of the seating unit contacts it at the right time to provide the correct seating depth. Lee’s old manual recommended that a factory cartridge be used to set the initial length and then adjusted up or down to find the best accuracy. That’s certainly a good starting point for the experimenter. Since I make a “dummy” round for each bullet I shoot in a given rifle, I simply set the appropriate “dummy” into the de-capping chamber, set the sizing unit over it, and placed the bullet seater through the top to rest on the bullet nose dummy round. It was then a simple matter to screw the seating stop up until it contacted the shoulder of the seating rod.
I followed Lee’s instructions while reloading. They were concise and well written with good photographic illustrations of each step in the process. The explanation of the process takes far longer then the actual loading. My time for loading 25 cartridges was just over 30 minutes once the cases were wiped clean and chamfered. My individual time for a single round was one minute, eight seconds and that included cleaning the primer pocket. At the end of that minute-eight I’d gone from a fired shell casing to a completely reloaded round. In truth, reloading 25 rounds in the conventional bench mounted press took just about the same amount of time. I think the longer movements of the ram involved negated the perceived time advantage.
With the exception of my momentary priming stupidity, the resizing, priming, charging and bullet seating were accomplished without a hitch and the completed rounds couldn’t be distinguished from those loaded in the press except in one light. The rounds loaded with the Lee Loader averaged a variance in over-all length of plus or minus .003 inches. The cartridges loaded with conventional bench equipment had an average variance of +/- .006 inches. Twice as much! This might be a result of combined tolerances between the shell holder, ram, and linkage components in my RCBS press. I don’t know but it kind of makes me wonder if I need a new press!
The rifle I chose for this experiment was my son’s Howa 1500 Varmint. I have never gotten along with this rifle’s plastic stock and this day’s shooting gave me fits. I “practiced” my bench technique with 40 rounds of Winchester factory ammo before I shot my handloads but that still didn’t keep me from screwing up more groups than I’d have liked. My results? Well, if there is much difference between the two methods it was hard to tell with me behind the trigger.
The Lee turned in the smallest groups of the day but it also turned in the single worst group –induced by shooter error, I’m sure. To affirm that claim, the second worse group was from the ammunition loaded with the conventional equipment. Tossing out both of those groups, the averages were: The Lee Loader, .875 inches. The bench loaded ammunition, 1.12 inches. I can’t honestly say that this is a definitive test. On a different day with a different shooter the results might have been tilted slightly the other way
My conclusion? I’ve got to say that this $20 tool produces ammunition that is at least as good, if not better, than the ammo my single stage press produces, in just about the same amount of time. It took some getting used to but the process is simple and once you get the rhythm of the sequences down pat it becomes very natural. The physical effort required is minimal, as is the space needed. The tool is complete but a Lee Case trimmer and chamfer tool would be required a required purchase, I think. Even so, the price of the whole reloading unit would still be in the neighborhood of $30.
I like Lee Loaders but sadly, Lee is phasing them out of their production line-up. At one time Lee boasted 73 different kits in their Lee Loader line-up including such exotics as 6.5x54 Mannlicher and 25-20 Winchester. They also offered Loaders in all the shotgun chamberings. Lee currently produces kits for 20 or so of the more popular calibers. They are a simple reloading tool that can be packed into the wilderness, tucked into shoebox in a cramped apartment, or taken to the range and used like bench rest equipment when you want to work up loads at the bench. For the casual shooter who just wants ammo for hunting season with a minimal investment of money and space, there is no better way to get started reloading.
Lee offers their Loader kits through their web site at $20.50 each. Your dealer can order them for you or they can be ordered through any number of on-line suppliers. They are a great tool! Everyone should keep a Lee Loader around for their favorite calibers.
To contact Lee Precision:
www.leeprecision.com
Lee Precision
4275 Highway U
Hartford, Wisconsin 53027
1 (262) 673-3075
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