Ken Mollohan

About all this one really needs is a comment to the effect of “Read and follow the instructions that come with the tool!” But I can add a little bit to that that someone may find interesting.

First of all, anyone who selects this loading tool would do well to purchase a set of Lee’s scoop dips to use with it. Yeah, it comes with a dipper, but that only gives you one load. A few more dippers will give you a lot more versatility in your load choices.

The Lee Loader will provide safe ammunition with good power and reasonable (for hunting) accuracy.

The Lee Loader is intended to enable someone to manufacture / reload ammunition with an absolute minimum of equipment expense. And it does that quite well, but the handloader loses a lot of potential flexibility that is a primary reason for reloading. The tool is complete (except for a stick of kindling or a rawhide maul that is used to apply force), though you will also need to buy powder, primers and bullets.

The simple instructions that come with the tool are quite adequate to enable any ordinarily person to safely learn the basic steps of reloading: They will lead you through the sizing (neck only) / decapping / recapping / charging / seating operations. I find it best (fastest) to process batches of cases through one step at a time, rather than to process each case through all of the steps, then begin all over with the next case.

The neck sizing is accomplished by dropping a fired case into the sizing die, and pounding the base flush with the bottom of the die. (Use wood or rawhide for this: A steel hammer will often flatten the extractor groove somewhat, and will eventually give extraction problems.) Then it is driven out with a steel rod dropped through the die. Personally, I like to use the de-capping rod for this, as it combines the de-capping and extraction steps into one operation.

Then a fresh primer is set on the small steel button in the center of the priming platform, (open side UP!) and the freshly de-primed case is set on top of it. The case is driven down over the primer with another rod and the mallet. Despite the impression some folks may have, this is in reality a very safe practice: The primer will NOT fire unless the priming compound is pinched, no matter how forcefully the case is driven down. And as long as the primer pocket is of normal depth, this will not happen. However, an occasional case will be found with a shallow primer pocket, and a rather disconcerting bang can result. This is NOT dangerous, as the explosion is well contained except for a few sparks, and no physical injury is likely to result. But I recommend disposing of these cases without further ado.

The primed case is then charged by scooping up an appropriate quantity of the recommended gunpowder and pouring it into the case. The built-in funnel in the sizer can be used, but I prefer to use a standard funnel. This sounds simple enough, but the amount of powder can vary a good deal, depending on the operator’s technique. I recommend the following as having given me the most consistent results of any that I’ve every found: Pour the gunpowder into a dish that will permit a depth of powder at least twice the height of the dipper, and more is better. Now hold the dipper perfectly straight up and press it into the loose powder until the powder overflows the edge and fills the dipper. There should be a small cone of powder on top of the dipper when you take it out. Lift the dipper up without tapping or shaking it, and scrape the cone off of the top with almost any smooth straight edged object. I’ve used a kitchen knife and a child’s school ruler. I find an ordinary business card works as well as anything.

The primed and charged case is ready to receive a bullet to complete the reloading. I recommend setting the screw adjustable seating stem on an unfired factory round at first. It can be changed later if you want, but keep it simple for the first few times you reload until you are comfortable with the procedure. To seat the bullet, simply stand the charged case on a flat, sturdy surface (tabletops work fine), lower the seating die over it, and drop the bullet in, base first. Then insert the seating stem and lean on it or tap it in until it has been stopped by the top of the die. That’s it. You’re done. You’ve loaded a round of ammo that will just about duplicate factory ammo in your rifle, and it didn’t cost you an arm or a leg. (Now go buy a reloading manual, and see if one of those other dippers will let you load a light plinking load to give the kids some fun without hurting their shoulder!) (It will!)

In summary, the Lee Loader works reasonably well, but it suffers from several inherent problems:

The lack of a full sizing capability will prevent interchangeability of the reloads in multiple rifles. So if you’re planning to load for you and your buddy, forget it. The ammo will be reliable only in the rifle used to fire it the first time. And despite the generally low pressures its loads generate, the reloaded case will become harder and harder to use, even in the same rifle. You’ll eventually have to find someone with conventional dies to resize them, or toss them away (a terrible waste) and buy new cases.

Several of the Lee Loaders I have owned also had a disconcerting habit of occasionally firing as the new primer is being seated. Due to the design, this is not a safety issue, but I found it both disconcerting (I’m not fond of any unexpected “BANG” while I’m reloading) and annoying.

The Lee Loader is also the slowest reloading equipment I have ever used, but you can keep an entire reloading outfit, with supplies, in a shoebox in your desk drawer, with room to spare.