Lee Loader

[BillMe45]

A friend of mine gave me a Lee Loader in 30-06. By "Lee Loader" I mean The Lee Loader aka the single die thing that you hit with a hammer.

He bought it some 30 years ago and never used it, since I reload he gave it to me to see if I could use it.

I have pretty much gotten the thing working except for the fact that I can absolutely not get the thing to put a decent crimp on. I understand that its never going to crimp as tight as a press but the crimp that I'm getting is worthless.

Even with a cannelure the bullet is so loose that I can spin it inside the case, by hand.

I am following the directions and YES I have used different bullets and gotten the same results.

Anyone out there ever used one of these things and have an idea of what I may be doing wrong, or have you used one and come the the conclusion that this is just what it is.

 

[JBWJr]

Before I got "serious" and bought way too much stuff, I used one of these for .308.
The best advise I got was from a posting on Castboolits:
"I loaded with one for about 20 years in 30/06.
To crimp you stand the barrel of the loader upright, guess you can call it the funnel end, altho I never used it that way.
Put the loaded shell in nose first.
Place the decapping base over the base of the shell and tap with a mallet.
It takes a little time to learn the feel for how much "mallet tap" to use but it does a good job of crimping once you figure it out."
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?179460-Crimping-with-Lee-Loader
It does take getting a "feel" for it but these "thingamabobs" do a great job for what they are.
Good luck!

 

[BillMe45]

Before I got "serious" and bought way too much stuff, I used one of these for .308.
The best advise I got was from a posting on Castboolits:
"I loaded with one for about 20 years in 30/06.
To crimp you stand the barrel of the loader upright, guess you can call it the funnel end, altho I never used it that way.
Put the loaded shell in nose first.
Place the decapping base over the base of the shell and tap with a mallet.
It takes a little time to learn the feel for how much "mallet tap" to use but it does a good job of crimping once you figure it out."
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?179460-Crimping-with-Lee-Loader
It does take getting a "feel" for it but these "thingamabobs" do a great job for what they are.
Good luck!

I'll have to try it that way, thanks for the tip

 

[BillMe45]

Bingo! The method according to JBWJr worked.

Lee's directions (I just checked again for the um tenth time): You neck size by driving the case into the sizer. You then place the decapper rod in from the other end and hit it, decapping and extracting the case from the sizer. You prime the case and insert it into the other end of the die, pour in your charge and drop a bullet in. Place the bullet seater in and drive it down, seating the bullet. You then place the special "crimper" on and hit it with the hammer. This did not give enough crimp.

The improved method has you take your loaded round and place it BACK into the neck sizing end of the die. Driving it in crimps the bullet much better, like a typical taper crimp. You will then need to take your bullet seating tool to drive your crimped, loaded cartridge out.

I still like a lot more crimp than this gives but it at lest makes a usable cartridge. I loaded a few inert dummy rounds and they all cycled through my bolt rifle several times with out any bullet set back.

 

[JBWJr]

Awesome!
But, you can see why I went away from that to individual dies.
Even though, I'll never graduate beyond single stage presses.
I just like the controlled feel and it is, after all, my sanity hobby.
Letting an automated outfit do it for me would defeat the purpose.

 

[BillMe45]

Awesome!
But, you can see why I went away from that to individual dies.
Even though, I'll never graduate beyond single stage presses.
I just like the controlled feel and it is, after all, my sanity hobby.
Letting an automated outfit do it for me would defeat the purpose.

Yea I'm happy with my single stage. The Lee loader is an interesting device but thats about all I have to say about it.

 

[JBWJr]

You never know...between the Debacle and the rise of the Gulch, ammo may be very expensive and reloading a lost art. These little Loaders might become worth their weight in feudal shares...

 

[BillMe45]

I saw it as a "backpack" reloader for SHTF. With a Lee Loader and a bullet puller you may be able to source components and keep your rifle fed.

 

[BillMe45]

You never know...between the Debacle and the rise of the Gulch, ammo may be very expensive and reloading a lost art. These little Loaders might become worth their weight in feudal shares...

Just now looked at your sig line