Anybody use a Lee Hand Press?

[mp510]

I have been thinking about buying a Lee Hand Press, primarily to load .303 British but I will probably also end up loading for some .223 for the AR as well and possibly some other calibers. Are they more trouble than they are worth? Do they require an insane amount of effort to crimp with, or are they something that the average guy can use easily? Do the crimps hold well- I really don't want my cartridges falling apart in the magazine- had that happen with a defective surplus 7.62x54r round once and it was a fun afternoon ruiner. How is depriming and priming done? How is case length resizing done? Is it likely that I will need to buy a case trimming tool as well? Thanks guys

 

[lgbloader]

Hello there, Mate.

Nice to see you, to see you nice.

Do yourself a favor, Mate and go get yourself a real "O" press. You can basically get an entire kit for $100.00 by way of Lee at www.kempfgunshop.com Nice people too.
They can set you up with all the fixin's that you will need and you will get out with enough change in your pockets to buy a some components and a hair cut.

Have a look at this link:

http://kempfgunshop.com/kempfgunshop.com/products/reloading/leeprecision/kits/90030.html

A handpress is cool to have but I would spend the extra $50.00 if it were me and you will like the process a whole lot better.

And if you really want to go the extra, I believe RCBS has a kit for around $275.00 so for the world famous "Rock Chucker" press. Also check into Redding's Big Boss Kit, slightly more than RCBS but well worth it. You can check around, perhaps Cabelas or Midway.

Cheers, Mate.

 

[lee n. field]

I have been thinking about buying a Lee Hand Press, primarily to load .303 British but I will probably also end up loading for some .223 for the AR as well and possibly some other calibers. Are they more trouble than they are worth

Within their limitations they're quite useful. Where I have problems is full length sizing larger rifle cases.

.223 will be no problem. .303 you will presumably be neck sizing, so no problem.

Crimp? You're not crimping .223 or .303, are you?

What are they now, twenty five bucks? Just get one.

 

[CryingWolf]

I have a Lee hand press, but I have only used it for pistol calibers, .45 ACP, .38spc and .357mag. I like it a lot and it will always be apart of my reloading tools. I can't say how it would do with rifle loads, but it's not that much of a work out with pistol loads. I use a Lee auto prime, but the hand press kit did come with a priming tool, you could use it in a pinch but don't look for speed here.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pM5xYokDAcE

 

[Slamfire]

I would agree that you need a good single stage press as a primary press.

Glen Zedieker, in one of his books, claimed he used the hand press and was getting low case neck runout. But I cannot think of small base sizing a rifle case in one of those tools.

I have one, I take it with me to Perry every year. One year, I found that my freshly prepared match ammo was a little long for the magazines. Guess my seating die on my Dillion had backed out a couple of ten thousandths. So I took the Lee Press, and the seating die I took with me (in case) and seated the bullets to depth.

I seat all my rifle primers by hand, in front of the TV. If I goof up, like seating a primer backward, I pull out the Lee handpress, which is buried in the magazine/newspaper pile, and knock out the primer with a decapping tool.

That way I maximize laziness.

 

[Soybomb]

I have one and have made a few hundred rounds off it so far in .38, 10mm, and .223. Full length sizing the .223 is by far the easiest sizing operation I've done on it so far. Some of the comments have me wondering how bad full length resizing of larger rifle brass would be but so far I'm inclined to think with decent lube it wouldn't be that bad unless you're doing high volume production.

Short version: Its $20, try it. If it doesnt work for you, you'll probably find a use for it or be able to sell it.

 

[Seafarer12]

I use one for pistol rounds but wouldn't fool with rifle rounds. I deprime with a universal decapper and use a hand primer to prime the cases. It works great on small rounds just not very fast.

 

[zxcvbob]

I have a Lee hand press that I mostly use for case prep.

.30 Carbine rounds are kind of tough to resize, even though they are small, because the case is tapered its entire length. I figured out that if I loosen the sizing die a turn and pre-size all the cases (is "pre-size" a word?), then tighten down the die and size them all again, it takes *much* less force. I'm pretty sure it's because i have more leverage that way; the die doesn't engage the case until the press is closed halfway. And taking 2 passes at them is a lot faster than it sounds.

Anyway, I think the same principle would work with large bottleneck rifle cases too. They also have some full-length taper to them.

 

[dogrunner]

Picked one up to fine tune loads at my shootin' location. Works well, and I had no problems w/ full length resizing 7.62X54. Just use good dies & a good lube. My experience is that the Lee hand presses are easier to use than the Lyman "nutcracker" designs.

For the money, you simply can't beat 'em...............by the way, try Graf's, their prices beat anybody else's I saw.