Lee Hand Press / Reloading

[JimJD]

Hi there,

I posted this elsewhere and need as much info as possible. Once again, I'm looking at reloading. Bought two books on the subject, one of which is the "Lee 40th Anniversary Pack" that comes with a book and that neat little "reloader press".
I still have space issues though and might not be able to set up a bench mounted press. So, I'm looking at the Lee Hand Press again.
To start, I would be loading two calibers. .45 ACP and 5.56/.223. I've read that .45 ACP is no problem in the Lee, but how about 5.56/.223? I imagine it would take a little more effort and that's it. I'm looking at lee dies (carbide) for both, but is there anything I should know about the ones for rifle? BTW, I'm going with Lee for most everything.

If I go this route, I'm thinking I would need / could use:

A press (in this case, the hand press)

Dies (Lee carbide)

Hand priming tool and shell holders

Powder scoops / Powder measure kit

Digital scale (to double check charge weight and finished cartridge weight?)

Case tumbler (with media separation doo-dad, I have a lot of saved brass)

Primer pocket cleaner/tool

chamfering tool

Bullet puller

Digital Caliper (to check OAL of a finished round?)

Reloading tray/block

Safety glasses

Is there anything that I'm missing here? Things I should know, other uses or the proper use of tools listed?
Besides powder, primers, and bullets...
Please let me know, I'm dying to get into reloading!

 

[lee n. field]

I've read that .45 ACP is no problem in the Lee, but how about 5.56/.223?

Should be no problem.

Powder scoops / Powder measure kit

skip the scoops and get a powder measure.

Digital scale Digital Caliper

No crying need for either to be digital.

chamfering tool

I don't see a case trimmer in your list. You'd only need the chamfering tool after trimming. You won't need this for .45 but you certainly will for .223

Is there anything that I'm missing here?

case lube. Won't need it for .45 sized with carbide, but will for .223.

 

[baz]

Let's keep this thread going a bit. I'm in a similar situation. I'll be, for starters, reloading 38 special, 9 mm, and .223. I already have much of the same or similar equipment as in the OP, including the Lee hand press. Just yesterday, I started depriming a bunch of of 38 special +P brass I've been saving. I'm still waiting on delivery of primers to continue.

Couple of questions, first, on lee n. field's post. With carbide dies, when does one need, versus not need, to lube the cases when resizing? As for needing a case trimmer for .223, this is only a some time thing, right? I.e., not every time?

As for a powder measure versus the scoops, is there anything readibly portable, in keeping with the hand press versus hardware that has to be bench mounted?

 

[Jake in TX]

With most pistol cases and carbide sizing dies, you will not need to lube. Rifle case trimming is needed when it is needed. Measure the cases after sizing, and trim if needed. I use scoops for charging pistol cartridges, and a powder measure for rifle cartridges. I use a single stage press (Lee Classic Cast), mounted on MidwayUSA's portable reloading stand:

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=155024

This works well for me, and everything stows comfortably in a closet.

Jake in TX

 

[FieroCDSP]

That stand is pretty neat. I'll have to look into getting one. I've used the Lee hand-press several times while watching TV, not so much for loading as for decapping. As loading goes, it does a fine job for consistancy as it had a defined stop and no real flex like a mis-mounted press can have.

Given the convenience of that stand from Midway, I'd recommend (assuming you still want to go single-stage) the Lee Aniversary kit, though the turret press kits are only slightly more expensive. The nice thing about reloading is that there is little that isn't universal, so you can pick and choose. I like using a digital caliper, but a beam scale should be more important(and cost effective) than a digital scale. Digitals can sometimes take longer to settle down to their true reading. Almost any beam scale will do the job almost as fast. The only question is how heavy do you need. Lee's scale only goes up to 110gr.

 

[lee n. field]

Couple of questions, first, on lee n. field's post. With carbide dies, when does one need, versus not need, to lube the cases when resizing? As for needing a case trimmer for .223, this is only a some time thing, right? I.e., not every time?

Straight wall cases can be sized without lube using carbide dies (though some people do use lube). Bottleneck cartridges like the .223 will need to be lubed. BTW, I use RCBS' spray lube. A spritz of it in a baggie with cases to be lubed, and shake them up.

Cases need to be trimmed back to the "trim to" length when they stretch beyond the maximum length. This does not need to be done every time. When I shoot store bought .223 a good fraction of it is overlength after the first firing.

As for a powder measure versus the scoops, is there anything readibly portable, in keeping with the hand press versus hardware that has to be bench mounted?

The RCBS Little Dandy measure is very portable, but not really suitable for measuring out larger amounts of powder for rifle.

If one of the Lee scoops measures what you need, well and good. The full set doesn't cost much. Personally I'm not real consistent using them.

 

[RustyFN]

Couple of questions, first, on lee n. field's post. With carbide dies, when does one need, versus not need, to lube the cases when resizing? As for needing a case trimmer for .223, this is only a some time thing, right? I.e., not every time?

You do not need to lube straight wall pistol cases. If you do lube them then you will have to clean off the lube after resizing them, a waste of time for pistol brass IMO. You will need to lube rifle brass. As far as trimming you can buy the parts from lee for around $10. I trim 223 brass with the Lee trimmer and was surprised how easy and fast it was for the price. I use a battery drill to turn the lock stud with the case.

Given the convenience of that stand from Midway, I'd recommend (assuming you still want to go single-stage) the Lee Aniversary kit, though the turret press kits are only slightly more expensive.

I agree with FieroCDSP. I would at least start with a single stage press. You will find in no time that you will want to make ammo faster, especally if you are loading pistol. The Lee Classic Turret press will load around 200 per hour and you can buy the kit with everything but the tumbler for under $150 at kempfgunshop.com. I don't know how much you are needing to load per week or month but the single stage will load around 50 rounds per hour and the hand press probably a little less.
Rusty

 

[baz]

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

 

[ranger335v]

You have some good info above. One point, you won't be using carbide dies for the 5.56 or anyother bottle neck cartridge. Only Dillon markets carbide dies for them, 5.56 and 7.62, but both cost something like $150 or more. And they still need to be lubed.

Actually, I find that carbide pistol size dies benefit from lubing maybe one of every 15 or 20 cases or the dry brass rubbing over the dry carbide will eventually cause galling, in which tiny bits of brass will adhere to the carbide ring and scratch successive cases.

The galled brass bits can be polished off pretty easily with a split dowel wrapped with 400-800 grit black "sandpaper" and spun in a drill motor. That won't harm the carbide, only diamond can cut it, but it will remove the galled brass. Anyway, it's easier to avoid galling than to fix it so lube the occasional case and expect to polish the die if/when sized cases start getting scratched.

 

[RustyFN]

Also to cut down on trimming the 5.56 brass you can use a RCBS X-die and you will only have to trim one time for the life of the brass. If you are shooting a bolt gun then you can neck size and not have to lube. If you are shooting a semi then you will have to full length resize and lube.
Rusty

 

[BigG]

I use the Lee Hand press for 375 H&H and 458 Win Mag so 223 should not be a problem.

 

[teombe]

I use a Lee Hand press and dippers for whichever caliber isn't set up on my Dillon. The Hand press is actually quite handy for $20, but the dippers take forever to get the right charge weight since I weigh every one. I'd probably end up getting a powder measure if I used this setup more often. But hey, it was like $27 for everything.

 

[Grumulkin]

I have a Lee hand press and could reload everything with it but it's slow and I hardly ever use it.

If I had to choose one tool to determine powder weight it would be a scale and it wouldn't be digital. A powder measure makes life easier. If you had a full set of the Lee powder scoops you could probably weigh the charges they produced and be pretty flexible in getting the powder charge you wanted.

Don't buy the usual case lube; get Imperial Sizing Wax. It works great and is a lot less messy than the usual case lube and a little goes a LONG ways. If you're not loading for a semiauto, lever action or pump firearm, you can neck size bottle necked cases with no lube with Lee Collet dies. I've tried the RCBS X dies and prefer the Lee Collet dies.

 

[JimJD]

Excellent, thanks for the info.!
I'm looking at small batches right now, regular stuff to punch paper. Once I have it down, I'd like to move up to some "quality" loads.
As far as the rifle goes, I would be loading for an AR carbine chambered in 5.56.
With that in mind, I'm looking at 5.56 & .223.

 

[Matt Dillon]

+1 on the Imperial sizing wax. Regarding reloading scales, this is an area where you don't want to skimp, and you certainly don't have a need to get some kind of digital. Digital calipers can be purchased from Harbor Freight very inexpensively, especially when you catch them on sale. I purchased a new one a couple of weeks ago for $12.99 for a 6" model.
Purchase the Lee trimmer for each caliber for which you plan to reload. Get the trimmer with the little wooden ball, then you purchase length gauges for each caliber. These are very inexpensive, accurate, consistent, and if you chuck the little caseholder in a cordless drill you can trim a bunch of brass in a short period of time.
You can use powder dippers, but you may get inconsistent results.I recommend the Ohaus/RCBS 1010 scale. It will probably be the only and last scale you will ever need. As you are loading rifle cartridges, you want as consistent results as possible, and that may be difficult to achieve with powder dippers.
Have you purchased some reloading manuals? If not, these should be the first thing on your list. Also reading the ABCs of reloading would be helpful for you.