Scout21
Member
A good friend of mine just picked up an old Lee Unitized Loader for 30-06 made by Lee Custom Engineering, Inc. This particular loader was not made by the contemporary Lee Precision company, from my understanding.
I've found that this loader is a bit different when compared to modern Lee Precision Classic Loaders in that it full length resizes. An issue that we are having is that when resizing, the cases will not hammer down far enough for the case head to be flush with the resizing die as is shown in the manual. The case head protrudes about a quarter inch from the face of the die in it's fully seated position.
Additionally, the case has to be knocked out with a punch of some sort and a mallet as it is quite tight when hammered down as far as it will go. When inspected, you can see and feel a noticeable line close to the case head indicating that it has not been fully resized. I included a photo, however it may be hard to see.
My question is, is this normal?
Neither of us have reloaded before, but nothing about this loader seems defective, so we are a bit lost. We are using a wax lube for the case, if that is important to know.
I have the loader in front of me at the moment, so more photos would be no problem to take, if necessary.
By the way, if anyone can point me to where I can get an original case chamfering tool, it would be greatly appreciated. This set is missing it's chamfering tool, unfortunately.
I've found that this loader is a bit different when compared to modern Lee Precision Classic Loaders in that it full length resizes. An issue that we are having is that when resizing, the cases will not hammer down far enough for the case head to be flush with the resizing die as is shown in the manual. The case head protrudes about a quarter inch from the face of the die in it's fully seated position.
Additionally, the case has to be knocked out with a punch of some sort and a mallet as it is quite tight when hammered down as far as it will go. When inspected, you can see and feel a noticeable line close to the case head indicating that it has not been fully resized. I included a photo, however it may be hard to see.
My question is, is this normal?
Neither of us have reloaded before, but nothing about this loader seems defective, so we are a bit lost. We are using a wax lube for the case, if that is important to know.
I have the loader in front of me at the moment, so more photos would be no problem to take, if necessary.
By the way, if anyone can point me to where I can get an original case chamfering tool, it would be greatly appreciated. This set is missing it's chamfering tool, unfortunately.
Attachments
Last edited: