old lee loaders, wth?

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x_wrench

x_wrench

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what is up with the price of the old lee loaders? the ones you use a hammer to smack the pieces to make ammo. they used to be cheap cheap, and easy to pick up all over the place. now, i can not touch one for anything near what i want to pay. i would like to pick one up for a 410 shotgun that is on loan to my son, from my brother. but the last 4 i have found all went for more than $75.00! to me, that is crazy!
 
I agree. That is why I gave up looking. Lee started making some of the loaders new again but that wasn't one of them. Since they didn't sell like they thought they would they decided not to add to what they now offer.

I wish they would change there mind & add 410 to the line up.
 
I've been trying to find one of the old original Lee loaders in 45 ACP just for nostalgia (it was how I started reloaded many years ago)
 
I agree. The cost of a Lee loader in the past was good. To buy an old one now, especially in a non-stocked caliber of current mfg.,,,,well you're going to pay an arm and a leg for it if you want it. That is the way of the world. I simply won't play with those inflated prices these vultures want. I can always get a set of dies and load with my press. I like the Lee Loaders as they are handy if one wants to just load a couple and shoot to see if that load may be a start to a good load. But I won't pay twice or three times the cost of a set of Lyman or RCBS dies for one! That's taking it a bit too far I think.

Wade
 
Like many things they have turned into a collectors item. Check out what the Gillette Dbl' Edge razors bring now on the collectors mkt. The old Gillette FatBoy from the 60's is going for as much as a few hundred.
 
I've always called 'collectors' of trivia to be people with more money than they can spend wisely. I'm too poor to be unwise so I only "collect" tools I expect to use - often.
 
one of the originals in the cardboard box with the black lid
Click to expand...

I bet you pay collectors prices for one of those now days.
I still have 3 of them and one of the early ones with the wood handled aluminum powder scoop.
And a couple shotshell loaders with wood handled adjustable aluminum shot scoops, but plastic powder scoops.
 
The discontinued ones are collectors' items now. They used to be available in over 100 different calibres and gauges, but Lee only has them in the dozen or so most popular nowadays. Still, the retail of $24.99 isn't a huge jump from the $9.99 they retailed for 20 years ago.
 
I still have my original set in 357 magnum from 1980. Black/red box.

I saw a guy selling some old stock for $5 at a gun show and I bought 3 or 4 just for S&G. I think one was 300 win mag but I don't recall. They are sitting on a cabinet in the basement so maybe I'll go check.

EDIT. 300 win mag, 244 rem and 300 Weatherby
 
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I still use mine at times. In fact I use a .223 Lee Loader like one would a Wilson Die set using a Sinclare Arbor Press when bench shooting at the range. Priming is done with a K & M Priming Tool.
 
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