Does anyone have or know where I could get the old original Lee loader for 12 gauge? The old school one that you use a hammer. It came in a flat cardboard box and afaik was not related to Lee Precision. They made them in 12G, 20G and .410 bore. It had like a metal tube and punches and the like. Anyone out there old enough to remember those?
original lee load all wtb
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mothernatureson
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lee loader
Look on EBay , lots of them listed. SHould get one for twenty dollars or so. good luck
mothernatureson
Look on EBay , lots of them listed. SHould get one for twenty dollars or so. good luck
mothernatureson
MMCSRET
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There were two companies that made Lee loaders for shotgun shells. The one you are referring to was(SP?) Mequon Engineering. I don't know what happened to them, maybe just got out of the reloading equipment business. I'm not sure of the spelling, but try looking in a Handloaders Digest or Shooters Bible from the middle to late 60's.
bullseye308
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My locar toy store has bunches of them in lots of calibers. 
So does evilbay
So does evilbay
Sunray
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"...was not related to Lee Precision..." The Lee Loader was and is made by Lee Precision, but I've never heard of one for shot shells. Rifle and handgun only.
Dean Williams
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There were two different Lee companies at one time. One, the "Lee Precision" that we all know today, and has been making the original Lee Loader for rifle and pistol for 50 years.
The other, "Lee Custom Engineering", who made the Lee shotshell reloaders the OP is asking about. These shotshell loaders were made the same as the "Lee Precision" rifle/pistol type, i.e., you used a hammer for punching out primers, and etc.
Both companies at one time made Lee powder dippers, too. The yellow dipper set that many know about, but the "other" Lee made one almost exactly the same, but the dippers were red, and had a different charge table.
I have one of the red dipper sets, along with a 20 gauge hand loader from the Lee Custom Engineering Co. I have heard that this company went out of business in the late '80s.
MMCSRET
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I also have a "red" set and a 12 ga. loader. Lee Precision Engineering was located in Hartford Wisconsin, my kit and instruction sheet is copyrighted 1961.
Lee Custom Engineering and Lee Precision are the same company.
They consolidated product lines, spruce up the logo, and updated the company name to Lee Precision. But still on Highway U in Hartford WI, still the same company.
Before the dippers were yellow they were red. Before they were red they were black.
The powder chart varies because the capacity of each dipper changed each time they changed colors.
You'll get a kick out of the powder chart that came with the black dippers; many of the powder companies are long gone: Nobel, Alcan, Norma, DuPont.
In the 1960's they made the Lee Loader in 100 different calibers and gauges. I started reloading with their 16 ga., .30-30, 44 Mag, and .30-06 loaders.
Today they call it the Classic Lee Loader and in comes in only 20 calibers (no shotshell gauges). Keep an eye on the auction sites to find one.
They consolidated product lines, spruce up the logo, and updated the company name to Lee Precision. But still on Highway U in Hartford WI, still the same company.
Before the dippers were yellow they were red. Before they were red they were black.
The powder chart varies because the capacity of each dipper changed each time they changed colors.
You'll get a kick out of the powder chart that came with the black dippers; many of the powder companies are long gone: Nobel, Alcan, Norma, DuPont.
In the 1960's they made the Lee Loader in 100 different calibers and gauges. I started reloading with their 16 ga., .30-30, 44 Mag, and .30-06 loaders.
Today they call it the Classic Lee Loader and in comes in only 20 calibers (no shotshell gauges). Keep an eye on the auction sites to find one.
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jmorris
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Did they quit making them around the same time shot shells switched from paper to plastic? If so, will they still work with plastic? Either way the current Lee shot shell loader is pretty darn cheap and has to be faster.
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=436640
http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=436640
I believe there were two models, one specifically said you can use w/ plastic shells. I may just ending up buying the LoadAll2, b/c of price but really didn't want it b/c I was thinking I could save some space by getting the original deluxe Lee Load All and I am only using to load a few slugs.
The Lee Loaders I bought in the late 60's worked for both paper and plastic hulls. For plastic, you bought a separate 50 cent nylon crimp starter for getting the crimp started. Otherwise the Loader works equally well for both.
The Lee LoadAll is certainly faster, but can be frustrating unless you're not picky and just want to crank out a box or two of plain-jane shells for field use. The charge bar has very little flexibility for tailoring loads to your hull/wad combination.
The Lee LoadAll is certainly faster, but can be frustrating unless you're not picky and just want to crank out a box or two of plain-jane shells for field use. The charge bar has very little flexibility for tailoring loads to your hull/wad combination.
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