New guy to the forum here needing help with a few decisions about handloading. First, I am not new to handloading having used my fathers turret press to reload 30/06 and 44 mag rounds many moons ago. I have 3-4 reloading manuals along with other reloading info. My family and I recently had to move to an apartment and I am lacking in space but want to start reloading again. I already have a scale and calipers. The calibers that I would be reloading are: 30/06 (M1 Garand), 30 carbine (M1 carbine) and 45/70 (Marlin Guide Gun). My two big questions are:

1) I am looking at both the Lee Loader (all I need is a soft mallet) or the Lee Hand Press. Does anyone have any experience with using these and what are your impressions?

2) Would the Lee Loader put enough of a crimp on the above cases or would I need to get the Lee Hand Press with the Lee Factory Crimp Die for each of those calibers?

Some other useful information:

1) I have approximately $150 and yes, I have gotten my wife's blessings

2) I am not planning on doing much experimenting with the '06 or the 30 carbine. Definitely want to play with the 45/70 with different loads and bullet weights

3) I want to be "low key" with my reloading since most places don't like the idea of you having explosives in your apartment

Anyway, its late and I can't remember anything else to add. I want to say thanks in advance for everyone's help.

Mike

Welcome to the forum. We have a ton of threads on this, there are a few at the bottom of this page if you scroll down to 'similar threads.' That will sure help get you started.

I wouldn't be using a Lee Loader in an apartment. Banging on stuff is noisy, and once in a while you'll set a primer off. Clamp your press to a piece of wood and then that to a countertop, or use a portable workbench. There's a few kits from different manufacturers and I suspect that the Lee stuff will get you the most for your budget.

Good luck and I'm sure you'll get a lot of good suggestions.

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MikeG

Thanks MikeG, I appreciate the response. Yea, I probably should have used the search function but I just found this site and it was late. I'll do some more searching. Sorry, didn't mean to seem "lazy" or a total newbie.

Mike

Mike68,

the Lee Hand Press is a great way to go for what you need. I started reloading with one for 30-06, .357 magnum and .375 H&H out of a shoebox. Quickly grew to a suitcase sized Pelican case but still, very easy to sit down and load and then put away.

A friend gave me his old Hand Press, I bought a Lee scale, dies, lube pad and lube, Lee Auto Prime tool and components. I Never use the lube pad and lube anymore, switched to Lee Collet dies and Imperial (Redding) Sizing Die Wax or Hornady Unique Case Lube in the little tub for straight wall cartridges or full length sizing.

Glad the wife is onboad. Tell her you will save money per round reloaded.

You say you have scale and calipers already.

You need a press, dies, lube, case length gauge and trimmer, chamfer tool, priming tool, and then components. Of these tools, Lee makes good, easily affordable ones but avoid the Lee Chamfer Tool as it is tiny and can cause hand cramps rather rapidly. I found an RCBS chamfer tool in a cast-offs box in a gun store. Bought mine for $4.00. It's larger and longer and a little easier on the hands.


You do not need the Factory Crimp Die but for 45-70 I like it and all my 30-06 ammo for either bolt gun or single shot gets that treatment too. More important I would think in an autoloader like the M1 than for my rifles. The regular Lee seater dies do crimp though, so you do not NEED it.

Hopefully Bob chimes in. He has a good list.

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Thanks for the reply MM, I appreciate it! I like the idea of portability and less space, hence the hand press. As mentioned above, the Lee Loader may not be the best for me since alot of pounding and an occasional primer going off may make the "natives restless" How difficult was it to full length resize the '06 and the 375? Thanks also for the tip on the Lee Chamfer Tool! I also printed out the articles that Mr. Stanton did which were extremely helpful. I also have been looking at the Lee Anniversary kit with the O press and the lock and load collars. While I like this setup, I think I would have a hard time setting it up and storing everything. I'll have to do some more checking.

You can buy the breechlock Lee press and bolt it down to a piece of 2x8 along with the powder thrower and just stick it in a closet or under the bed when not in use. When you need it just use a couple of C clamps and clamp it to a table. It will be much easier to use and much faster than the hand press or Lee loader.

Agree with the others. I watched a friend of mine set off three primers in one sitting with a Lee loader once. Pretty noisy and he finally figured out that's what gloves are for.

In addition to the above you will want a way to clean dirt and grit off your cases so they don't scratch up your sizing dies. That can usually be improvised with dish washing liquid and a gallon milk jug and you just shake the cases in there, rinse them and dry them. You don't need to polish cases. That is optional, though with the self-loaders it does make the brass a little easier to locate when the command to police your brass is given. You can polish the brass by hand if you need to. If you have a variable speed electric drill, you can use the Lee case trimmer's case holder to spin the brass while you play a paper towel with a little Soft Scrub on it over the case. That method eliminates the dishwashing liquid and all you need to do is rinse and dry using the jug and water.

You will find that decapping the cases before washing allows them to dry a lot faster. I like using the Lee universal decapping die for that purpose so I can decap before sizing. It isn't expensive and seems to me to be a worthwhile investment.

By the way, the hand press is a very useful tool for working loads up at the range. If you get one now and get a regular press later, you will always use it. Keep the ram lubed. You can also use the Lee Breechlock press on a board as Range Junkie described, though I prefer the plastic Irwin Quick Grip with rubber tipped jaws for that since you get a good wide clamping range with them.

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As Rangejunkie suggests, mounting to a board is easy. You can also use one of the folding carpenters tables such as a workmate to hold your board and press. I did this while living in an apartment. The workmate folds up and fits in a closet plus it comes in handy working around the house. (wife needs reason for you to buy one)

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No trouble! The forum has a lot of features and they aren't all obvious on the first visit. Enjoy your stay here.

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MikeG

IMO, ANY single stage press offers more power, speed, and convenience than the Lee Loader. You don't need a lot of room to mount a press. I started off with a 1' x 2' table top on a used wooden cabinet with the press mounted at one end and the powder measure on the other. All of my dies along with components were stored in the drawers. Shop your local thrift shop and see what you can pick up to serve as a loading bench. Bet you will find something that will work.

The Lee Hand Press is mighty nice. Even with a bench mounted press I still use the Hand Press most often. If I were starting over, its all I'd use for the low volumes I reload now. It offers plenty of leverage for a properly lubricated case. Particularly for the Garand, I think you will appreciate something that full length sizes he cases.

I too use the Lee hand press for the majority of my loading. I load quite a number of cartridges from 35 Whelen and 350 Rem Mag, 45-70 and 307 and 356 Winchesters.
For the pistol and small rifle cartridges the hand press is ideal.
I sit in the floor in front of the TV or listen to an audio book and prep brass. I size and bell one night, prime the next and seat bullets on a third evening. I load a lot of pistol and small rifle cartridges in this manner.
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There are days when a bench press is handy but with proper lubrication a bench press is not a necessity.>>

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slim

I put a portable reloading kit together that I take to the range. You can easily fit all you need to make good quality handloads into a Rubbermaid or similar tool box that stores away in any closet. I especially like the tool box that has lots of little compartments for the hand tools. It keeps things very organized. I use the Lee Cutter and Lock-stud (I prefer the ball handle to avoid cramping) with the Case Length Gauge for trimming. They work great in a hand drill or you can use a small 1/4" nut driver to hold it. You can get a hand prime tool or use the one on the press. A Lee hand press will not have a priming feature but they also make a press mounted priming assembly. People tend to overlook the usefulness of the Lee Powder Measure Cups in lieu of a scale. They are so handy I find myself tweaking my loads so I can use them. A small funnel is needed for charging. The Lee Reloading manual is compact in size and can fit in the tool box too. EJS and Lyman make some useful hand tools like their primer pocket uniformers and flash hole uniformers. The RCBS or Redding handles that have screw in attachments like brushes are very handy to have too. The associated shell holder can be stored in each of the die boxes. You will become the master of the batch load technique.

You can see a lot of the hand tools here.

http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech...h_notes.htm/49

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1) I've only used a Lee Loader for 44 Mag and I've used the Hand Press for several bottleneck cartridges. Both worked fine, but if those are the only presses you will consider I'd go with the Hand Press. Keep it lubed and it will last a long time.

I found that the occasional primer going off in the Lee Loader was disconcerting to my wife and to some of the neighbors. If you have thick walls and/or tolerant neighbors the mallet hammering might not be an issue, but popping primers are hard to ignore.

If you are worried about the danger of storing smokeless powder and primers, all I can say is they would make a good accelerant for a fire but under most conditions they are probably less dangerous than gasoline or propane. It's interesting that they are Class B explosives when they are stored at your house, but are re-classified to flammable solids when they are shipped. I try to follow the reccomended storage procedures that SAAMI and OSHA have because I think it's a good idea but as I understand it, there are no regulations for home storage of smokeless powder or primers.

2) With the Hand Press you'll be able to use better dies not only for crimping but also neck sizing, etc. Here is another thread on that specific topic:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=25481

I started out trying to reload on the kitchen table, but I found that it was better to have a dedicated space to work in even if that space was portable. Space was at a premium in the 26' 5th Wheel I lived in at the time and I ended up building a small plywood bench that I could take down and store under the couch. Since then I've seen some really nice plans that I wish I had known about at the time:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=36422
http://accurateshooter.wordpress.com...ch-free-plans/
http://www.larrywillis.com/tip001.html
All of these seem pretty sturdy. Some fold up easily and others include their own storage space.

I'm guessing that you're looking at the Hand Press primarily as a space consideration, because there probably is'nt much difference in cost beween buying the Hand Press or an inexpensive mounted press. Personally, having worked with a Lee Loader both a Lee Hand Press and several models of mounted press, I would go for a mounted press. You might be able to afford a new press, but I'll say that I have no qualms about buying well maintained 2nd hand reloading equipment either. When I moved into a house 20 years ago I bought a Rock Chucker press for $50 at a yard sale. I've since loaded thousands of rounds of ammo on it without fail. 10 years ago I bought a MEC 650 shotshell press and have loaded close to 100K rounds on it with only an occasional part replacement. Obviously there isn't much to go wrong with a cast iron single stage press, but I really didn't expect that kind of service from the MEC which not only has a complicated mechanism but is made up of a lot of light sheet metal parts that look kind of flimsy. I don't know what your part of the country is like, but here there always seems to be some reloading gear for sale at the local gun club, range, or pawn shop and it wouldn't be unusual to get a nice setup for $150.

Here are some good ideas about how to minimize the storage space for all of your tools and supplies:
http://www.beartoothbullets.com/tech...ch_notes.htm/8

Finally here is a list of reloading links that might be helpful:
http://forum.pafoa.org/ammunition-re...ing-links.html

For many many years, loaded all my rifle rounds with Lee "beat it with a stick" loaders (BTW a rubber mallet works much better and is quieter). Only neck sized, but managed to find some of the Lyman bench-vice full length size dies (a sizer that was used with a bench vice and a knock out rod).

After getting a house and a shop, both the usual bench mounted set up. But i also kept some of the old Lyman tong-tool loaders on hand. Just like the Lee, can keep everyghint you need to load in a shoe box (and to this date, although it is slow, there might not be a better primer seater than the old tong tool).

things change,,,I started over. Not in myown house for a time, but managed to put togetehr everything i needed on a 1foot square piece of 1 1/2" thick hard oak. Had to c-clamp it to an old work bench (and occasionally to a Jeep bumper) but i got use to it.

Now i have a house again...and a work shop...but that same 1 foot square chunk of oak has the same stuff mounted on it. I wing nut it to the bench when i need to load.

Thanks everyone for all the great responses! They were both informative and educational. I am still researching and price checking everything. All the responses have gotten me to thinking.........I have a 20 mm ammo box that I think I could store everything in including (including the base) so there is a "possibility" that I could go with a regular press. The Lee 50th anniversary kit looks mighty tempting but I'll keep you guys posted. BTW, I won't be getting a Lee Classic Loader due to the fact that I want to full lenght resize my cases. Thanks again everybody for the info. Anymore info would still be useful.

I doubt that a Lee Loader is a good idea in an apartment . With the bearing and banging .

I have a Lee Hand press . Try that if you are not thinking about large volume .

Also , consider a regular press bolted to a 2 x 6 or 2 x 8 . Could you C-Clamp this to a table ?

I received a Lee Classic Cast Iron Turret Press for Christmas . I have it bolted to a 2 x 6 , but I have it bolted to my loading table .

God bless
Wyr

Just my personal opinion: I DO NOT LIKE the "lee loaders" (hammer and beat the rounds together). They sometimes cause trouble (KABOOMS). Not very often but it does happen. It may be that instructions are not followed. I do not feel comfortable hammering primers in or seating bullets with a hammer or mallet. You cannot full length resize rifle cartridges with them anyway.

I find the "Lee Hand Press" very difficult to use, clumsy and irritating.

The "Reloader Press" is even cheaper and much easier to use and is easily mounted to a short length of 2 x 4 or 3 x 6 so that it can be easily clamped to a table or bench. I have even seen them clamped to a Pick up truck trailer hitch for use "in the field" or "at the range".

The "Lee Classic Cast Press" or the "Lee Classic Turret Press" offer a lot for the money. The Lee Classic Turret Press can be used as a single station press, a turret press or up graded with a Lee Safety Prime.

The RCBS Rockchucker is a very nice press, and very popular and reliable.

A few dollars saved on purchasing a substandard or marginal press will be the most expensive money you ever saved. Get a real - real good - press to start with and enjoy it and just try to wear it out.

The best setup for an apartment I ever saw was a closet setup. Since you have to put all that stuff somewhere, and it grows...why not use a closet setup. Shelves are framed in which a strong 1/2" or more loading table instead of a closet shelf. Small shelves above hold dies, powder, and all the other goddies. Set the bottom shelf (with press, etc) where the door will just close. To use your mini-closet loading room...just open the door and drag up a chair.
Just some thoughts....James

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A full reloading press, even the Lee aluminum "O" press, would be far better than the Lee Loader or hand press. The hand press is difficult to use for full length resizing of full rifle rounds.

I found that a fold-up carpenters workbench is very handy to clamp presses to. They can be found at Harbor Freight or Home Depot without breaking the bank. Unclamp the press, fold the bench, store in closet.