Reloading with the Lee loader kits

Help Support Ruger Forum:

From Yuma, "wear a leather glove when you're setting primers"

Now that I think about it, that sounds like a good idea. However, I have the Lee Priming Tool and it keeps my hand away and the primer is in a thick steel tool. But, safety first with the leather glove.
 
On the shotgun forum, they mentioned this powder is good for 9mm and shotgun shells. But $185 for 14lbs is one heck of a deal.
 
From Yuma, "wear a leather glove when you're setting primers"

Now that I think about it, that sounds like a good idea. However, I have the Lee Priming Tool and it keeps my hand away and the primer is in a thick steel tool. But, safety first with the leather glove.
if you mean the little sprung thing that looks like a pipe cap and the primer sits in it and you put the case holder over it and put the rod into the case holder and then beat the whole magilla to seat the primer?
My first 50 reloads, I popped at least 3 primers. The first two I was bare handed.
After the second, I took a patch of heavy leather, cut a hole in it and passed the primer rod thru it, that protected my hand from the third, and (probably) the fourth and fifth.
Shortly after, I purchased the frankford priming contraption. When you blow up that first primer, you'll think about getting one too.

I now have a lee single stage press, and lee carbide dies, the quick release ones.
My guess is buying a set of dies for each caliber is abour the same as a lee loader for each caliber. I think the press was @ $100.
With a good grain scale, $30, I can prime, load, seat and crimp 50 rounds in less than 2 hours, the cases (straight walled .44's) have already been cleaned, de-capped, and belled.
I only reload one caliber, so the dies are pretty much set for depth, but I still check, mike, weigh, etc. (These things are dangerous)

I've been reloading for less than a year, but it's waaaay better at @ $.40 a round than a factory $1+ per round and hazmat, blahblahyaddayadda. I'm guessing something like 9mm is half of that. The primers are the only issue, but a brick of1000 at a time is better than buying factory rounds.
I assembled my brass collection, about 300 cases, buy buying factory loads, and one 100 piece bag of starline. I'm "retired," so it's a nice way to spend a little "me" time. Don't drink, smoke (anything) and above all, don't try to have a conversation. I weigh EVERY powder charge, and I weigh EVERY round before I crimp. Bullet weight and case weight will vary, but at least I know there's powder in there.
Get a bullet separation device, mine is like a little plastic hammer. you put the bullet in it and beat it on the workbench. you're gonna need it. I made a case holder on my mini lathe, because the gizmos that came with my ebay special were useless, but a good kit would probably have a good holder.

Listen to Contender and get you a recipe book. This will help keep you from acquiring a new nickname, like "lefty."
 
Manuals don't agree with each other and therefore are not any more reliable than experience.
I agree, based on my own (limited) experience, but good judgment comes experience, and all too often experience comes from bad judgment.

My Lee loader came with a 1.3cc dipper and a data card. I assume each Lee loader has something similar.

One powder that I've loaded is H110. I bought it because of the H, figured it was like HP-38, or HS-6...boy was I mistaken.

Anyway, here's some data, the Lee loader card and the Lee (I think) handbook. You can see that the 1.3 dipper is used for the Lee loader card for every powder, and every bullet weight.
AND H110 is different in grain measurement with the loader data and the manual data, but with BOTH using the 1.3 dipper!!?? The discrepancy seems to be the bullet weight and composition.

Therefore, starting loads are the places where I...start (haha). I pick the LOWEST grain weight I can discern, and move up cautiously. I've not loaded anything to the maximum limit with any powder I tried. I don't see the need to "experience" a max load of H-110 in my SBH, SRH, or hopefully my CVA SCOUT that's enroute via UPS.

It's good to have a guide to judge where to start, and from there you can...progress via experience while maintaining safety, both yours, the range officers, and the folks in the adjacent lanes.

I can recall firing my first reloads. Said a quick Hail Mary. Still do.
 

Attachments

  • A8CA89B7-FD9E-4083-B8C9-36821D6164AE.jpeg
    A8CA89B7-FD9E-4083-B8C9-36821D6164AE.jpeg
    85.9 KB · Views: 37
  • A001E834-F8D7-43BF-9C85-9D54C999DB32.jpeg
    A001E834-F8D7-43BF-9C85-9D54C999DB32.jpeg
    81.3 KB · Views: 32
  • 42D6B618-7611-4DBC-B85E-1F2A46F3F081.jpeg
    42D6B618-7611-4DBC-B85E-1F2A46F3F081.jpeg
    137.1 KB · Views: 34
"Manuals don't agree with each other and therefore are not any more reliable than experience."

Good point. BUT,, if you read the entire section on a particular caliber, and how the publishers built the load,, you can see why they get different results. Different primers, different bullets, universal receiver vs an actual firearm, & other variables that will cause different results.
However,, if you get a couple of good manuals,, especially a manual from the manufacturer of a particular powder,, and THEY do not list a chart using a powder in a caliber of your choice,, then it's a pretty good bet that it's not recommended. While burn rates help in many cases to see how a powder may perform in loads,, it's also just a guideline. The problems arise when a round is fired, and the location in the gun where the pressure spike occurs. Does it occur in the case, the chamber, front, middle or rear of the barrel?
Publishers of these manuals (The companies that make the powders & primers, ) have access to equipment that measures actual pressures & such. Handloaders don't.

J.Yuma has had primers pop in his method of reloading. I've been reloading since 1977, and so far,, never had one go off while seating primers. I started with a press mounted, (Lyman Spartan) primer seater, and later on the same system on my RCBS Rockchucker. I never was a fan of the "Whack-a-Mole" Lee kits. Hammering a primer seating assy just didn't appeal to me. I've had primers flip sideways, upside down, crushed when seating them sideways, but never pop.
And I can load well over 50 calibers with the dies I own,, and have in my logbook over 400,000 rounds loaded in all these years. I do not weight each powder charge,, nor each loaded case. But I DO use other methods to assure I have the correct amount of powder in my cases. On my Dillon, I have a powder check device,, that goes off if I have a case not properly filled. On my single-stage,, I use a loading block,, and once I get 50 cases charged,, I use a good light, standing over them, looking into each case for consistent levels. On my super precision rifle rounds where I want to go to more extreme detailed loading,, I do use an automatic powder dispenser that does weigh each charge. But since most of my shooting nowadays is handguns,, that isn't used much.

No matter your level of experience,, SAFETY first! Use known powders suitable for a specific caliber. Start at the bottom of the recommended chart, and slowly work up to an accurate load while staying within the recommended range of powder charges.
 
I have the Lee dipper set, about 15 different little cups of different sizes. along with the dipper that comes with each loading caliber kit. So I think I can just shake off a slight amount of powder from the dipper when loading it. I try to do the exact same for each cartridge in say a 25 batch. Not exact, I know, but even the dipper isn't an exact measure either.
With the primers I use the Lee priming tool, so I don't have to pound the primer in. Just pull the trigger and in it goes.
 
I think every new reloader should start out with the "Whack-a-Mole" Lee Loader. If nothing else it will introduce the importance of patience into the process, which usually eliminates or at least greatly reduces the incidence of popped primers. I admit to popping a few before Lee introduced the little hand-priming device which has eliminated the popping altogether. I still use it even having moved to the use of a bench-mounted press setup. ;)

The recommendation to buy and use a proper reloading manual is well made. Properly employed, these will keep ya out of trouble.

All JMHO based on sixty years of accident-free reloading, with the minor exception of those few primers popped with the Lee Loader. which I see as a rite of passage. :ROFLMAO:
 
Last edited:
"J.Yuma has had primers pop in his method of reloading"

not since I got the Frankford primer tool

when I use a dipper, I strike it with a business card or a single edge razor blade, and I DIP, I don't drag the dipper like I'm scooping ice cream.
 
I think every new reloader should start out with the "Whack-a-Mole" Lee Loader. If nothing else it will introduce the importance of patience into the process, which usually eliminates or at least greatly reduces the incidence of popped primers. I admit to popping a few before Lee introduced the little hand-priming device which has eliminated the popping altogether. I still use it even having moved to the use of a bench-mounted press setup. ;)

The recommendation to buy and use a proper reloading manual is well made. Properly employed, these will keep ya out of trouble.

All JMHO based on sixty years of accident-free reloading, with the minor exception of those few primers popped with the Lee Loader. :ROFLMAO:
I learned a lot with the Lee loader,
but it's worth have some sort of primer tool.
 
With the primers I use the Lee priming tool, so I don't have to pound the primer in. Just pull the trigger and in it goes.
 
Agreed. The results of a popped primer consisted of a little black stain on my thumb and forefinger, and a little surprise . . . nothing more.
Agreed. The results of a popped primer consisted of a little black stain on my thumb and forefinger, and a little surprise . . . nothing more.
and for me, five wasted, hard to find primers.

The Frankford priming tool?
no stains, no surprises, no wasted primers.

Like I said, I've only been reloading for a year.
The original poster seems to be where I was a year ago. So as one "newbie" to another, I offered my very limited experience.
 
A lot of good advice here. Esp. Contender's. When you decide on your "one" do it all powder; do yourself a favor and buy the newest manual from the maker of that powder. Powders often are segregated out in their burn rate when compared to other powders. Fast, slow, and medium burning. Your 4 calibers will each have a best performance when loaded with a "caliber appropriate" burn rate powder.
KR
 
While we are on reloading, I can get a lot of once fired brass cases. Do I need to get a tumbler to clean them, or just use them without any cleaning?
 

Latest posts

Top