Lee Reloader Press

wiersy111 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:32 am Post subject: Lee Reloader Press

I am thinking of adding a press to my line to be dedicated to decapping or bullet seating, not resizing or any heavy duty work. Does anyone have experience with the Lee Reloader Press? And if so is it worth buying for these purposes?

Ominivision1 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:38 am Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

I have one of these for which I used strictly for decapping and my regular press for every thing else.

Outdoor gear has them for $27.21 w/o shipping but you can choose the shipping. www.outdoorgearbarn.co...I7B3bSPWdo

gelandangan · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:51 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

IMHO for decapping, that little press is great.
OTOH I think it is a tad too springy for 100% position seater.

I am sure some will dispute this. Razz

wiersy111 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 2:36 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

Omni have you ever had trouble working with long casings like 7mm mag or 300 win? If I have a station dedicated to decapping I want it to handle all of my brass.

gelandangan good point I think seating 45-70's with a crimp might be to much for that little press, unless someone can prove otherwise. However I use a factory crimp die on the 45-70's

wiersy111 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 2:39 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

Any reviews with Smart Reloader presses?

Ominivision1 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 8:27 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

I have done 340wby mag decappiing on the Lee but this press in my mind is more suitable for cases like the 223 and 308, /06. If your going to be feeding a press with a steady diet of longer cases, I would recommend a different press.

wiersy111 · Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:01 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

The biggest I have tight now are 257 Wby and 7mm mag. Everything else is shorter cases.

Elvis · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:34 am Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

my lee is an O frame and it does the job fine.

SingleShotLover · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 5:17 am Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

Elvis wrote:

my lee is an O frame and it does the job fine.

I also would recommend the "O" frame over the "C" frame for anything requiring more than moderate force.

Bushmaster · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 7:34 am Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

I have successfully broken two Lee Loader presses and will not buy another just to see if I can break it too.

I have the Lee cast iron "O" press that is used to resize all my brass and also to prime all my brass.

All the rest of the reloading procedures are acomplished on a Lee cast iron turret press.

The Lee Loader press is just too flimsy and as stated above, it flexes way too much to be an effective reloading press. It might make a good support for a powder charging dispenser.

wiersy111 · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 11:57 am Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

I have my big old Rock Chucker for sizing and the heavy duty work. I just want something to put a Lee universal decapping die in and use it to decap only. I like to resize the cases without decapping so the media doesn't get stuck in the flash hole when they get tumbled. So basically all this press will ever be used for is decapping.

Bushmaster · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 12:09 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

It'll work for that then...

English Mike · Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:32 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

wiersy111 wrote:

Any reviews with Smart Reloader presses?

They have a bad rep over here quality wise.

You're better off with a used quality press from off eBay or Craig's List.
Plenty of RCBS units on eBay for less than $50 & you know they'll never break.

wncchester · Member Joined: Apr 08, 2006 Posts: 160

I do have some experience with that little press. I was tired of all the spent primer grit dribbling down the ram of my RC so I got two Reloaders about ten years ago, one for a Lee universal decapper die and the other for Lee's Autoprime II; love that system!

When I later got a precision dial indicator for my concentricity gage I wanted to find out just how flexible the little presses were in comparision to my RC. I FL resized 6 .30-06 from the same box of ammo on each press with the same sizing lube while using the same dies/shell holder and setting the shoulders back the same amount in each test run. The sizer die in the big ol' iron rig consistantly lifted up almost 3 thou; not much, but more than I had expected. Surprise was that neither of the tiny Reloaders lifted enough to take a reading, well under a thou!

It would be silly to say the little hard alum alloy guys are 'stronger' than any iron press but I can assure you that within the limits of their strength they ARE more rigid! So, there's no valid reason to fear attempting precision bullet seating on them.

Vince · Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2012 10:45 pm Post subject: Re: Lee Reloader Press

For decapping, simple bullet seating and FCD crimping, I can't imagine you will have any problems Wiersay. I believe you would not have any problems seating primers either mate. LEE have their Auto Prime and that would not be as strong as their C Frame press, yet it does a magnificent job of priming.

I agree with your practice of sizing etc with your Rock Chucker...none better mate.