16ga.com ~ View topic - Dumb question from new reloader: Lee Load-All?

Member Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 348 Location: Missouri

I owned a Lee Load All once and I gave it to a lady who made Shotgun Shell Christmas Tree Lights! It was great for that.
Laughing

Member Joined: 06 Oct 2007 Posts: 2350 Location: West MI

[quote="SDshooter2"]Thanks all for the advice. I will look into roll crimping, especially if I can do it with a drill press (?). If that works, a Lee Load-All might be sufficient. Another advantage of roll crimping is that I might be able to use clear over-shot cards...........

Hello SD, RCing works best in a drill press. I picked up a small bench mounted press at a pawn shop. To address the resizing and holding the hull issue while rolling; a MEC sizemaster off of ebay and afixed to the press with thumb screws or clamps works great. I use a stripped down MEC JR to deprime (no resize ring-less work/wear on the press), reprime, powder drop via universal charge bar & set the wad then hand pour the scaled payload. I enjoy reloading & shooting 10, 16, 20 & 24ga, this process is very adaptable to all those gauges with a simple change of the charge bar, supersizer collet (thank you ebay) and sometimes a drill press depth adjustment (hull length). Sometimes the mouth of a spent RC'ed hull will need some reconditioning, a tool sold at BP or copied on a lathe from a piece of aluminum bar does the trick. I'm not sure if the clear OS cards are available in 16 but making them yourself is not that hard. Do a search on this great sight and the question of making your own OSC's/wad fillers has been discussed with some really inovative ways of doing it. I shoot a 10ga-BPS, REM SP-10 & an Italian O/U, 16ga-NR Davis & Hunter Arms SXS, Browning O/U & 11-48, 20ga- NR Davis SXS & REM LT-20 & an Italian O/U in 24ga. Not all at the same time. Very Happy

Since going to this process I have never had 1 single round fail to fire or have difficulties cycleing in or out of any of these guns. Hope this helps, Best of luck, Mike

Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 477

I have MEC's in 12, 20, 28 and .410. Few things in this world function as well and as long as a MEC. They are the gold standard of quality. I have one that has been functioning since 1976 without a flaw or breakdown. All that being said-----I just bought a Lee Load All in 16 gauge. No. I haven't lost my mind. I just bought a Sweet 16 and it is strictly a hunting gun. One of many. I doubt I'll shoot 150 shells a year through it. I just couldn't see going for a $150.00 MEC for that little use. The Lee was $39.00 with all bushings and charge bars. I loaded a couple of boxs of 1 1/8 oz hunting loads and it worked fine. Given my use factor, I think its a good deal. As an old time reloader I just couldn't stand to see my empties sitting around without being re-stuffed. The Lee is a good answer.

I have a Lee in 16 bore and Mecs in all other bores. I have never had any problems getting good loads from the Lee. I have run, I am sure, over 3000 hulls through it. I bought it on price since my 16 is low volume, and have never been sorry...

Joined: 20 Dec 2006 Posts: 46 Location: Illinois

Buy the lee use the money you save on a scale. To load quality notox loads the powder and shot has to be weighed for every shell. All you use the loader for is resize prime and crimp.The lee crimps new hulls much better than a mec anyway.I have both loaders and use the lee for notox and first load on new hulls.
The BP steel 16ga load is much better than anything you can buy.It all about speed with steel.I load one wildcat 16ga 7/8oz steel load at 1625vel. The BP hevi-shot loads are very good with 7 1/2 and 6 shot.

Joined: 11 Aug 2008 Posts: 37 Location: north-central SD

Thanks all for the great advice. Am going to give a Lee Load All on E-Bay a try and pick up a roll crimper from BP. Early goose and dove seasons start this coming Monday--I'll slum with a 12 gauge for both. Our South Dakota canadas are way too big for even the largest non-toxic shot I can get out here in 16 gauge. Sharptail grouse season, however, is only two weeks away. Sharpies are as much fun, if not more fun, than pheasants. You have to cover a lot of territory and they're much easier to kill than wild pheasants. Hi-base lead 6s in a light 16 ga. pump are perfect.

Best,

Dave

Joined: 09 Dec 2007 Posts: 6

I already posted on this but am going to repeat what I said....I just finished, yesterday, running 400 more loads through my Lee, with 6 bad crimps...Those hulls have been reloaded about 5-6 times and are getting pretty badly worn. If you arent getting good loads out of your Lee, you prolly wont get em out of anything else either...

Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 19 Location: Albion, PA

It is a good reloader for the cost. I've found that some of the crimping problems are caused by using larger shot. 1-1/8 oz of #5 doesn't stack up the same as #7-1/2. I bought mine when I was 12 (with my parents permission) I don't know how many rounds it has done but I'm 44 now.

Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 596 Location: 17603

Gents,
I started reloading with the Lees, and they work. As noted the bushings tend to drop less than "advertised", and crimping success is all about powder/shot/wad column height IMHO.
I then got my hands on a P/W 375 and the leap in production quality and consistency was very gratifying. I've used a Mec only a coupla' times, helped a buddy get one going one afternoon after he came home with one in a box from an auction. Sorry Mec fans, it's the difference between the pre-64 machined Winchester 94 and the stamped metal post 64 guns. Both do the job.
For ultimate production and consistency go for one of the P/W 800's, expensive, but wow, can you start kickin' out shells! For the amount of loading ur talkin' about a 375 will outlast you and ur grandkids.
Cost effective???? Welllllll, I LIKE reloading, and I get exactly what I want for less than any store bought ammo, in spite of the salesman's insistence that "It ain't worth reloading, why we got these on sale this week,,,,,"
Cheers all,
R*2