Well, Gavin and I did it again. Writing this article and doing the video with Gavin took me back several decades to a time when I owned one rifle and loaded for it on a Lee Loader. It's still a great, and inexpensive, way to handload:

Please read the article as well as viewing the video:

https://ultimatereloader.com/2022/01/10/caveman-reloading-no-press-required/

Thank you, Guy

Still have mine, a complete set in .30-06. How it manage to survive all these decades is a minor miracle...

Understand. Apparently mine made it from the west coast, to the east coast, and then back to California, and is now here in Washington, 40+ years later. Good piece of gear, I could never bring myself to get rid of it.

Regards, Guy

Enjoyed you video, Ultimate Reloader is one of my favorite channels.
I have Lee Loaders in .223, .270, .380, and 9mm although I've never used them other than to see how they worked.

I enjoyed the video 👍.....Thanks for posting...Hb

Loaded a bunch of 243's on one. Have a 35 Rem Lee Loader, just in case.

Very cool Guy. That's some cool stuff!

Good review of the Lee Loader, thanks. The only thing I do different is use an arbor press.

Could never quite get good at cleanly dumping powder with that itty bitty powder cup - always a grain or two spilt on the table.

So part of the standard "kit" was a sheet of school paper (NOT college ruled) rolled into a funnel and taped to hold its shape. That worked pretty good.

Then I got all sophisticated when my dad took pity on me and a proper plastic powder funnel showed up on Christmas....

In the 80s I had less than zero money. My brother and I and another gentleman would go prairie dog hunting in Montana. I only had about 100 misc brass for my 22-250. After shooting those up I would sit with the Lee Loader and do them up again. Actually a fine little system. Still have both of mine. Edk

This is how I started handholding 30-06 back in the 80's.

Instead of an arbor press I rigged up a big c-clamp, positioned vertically, on a home-made stand for the neck sizing and bullet seating. Didn't like the little dipper so got a balance beam scale and powder trickier. Also got a RCBS priming tool.

I could easily get better accuracy than store bought ammo with my set-up.

Got my reloading start with one in 30/06 back in the mid 60’s.....

It’s a pretty cool and fun way to roll some practical ammo.
The only thing I didn’t really like was the way you had to seat the primer - thought it looked like a good way to set one off! I still use the plastic powder dips for some reloading chores.

Pretty cool video. Might have to go buy one of those...

I just did!!

Bought one today for a 250-3000 for $10.

Got my start with one on a 6mm Rem in 1963. I could consistently nail golf balls at 100 yds and nailed many a woodchuck. Still have the rifle but the shop said I'd get a full refund when trading up to better gear.

I started reloading in the early 80's with the lee loader in .30-30. I couldn't count the number of deer I killed with my Marlin 336C using ammo loaded from a lee loader with 150 gr noslers.

My only gripe about the little Lee Loaders was the powder scoop. After I started to really get into reloading, and bought a press, dies, and a powder measure, I found out that the plastic scoop that I'd been using to load my 243's with on the Lee, was giving me a powder charge that was actually below the starting weight that was listed for that powder. The ammo I was turning out was accurate, but then again, the Remington 788 I was shooting was also super accurate, so it's hard to say which was responsible for the rig shooting so well. Still, those little Lee Loaders filled a niche and did a good job.

Great video. I always wondered how they worked. Thanks for sharing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UeEl9wZyabc

This is the inventor using it.

Very nice! Keep life simple for the caveman!

I enjoyed watching - must have 10 different sets of those. Bought one when I bought a new cartridge. Haven’t used them in years since I picked up a Huntington Compac press.

Thanks for sharing!



Nostalgia is awesome

I also started on the Lee Loader back in the 1970's. First set was for my first rifle, a 243.

Still have sets for 223, 243, 30-30, and 44 Mag.

Funny how we found a way these days to complicate something that is pretty simple

How true.

First, I have to say that I do not blame gunwriters for this. At least, not totally. Before everyone became an expert via the magic of the Internets, we got virtually all our information from magazines.

We had basic die sets. Ones that full length sized for the most part. A few who had neck dies like the Lee Loader. There were no collet dies, bump dies or X dies. Very few had micrometer seaters, bushing dies or body dies.

Most guys were happy to brag about how much better RCBS dies were than Lee. No one knew what runout was. And it didn’t matter in the field anyway.

Somewhere along the way, people tried BR reloading techniques with their levers or “off the rack” bolt guns. The idea for that usually came from reading one of the monthly magazines. Often, it didn’t work, but it always took longer and was expensive.

Now, deer hunters have power powder dispensers, neck turning tools, case prep tools like flash hole uniformers and primer pocket reamers collecting dust on their benches.

We spent more money on components too. Winchester and Remington cases and bullets became second rate. Almost everyone bought into the idea that match primers were better, helping to produce super accurate loads.

Leupolds became garbage. Wool sweaters and dungarees became tactical camouflage patterns. Redding and Forster dies are the only ones worth owning these days. Whitetails can only be killed with Partitions.

What happened?

Nice video and write up Guy.

I’ve never owned a Lee Loader, but for some reason I always conjure visions of an old trapper having one of these in the cabin just tucked away on a shelf below the sporterized Springfield.

I got my first Lee Loader with my first 30.06 in 1976, still have it. I've loaded several different cartridges with them, freaked me out the first time I set off a primer.

Way cool loading with this thing.

Ne ver used the Lee, but loaded 222 for years with a Lyman 310 tool.

Sorry Steve, my father and I were using Lee collet dies a long while before they were much talked about on the internet, and I have a Sinclair fixture for checking runout that is probably older than a lot of the posters on this site.

As JB is fond of saying, you are a sample of one. Most people had little.