The Lee Loader: Read This And
Learn How To Reload...
No Really!
All you need to make great ammo is a Lee Loader, a pound of powder, some bullets,
primers, a hammer and some empty cases. Oh … and a cool gun to make those empty cases.
While shooting a video recently on how to use the Lee Loader, it dawned on me we needed to do a one-two punch and I needed to cover it here too. Like lots of things about shooting, people don’t tackle new ideas because they’re often confused about how difficult a new skill might be, are scared away by myth and internet hysteria — or by people spreading wrong ideas about something. If you’ve always wanted to learn how to reload but have stayed away (too complicated, too expensive, too scary, etc., blah, blah), cast off those chains — right now.
Let’s bust a myth here. You can absolutely learn to reload, using a $40 kit and some powder, bullets and primers, and it’ll take you about 10 minutes (the time it takes to read this article). An amazing thing about this is once you get your own kit you’ll likely pay for your set-up in about an hour. We’ll show you how to do it right now, using the Lee Precision, Inc. justly famous “Lee Loader” you can buy just about anywhere. I bought my first one when I was 15 and it still works — and that’s, um … er … 45 years later folks!
The Lee Loader kit (we used one for .38 Special) comes with the world’s simplest
instructions and a nifty chart to help you decide which powder to use. There’s plenty
of options, so you can pretty much buy what you can find locally and it’ll work fine.
In a nutshell, you’d need the Lee Loader, a can of powder (say, between $25 and $35, but will load hundreds of rounds), some primers (two to three cents each) and some bullets (say 10 to 15 cents each or so) and you’re in business. This stuff can literally fit in a desk drawer. Buy lead bullets locally and you don’t need to pay shipping. Cast ’em yourself and they may be — wait for it — free.
The drill is simple. Buy a Lee Loader in your favorite pistol caliber (made for all the common ones) or even many rifle calibers. When you get it, you decide what bullet weight you want to load (we’re doing 158-gr. .38 Specials here), then check out the loading chart in the kit. Pick a powder you can find easily and buy a pound. The “dipper” coming with the kit will hold a certain “load” of powder and the chart shows what that might be, depending upon the type of powder. It’s easy, you just pick a bullet weight, choose the velocity you want under that bullet weight, then choose the powder which will deliver that velocity using the dipper in the kit. If you want to get fancy, you can get a “dipper kit” and expand your options (or get a scale) but that’s later!
First things first here, so you need to knock out the fired primer with the base and punch.
It’s easy, and remember to wear eye protection since you’re eventually dealing with live primers and such.
Once you round-up your goodies, it goes like this: You de-prime the case (knock out the old primer), re-size the case (squeeze it back down to the original size), prime it (put the new primer into the pocket), flare the case mouth (so the bullet will seat), drop the powder charge into the case, place a bullet and seat it, then crimp it. Bingo … now go fire the first-ever cartridge you re-loaded.
Follow the pictures and we’ll explain the steps. The kit comes with excellent — and simple — well-illustrated instructions and is only a three-fold brochure, so there’s nothing insane you need to read and absorb.
After lubing the case (you can buy case lube in sprays or gels but you can also use
good old paraffin or candle wax, and it works great), drive the case into the sizing die
with a non-marring mallet of some sort. I used a small dead-blow hammer but a plastic
mallet works perfectly.
Next comes re-priming. You put a live primer (cup side up) onto the little center hole
area of the base, then tip the silver case die (with the case still inside from sizing it) upside
down and rest it over the primer. Lee supplies a rod to safely (and gently!) tap on the case
to push it out slightly, seating the primer at the same time. You sort of do it by feel and once
it goes “thud”-sounding you know it’s seated.
A small flaring tool is supplied and serves to flare the case mouth
slightly to help seat the bullet later. Tap, tap … tap.
Once the case is flared (it’s sized and primed now) use the die to act as a guide
as you dump a measure of the right powder into the case. The supplied chart makes
it easy to figure out what the powder charge is and what the velocity would average
for the powder/load combo you’ve selected.
After charging with powder, slip a bullet into the die (it drops toward the case mouth)
then seat it with the supplied seating rod (you’ll note it’s attached to the same thing we
used to seat the primer earlier). You adjust the length of the rod depending upon the
bullet size and weight. A few taps with the hammer and the bullet seats easily.
After seating, flip the silver die around 180 degrees and slip it over the loaded round.
A taper inside the die will gently crimp the case mouth around the bullet as you tap the
die a few times around the rim. It takes a bit of practice but you’ll soon get the feel.
Presto — you’ve loaded your first round! It takes less than one minute to do this process
from beginning to end, so you can load a 50 round box in about an hour. It’s fun — and it really is easy. Honest.
I promise you, once you get your feet wet with a Lee Loader, you won’t want to stop. The next step would be a kit with a simple single stage “press,” scale, powder measure, etc. allowing you to use different loading “dies” to load as many calibers as you like. We’ll also cover basic bullet casting (in another article) so you can be the ultimate cheapskate when it comes to loading. Meanwhile, make sure you leave this article lying around circled in red, with little Santas drawn all over it so someone you know gets the hint. For more info: Lee Precision. You can find Lee Loaders at Midway, Brownells and a host of other places online and local sporting goods stores.
You’ve shot some brass … now what? Using a Lee Precision reloading kit, American Handgunner’s Roy Huntington breaks down the art of reloading .38 Special rounds into simple, easy-to-follow steps. You’ll be ready to buy your own kit after watching!
