Seems like a lot of guys got a Lee Kit for Christmas too. I thought I would share my experiences after loading my first 50 rounds. Any comments welcomed.

I had cases from factory loads I had saved. I purchased the following to go with the kit.

2 extra manuals, Various bullets, Hodgdon ExperimentPak for the standard rifle, Winchester WLR primers, Lee Pacesetter Dies for 30-06, Lee case trimmer gage and shell holder for the 30-06, a depriming die, various bullet boxes, a loading tray, and some Imperial Sizing Wax. I had a caliper.

Step by step:

Depriming - I thought it best to deprime first. This would expose the primer pocket while the case was still dirty. Plus, I planned on ultrasonic cleaning and did not want residue from primer. The decapping die worked fine. No need to clean or anything. The little tray caught 90% of the primers. I left on screw off so I could pull the little aluminum window up for removal of the primers.

Case cleaning - Here is where I deviate from the norm. At work we constantly have ultrasonic cleaners running. We clean alot of copper columns for electron microscopes and such, so just threw fired cases in a beaker with a cleaner called Micro-90 and stuck them in the ultrasonic cleaner. The solution cleaned the cases except for the primer pockets in a few minutes. It took 4hours for the primer pockets to be clean and bright as new. I dipped in acetone to displace the water and dried. I tried the included Lee pocket primer cleaner and with the quoted " quick twist" only got a scraped ring at the base of the pocket. I did not try any brushes or other tools.

Lubricating - I bought Imperial Sizing wax due to rave reviews. It did seem to work better. The best way to lubricate the outside of cases I found was with my fingers. Just keep them barely coated with the lube and rub the case as it goes to the press. I did the Q-tip method for inside the case necks. I think I found a better way though. I took a caliber bore brush and wiped it between my coated fingers. I then ran this in the case. After a while, I found it necessary to run it on my fingers every other case. I found the Lee lube to work fine too. Plus, it is water soluble. Just needed a little more pressure. I did not even have a hint of a stuck case. USE SPARINGLY! I did dent one case where I had left a minute mound of the wax. I dipped the cases in acetone to remove the lube. I found it best just to keep my hands dirty with lube in the sizing. I put a towel on the press handle to keep it clean.

Sizing - some addressed above. I just followed the direction with the die. Tighten to the shell holder than an extra 1/4 turn. I need to understand the sizing die adjustments better if I wanted to play with partial sizing or adjustment of the shoulder. The online instructions are better than the printed material you get with the set or the manual! I think my neck tension is fine. After seating, I cannot bullet into the case, even when pushing down on a wood surface with the case inverted. I cleaned the cases after sizing to remove any lube (and washed my hands). I found putting a little alcohol on the soap (I squirted some hand sanitizer) helped to remove the wax from my hands. I thought it best to remove any lube from inside the case neck. Also, the cases were now clean to handle.

Trimming - I found my cases varied in length from box to box of shot cases. So, I decided to trim them all to start. I found the Lee tool to be difficult to use with a power drill. It was difficult to tighten the lock on the case head side enough to retain the case. Also, you had to fidget with each to keep the case from wobbling horribly. This concerned me as I was worried about the mandrel destroying the alignment of the neck. I think they should spin the cutter rather than the case. I will modify mine to do this. It worked fine by hand, but was a finger numbing chore. The deburring tool worked OK. It is a simple slit in a coned tool. Had to be careful to get an even chamfer around the case The RCBS tool "looks" like it would be better.

Priming - I used the Lee tool. It was fairly intuitive. It was easy to feel the primers bottoming out in the pocket. I found the tool would feed 2 primers. I seated one primer with another until I learned to not fully release the handle! I think the seating stem should be longer to prevent 2 primers from entering. Maybe it is just a defect in mine. I found it much easier to only put 10-15 primers in the tray at one time.

Charging - I found the powder measure to work OK. I spilt a bit of powder. I also had to remove the hopper, work the handle, and blow to get every grain of powder out. I found thrown weights to vary +/- 0.2 grains. You have to be able to see all around the seating stem to set the micrometer, a difficult task with it mounted! Since I only loaded 3 per weight and weighed every charge, I found the dipper to be more handy. I NEED A TRICKLER! I think they should increase the price and include one in the set! I used the dipper to shake in granule by granule. Everything needs to get dirty before static does not interfere. Frankly, I found the plastic funnel to be most troublesome. The ball powder required quite a bit of tapping and shaking to get it all to go in the case. Everyone says ball powder meters better, but I found it much more sensitive to getting hung up everywhere.

Seating - just followed instruction on the die. Make sure to unscrew the body it to prevent a roll crimp. I also unscrewed the seating stem quite a bit at first. I made a dummy round and seated and adjusted until I got it exactly where I wanted it. The manual I have only have a max COL for the bullets I used. As described in previous posts, I made a dummy seated to the lands and used this to seat the bullets 0.030" off as a starting point. My rounds were quite a bit longer than factory, but feed fine. I think a Stony Point Comparator is a necessary. I could seat plastic pointed bullets with some precision. I get variance with lead tipped. Likely not a big deal, but I would not play close to the lands with my current setup.

Before I load again I will get a trickler, a bullet comparator, a full set of Lee dippers, and maybe a metal funnel.

The Lee kit did OK, especially for its cost. I did not like the case trimmer design under power and had double feeds on the primer tool.

Hope this helps a guy with his first run. I would welcome any hints or comments from you experienced guys also.

Next up - a range report!

Good report. I have had pretty much the same experiance with lee stuff. Except the Lee primer, I really havent had any problems with that, but I could see where the double primer thing could happen.

Good report.
It is not necessary to get the primer pockets absolutely clean. I use the lee primer pocket cleaner, one or two twists and most of the crud is removed. I put my Lee case shell holder in a drill press this frees up my hands to hold the case length trimmer. I have switched to the Imperial sizing wax it works great and I don’t get the dents like I did with the spray.

Good luck reloading is addictive.

You can achieve about the same result as a trickler by getting an old 35mm film canister, and putting a full charge of powder in it, and using it like a salt shaker. (Reading over this, you don't put holes in the top, you use it like you'd use it to keep salt in for a picnic, and just tap on the top with your finger. The clear ones work better because you can see the powder.) Kudude

Hey metalman29

Good job!

For the problem with the trimmer I would recommend a Lee Zip Trim

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=515804

mounted on a piece of 2x4 and clamped in a vise or screwed to youR worktop. It is very quick and easy to use and you mount the case holder on the spindle of the Zip Trim which gives you 2 hands to get the cases screwed down right. I also use the Lee Universal Chuck

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=352653

which is larger and gives you better leverage for tightening the case down. The Zip Trim spins the case and makes it easy to insert the trimmer and chamfer tool for good prep.

I gave up on the Lee Auto Prime and went back to the RCBS press primer. Just didn't float my boat.

JM$.02

As you progress, you'll pick up more and more little tools along the way. Keep everything and always look for more. I find the best tool for inside/outside/primer pocket chamfering is that RCBS thing made by L. E. Wilson. It's $15, but worth it.

I have no problems with the Lee powder measure. I throw three or four .223 charges into a 7mm Mag case and weigh it. This gives me a "law of large numbers" weight, which allows me to get a super-accurate weight for single charges. I like the way the Lee has the o-ring to lock the graduated rod solidly into position. I just loosen it, turn it out a few turns, adjust it up or down one mark or three, turn it back and lock it. Then I weigh the resultant charge. Once it's set, it stays set.

i got the anniversary kit for xmas a couple years ago(been reading since). i just loaded my first few rounds the other day. as soon as i was done, i went on the net and started looking for a digital scale. the scale that comes with the kit imo is horrible. i bought a digital scale and bullet puller from cabelas saturday. yesterday i pulled all the bullets from the rounds and reloaded(5 different amts of powder w/5 rounds each) them using my new scale and boy-howdy was it so much better. that's the only problem i've had with the lee stuff.