I have never reloaded shotshells, but my mouth dropped open when Midway offered this complete press for $31.99. Is this POSSIBLE? Do they work? If so i'm in the shotgun reloading game. Thanks!

They are the biggest piece of shit there ever was.If you really want to reload shot shells,but want a cheap press,hit the gun shows and pick up a used mec for 50 bucks or so.Or look in the shotgun news and gun list.If you don't have a scale,you really need one of those too.Good luck,Clay.

There's good news and bad news.

The bad news is that the powder dispenser is hopelessly non-repeatable.

The good news is that the rest of the press works fine. It de-caps, primes, stuffs wads in, and dispenses shot and crimps just fine. It does 2 3/4" and 3" shells.

I've done hundreds on mine, but use my other powder dump to measure the powder.

All that said, unless you're reloading steel, or 3" hunting cartridges, there isn't much economic reason to reload shotshells. If you watch the sales, you can buy shells within a couple of cents of what you can make them for.

If you're really wanting to do shotshells, and can find an MEC used for $50, odds are that is a better choice.

I disagree with Denton on the financial benefits of reloading. We can now buy decent target loads for about $32 per flat locally, but I can reload them for about 1/3rd less. It takes an investment in bulk components, but I reload for under $2.30 per box. For a summer of shooting, I save about $300. Not a huge amount, but enough to pay attention to.

For premium, buffered hunting loads, I can reload nickel or copper shot for under $5.00 per box, which is less than half of factory. Bismuth, same story.

As far as the Lee loadall, yes it works, but it is slow, and the powder dispensing, as said, is less than optimal. It should be used with the premium hulls. A mec would be a better choice. HTH, Dutch.

I keep a Loadall around. Were I shooting trap or skeet, I'd buy a better, but I ain't.

Mine gets used mostly to load homebrew slugs for plinking. I might load three or four boxes of shotshells a year, mostly 'cause #5s never go on sale and 'cause I can load a couple of boxes quicker than I can run into town to buy them.

Loadall works fine for my needs. Probably not for most other people.

Dutch may be right, if you carefully compare apples and apples. Good AA shells (my favorite to reload) are $5 per box. But sometimes KMart has decent stuff with the right load for under $3, and Sportsmans Warehouse recently had a blowout on good pigeon busters for $3 per box after rebate. So far, my shooting is not good enough to see any difference between the AA's and the $3 specials.

I figure my reloads cost me $2.50 per box, very close to Dutch's number. Since I can buy factory stuff at $3, that's the $.02 per shell I was talking about. Of course, the difference is that my home loads are more like the AA's in quality. So if you want to compare to AA prices, there is a big saving.

Some of the hunting stuff is $11-12 per box, and in that case the savings are big. But you have to shoot a lot of ducks and geese to work your way through a 10 pound bag of steel shot.

The Lee is what it is, a cheap entry level loader. It will do all the operations and turn out an acceptable reload though at a slow pace. Yes, the MEC is a better machine but if you're looking to turn out a couple of boxes to bust some back yard clays it will serve just fine. If you're after a long term tool and plan to shoot more, the Mec Jr. is a better deal.

I use the Lee's in my NRA Reloading classes as the students can see and feel all the operations. I find the bushings do not drop the charges as listed in the charts, checking with a scale will get you the right one. But I do find mine drops a reasonably consistant charge of Green Dot.

Scout Master 54

Gentlemen -

Wonderful, candid advice. Just what I needed. Thanks so much.