Lets say for typical bottle neck cartridges
of any caliber, could you get away with
neck sizing only using a special neck sizing
die along with a hand squeeze press in the field?
( question whether special neck size die is needed or just use regular die and reduce travel by a tenth of an inch ? )

So far the list would include the powder, the neck
size die, the hand press, a primer and the primer
insert tool and of course the bullet.

What I dont know is with the use of a neck size
die only, after sizing would a fresh bullet be
able to be seated using the hand squeezer
and be held snugly in the case ?

The only thing I havent addressed is removing
the used primer and could I somehow shove the
bullet into the resized neck with just the
above equipment ? If not, what else would
be needed ?

I once swapped new bullets in unfired cases
by using the bolt action of the rifle.
We took the primer out of a fired case
and inserted that case into the chamber.
Then while pointing to the ceiling, we inserted
the case head of the new cartridge into the
bolt face grooves and centered the
bullet nose in the primer hole of the chambered
case. By using the bolt handle we were
able to seat the bullet to the point
marked by felt tip pin on the bullet.
( BTW, this was a mauser 98 and we
had removed the firing pin and the
extractor clips)

Assume that the powder charges have already
been accurately measured and stored in old
35mm plastic film capsules.

Why not buy a Lee Loader and be done with it?? Or are you taking the German approach?

You could be right about getting the LeeLoader.
Somehow I have been led to believe that
either it didnt work too well or for some other
reason later you regret not getting a real
die etc. I dont know, can you just neck
size using a Lee Loader ? and seat bullets
properly in the newly sized neck?
For not a lot more money, is it worth it
to not have to carry a hammer to load with ?
Thats why I am asking.

Many find that a small rawhide mallet is preferable to the hand press. The primer removal problem is solved if you install a pin on the end of the knock-out rod used to remove the sized case from the die.

Ken O

IMO it depends upon how much weight & volume you're prepared to deal with. The Lee Loader is OK but I prefer the Lyman 310 tong tool or the Lee hand press that takes 7/8x14 dies. Full-length resizing is possible with either setup but is lots faster with the Lee hand press, neck sizing goes quickly with both but overall the hand press is faster with all operations.

I have 2 Lee hand presses and over a dozen 310 tong tools and my only Lee Loader is for the 12 ga shotgun, that pretty well sums up my opinion.
Regards, Joe

quote:

Originally posted by KenOehler:
Many find that a small rawhide mallet is preferable to the hand press. The primer removal problem is solved if you install a pin on the end of the knock-out rod used to remove the sized case from the die.

Ken O

Sir are you from the equipment making family,

like the pressure gauges for example?

quote:

Sir are you from the equipment making family,

like the pressure gauges for example?

Yes, but but I've been reloading for over 50 years. That's why I wanted a chronograph and the ability to measure pressure.

Most of my '06 loads come from an old Lee Target Model hammer die, loaded in a batch of Lake City match brass that I "prepped" forty years ago. My extravagance is using one of Homer Culver's measures (traded him for a chronograph) so that I don't have to fool with a scale in the wind.

KenO

Not too many years ago, the Bench crowd were setting records with rigs quite similar to the Lee Loaders. Mallets and all. One of the differences was they would have their smith cut off a section of the barrel they were chambering and cut another chamber in it and they would use that as their resizing die.

I started into reloadn' 20-plus years ago with the Lee Loader. It sizes only the neck. You must use the shells in the same gun or chances are they won't chamber in another gun. My only pick with the Lee Loader is I think their selections for powders are not quite right. They list an H380 load for .223Rem. H380 is for larger capacity cases-- doesn't burn fast enough to be used well in a small case. I should know-- I have a boatload of 'em loaded up with H380 and they leave lots of unburned powder in the chamber, leading to chambering and lock-up problems in my ARs. I'd say try the Lee Loader, but use a fine ball powder...

Lee still sells (I think) a set of dippers that can be used for different powders so's you're not tied to the single dipper that comes with the kit. You can select another powder anc carry another dipper.
Why are we reloading in the field?

quote:

Why are we reloading in the field?

It's convenient and gives me something to do while the barrel cools. For instance I can run a "ladder" test, observe the group and velocities, and the then decide if I want to abandon the combination for something different and a new ladder or load up five rounds of something that looked promising. I don't have to pull many bullets, and I don't have a lot of odd ammo floating around.

KenO

When I started shooting Centerfire Benchrest Competetively 40 years ago, there were many comptitors using the simple Lee loading equipment mentioned above. No flies on the equipment at all.
I just used a simple hand sizer/deprimer, and a hand seater, along with the rawhide mallet. That, and a Lyman 55 powder measure, and I was good to go. Had Homer Culver make me one of his outstanding inserts for the Lyman 55. Got a nice letter from him that I've kept as a momento; he was a GRAND OLD MAN... His insterts still set the standard today, and are copied by a number of powder measure makers. I met him at one of the matches back then. IIRC, he was near 90 at the time.

quote:

Had Homer Culver make me one of his outstanding inserts for the Lyman 55. Got a nice letter from him that I've kept as a momento; he was a GRAND OLD MAN... His insterts still set the standard today,

In using the Culver measures, it was customary among to shooters to "calibrate" the measure by weighing thrown charges and making a graph relating "clicks" to "grains" for various powders. After buying a second Culver measure "just in case", a mutual friend "calibrated" his second measure. Upon hearing this, Homer's response was, "What the ---- did you do that for? I made them just alike."

I still develop my loads on the basis of "clicks" instead of "grains".

KenO

A hand press is commonly used for seating bullets. Another solution to what you're attempting is to use a lightweight press like an RCBS Partner. It can be mounted on a board and clamped to whatever is available in the field. Another approach is to mount the press to a receiver hitch if there's one on your vehicle.

I use a punch and base to remove primers. Wilson has a complete selection, and Lee has them in 308 and 223.

I use an arbor press,Wilson/Jones dies either K&M/Sinclair hand primer,Bruno powder measurer and I'm ready to reload. 5 cases normally gives me 25/30 reloads at the range.

If I'm working up new load and it doesn't look like it will shoot good I don't havbe to take them back pull bullets etc. The seating stem are adjustable so that helps.


I got into the arbor dies when I started shooting BR and just carried that style over to my other rifles. If I needed to size something have an RCBS hand press use a Redding body and I have some Wilson FL sizing dies wish they still made them.

Problem today is Wilson aren't cheap anymore standard neck/seater and 1 bushing cost appr $100.

Lee loader, primers, powder, and bullets. You could use a rock for a hammer, but a real mallet would be better.

I did my first loading, both centerfire and shotshell, using those Lee loaders. (That was in the 1960s -- about 45 years ago.)

The deawback for the Lee loader for centerfire rifle ammo is the limitation of what you can do with the powder scoop that comes with it. Combine the Lee loader with a powder scale and you'd be able to do almost everything you need.

The limitation I found for the Lee loader with shotshells was that I wasn't able to crimp plastic loads with it -- maybe I wasn't able to exert enough force to make it work. It worked well with paper shells. So I bought paper shells to have shells to load. (From Sears Roebuck, as I remember, their house brand, probably loaded for them by Federal.) You could load those paper shells about 4 or 5 times, but then the paper would burn through at the edge of the brass.