can you make your own Lee Loader kit?

Mr. Friendly

Mr. Friendly

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the Lee Loader kits are very simple, which makes me like them. however, the calibers they're available in are quite limited, so I wonder if there's any way to make one up yourself?

firstly, I'm a computer guy...my hands are all thumbs and I don't think in a very mechanical way, so most of the why's and how's elude my understanding. so if this comes across as a really stupid question, it's cause it's coming from a really stupid guy, unless you talk tech. :cool:

thanks for bearing with me! :)
 
The Lee Loader 30-30 was the first reloading kit I ever used.
It neck sizes only and makes remarkably accurate ammo for the rifle the round was fired from.
The reloaded ammo it made worked in the old family 94 levergun pretty good.

They look simple but a lot of intricate machining goes into making the basic Lee Loader kit.
Unless you know a good machinist it’ll probably cost you big bucks to have a kit made independently.

The Lee company has been known to make custom products on request.
If you have a caliber they don’t make a kit for perhaps you could arrange something with them.

We take a Lee hand press with us when we travel that takes the standard 7/8” reloading dies.
We paid $49.95 for it at the old SIR store in winnipeg way back when.
I think they msrp for a little more than $100 now.
 
Leatherstocking said:
I would contact Lee to see they would make one in the caliber you want. There would likely be a charge for “custom”.
Click to expand...

If you know several people who want a Lee Loader kit for the same caliber round made the business plan you present Lee would be even stronger and the more customers the lower the cost to each individual.
 
Nope, you can't. You'd need a machine shop that can make stuff with small tolerances, you don't have that at home. Maybe you could adapt a 9x19 to make 9x21 or 44mag/44spl or something like that, but that's about it.

You can contact Lee however. They make custom of almost anything on demand. It'll cost ya if you want only 1 though. Some people make groups to buy 10-20 units and the cost per unit gets better. Some also buy like 20 units and sell 19 on ebay to recoup, and end up making money.
 
The "Whack-A-Mole" loaders do work pretty well. But they get pretty darn noisy pretty quickly. Lots of bashing on them with a big rubber or wood mallet makes up the process.

On the other hand a small single stage press kit can use ANY size die and it's quiet. Don't have a place you can bolt it down permanently? No problem. Mount it to a good sturdy piece of lumber or a pad of doubled up 3/4" plywood and use a couple of woodworking clamps to clamp it securely to some table you can use. Unclamp and put away when done for the session.

Like the others are saying anything is possible if you have a good machinist and a full shop available. But expect the project to consume many, many hours including heat treating and honing or lapping back to size in among those hours. And if you're having to pay shop rate for that sort of work then you won't be able to afford it. Not by a long shot.
 
I contacted Lee last year to ask if they would make me a 7.5×55 Swiss Lee Loader as a custom order. Their response:

Hey [MDF],

I am sorry but we do not accept custom orders for the Lee Loader. If you're looking for a portable hand reloading press I would recommend the Breech Lock Hand Press along with a set of dies.

Sincerely,
Raquel

Lee Precision, Inc.
4275 Highway U
Hartford, WI 53027
Click to expand...

That said, I think it's possible to make a Lee Loader-like tool in the home shop. Considering size and complexity, a Lee Loader is well within the abilities of a home machinist and a benchtop screw-cutting metal lathe.

The most challenging part is cutting the resizing chamber. You can buy chamber reamers for that and you could probably have a reamer made to the specs needed for neck sizing (the Lee Loaders just neck size).

All the other Lee Loader parts -- decapper, decapper base, priming base and bullet seater -- are simple turning projects.

Another alternative might be to make a simple cup-like base that screws to the bottom of a normal sizing die. That would be a simple cup with a 7/8" × 14 tpi inside thread. The bottom has a hole sized for the case, similar to the bottom of a Lee Loader. The bottom of the cup is of a thickness comparable to that of a normal shell holder.

Remove the decapper/expander rod from the die, screw the cup to the die, and I think that could be used much like a Lee Loader. You'll have to lube the cases as you'd be full-length sizing them. Sizing and extraction will probably be harder than that in a Lee Loader.
 
There are also the hand dies used by benchrest shooters. Case is pushed into a die which sizes the neck. Then pushed out.
Charged case is inserted in a second die, bullet dropped in and seated with an adjustable close fitting seating plunger.
Generally a little arbor press is used, not a mallet.
These and the Lee are simple tools - but require careful machining.
 
I started with a Lee Loader as a kid. But soon migrated to a single stage press and conventional dies.

The cost of the Lee single press and a set of dies probably is not much more than a Loader.
 
thanks for all the comments. I totally forgot about the hand press, which would work.

no space for anything big or needing to be mounted/clamped...hence the query about the pocketable Lee Loader.

hand press will work...that's where I will look now.

again, thanks! :)
 
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