Stumbled on something kinda neat the other day, and thought I'd toss it up here for others who want to try it. I have come up with a couple of ways to speed up pistol cartridge loading with my Lee 50th Kit. The first thing I did was spend $25 on the elsupercheepo Lee "C" press. I use this primarily for expanding case mouths on pistol brass, and also 30/30s when I'm loading cast. I sometimes use it for crimping if I am doing that seperately as well. Bottom line is, this thing is pretty flimsy and I wouldn't even consider sizing on it unless everything else was lost or broken
The main time saver is that it saves a die change.
My process for loading 357 is as follows:
Step 1) Deprime, size, and reprime on the breechlock press. I run through all the cartridges I am loading. My method is to grab the next case with my left hand when the ram is up and then push the finished one out to the right (falls in the ice cream pail) with the next case.
Step 2) Here's the new trick. I used to expand on the C press, then charge with my controversial measure, then seat/crimp on the breechlock press. Now, as you can see, I have removed the little black spout from the bottom of the "almost perfect" powder measure, and jammed it into the top of my expanding/charging die. It just friction fits into the powder funnel bushing on the top of the die. I now run the case up, work the powder measure, and I'm off to the breechlock with my seating die.
So I am loading single stage with three lever pulls per case and one die change, which on the breechlock press is about 6 seconds. I have set my seating die to give me a nice little roll crimp, and I don't bother with the factory crimp die. Here's a closer-up of the powder measure in the die. I'm sure Lee does not intend for this to work, but it does for me
Have fun!
The main time saver is that it saves a die change.
My process for loading 357 is as follows:
Step 1) Deprime, size, and reprime on the breechlock press. I run through all the cartridges I am loading. My method is to grab the next case with my left hand when the ram is up and then push the finished one out to the right (falls in the ice cream pail) with the next case.
Step 2) Here's the new trick. I used to expand on the C press, then charge with my controversial measure, then seat/crimp on the breechlock press. Now, as you can see, I have removed the little black spout from the bottom of the "almost perfect" powder measure, and jammed it into the top of my expanding/charging die. It just friction fits into the powder funnel bushing on the top of the die. I now run the case up, work the powder measure, and I'm off to the breechlock with my seating die.
So I am loading single stage with three lever pulls per case and one die change, which on the breechlock press is about 6 seconds. I have set my seating die to give me a nice little roll crimp, and I don't bother with the factory crimp die. Here's a closer-up of the powder measure in the die. I'm sure Lee does not intend for this to work, but it does for me
Have fun!
