Lee Breech Lock Reloader Hand Press Kit

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Nostalgiccollector

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I recently purchased a 1892 MAS revolver. It would appear that the ammunition is near impossible to find oudside of a small handful of US vendors. I'm very new to this but might as well start reloading from the start.... I seem to enjoy painfully arduous hobbies for some reason. I guess I could wait for another "8mm Lebel FIOCCHI HERITAGE" run on these.... But who knows how long that will take.

I am trying to get started on the cheap and was looking at the Lee Breech Lock Hand Press Kit. It's very reasonably priced and I know my spouse would appreciate it being able to be "put away" easily. I can source the bullets and casings domestically( I'll need to shave. 32-20 brass)....
Does this seem like a crazy endeavor? I'm totally new to all this and it feels crazy.

Any advice after I jumped in head first and bought the pistol?
 
It works okay. I used a Lee hand press when I first started out. Straight wall cartridges are sized easily, bottleneck rifle cartridges are a bit of a work out. Its also a pain seating bullets without spilling powder.

If possible use a regular press. There is lots of ways to fasten them down temporarily and they aren’t much bulkier.
 
Also very new to reloading, only started less than a year ago, but I’d recommend a second hand Lee single stage press and mount it so it’s removable, this is how I started, they’re pretty cheap to get you can even find unused kits, I only started reloading because I bought a pistol in 38s&w and ammo is almost impossible to find, I’ve got a couple 303 Brit’s that are hard to find ammo for so I got dies for those, thinking I would only reload for those calibers I started into it and now, I reload for all my pistol calibers(380 to 45acp) and am slowly getting more rifle dies and am looking into a progressive press, if you have anything other than 8mm lebel you’ll probably end up loading for those as well, definitely get a book with reloading data in it as to the cost, it depends on where you live, personally it’s cheaper for me to get components and reload my own then it is to ship live ammo to my outport community, don’t be afraid to post on here and ask questions, this community has helped me out a lot
 
fightinghamster said:
They’ve also got 8mm French lebel ammo available but man that’s expensive, and I thought 38s&w ammunition was expensive
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Holy smokes fightinghampster!!! I've literally been looking for this ammo in Canada for a week straight!! You are a SAINT ��.

My friend (who does possess his PAL) is purchasing some for us to shoot at the range now!!

I can't thank you enough!!!!!!
 
I have a Lee hand press. Does the job. If you can't permanently mount a press then it's absolutely fantastic simply due to the fact that it allows you to make handloads. A real press is a big step up, but the hand press absolutely gets the job done.

Add a hand priming tool, a used beam scale, and dies of your required caliber and you're off to the races! (Priming can be done on the press but the hand priming tool is so much faster and easier, and you'll still use it in the future if you switch to a bench mounted press.)
 
I've loaded a ton of ammo on Lee Hand Presses. There just aren't that many options for fully portable presses out there, and yet there is a use for them. (If anyone knows of a higher quality hand press I'm all ears.I'd be interested in that)

There's a couple downsides to these presses; and a couple work-arounds for those. First, it can be a bit of a work-out to FL size big cases (The thigh-master jokes will write themselves) but if you use Imperial (redding) Bio Green lube it turns effortless. In fact, if it doesn't sell you on Bio-Green forever nothing will. Another is that there isn't really a positive stop with the press, and if you are doing anything other than completely sizing your cases you're going to get a lot of sizing variation. That may not matter to a lot of people and may not make all that much difference to many who it matters to, but it's a thing. The work-around for that is to use Redding Competition Shell-holders with it to give a positive end to the proceedings. The irony of the shell-holder set costing 2 or 3 times as much as the press hasn't completely escaped me but neither does having bushing sizing dies and micrometer seaters on the same camp table as a 40 dollar press and a few Lee hand scoops. :)

On another note; you have to be careful buying used presses. Its not that they aren't good necessarily, its more that its easy to get a deal on a press then end up spending more on everything else than a complete starter set would have cost. I watched a friend lose money on a free Rock Chucker that way. ;)
 
Thanks for the detailed replies. You know what... If I'm going to reload I guess I might as well go all in. I plan to collect more obscure calibers/antiques, plus I'll need most of the rest of the kits anyways.
 
If you wish to use a portable press, try Harrells as they just clamp on to a bench or table and can be easily removed and stored. They are very well built, light weight and compact.......worth a look. You could use their turret press for any straight walled handgun ammo. I do for 32 S&W long and 38 spl. target loads.
 
Nostalgiccollector said:
Thanks for the detailed replies. You know what... If I'm going to reload I guess I might as well go all in. I plan to collect more obscure calibers/antiques, plus I'll need most of the rest of the kits anyways.
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Honestly, good call - I very much doubt that you'll regret it. You kind of have to already know what you're doing to make efficient use of a less-than-complete setup.
 
The hand press can be a useful addition to a reloading setup but I wouldn't want to do all my loading on one. They don't have a lot of mechanical advantage or very ergonomic handles. Light resizing and bullet seating is fine but most rifle resizing is best done on a bench mounted press. The Lee press stand might be a good option to keep your footprint small in the home.
 
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