Lee Hand Press for .44 mag

Red Baron

Red Baron

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Hey guys! I was wondering if any of you have a Lee Hand Press kit. I am planning on ordering one from SIR soon for my .44 mag, and I'd like to know if it is worth it or no? It looks like it might be difficult to operate. Also, any recommendations for powder would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
 
a friend of mine loads .40 with the lee aniversary kit. i'm not too familiar with lee products, but he says the kit is great for his purpose.

my tip for new reloaders. spend a little more money than you want to. once you load for a while you'll buy more expensive equipment anyway.
 
The Lee Hand Press Kit is a good deal - I have loaded .44Mag with it and had no problems. I would suggest, depending on your space requirements at home, going with the Lee Anniversary Kit that includes the bench-mounted press.
 
Thanks for the info, guys! I would love to step up to a bench type reloading kit, but my mom is not too keen on turning the house into a bullet factory. This is my first foray into hand loading, so I hope this lee hand press gets the job done.
 
The hand press will work but for the extra couple bucks get a lee bench mount press. It is a real pain trying to align bullets for seating while using both hands on the hand press.
IF you get a bench press just mount it to a 12x12 piece of wood and then use a big C clamp to temporarily mount it on a table.
 
I have several bench presses, and I still miss my old lee hand press. Do non-critical loading stuff while watching TV. Take it to the range for working up loads. It's a great set up. You can load most regular cartridges on it, it has lots of leverage.
 
Red Baron said:
my mom is not too keen on turning the house into a bullet factory.
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Is that her quote? Or your approximation of her views? For most pistol calibre a hand press is fine. The only time you will really feel the need for a bench mount is in bullet seating as you have to hold the hand press upright while mounting a primed/powder filled shell into the holder and ensure you don't drop it. (This is assuming that you have minimal neck flaring happening for bullet seating). I too started reloading recently and played around with a hand press, only because I hadn't yet setup the rockchucker or the classic Lee.
 
Thanks again, guys! I ordered her up today, and I can't wait to get started! :) One thing that is on my mind: the catalogue description states that it comes with everything you need to start reloading... how does it measure the powder loads? Does it come with a pre-measured scoop or something?
 
Everything EXCEPT DIES. If you buy Lee dies, they come with a powder scoop which should bring you within reasonable range of a safe/correct load. Check the powder tables carefully. Best to get yourself a scale ASAP - the Lee one is cheap and pretty reliable. Also, small electronic ones have come down in price considerably (check out the Frankford Arsenal ones).
 
pontcanna said:
Everything EXCEPT DIES. If you buy Lee dies, they come with a powder scoop which should bring you within reasonable range of a safe/correct load. Check the powder tables carefully. Best to get yourself a scale ASAP - the Lee one is cheap and pretty reliable. Also, small electronic ones have come down in price considerably (check out the Frankford Arsenal ones).
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Good advice. I will call tommorow to order a scale. Cheers!
 
If you have an extra $10-$12 order a powder trickler at the same time. This makes the process of getting the last few kernels of powder on the scale for a very accurate measure much easier.

I used my hand press to work up a load for my 270 today. I only tried one powder/bullet combo, working up from the recommended minimum in the Lee manual in half grain increments, and found a load that put the first 3 rounds into one hole the shape of a cloverleaf with the 4th round, a called flier, within half an inch. I'd say this press can make consistant loads. :)

Just loaded up a bunch more to try tomorrow to be sure it wasn't a fluke. ;)
 
I have also begun reloading with the Lee Hand Press, and have had some success with .22 hornet and reduced .303 loads in my Jungle Carbine (I can't wait for the warmer weather to arrive!).

If you think that you'll really be taking up reloading, I'd also recommend that you pick up the Lee manual, available at SIR.

Good Luck,

Frank
 
Jarlath said:
The only time you will really feel the need for a bench mount is in bullet seating as you have to hold the hand press upright while mounting a primed/powder filled shell into the holder and ensure you don't drop it.
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Bullet seating is accomplished by learning to hold the press in your left hand, with the fingers of your left hand wrapped far enough around it to hold the bullet and case true. My hands are fairly large, and this is not an issue for me. If you have small hands, you may need to get the bullet partially seated by hand before seting it in the press.
Lees floating bullet seater will do the rest, works quite well.
when I started loading, I used only the scoops. When I finally got the scale, and weighed what I'd been shooting..... Scary.
Get a scale!
 
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