Lee Kit Choices

Sharps '74

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I want to gift a young shooter with a loading kit.

Lee offers a couple of kits, one includes a hand held primer tool and a set of Lee shell holders. Other than that, the kits are pretty much the same, a few bucks different in price. The other has the press mounted primer.

He will be loading 30-30, .243 and .45 Colt. What would be the best kit for his purpose?
 
Buy some good used equipment off the EE and the kid will be set for life. I've got a few friends that bought LEE anniversary kits and soon after bought replacement tools. They still use the press and load manual.
 
I don't know how well the Lee on-press priming tool works, the RCBS one on the Rockchucker is one of the few RCBS items I'll ever refer to as a POS.
I know it's hard to put together a "kit" piecemeal, but the sad part of most kits is they don't include everything you'll need to get started. If they did, the initial cost would be so high no one would ever buy one.
I got my stuff as a mix of new and used, with a few home made odds and ends thrown in as well.
If you have a LGS that sells reloading gear at reasonable prices and offers gift cards, that might be a choice that would serve him or her well too.
 
I got the Lee 50th kit when I started reloading and I started with 45 colt and then I moved on to necked cartridges. I agree with the other suggestions... gift him the Lee 50th kit... and a Lee 2nd edition manual... that'll teach him everything and provide good load data for everything
 
Thanks for the comments from all!

The kid I have in mind is a 13 year old that already does a man's work on the family ranch. He's mechanically adept and can do things many grown men cannot. He's already taken a large black bear that he dressed and skinned himself and a good CAS competitor who will be a real butt kicker as he refines his skills.

The Lee kits seem to be a cost effective means of getting into reloading and I expect that as he learns, he will be able to decide what accessories and upgrades he needs. As long as the press doesn't fall apart, the dies will last forever.
 
I've been advised to wait for the January sales following the Xmas rush to buy anything. Is it likely this will apply to the Lee product line?

As for the scale being finicky, maybe that's a good thing for the kid to cut his teeth on. I'm hooked on my Lyman DPSIII 'lectronic dispenser which I check on my ancient Ohaus scale which is ultra simple and reliable.
 
I've been advised to wait for the January sales following the Xmas rush to buy anything. Is it likely this will apply to the Lee product line?

As for the scale being finicky, maybe that's a good thing for the kid to cut his teeth on. I'm hooked on my Lyman DPSIII 'lectronic dispenser which I check on my ancient Ohaus scale which is ultra simple and reliable.

I got mine from Titan Reloading, they always have a good price, check them out or x-reload
 
I get the 50th anniversary Lee breech lock Challenger kit it has everything you need to start up besides your dies and you're reloading components

/\/\/\ this, just replace the scale with a digital one and you're set.
I bought it years ago and reloaded thousands of rounds of various calibers.
 
I have the kit with press mounted primer feeder. But I'd say buy the kit with hand primer.

The press mounted primer feed is only good for pistol where you resize and prime in one go. For rifle cases where I resize, trim, wash again, then finally prime, the hand primer is more useful.

I believe both kits come with the press mounted priming arms. This allows you to hand drop a primer into the priming arm cup without needing the plastic primer feeder. The hand priming tool provides more value than the plastic primer feeders in the other kit.

If the recipient is going to reload rifle cartridges, I highly recommend the lee quick trim die system. Get the delux quick trim cutter with hex shank adapter. It really takes a lot of frustration out of trimming.

Also buy enough quick change bushing for the die set. I'd buy 4 extra (they come in 2 packs). Combined with the one that comes with the kit, you'll have enough to get started on the first caliber.

A $40 milligram electronic scale from amazon will be much faster than lee's beam scale. But you need to teach the kid to deal with the drifting zero of electronic scale (which happens on most electronic scale and IMO is a valuable skill to learn).

The perfect powder measure comes with the kit can be very consistent. The trick is to not apply too much force when operating the handle. The inconsistency comes from the plastic drum housing deforming when pulling down the handle too hard. Be gentle and you will achieve accuracy within 0.1 grain.
 
I've been advised to wait for the January sales following the Xmas rush to buy anything. Is it likely this will apply to the Lee product line?

As for the scale being finicky, maybe that's a good thing for the kid to cut his teeth on. I'm hooked on my Lyman DPSIII 'lectronic dispenser which I check on my ancient Ohaus scale which is ultra simple and reliable.

If you want a new loader to enjoy the hobby, why not make it as simple and least frustrating as possible?
 
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