silicosys4
Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2012
- Messages
- 3,679
Hello,
While I have a pretty decent reloading setup including a Hornady LnL progressive, the last year I have been living in a 5th wheel while we are waiting for our house to be built. There is absolutely no room for even a small bench setup. I have been going through my reloads but they are starting to dwindle and empty brass is starting to pile up.
Compounding this is the 32-20 winchester I found recently. At the moment 32-20 ammunition is unavailable for purchase making it a reloading only prospect. I lucked into some 32-20 brass thanks to Tark here and his generous donation...(again, many thanks, Tark, I still haven't found any brass so those starline cases you sent me have been a blessing.)
Problem was, no press, no bench. I needed a solution, and I found one.
Everything I needed to do had to be done either on my lap or on the lid of my reloading bin. This is the solution I found. Its not fast, but at the end of a few hours you have a couple hundred rounds of loaded ammo.
First step is to wash the brass in a 5 gallon bucket with some dawn dishsoap. No the brass isn't shiny like I was getting out of my wet tumbler, but it works.
Next step is the press. What to do.
I found this, and its been awesome for my circumstances. I am not aware of a similar product, so if anyone knows of one please post it. The Lee hand press so far has worked very well. It is what it is, but once you recognize that it isn't a progressive and organize your steps just like any single stage press it functions perfectly well.
It feels fairly solid with no plastic parts that I can see. I would like the construction to be more substantial, but it is not intended to be a high volume press and functions fine as is. I would NOT expect this press to size thousands of LC machine gun brass and still stay tight, but its great for what its intended for.
It does take some effort as you lose the leverage and steadiness of a bench mounted press, but I was able to size a few random LC 7.62 machine gun cases without extreme effort. Regular rifle brass and pistol rounds are no problem.
It looks awkward to hold and use, especially when seating a bullet over a full case of powder, but it actually works well in the hands. I didn't have a single issue spilling powder while using it and didn't have any issues fumbling things together or needing a third hand.
The biggest PITA are the spent primers. They accumulate in the hollow body of the ram until dumped and if you forget and turn the press over you have about 30 spent primers all over the floor or in your lap.
Not a huge deal.
If you need something portable that you can take to the range, or something that saves space, this is definitely a viable option.
So after sizing off the Lee hand press, brass goes through the lyman accutrimmer, held on my lap of course, then prepped using Lymans hand prep tools, then into the FA hand primer.
After being primed, I use a set of Lee powder dippers with a RCBS 10-10 scale to charge them, then seat and crimp with the Lee.
The whole shebang fits in a 30mm ammo can, but if I limited my dies to only a few calibers, went with a smaller scale, and ditched the FA hand primers storage case I could get everything into a .50bmg ammo can.
While I have a pretty decent reloading setup including a Hornady LnL progressive, the last year I have been living in a 5th wheel while we are waiting for our house to be built. There is absolutely no room for even a small bench setup. I have been going through my reloads but they are starting to dwindle and empty brass is starting to pile up.
Compounding this is the 32-20 winchester I found recently. At the moment 32-20 ammunition is unavailable for purchase making it a reloading only prospect. I lucked into some 32-20 brass thanks to Tark here and his generous donation...(again, many thanks, Tark, I still haven't found any brass so those starline cases you sent me have been a blessing.)
Problem was, no press, no bench. I needed a solution, and I found one.
Everything I needed to do had to be done either on my lap or on the lid of my reloading bin. This is the solution I found. Its not fast, but at the end of a few hours you have a couple hundred rounds of loaded ammo.
First step is to wash the brass in a 5 gallon bucket with some dawn dishsoap. No the brass isn't shiny like I was getting out of my wet tumbler, but it works.
Next step is the press. What to do.
I found this, and its been awesome for my circumstances. I am not aware of a similar product, so if anyone knows of one please post it. The Lee hand press so far has worked very well. It is what it is, but once you recognize that it isn't a progressive and organize your steps just like any single stage press it functions perfectly well.
It feels fairly solid with no plastic parts that I can see. I would like the construction to be more substantial, but it is not intended to be a high volume press and functions fine as is. I would NOT expect this press to size thousands of LC machine gun brass and still stay tight, but its great for what its intended for.
It does take some effort as you lose the leverage and steadiness of a bench mounted press, but I was able to size a few random LC 7.62 machine gun cases without extreme effort. Regular rifle brass and pistol rounds are no problem.
It looks awkward to hold and use, especially when seating a bullet over a full case of powder, but it actually works well in the hands. I didn't have a single issue spilling powder while using it and didn't have any issues fumbling things together or needing a third hand.
The biggest PITA are the spent primers. They accumulate in the hollow body of the ram until dumped and if you forget and turn the press over you have about 30 spent primers all over the floor or in your lap.
Not a huge deal.
If you need something portable that you can take to the range, or something that saves space, this is definitely a viable option.
So after sizing off the Lee hand press, brass goes through the lyman accutrimmer, held on my lap of course, then prepped using Lymans hand prep tools, then into the FA hand primer.
After being primed, I use a set of Lee powder dippers with a RCBS 10-10 scale to charge them, then seat and crimp with the Lee.
The whole shebang fits in a 30mm ammo can, but if I limited my dies to only a few calibers, went with a smaller scale, and ditched the FA hand primers storage case I could get everything into a .50bmg ammo can.
