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Did y'all ever spend a (long boring) day loading 500 rounds with a Lee Loader?

I did. .30 Carbine. Somewhere the stupor kicked in, and apparently I managed to double-charge one of them.

I had an IBM and a (late) Universal at the range. Was shooting fast-change drills (fifteen round magazines each loaded with five rounds to practice drop-n-swap) with the Universal when that one went off.

The whole range suddenly went silent.

The gas piston punched a hole into the counterweight. I mean perfect cylindrical hole punched in 3/8 of an inch.

Lessons learned:

1. PAY ATTENTION! when loading.
2. Yes, you can disassemble a Universal M1 with a pocket knife and hammer.
3. Get a real press if you plan to load more than 20 rounds of anything (yes, I probably have 30 Lee Loaders, but I have some weird guns).

I am eternally happy that I wasn't shooting the IBM. Even though I probably paid less than $200 for either of those, the IBM is worth up to $2K today, the Universal maybe $400. On the other side of that, I welded up the hole in the counterweight, and that silly gun still works a charm.
 
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Better safe than sorry!

Guess I'll have to buy a $15 collet to pull down and save the $0.60 bullet 😆
Depending on the type of press you are using, you may be able to run the case all the way up without a die in place, grab the bullet with a pair of pliers and lower the case while bracing the pliers on the press. I've done that just to speed things up before when I wasn't interested in re-using the bullet. :D
 
Depending on the type of press you are using, you may be able to run the case all the way up without a die in place, grab the bullet with a pair of pliers and lower the case while bracing the pliers on the press. I've done that just to speed things up before when I wasn't interested in re-using the bullet. :D
Go old school, use your teeth (if you still have any). Relive those college days!
 
Depending on the type of press you are using, you may be able to run the case all the way up without a die in place, grab the bullet with a pair of pliers and lower the case while bracing the pliers on the press. I've done that just to speed things up before when I wasn't interested in re-using the bullet. :D
Or use one of these. You need a press for it to work, and saves the bullet. I have two for different calibers, works great and is fast.
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Or use one of these. You need a press for it to work, and saves the bullet. I have two for different calibers, works great and is fast.
View attachment 2000238
Neat! I've got a collet puller but never seen one of those. Nice that you don't have to have a dedicated collet for each caliber.

Not a huge hurry so I'll probably just get a proper sized collet. Likely I'll need to pull down some more in the future, and would like to not tear up the bullet.
 
Or use one of these. You need a press for it to work, and saves the bullet. I have two for different calibers, works great and is fast.
View attachment 2000238
Never seen one of those before. But definitely would work conceptually like my pliers. And saves the bullet - nice. I've got a puller with some collets, as well as one of those "hammer-looking" inertia pullers but they are a lot more trouble than "grip it and rip it".
 
Did y'all ever spend a (long boring) day loading 500 rounds with a Lee Loader?

I did. .30 Carbine. Somewhere the stupor kicked in, and apparently I managed to double-charge one of them.

I had an IBM and a (late) Universal at the range. Was shooting fast-change drills (fifteen round magazines each loaded with five rounds to practice drop-n-swap) with the Universal when that one went off.

The whole range suddenly went silent.

The gas piston punched a hole into the counterweight. I mean perfect cylindrical hole punched in 3/8 of an inch.

Lessons learned:

1. PAY ATTENTION! when loading.
2. Yes, you can disassemble a Universal M1 with a pocket knife and hammer.
3. Get a real press if you plan to load more than 20 rounds of anything (yes, I probably have 30 Lee Loaders, but I have some weird guns).

I am eternally happy that I wasn't shooting the IBM. Even though I probably paid less than $200 for either of those, the IBM is worth up to $2K today, the Universal maybe $400. On the other side of that, I welded up the hole in the counterweight, and that silly gun still works a charm.
One if the nice things about loading 308 is if you double charge a case it overflows and it's obvious something stupid has happened.

Glad you didn't blow up the IBM!

Edit: don't rely on your cases overflowing. Always make sure to charge with the correct weight.
 
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Depending on the type of press you are using, you may be able to run the case all the way up without a die in place, grab the bullet with a pair of pliers and lower the case while bracing the pliers on the press. I've done that just to speed things up before when I wasn't interested in re-using the bullet. :D
And, if you have the red plastic screw on cap from an old cardboard container of Unique or Bullseye or other Hercules/Alliant powder, it is a perfect fit to protect the threads on your Rockchucker press when you lower the ram with your pliers gripping the bullet. :s0155:
 
I made a missedsteak and bought a Dillon 750XL
Now 10 complete caliber changes and tool head setups with .223 trimmers and full setups later, I'm using simpler Lee equipment to take me longer and occupy my time.

Does that count as a reloading mistake?
 
I made a missedsteak and bought a Dillon 750XL
Now 10 complete caliber changes and tool head setups with .223 trimmers and full setups later, I'm using simpler Lee equipment to take me longer and occupy my time.

Does that count as a reloading mistake?
I know that it doesn't sound near as enjoyable as siting down at the Rock Chucker and going through all of the processes. Being able to feel each and every stage makes it a higher quality experience.
 
I know that it doesn't sound near as enjoyable as siting down at the Rock Chucker and going through all of the processes. Being able to feel each and every stage makes it a higher quality experience.
Also gives more time for those non-machismo audiobooks by Thomas Sowell, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Annie Jacobson, and Jordan Peterson…
 
One if the nice things about loading 308 is if you double charge a case it overflows and it's obvious something stupid has happened.

Glad you didn't blow up the IBM!

Edit: don't rely on your cases overflowing. Always make sure to charge with the correct weight.
Yeah... didn't own a scale back then. Still have the one I bought soon after if anyone here wants to give it a home: RCBS balance beam. Digital is def the way to go now.
 

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