Used Lee Single Stage Presses

WaddWatsonEllis · April 13, 2011, 12:53:56 AM

Is there any reason to consider a used Lee single stage press?

Is it a rugged unit that would be hard pressed to damage?

What would be a good price for a Lee single stage press?

fourfingersofdeath · April 13, 2011, 03:20:19 AM

Using Lee products requires a different mind set. They are engineered to be well up to the task in hand, but don't waste metal, etc making things unecessarily strong. This doesn't set well with the 'Why use a one inch bolt when a two inch bolt will do?' crowd.

For general use they are fine, if you want to swage bullets or similar serious work, you need a stronger press.

I have several Lee1000s and a Lee Classic cast turret press and am happy with them.

The single stage presses are cheap and I'd be checking the new prices before buying it.

Buying presses is easy, finding bench space is hard!

rickk · April 13, 2011, 06:12:58 AM

If you are talking about the simple, basic LEE turret press, and the price is good (lets say less than half it's current street value), go for it..

I have 2 Dillon RL550's, a Corbin Swage press, a LEE cast classic, and a LEE 3 hole turret press.

The Lee 3 hole turret press still gets plenty of use. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg to change calibers. Extra turret are about 10 bucks each. I can change calibers on it in about 15 seconds.

For calibers that I don't shoot enough of to justify to dollars needed setting up one of the Dillon's for, the LEE turret press is really great.

I use the turret press for bullet sizing as well, using the LEE sizing dies.

I have loaded many 10's of thousands of rounds on mine and there is no obvious sign of wear anywhere on it. This includes rifle as well... .45-70, .308, .30-06, 7.62x39, 7.62x5.4, etc I have... I dunno... 2 dozen maybe turrets with dies in them?

The LEE turret press is a very useful press.

Wolfgang · April 13, 2011, 07:44:26 AM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on April 13, 2011, 12:53:56 AM
Is there any reason to consider a used Lee single stage press?

Is it a rugged unit that would be hard pressed to damage?

What would be a good price for a Lee single stage press?

I"ve got one. Works fine. Good for starting reloading. I've quit using mine only becus my 3 hole turret press is handier for the reasons already given above. Get you a single stage either used or new and get loading.

Tequila Jim · April 13, 2011, 03:48:51 PM

If you go to the Lee web page and click on closeouts you will find 2 Lee Challenger presses.
One foctory second and one refurbrished. Regards, TJ

rickk · April 13, 2011, 04:53:57 PM

WaddWatsonEllis,

Which LEE press are we all talkin' about here anyway?

Rick

Bishop Creek · April 13, 2011, 07:47:14 PM

I think WWE is thinking of a turret press. I bought my Lee Turret press used off eBay a few years back for around $35 including shipping. WWE if you can spring for it, this would be the way to go for what you want to do:

https://kempfgunshop.com//index.php?page=shop.product_details&category_id=190&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=630&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=41&vmcchk=1&Itemid=41

Cuts Crooked · April 13, 2011, 09:10:35 PM

I think he's inquiring about these type of Lee presses: http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Single-Stage-c-6309/

Personally I think that everyone should own at least one single stage press. They are handy as a pocket in a shirt' Easy to set up, especially for a short run of loads to test, great for things like priming cartridges & sizing bullets and yes...you cam actually do the whole reloading job with a single stage. It's slower, but if you're not shooting, you might as well spend the time reloading!

I have loaded thousands of rounds on a Lee Reloader press over the years, and I have a Lee Hand Press that goes to the range with me frequently so I can make "one off" loads for testing.

panhead pete · April 13, 2011, 09:38:50 PM

The LEE Classic Cast is a great press. I also have a Dillon Square Deal B, but I like the single stage for other calibers and all brass shot shells. The other LEE presses are kind of cheezey IMHO, compared to the Classic Cast. I bought mine on sale at Cabela's for $50.00 a few years ago. They have gone up a bit since then.

Happy raloading,

Panhead

Bishop Creek · April 13, 2011, 09:41:09 PM

I use the Lee Turret press for loading 50 rounds or more and a Lee hand press on the range for loading a few target rounds and at home for depriming and resizing with a 4 die set (I have a 3 hole turret).

Yakima Red · April 13, 2011, 11:59:23 PM

At the local gun show this last weekend I saw a lot of RCBS and Lyman used equipment for sale. Most of it looked as new. I would consider these over Lee as the prices were excellent.

I use Dillon and RCBS including two single stage presses. One is a RCBS junior I tripped over at a garage sale. When asked, "what do you want for this?" The owner didn't know what it was and told me to "get it out of here, it's all yours." There is a lot of good stuff out there barely used, you just got to dig around for it.

If you reload light to moderately, Lee will work fine. If you are a reloading a gadzillion every week, I suggest stepping it up to the higher end stuff. Cry only once.

WaddWatsonEllis · April 14, 2011, 12:59:06 AM

Yakima Red,

I am with you ... my father was an AF Maintenance Officer when they were commanded to carry an A& P License, and he was probably at his best when he was spinning a wrench ....

One of the few things I really heard that he said was to get the best tools one could the first time around ... arond... cause when you buy that tool you should have bought the first time, you not only have bought it twice, but you end up with a useless tool to dispose of ...

I keep hearing that 'ya gotta cut your teetth on a simple single stage press' .... then I hear my father's words in the other ear... but other than getting really good advice and info I guess it just goes down to what I can afford and what is available in the fall when I plan to buy ... who knows, maybe someone will be getting away from reloading and make me an offer I can't refuse .... *S*

Major 2 · April 14, 2011, 03:14:54 AM

Skip

In another thread I have received a wealth of information on reloading tools. Several have jump in to support my immanent departure in the world of reloading.
I knew less than ZIP.... and now I can say with some authority I'm at least even with ZIP

One fellow in my posse has offered to show me the ropes on his equiptment..I'm the kind that , show me once I got it...make me read it well

real men don't read instructions

But the reload manuals are important

The conclusion I've gained is ( as least so far ) looking a the product photo's in Cabela's ,the RCBS Rock Crusher SS looks to be the beefest and a Kit is offered to get what you need to start.

Dillon makes a good unit too.....
Like you a budget and best bang (no pun intended)for my buck is needed. So I'm looking into the used market too.

wildman1 · April 14, 2011, 07:04:17 AM

The Lee Challenger Anniversary Kit is a good unit. Its inexpensive (about a hundred bucks). If your cases are clean ya won't have any problems loading. WM

rickk · April 14, 2011, 11:00:26 AM

Quote from: Cuts Crooked on April 13, 2011, 09:10:35 PM
I think he's inquiring about these type of Lee presses: http://leeprecision.com/xcart/Single-Stage-c-6309/

You can ask 10 people and get 10 answers about the presses on the mentioned page I am sure.

My answer is that if you get one of the non - O-Frame presses on said page you may eventually wind up moving on to something better.

The Classic Cast is very similar to the RCBS Rock Chucker. It is really beefy and has a removable bushing to allow the use of RCBS shotgun dies (as does the RCBS RockChucker).

The Breech Lock Classic Cast has interupted threads to allow dies to be inserted and removed quickly without having to re-adjust them all the time. I do not know the thread pitch, so I don't know if the RCBS shotgun dies can be screwed into the interrupted threads or not. Maybe somone else here knows the answer to that.

I personally have the Classic Cast. I also have a LEE turret press. The Classic Press primarily gets used for loading 12 G brass hulls using the RCBS 12G dies. While it is capable of loading just about anything , I would switch over the LEE turret press for most low to medium volume applications other than the shotgun because the dies are quicker to swap in and out. The LEE turrets hold either 3 or 4 dies at once, depending on which model you get. Mine is an older one that holds three dies. I have so many 3 die turrets that it would not make sense to switch to the 4 die press, but if I was starting all over again I would probably start with the 4 hole turret LEE press.

So, there is a lot to consider, but if it were me looking for one press to do it all that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and isn't slow as molasses to use, I would probably be looking at this one...

http://leeprecision.com/xcart/4-Hole-Turret-Press-with-Auto-Index.html

or this one...

http://leeprecision.com/xcart/4-Hole-Classic-Turret-Press.html

And on the first of the two, which the "auto index" feature, I doubt I would use the auto index feature... just my personal opinion. I would batch process 50 cases at a time and not auto-index.

Rick

WaddWatsonEllis · April 14, 2011, 11:41:22 AM

I to have a friend who reloads for me ... and at $28/50 Schofield there is not a big rush to go buy something .... he reloads at almost half of what it would cost me to buy it new .... he has also been kind enough to offeer to le t me watch him reload

Since I am a mostly visual learner, if I watch it enough times the reloading manuals will make sense ... right now reading something like that would be akin to taking a sleeping pill ... LOL

So it ia just a matter of getting off my a__ and finding a good B&B nearby and setting it up ... plus how my retirement check will be in September (when I am planning to get a press)... and I go for Social Security on Friday/tomorrow and will know a whole lot more ...

rickk · April 14, 2011, 11:54:54 AM

For what it's worth, the better presses tend to last forever unless they are neglected. They show up on EBAY all the time, often at decent prices.

I would not be too afraid to buy a used LEE turret press from a high rated Ebay seller if the picture looked nice (paint still there, no rust). Craiglist can yield good deals as well, and on craigslist you can look at it before you buy.

The LEE presses are so common that they do not command a very high used value.

I wound up buying my LEE cast classic after looking for a used RockChucker for a used sounding price for months. The NEW LEE cast classic cost me considerably less than what the used RockChucker presses were going for.

Color affects aftermarket values apparently.

Noz · April 14, 2011, 01:03:51 PM

One thing to keep in mind is that you can buy and wear out 4-5 Lee presses before you approach the cost of one of the blue ones. I'm on about year 7 with a Lee Turret. I don't think I'll need another one.

Stu Kettle · April 14, 2011, 01:40:34 PM

Quote from: rickk on April 14, 2011, 11:00:26 AM

So, there is a lot to consider, but if it were me looking for one press to do it all that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and isn't slow as molasses to use, I would probably be looking at this one...

http://leeprecision.com/xcart/4-Hole-Turret-Press-with-Auto-Index.html

or this one...

http://leeprecision.com/xcart/4-Hole-Classic-Turret-Press.html

And on the first of the two, which the "auto index" feature, I doubt I would use the auto index feature... just my personal opinion. I would batch process 50 cases at a time and not auto-index.

I still haven't figured out what that fourth hole is for, I've been loading on a three hole turret press with auto index since long before they offered a 4 hole model. If you're not going to use the auto index, what is the point of a turret press? you can batch load till your heart's content with a single stage press. I use my hand press for that so I can do it in a comfortable chair.

Christopher Carson · April 14, 2011, 04:06:14 PM

Quote from: WaddWatsonEllis on April 14, 2011, 11:41:22 AM
I to have a friend who reloads for me ... and at $28/50 Schofield there is not a big rush to go buy something .... he reloads at almost half of what it would cost me to buy it new .... he has also been kind enough to offeer to le t me watch him reload

Since I am a mostly visual learner, if I watch it enough times the reloading manuals will make sense ... right now reading something like that would be akin to taking a sleeping pill ... LOL

So it ia just a matter of getting off my a__ and finding a good B&B nearby and setting it up ... plus how my retirement check will be in September (when I am planning to get a press)... and I go for Social Security on Friday/tomorrow and will know a whole lot more ...

Seems high, to me. I used to be able to load a box of 100 .44s for about 10 bucks, once I had a supply of brass... That said, I've paid absolutely no attention to component prices recently... 'cause I have so many in inventory

On your original question, their C-frame SINGLE-STAGE press is probably OK for what you want, their O-frame is better (stronger), and if it were me, I'd (still) prefer their TURRET press. The new ones have 4 holes, older ones had 3.. and I've been using a 3-hole version for about 30 years now. Compare asking prices for used models with prices of new ones from places like Midway or Graf's.

-Chris