4/9/14
Lee Loader - 12 Gauge
Heading down the black hole that is reloading...
I've been looking for a decent price on one of these for a while. 'round about when Dave Canterbury started promoting the 12 gauge single as the ultimate survival firearm and running through a variety of field expedient reloading methods, these long out of production reloading kits started selling like hotcakes - commonly in the $75+ range.
This one ran me around $35 on eBay. There are a couple nice ones up there now in a similar price range right now.
Look at that honest wear...isn't it purty?
If you've never seen a Lee shotgun loader at work, I've embedded a video tutorial from YouTube after the jump. Shotgun reloading is very simple - you just need to stick to the recommended recipe. You can get even more basic than the Lee loader, but the Lee can give you a more refined, finished looking end product.
If you're just looking to reload shotgun shells from home on a bench, this system really offers no advantage to something like a $50 Lee Load-All. The portability and field expediency factor are what make the Lee Loader in 12 gauge interesting.
While not particularly fast, you can kick out around a 25-shell box in around half an hour. If you're a high volume skeet shooter, that's not going to work. But, for the occasional shotgunner or putting food on the table, a box of shells in a half an hour isn't bad.
Note: Duelist is loading a black powder shell above, so he uses a modified procedure and doesn't rely on the Lee Loader's scoopers for loading the shell.
I'm sure more than a few folks reading this have hammered out a few shells with the Lee Loader - happy to hear your experiences, what you use the kit for, etc.