Lee Loader Reloading Kits are small and portable, but have all the tools needed for reloading.
Lee Loader reloading kits are great for anyone that wants to try reloading without spending a lot of money for equipment because each kit only costs about $30. I bought the 45 auto, 7mm Remington Magnum and 270 Winchester kits for that purpose. But these kits are also perfect for Preparedness and survival kits, because they are small enough to throw in a “Bug out Bag” and they are easy to hide.
A reloading kit is not necessary for short term survival, but could be very important if TSHTF. The more advanced and expensive single or multi-stage reloading equipment load faster and more accurately, but are not portable and will be hard to hide from thieves or anyone else searching for your weapons and ammunition. Lee Loader kits are small enough they can easily be carried with you or hidden on your property.
Lee Loader makes a variety of kits for reloading many popular pistol and rifle ammunition.
Lee Loader Pistol Kits
Most of these seem to be out of stock, so I removed individual links
Click here to see all available Lee Loader Pistol and Rifle Kits (check back as Kits are in stock again)
- 30 cal M1 Carbine
- 9mm Luger
- 38 Special
- 357 Magnum
- 44 Magnum
- 45 Auto = 45 ACP
- 45 Colt
Lee Loader Rifle Kits
Click here to see all available Lee Loader Pistol and Rifle Kits (check back as Kits are in stock again)
- 22 Hornet
- 223 Remington
- 22/250
- 243 Winchester
- 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser
- 270 Winchester
- 7mm Remington Magnum
- 30/30 Win (30 Rem)
- 7.62 x 54 Russian
- 308 Winchester
- 30/06 Springfield
- 303 British
- 45/70 Government
Lee loader kits have all the necessary tools needed to prepare and reload cartridges. All you need are empty cartridges (spent cartridges fired from your gun are best), primers, bullets and powder. You will also need a small hammer, rubber mallet or heavy stick, which are not supplied.
There are seven steps in the reloading process, but I suggest you also take careful measurements or have a factory bullet on hand for comparison of the final product. I’m only going to list the steps here, because complete instructions are included with each kit.
Steps for Reloading With Lee Loader Kit
Reloading 45 Auto (ACP) with Lee Loader Kit.
- Place case in the Decapping Chamber and use the Decapper tool to tap out the spent primer
- Drive case into the Re-sizing Tool Chamber
- Insert and carefully tap a new primer into position
- Tap case free of the tool
- Measure and add powder
- Place case back in the De-capping Chamber and insert a bullet
- Adjust and insert the Bullet Seater tool and tap carefully until bullet is seated
Three Notes about reloading:
- Carefully tap the primers into position and make sure no powder is around.
- Follow the directions that come with the powder very carefully. Until you have experience with a certain load, be very conservative with the amount of powder. It is better to start with bullets that are under powered than to blow your gun up.
- To start, adjust the Bullet Seater tool to be a little high, then slowly adjust until the bullet length matches the factory loads you have been shooting.
After a little practice, you will get the hang of using the tools and reloading. I probably go slower than most, but can reload one cartridge every 40-50 seconds. I could go faster, but I prefer to be careful and make sure I do a good job when reloading.
The Lee Loader kits are not the fastest method by any means, but you will have portable reloading tools and the knowledge to reload your own bullets. And as Woodrow Call (Lonesome Dove) said, “It is better to have that and not need it, then to need it and not have it.”
Take Lee Loader Kit to the Shooting Range
I was very conservative with the powder the first time I reloaded for my 45 auto. The bullets fired, but didn’t have enough kick to recycle the next round. I went back home and got the Lee Loader kit and the loading components and returned to the range. I used the tailgate of the truck as a table and reloaded two cartridges at a time until I found the right amount of powder. You can’t do that with any other reloading equipment.
Is there a loader kit for .22 magnum ammo?
For the average re-loader, not really.
Since 22 mag is a rim fire cartridge, you can’t simply punch out the old primer and push in a new one. You would have to find a source for the priming material.
Rim fire cartridges are made by either dropping small, wet primer pellets (including powdered glass) into each bullet case, pushing into the case with a pin and then spinning each case at high speed to spread the primer across the whole surface of the rim, or by mashing a wet putty (primer) into position.
The process is time consuming (expensive) and the concussive primer material is dangerous when dry.
Since the side of the 22 case is severely dented when fired, I’m not sure how many times a dented case could be reloaded before it would cause too many malfunctions. I’m sure you could come up with some kind of die to reshape the cases, but by the time we worked all that out, we wouldn’t be saving much money and not sure we would be gaining any accuracy.
It would have to be a labor of love.
I have a 30-06 Ackley Imp. I am looking for a Lee loader for this cal. I know it was made at one time, but now it is imposible to find. Please any HELP.
Ray: I can’t find the 30-06 Ackley Improved dies either.
I did find something about 280 Ackley Improved dies at the Lee Loader Site, but nothing about the 30-06.
I finally found a LEE COLLET 2-DIE NECK SIZER SET at Brownells (Click here).
But it was not listed under the name “30-06 Ackley Improved“, but was listed as “Improved 40” (for the 40° shoulder angle).
Good Luck
I have empty cases, bullets and primers, powder and Lee classic 30 06 loader, offer me a price for all. I sold my 30 06 to buy .450 bushmaster rifle.
I don’t have a 30 06 either. Perhaps Ray or someone else does and will make you an offer. I will provide emails if you get to that point. But you will probably have more luck advertising at your local shooting range or hunt club.
Good luck.
Do you still have the 30/06 materials and die set for sale?
Can I get this reloading kit for a 40S&W
I don’t think so… I have heard it may be for safety or legal reasons. The 40 cases can bulge in chambers that are not fully supported.
Do you still sell a kit for the 30-40 Kraig cartridge?
I don’t sell any of the Lee Loader kits, and sorry, I am not aware of a Lee Loader kit for loading 30-40 Krag cartridges.
I would buy the Lee Hand Press, it uses standard dies & is pretty compact. Have one for back up myself.
No doubt if you get serious about reloading, you will want a real hand press… but for experimenting or “just in case”… these Lee loader kits are compact and easily transported.
It would be nice if they would make a kit for 40S&W.
Do they have one of these reloader kits for a 25-06? I looked here and did not see it.
Yes, they do… check here to see availability
Does Lee make or is there plans to make a hand loader in 5.7 x 28
They do not.
I want to reload 444 marlin. Does lee loader have this or can you possibly use ,44 mag lee loader
Seems like they used to make one. I did a quick search and somebody said it hasn’t been made for about 20 years.
Thanks for bringing us up to speed on the hand loaders. I use to have a loader for 410’ it went away after I joined the navy. Does anyone make one now. Lee claims they never did so someone did because I loaded a lot of shells with it, the same for 16 gauge.
I have seen video on YouTube (watch here if you can make it through the commercials)… so funny they say they never made it… people you talked to must be young or have short memory…
There is a company that Makes “survival loaders”, but they are out of stock of everything…
Loved the one I used 30+ years ago. But it had a plier type tool with it for seating primers and it worked great. Do they still offer this?
Do you make one for a 7.62 x 39 mm i didnt see it on the list? What are the prices do the differ from caliber
Hi Billy… We are not Lee Loader… I just use some of their loading equipment and wrote the post so other people learn about them.
They do not make a 7.62 x 39 mm, perhaps they did in the past.
Their website shows the following Classic Lee Loader Kits:
PISTOL
9mm Luger 44 Magnum
38 Special 45 Auto
357 Magnum 45 Colt
RIFLE
223 Remington 7.62 x 54 Russian
243 Winchester 308 Winchester
270 Winchester 30/06 Springfield
45/70 Government 303 British
30/30 Win (30 Rem)
But their website also has many more rifle and pistol dies for their other press kits (click here).
I looked this up on the link and found an interesting note in all the ones I looked at.
Please note: the Classic Lee Loader neck sizes only
This is not recommended for semi, pump and lever action guns
Basically this indicates it’s only good for bolt actions? And it said the same on the 9mm pistol one. So I’m guessing only for revolvers there. Has anyone had any experience reloading these for semi-auto’s or know why Lee says this?
Is their a lee loader for 6.5 creedmoor?
I am not aware of a 6.5 Creedmore kit. I just checked the Lee Loader website and it is not mentioned. But they also don’t currently list kits that I have like 7mm Rem Mag.
The 6.5 Creedmore round is a good one. I imagine they will make one in the future.
I’m looking for a 270 Winchester Short Magnum Lee hand loader kit.
Here is LEE PRECISION 270 WSM 2 Die Set at Amazon.