16ga.com ~ View topic - Lee Load ALL 11 Reviews Good Bad Let me Know

Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 34 Location: Saskatchewan Canada

Can anyone comment on the efficiency of this loading press. Thinking I would like to try one in 16ga. Thanks.

Member Joined: 07 Jan 2008 Posts: 348 Location: Missouri

I had one years ago - 1980-1992

All I loaded was 12 ga. rounds for hunting. Maybe 250 shells in all that time.
It does what it says it will do for under $50.

I gave it to a lady who made Christmas Tree lights out of shotgun hulls.

For high volume reloading I definitely would not recommend.

If you don't have access to any 16 ga. shells then it might solve your problem.

Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 728

The Lee Load All is not a high volume reloader, but it is inexpensive, easy to use, versatile, surprisingly durable and replacement parts are relatively inexpensive and available. When I want to change bushings, shot or powder, I tape a cardboard cover over the powder and shot compartments individually in order to empty them into the respective containers, which is more cumbersome than some other machines. Being a single stage machine limits its production rate but also makes it simple to make up limited quanitities of field loads that require buffer, over/under shot fillers or buffers, etc. My 8 year old daughter and I use mine often to reload 16 gauge target and Nice Shot waterfowl loads.

Joined: 09 Jul 2009 Posts: 510 Location: Central CT

I bought a Lee Load ALL II in 12 Gauge. It worked as stated in their advertising, but after using it to reload for my clay target needs, it started to wear out at the pivot points. It never stopped working but it started to bind terribly.

Joined: 30 Aug 2007 Posts: 234 Location: KY

Don't do that to yourself. I made the mistake of trying to go the cheap route. Save your money and get a Mec. I have yet to get a quality crimp with the Lee. It is all plastic except for the metal rods on the sides. Plastic wears out far faster than the all metal Mecs.

Joined: 28 Jun 2009 Posts: 34 Location: Saskatchewan Canada

Thanks to All I will buy the Mec I have loaded on the 700 mec and a Pacific 366 good machines I was just thinking of loading maybe 20 boxes of shells a year .

Do your self a favor and upgrade to the Sizemaster or a Grabber. The adjustable collet resizer makes short work of the steel rims found on all 16 ga hulls today. You will especially thank yourself if you shoot a repeater or ever plan to. Steel rims don't size down as easily as brass. They spring back more. A simple ring sizer is not adequate in a lot of cases. The collet can be adjusted to over squeeze the steel rims so they don't spring back too much and start jamming the gun.

I had the Lee's in 12 and 20. Then I bought a 28 and purchased a MEC Sizemaster to load for it - the reloading with the MEC Sizemaster was so much easier that after my first reloading session I immediately bought Sizemasters in 12 and 20 and sold the Lee's. When I bought a 16 I naturally bought a Sizemaster for it also.

I prefer the Sizemaster over the 600JR because it includes the automatic primer feed and the collet resizer is a step up, especially for the current hulls with steel "brass".

Joined: 06 Sep 2007 Posts: 154 Location: Kentucky

I had one for a while and it worked just fine. As a couple of others have stated it isn't a high volume deal but for loading a few target shells for an occasional trip ti the range it worked fine. As someone said it isn't easy to empty and change shot size but they do work and will produce fine results.

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Why start out with something you will regret????Sizemaster or 600 Wink

Man, you guys are brutal! I use a Lee for low volume loading, especially in preparation for roll crimping, and it works great. You don't have to buy a bunch of extra bushings, and it's ready to go out of the box. Having said that, the Mec is obviously the nicer and more functional setup.

Joined: 19 Apr 2008 Posts: 477

I have a Lee Loadall in 16. I bought it because I didn't figure I'd be doing much relaoding in 16. I was right but I went out and later bought a MEC 600 JR. The Lee doesn't resize. It became a problem trying to keep the hulls sorted as to which gun they had been shot in. The hulls from my Remington 11-48 will not chamber in the Sweet 16. Crimps also became a problem because there are no adjustments. You get what you get. The crimps were at best marginal . The Lee did the job and was inexpensive, but in the long run it just isn't a MEC and it now sits in the corner collecting dust.

Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 728

Load Alls are provided with a gauge appropriate steel sizing ring that is pushed over the shell base during depriming then pushed off at the priming station. This method only sizes the "brass" base and is inconvenient because you have to remember to place the ring on each shell at the beginning of every reload but it is effective. I have shot 16 gauge shells resized and reloaded in a Load All through both gas- and recoil operated- autoloaders, side by sides and over unders and the only problems I ever had with feeding, extraction or ejection were with shells I did not resize. The Load All is an inexpensive machine and you get what you pay for, but if you follow the directions it does work.

Spike, my post was not meant to disparage the Lee Load All. I used a 12 and a 20 ga for a couple of years when I started reloading my own target ammo regularly in the very early 1980's. I was using Winchester AA hulls for all my loads and never had a problem. These old hulls had brass rims. I also quickly learned to sort the hulls by the gun they were fired in once my gun collection began to grow. I did not size the cases unless I was running short. When I did, it was slow going, but the press did the job okay. Yes, it is a little springy, but it worked. Of course, I resized all the hulls as a seperate step. it was actually a bit faster than doing it as I reloaded the rounds. i don't remember clearly, but I think the instructions recommended doing so. Either that or one of the Lee CS folks told me to do it. Lee CS was readily accessable by a 1-800 number. I think they still are.

I then tried to reload some of the then new 12 ga. Remington black one piece promo load hulls with copper washed steel. (One of the members gave me a couple of thousand as a gift.) I was still somewhat inexperienced and didn't realize the hulls had steel rims. The problems became apparent immediately. The rims would not size well in the Lee and my 1100 autoloader skeet gun was constantly jamming.

This was about when I also bought my first 761 Grabber (used/rebuilt) from the manager of the Orange County Trap and Skeet club in Buena Vista, FL on his recommendation. Problem solved. I've never looked back. I still have that machine, and it loads better now than it did nearly 30 years and about a 1/2 million hulls ago. I donated the two Lee Load Alls to my old gun club's youth program well over a decade ago. So they are probably still in use somewhere.

I'm now a Grabber man for life and own 7 of them--3 in 12 ga and one for every other ga including .410. I also never sort hulls by gun anymore. I'd need an extra garage just for the hulls. Smile