Is there such a thing as a "Lee Loader" for shotgun shells?

I usually roll crimp, but i would like to experiment with star crimping.
As i load for slugs i dont want/need a full Lee Load All or other big press just to make star crimps.
So the question is: Is there such a thing as a handtool that will do star crimps?

Life's like a bowl of chili. What you do today might burn your a** tomorrow.

Boolit Mold Join DateJun 2011Posts11

They did make the lee loader for 12 Gauge and others - you can find them on eBay for 35-50 dollars.
I found a lee load-all sitting in the back of the lgs for $10.

I bought a Lee Load-all many years ago because a buddy needed some shells loaded and dads equipment is still at the farm. I was surprised at how well it worked so I've been using it for 25 years. It would be neat to find a 12 gauge Lee Loader or better yet 20 gauge just to have them.

"A person cannot exercise their right to speak freely if they have been stripped of their ability to defend themselves and repel those forces who would seek to quell their speech." Me

I have a Lee Loader for 12 ga. and bought it new about 35 years ago. Not sure if they are still available but as mentioned, the Lee Loadalls work pretty well and are not expensive. Not as portable as a Lee Loader though.

Also, rereading, yes, Lee at least used to make plastic star crimp starters in 6 and 8 fold. I have both and again, they are about 35 years old. You just put them over the case mouth and whack with a mallet.

I have not seen any in years and haven't checked the site but I doubt they still make them. You could probable buy MEC or other press mount crimp starters and mount them in a tube to whack with a hammer. That should do what you want. In fact, if memory serves the Lee Loadall crimp starter is double sided so that could be mounted in a tube and give you both crimps.

Having said that I picked up a MEC Sizemaster press pretty cheap them a MEC 600 Junior for $25.00 (and with lots of accessories!) and I love them them. I use both for shotshell and slug reloading.

Different strokes!

Longbow

Boolit Master Join DateJun 2010LocationNew MexicoPosts357

Yes! rockymountaincartridge.com makes just such a critter (lee loader type that is)...for both brass and plastic shells of any gauge. Not sure about the star crimper. You could just glue in an overshot card like you would for brass shells...

Thanks for the link to Rocky Mountain Cartridge. I'm liking Lanes products
http://zoned.fortunecity.ws/about.html

"Had his shooting been as good as his running, he might have given a better account of himself."
James. C. Henderson

Well, there you go! Two outfits I hadn't heard of before and looks like both make nice products. Good to see someone is thinking and filling a need.

Longbow

I discovered one more for .410 and 28 gauge made by Paco Kelly of Lever Gun web site fame
http://www.pacotools.com/tool_discriptions
Looks really nice
And the Slug R Us products
http://slugsrus.com/store/handload.html

"Had his shooting been as good as his running, he might have given a better account of himself."
James. C. Henderson

Well, there you go! Two outfits I hadn't heard of before and looks like both make nice products. Good to see someone is thinking and filling a need.

Longbow

Yeah and the rocky thing is for brass and the other dont state whether it is star or roll.

Life's like a bowl of chili. What you do today might burn your a** tomorrow.

Paco's dont do star and SlugsRUs is rollcrimp.

So we are further nowhere now.
I did do some searching before asking you know

I'll have to do my own, thanks guys.

Life's like a bowl of chili. What you do today might burn your a** tomorrow.

I have a "Lane Loader" kit for the 410. The double duty kit with tubes for both the 2-1/2" and 3" length shells. It works as well or better then the original Lee shot-shell loaders but unfortunately has the same two problems that the original Lee Loader had. Namely it doesn't size down the brass base of the shell so reloads can only be sure to work in the same gun they were fired in originally (original Lee Loader for shot-shells had same problem) and the crimping cone for making star crimps is a simple tapered cone and you have to use your finger nail to push the inside corners of the fold crimp in to get a decent looking crimp (early Lee shotshell loaders had the same problem but some of the very last ones made included a star crimp setter unit that usually is the first thing lost out of the old sets).

My Lane loader set is for plastic shells with fold crimps and 209 primers. He also sells sets for mag-tech brass shells that use large pistol primers. There is a way he could also sell a simple extra add on for his sets consisting of two pieces that would allow the user to size the brass bases of the hulls and I've been meaning to e-mail him with that info (worked it out myself as a custom made add on to his kit) since I think others would probably be interested in it as well but haven't got around to it yet.

Also, at least as of a year or more ago the instructions that came with the Lanes Loader kits were just old photocopies of the old Lee Loader shotshell instructions of which the Lanes Loader is a modern improvement on and aren't that informative and you kind of got to figure it out yourself (not hard to figure out how it works yourself at least not for me).

There are a couple of 12G Lee Loaders on ebay. Typically, post to US only!

The first reloading tool I bought was a Lee Loadall Junior, which I still have. Instructions are here: http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/LOADALLJR.pdf

The crimping is done in 2 stations; first a reversible (for 6 or 8 star) nylon tool starts the crimp, then it goes into a simple stopped tube which finishes the crimp. I can take some pics if you like.

Parts for this tool are no longer available.

The Loadall instructions are here: http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/LA1088.pdf

I reckon you could get the bits and pieces you need to make a hand crimper by cannabalising the Carrier http://leeprecision.com/carrier-12-ga.html

Good luck!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading
Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt"

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