[Borg Warner]

Wow. Thirty bucks. I remember when they wer about ten bucks but gas was thirty cents a gallon back then, too.

I've loaded many rounds with lee loaders but consider the lee hand Press to be far superior and the cost for both the hand press and dies is a little more than the $30 lee loader but still well under a hundred bucks.

And yes a scale is preferable to dippers but the scale does not have to be part of your portable "Kit".

The Lee expanded powder dipper set can be used with a scale to figure out your preferred load and the larger dippers can be filed down to fine-tune volume.

https://leeprecision.com/powder-measure-kit.html

Pre-measuring charges and containing them in 1 dram vials actually sounds like it might be a workable solution. The hand press and dies, bullets, Primers, and powder charges could all fit into a small tackle box.

 

[Borg Warner]

This Lee hand press has been my only press for 35 years. It has accounted for unknown 1000's of rounds, mostly handgun cartridges but among them 45-70 too. I acknowledge that it won't be fast enough or modern enough for most reloaders.

The hand press is not that much slower than any other single stage press. Theoretically you can operate a single stage press with one hand on the lever while using the other hand to feed shells into the press but most people put the cases in the shell holder and then pull the handle down using the same hand.

The only thing that's slower about the hand press is when sizing and de-priming, you have to dump out the spent primers after about 15 rounds.

Other than that, with the hand press and a powder measure you can move along a LOT faster than with the original Lee Loader where you have to tap cases in and out of the dies with a rawhide mallet or some such thing.

I've done a lot of reloading with both the Lee hand press and RCBS rock crusher and the hand press is just not that much slower. Also with the hand press you can sit in your comfortable living room chair in front of your TV set and size an de-prime all your case and then prime them with a hand priming tool.

After that, it's time to get serious and charge the cases with your powder measure and put them in a loading block and then VISUALLY INSPECT using a flashlight if necessary, all cases for powder levels before using the hand press to seat the bullets. This will ensure no accidental double charges And is very important.

And as I mentioned before, the hand press and a set of dies and a bunch of pre-measured charges along with projectiles and primers can all go into a tackle box for a portable set-up for out in the field or at the range.