.30-30 ammo costs over $20 a box of 20 shells. I don't think I'll get much practice THAT way. I see this little box called a quot;Lee Loader.It looks so simple that even I could use it. I don't want an entire workbench devoted to reloading. The little Lee Loader looks like a good alternative. But my friends tell me it is so time consuming and such a pain I will load 50 rounds and then never use it again. Does a Lee Loader work, or is it a waste of money.
Yes, the little device that you are talking about does work and will do a fine job of loading a few rounds of ammo. It is slow and would be cumbersome if loading a lot of ammo but if you only want to load 50 rounds, get the Lee Loader. I have one that I have had for many years. It was my first loading device and I loaded many rounds of .30-06 ammo with it. I now have a complete loading setup on my bench and seldom ever have any use for my Lee Loader but I keep it for trips to the range to work on new loads for my .30-06 rifle. Lee Precision makes good stuff for the money.
They do work but as mentioned are not for doing a large quanity. I know you say you don't want to get into having a reloading station setup, but I would suggest that if you truely want to reload that you purchase the beginners kit that LEE makes. It is a single stage press that comes with the scales, powder measure and some other extras. All you need is the dies for a 30-30. You will be able to load a box of ammo in no time with this setup and it doesn't take a lot of space at all. This is what I started out with to load 30-06. Glad I did. Now I have a LEE Turrent Press. If you would get the beginner kit (I think they call it the LEE Anniversary Kit) get the one with the LEE manual. This will give you all the different loads for the 30-30 and other ammo, along with telling you everything you need to know about reloading.
Yes LEE makes good reloaders, there are better ones on the market but for what you intend on doing its fine. I reload thousands of rounds a year with a LEE Torrent press and have packed a Lee hand reloader with me on month long hunting trips. I would advise a full length case sizer die, so you can reload used brass you may find and to keep case size constant. If you want to save on reloading ammo then buy bulk projectiles, powder, primers and brass casings. With the 30-30 you can cast your own bullets from lead BUT you need a hard lead so tin is added. And by luck wheel weights have about the right amount of tin for a harder lead. Such cast bullets need to have a blunt or round tip to feed right and for safety. They are good for plinking and target practice but will lead up the barrel more but are cheap. But they are not good for long range shooting because of accuracy. The cost savings comes in when you use your brass several times. If you buy 50 brass casing and reload it once then your not saving much, reload that 50 brass 10 times and you now have a much lower cost per round.
