Do any of you old timers

[bruce381]

Ever pull out the wack a mole for nostalgia?
I started on one like 50 years ago then quickly bought a RCBS JR set.

 

[KeithB]

Never used one for metallic cartridges but I loaded several thousand 20 ga rounds using one. Still have it but don't shoot shotgun anymore so it hasn't been used in a long time. But it worked and was cheap and didn't take up much space.

 

[Charles Graff]

I could answer if I knew what a "whack a mole" is/was

 

[Jeff H]

I could answer if I knew what a "whack a mole" is/was

I'm thinking either an inertia bullet-puller or a LEE Loader.

I still use the inertia bullet-puller. Haven't used a LEE Loader in several decades.

 

[Rick]

Guess I'm not old enough. Have heard of a whack a mole but haven't actually seen one.

 

[Winelover]

Last time I used one was when a friend brought one over and wanted me to show him how to reload with it. Must have been a good twenty years ago. Never seen one before. Was 38 caliber. I'll keep and appreciate my JR press.

 

[Dusty Bannister]

I have the 38 special, 30-06 and 20 gauge sets. Never know when they might come in handy.

 

[RBHarter]

Whack a mole is a general term of endearment for the Lee loaders often used with a dead blow or non marking type hammer . Kind of like the whack a mole pop up kids arcade game .

I had a couple of them but never used them .

 

[Bret4207]

Started out with one in 32-20. I haven't used it in a long time, not sure where it is. There was nothing wrong with them, they got a great many people started that wouldn't have been able to otherwise. I think they used to run about $7.99 for the set. I can remember selling them for $13.99 or about that. A set of RCBS or Lyman dies was about $22-25 at the time and the least expensive press was running about $45 new IIRC. Figure in a scale, primers, powder and bullets and you were looking at about $75.00 or more when you might have made $150-175 a week. The Lee set came with a powder scoop and data. A pound of powder at that time was $9-14.00, primers were $1.25 per hundred maybe and standard Hornady/Speer/Sierra bullets about $10-12.00 per 100. Call it 1978-80. My prices are from memory at Dads gunshop, might be off a little. At any rate, we sold a lot of Lee sets in 30-30, 222, 7x57, 30-06, 308, 270, 35 Rem and of course many in 38 Spec, 44 Mag and 45ACP.

 

[Cadillac Jeff]

I still have 2----6mm rem. & 45/70-----I used the 6mm one & I bought the 45/70 for my dad for xmas probly 25 ?? years ago.
Antone need the 6mm Rem just holler & it's yers

 

[Creeker]

Had one for 38 Special. Was glad when it left.

 

[Charles Graff]

I continue to use Wilson, Lyman and Belding and Mull hand seating and full length seating dies. I do not "whack them", but use an arbor press. I take it these are not "wack a mole" dies.

I started reloading in 1959 with a Pacific Super C press and missed the whole Lee Loader thing.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

I think many people got into the Lee loader not grasping what the device was for. It did not take long to realize the little kit was for folks loaded a box or two of cartridges a year. I did not have my Lee Loader long until seeing the light. At that point I got RCBS gear.

 

[Rex]

I still have one in 45 colt long, don't have the revolver anymore though. Wife bought me a Pacific reloading outfit years ago when I set off a few primers on the kitchen table.

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

I also have a few.
Has any one seen or noticed the INSANE askin for a 410 version?? I have seen them sell for HUNDREDS!!

I think it might be a nice addition to your kit, if your a prepper type.

CW

 

[Bret4207]

Isn't that just what the Lee kit was for? To get people started? Believe it or not, there are some people that hate reloading and even, GASP!!!!!, some that despise casting!!!!!! This gave them the chance to try it and see if it was for them. Would a full blown reloading outfit have been easier? Heck yeah! But that was going to run $75-350.00 in a day where that was a major amount of money. Different times, different attitudes, different amounts of disposable income. They came along in the day when Joe Average owned A 22, A shotgun, A deer rifle and maybe A handgun. Joe was interested in saving a little moola, not developing record setting loads and laying awake nights wondering if his latest whizbangsupermagnum would do better with a nose a half thou larger than the ones on the 7 custom moulds he already owned...the 237gr ones, not the other 19 in 3 other weights!

They were slow and clumsy and a lot of brass was lost learning the tricks. They got a big bunch of people into reloading though. Same thing with the Lyman nutcrackers or the B+M dies Like Chargar speaks of. I still have a little arbor press my dad made for doing just what he describes and a few old hydraulic pump bodies to serve as anvils for pushing the case out of the die.

I guess I have a soft spot for the old ways. They make you appreciate how good we have it today.

 

[L Ross]

Dad managed to find enough money to buy Gordy and I each a Lee shot shell hand set, 20, and 12 gauge. Uncle Elmer wanted us to keep the Redwing Blackbirds outa the corn. They'd descend by the hundreds maybe thousands right as the corn got to the doughy stage and eat an inch or so down each cob right at the tips. So Unc would enable our bruised shoulders by buying us wads, primers, powder and shot. OMG! Heaven, 'cept for the damned perpetual bruise on my right palm from crimping shells. I was three years older, and bigger, so I did all the crimping. I found a big wooden mallet and used that until Dad caught me and about had gold dipped shit kittens as I was walin' away at those crimps. I was a bit confused. I thought is a shell went off in the Lee loader a blown up mallet was better than a missing right hand, but Dad thought pushing down on the crimp was gentler than smackin' it with the mallet.

Dad's friend worked in a dairy laboratory and they had centrifuges. The tubes were counter balanced with very fine lead shot, about size 10 or 11 if there was/is such a thing. Probably threw off the weights and pressures of our innocent hand loads, but at 25 yards you could blow a hole through a flock of chirping black bird a bushel basket woulda fit through.

 

[Rick H]

My first reloading "set" was a Herter's "Model Perfect" or some such nomenclature in 308W and one of their magnetic dampened beam scales. The die set was awful and almost unworkable. I then bought a Lee target set with all the bells and whistles...ie. neck reamer, case trimmer, primer pocket cleaner. Paid under $20 for the rig. Purchased others in 7mm Rem Mag, and 222 Rem. The Lee sets worked well. I lived in a small apartment and didn't have a place to mount a press. I stored all the gear in a locking cabinet and got it out when I wanted to reload.

Some of that has gone away, none of it has been used for years....other than the case trimmers and primer pocket cleaners. I still prefer the Lee case trimmers to my Forster mini lathe.

 

[Rockydoc]

I am not sure when Lee came into existence with their Lee Loader, but I think I pre-dated them, starting with Herter's equipment circa 1956. I got everything I needed from Herters.

I received 2 of those Lee Loaders included in my purchase of a used Marlin 336C in 35 Remington. I haven't attempted to use them. I got Lee dies with collimator neck size and Factory Crimp dies.

 

[dale2242]

I have never owned nor used a Lee "Wack-a-mole" setup.
Don`t think I ever will.