Lee dies

W

WPH

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What is your opinions on Lee dies and their die compared to other company's. I have used nothing but RCBS and have had great accuracy, but I found a good deal on a Lee 350 Rem mag which is an expensive die.
 
I have a few sets of Lee dies and find that they will produce as good a reloads as anything else I own and that is just about all the name brands and a few others. I prefir Hornady seating dies. Other dies have more bells and whistles, nicer lock rings, better outside finish and maybe a little easier to adjust. Some Lee dies are better than most others, the collet resize die is great and the Lee crimp die is the best of all crimp dies. I like the Lee case trimmer its almost foolproof and never goes out of adjustment and I can trim a hundred rounds while I'm watching TV and talking to my wife.

AWS
 
hello, i went to cabelas's recently to purchase redding die's in 22-250 they were out...i thought what the heck i'll try the lee's...WRONG...maybe i got a bad set...nonethless i don't like them they don't screw down on the press right..i don't like the feel of them...however i use the lee classic cast press & like it ?? i did buy some redding die's last weekend...the improvement in quality in my case was well worth the extra $19 bucks...
 
I have several Lee dies, along with a compliment of most of the others including Forster and Redding. The seater plug is the only issue I've had with a .270 Lee die, it doesn't fit the ogive of partition bullets and catches mostly on the lead tip, had to enlarge the hole a bit to fit over the tip and down on the ogive.

The lock rings are another weak point, but I don't care for the the set screw lock rings of Redding and RCBS either, I put Hornady lock rings on all of my dies cept Forsters to get around those issues. Buy the lock rings at Midway when they have em on sale!

As was said, the Lee FCD is the best crimper and the Lee collet dies are great too. Love their case trimmers!!

Tim
 
I have used just about everything and have come to this conclusion.

1. For neck sizing nothing beats the Lee collets and this is what I use for almost everything until I need to do a FL resize. I have had at least one non-concentric Lee FL resize that was bending my 220 Swifts about .025 out. Used another brand and back to zero. The collets are by far the most accurate and cause the least wear on your brass. They can also be used for Ackley cases with out buying a custom die.

2. For FL resize I like Forster or Redding first followed by hornady and RCBS.

3. For seaters I use Forster Ultra Micrometers almost exclusively. I still need to buy a few more and use Reddings and RCBS for those calibers in the meantime. I have found that the Forsters are the most consistant for concentricity and I hate screwing around with screw drivers to try to change seating depths a thousanths or two.

4. I use the Lee crimp dies for .44 and .45 ACP and absolutely swear by them. I don't use a black rifle accept at work w/ govt ammo so I do not know how they work there, but I would expect quite well.
 
In my opinion buy the ones you like the best and work the best and don't look back. We are talking about a near lifetime purchase. In a year you won't remember how much it was for a better set.
 
Lee collet neck size dies are great. I use them in any applications that I can.
I use Forster Micrometer dies for seating purposes.
As far as FL dies I mostly use RCBS
 
Buy the lees. Sure, as with ANY brand you stand a chance of getting a "bad" set. If you did, just send it back, and they'll gladly make it right. Its a great company. I started using Lee dies when I was a teenager and cost was a serious factor, I got older, and had more money to invest and went other routes. Guess what-Im back to lee. You cannot beat their durability, their simplicity, and their cost.
 
I agree that Collet dies are hard to beat, but I really haven't cared much for the standard dies. I use a variety of full-length dies, but mainly RCBS. But, when it comes to accuracy, I always turn to the Lee Collet. Recently I contacted Lee Precision inquiring about making me a set for a wildcat - a 257 Arnold Magnum, which is a 264 Win Mag necked down to 25 caliber. I received the dies a few days ago and haven't had an opportunity to try them out. I am pleased that Lee honored my request to make the dies for me.
 
I use both Lee and RCBS dies. Both seem to work the same. My most accurate rifle in a 22-250 has only been reloaded using the Lee dies. In my opinion you are just paying for a name when you are talking about a $10-20 die set.
 
The only LEE equipment I use is their Factory Crimp Die. That is a winner. Otherwise though I've used them all, now I'm basically a Redding kind of guy.
 
Lee dies........

I'm sorry to hear that. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I didn't know him, but I'm sure he was a nice guy. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif

Roooooooster
 
I only use RCBS been useing them for the last forty years and do not see any reason to change, I started handloading when the only LEE loader you could get used a hammer to drive the case into the die and you only had one die for everything I got one in 44 Mag used it for a while it was slow as heck then I had a primer go off while I was seating it I haven't use d the dang thing since I still have it around here somplace I think I have the 12 Ga lee loader too but it only works with paper hulls I haven't seen to many of them lately.
 
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