rcbs dies vs. lee dies (shoulda went with rcbs)

I have RCBS, Hornady, Redding, and Lee. The last set of RCBS dies I bought a couple of years ago for my 204 were terrible as far as runout of resized brass and the loaded round. No matter what I did for adjustment or set up they would not size a case or seat a bullet straight. So I finally ditched them and bought Reddings and problem solved. Way better dies.

This spring I tried a Lee set for the 223 AI because they are way cheaper in that caliber than any other brand. And after replacing the lock rings with some better ones I gotta say they load some very straight ammo. I was truly impressed.

Now I will also say that my older RCBS dies load good ammo. But I won't waste my time with them again now.
 
I ordered the lee dies. Just seemed like a better deal. Who knows. I might be kickin myself in a week. Thanks for all of the info
 
I use the Lee Deluxe set for my .25-06 and it works great, no complaints what so ever. It is nice having both the neck sizing & full sizing dies included. I wouldn't hesitate, only wish they were available in more calibers.
 
I should have went with rcbs... My bullet seating die from lee was working fine this morning, but when I started seating some bullets it was putting dents in the side of the bullet. I ran a few more to make sure I didnt have the bullet sitting crooked but even with the bullet perfectly straight it dented the sides. I took the die apart and it is bent on the inside where the bullet seats. Instead of it being a perfect circle, it was oblong causing dents in the bullets. I called Lees' customer service and all he could tell me to do was chamfer some more, even after I explained to him how the die was on the inside. All he kept telling me to do was chamfer. Didnt offer to replace the die, or send me another at 1/2 or 1/3 the price, just chamfer. Im sure its something I did to cause the die to do this but nonetheless customer service wasnt very good..just a heads up to people buying lee dies in the future..I just ordered some RCBS dies btw.
 
If you wouldn't mind post a pic of the dented bullet please. Sounds like something is inside the die!

And what did you do to cause this die to bend on the inside??? Since you say for yourself "Im sure its something I did to cause the die to do this."

Also did you try a chamfer any more??
 
yes I tried to chamfer, I dont know what I would have done to cause it to bend but I must have donse something because it wasnt doing it earlier
 
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Lee's lack of trying to help you would be a point that I would look at before purchasing their dies again. I would think that Lee would at least try to help replace it with a new die at maybe 1/3 of the price of the set?
 
I must have caught them on the right day when I broke my 22-250 collet die they sent me a new one even after I told them I broke it in my Rock Chucker. BTW I use many bushing type dies by RCBS, Redding and Forster and I sometimes get less runout using the Lee collet dies.
 
I dont have complaints about mine either. I did have to fabricate different seating mandrells for the VMax bullets to get them to seat deep enough (on the lighter weight one anyway).
 
Well like I said I'm the reason the lee die had the shape to it. Idk how I did it but I did. That's really not a big deal. I'm just giving a heads up and saying their customer service wasn't the greatest
 
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