There's always going to be support for a company that tries to appeal the the average joe (who's not willing to spend a month salary to enjoy things). Like anything else in life- Not everything needs to be the highest quality possible, but some things do benefit from being higher quality than others. I enjoy "some" Lee products but when they break, I upgrade. Their die quality can vary a little more than most other manufactures dies but don't be fooled, even more expensive company's still have a lemon now and then. Decide what works for you and embrace it.
Opinion on Lee
- Thread starter old codger
- Start date
That's probably because RCBS has gotten overxposure way beyond normal for its brand and casual shooters don't know that there's anything else. They start thinking "that's what you are supposed to buy". There are choices out there.
Danny
Yes it was.
JSH
Gold $$ Contributor
Well all I can say is I must have gotten all the lemons.
I have had numerous Lee dies all but trash some brass(virgin)over the years.
Oh I still have some, that I spent a fair amount of time polishing burrs and reamer scuffs out of.
That's the problem I had. I polished that mandrel down a bunch of times after it grabbed brass. I think I also used motor mica to lube the necks, even though, as far as I know, you aren't supposed to need to on collet dies. NOTHING changed it for the better. I haven't tried it since they returned the repaired die.
Danny
I have a lot of Lee tooling and much of it was also purchased used. Including dies and I am more than satisfied with them. Also have some Hornady tools that I wish I hadn't of bought. Also have one RCBS press and a die along with 2 RCBS labeled OHaus balance scales. Sure, none of this performs as a Ferrari but then I also didn't pay Ferrari prices for it either.
Sitting here now, thinking about it, I bet 75% of all my reloading equipment is second hand! Yet I can still shoot well under MOA.
Sitting here now, thinking about it, I bet 75% of all my reloading equipment is second hand! Yet I can still shoot well under MOA.
I use them also along with a Lyman M die, saves me a lot of time and the RC II press gets the workout instead of my fingers.
Like many here, first experience with Lee was a whackamole but a Target model in 308 Pop picked up on sale. Unique in the '70's in that it had an inside neck reamer and we learnt the reloading basics and survived !
Granddad (Pa) splashed out on a 12G Loadall as we were getting interested in Trap also but inside crimped primers in some muck 12G cases put pay to the decapping pin and plastic mount and bent it but cobblers we were and built a decapping jig that served us well for a few years until we saw the light and splashed out on a MEC 600 and later a primer feed and Autocheck to speed shotshell loading.
Many years later a Lee alloy press for the recently acquired 223 plus a 3 die LCD set and we were off to the races one might think but the little Lee press didn't much like 308 work with some gifted FL dies from a silent trigger. A nice 222 RCBS dies set from the same silent trigger and we were all set....we thought.
Still the hard yacka of sizing 308 still plagued us so a Lee LCD set was added although being aware chambering only neck sized brass might bite us one day but to this day never has yet in preparation a new Rockchucker was acquired and now does almost all the work.
Then along came a 6mm Rem then the son's 243 and a 7mm08 to where we now have 5 Lee LCD die sets, all in regular use.
Lee's low cost and quite adequate results has kept shooting costs low although the gawd awful Lee bullet seating die adjustment always annoyed me yet unknown to me until a few weeks back Lee had come up with a cheap micrometer seating screw that fits straight onto a seating die and TBH quite cheap enough to fit one to each Lee seating die, and just $20 for heavens sake !
https://leeprecision.com/micrometer-adjust-screw-2
Lee case trimmers and spinners for each caliber round out our list of Lee stuff....
Now I just wish they would make a decent and proper clamping die nut !
Granddad (Pa) splashed out on a 12G Loadall as we were getting interested in Trap also but inside crimped primers in some muck 12G cases put pay to the decapping pin and plastic mount and bent it but cobblers we were and built a decapping jig that served us well for a few years until we saw the light and splashed out on a MEC 600 and later a primer feed and Autocheck to speed shotshell loading.
Many years later a Lee alloy press for the recently acquired 223 plus a 3 die LCD set and we were off to the races one might think but the little Lee press didn't much like 308 work with some gifted FL dies from a silent trigger. A nice 222 RCBS dies set from the same silent trigger and we were all set....we thought.
Still the hard yacka of sizing 308 still plagued us so a Lee LCD set was added although being aware chambering only neck sized brass might bite us one day but to this day never has yet in preparation a new Rockchucker was acquired and now does almost all the work.
Then along came a 6mm Rem then the son's 243 and a 7mm08 to where we now have 5 Lee LCD die sets, all in regular use.
Lee's low cost and quite adequate results has kept shooting costs low although the gawd awful Lee bullet seating die adjustment always annoyed me yet unknown to me until a few weeks back Lee had come up with a cheap micrometer seating screw that fits straight onto a seating die and TBH quite cheap enough to fit one to each Lee seating die, and just $20 for heavens sake !
https://leeprecision.com/micrometer-adjust-screw-2
Lee case trimmers and spinners for each caliber round out our list of Lee stuff....
Now I just wish they would make a decent and proper clamping die nut !
RCE1
Gold $$ Contributor
My mentor was a bullet maker for benchrest shooting. Pretty well known for the quality of his bullets. He was in the habit of mounting potential swaging presses on his lathe to measure concentricity and straightness. He said his Lee Cast Classic single stage press was the straightest one he'd ever measured. That was the last one he converted. It may be that he got lucky, but I've always thought Lee stuff was a great value. Don't much care for their aluminum bullet moulds, though, but nobody's perfect.
Tesoro
Non-compliant
Such a shame that the old man came up with some unique patents, very handy, and then in later days the stuff is made out of chicom recycled low grade steel on worn out machines with junk finishing. Or maybe on made on not worn out cheap chinese machines.I am specifically pointing to the Lee Collet die.
All of my dies are Lee and I have never had a bad die. I use Imperial case lube now but have used Hornady One shot, Dillon spray lube and Lee. Never stuck a case.
jds holler
Gold $$ Contributor
Anymore I do 99% of my pistol loading on the Lee hand-press, usually just one particular step per session. The only step that I don't treat casually is powder charging. I'll set up at the bench with my RCBS Uniflow, and charge only as many as I want to complete at that session. All the other steps, I might do in my recliner, out on the porch, or on the picnic table under a shade tree.
Documentation is VERY important for the unfinished brass, so two months down the road I can take a bag and know what it is, what I've done, and what hasn't been done.
I've even started doing my 223's about the same way lately.
And I have had good luck with the Lee dies I've got. As far as general finish work on machined products these days, I think it's lacking on a lot of stuff, including complete firearms. It is one of those things that cost's a lot of time and money at the manufacturing level, and is apparently one of the areas where they scrimp. I don't mind doing what I've gotta do to sweeten things up to put the finishing touches on something that I haven't paid a premium price for. jd
Documentation is VERY important for the unfinished brass, so two months down the road I can take a bag and know what it is, what I've done, and what hasn't been done.
I've even started doing my 223's about the same way lately.
And I have had good luck with the Lee dies I've got. As far as general finish work on machined products these days, I think it's lacking on a lot of stuff, including complete firearms. It is one of those things that cost's a lot of time and money at the manufacturing level, and is apparently one of the areas where they scrimp. I don't mind doing what I've gotta do to sweeten things up to put the finishing touches on something that I haven't paid a premium price for. jd
FWIW when doing rare (for me) FL sizing I've been using the Lee 223 FL sizing die in my 3 die LCD set but the other day after rediscovering a nice 223 FL RCBS die gifted from a silent trigger it was time to try it on some once fired brass that doesn't chamber in a Weatherby Vanguard (read Howa) recently acquired.
Inspection of the RCBS die revealed a highly polished bore probably superior to anything Lee make but beauty is not all it appears to be......
Things quickly turned to custard when the normally trouble free black graphite lube I normally use for FL sizing had cases stick in the RCBS die and get their rims ripped off ! WTF ?
Long story short, never have I had brass stick in a die but after the 2nd one I became very proficient at tapping and removing them and by the 3rd I was downright slick at getting them out !
One can only presume the less polished finish in the Lee die helped to retain graphite from the previous sizing and reduced the chance of a stuck case.
The very pretty RCBS FL die will go back in its case with a note to warn future users.....
Inspection of the RCBS die revealed a highly polished bore probably superior to anything Lee make but beauty is not all it appears to be......
Things quickly turned to custard when the normally trouble free black graphite lube I normally use for FL sizing had cases stick in the RCBS die and get their rims ripped off ! WTF ?
Long story short, never have I had brass stick in a die but after the 2nd one I became very proficient at tapping and removing them and by the 3rd I was downright slick at getting them out !
One can only presume the less polished finish in the Lee die helped to retain graphite from the previous sizing and reduced the chance of a stuck case.
The very pretty RCBS FL die will go back in its case with a note to warn future users.....
I wouldn't become slick. After the second time that would be it. I'd be back to using Lee for certain after twice. Lee is the quiet guy that gets no notice or recognition but just keeps on working putting out consistent continuous work product. Most in the organization don't even know his name, but he outproduces most of them. Good stuff.
Custard, that's the nasty yellow stuff in donuts???
That's what my wife (German) and I call "eiter" (pus).
Danny
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