are Lee dies required for 4-hole classic press?

[Bull Nutria]

I have been considering a Lee 4-hole classic press, will i have to purchase all new LEE dies in the calibers i reload to use this press?

it looks like the powder thru the flare die would be at a minimum required.if i want to charge the cases on the press.

Bull

 

[brucelytle]

Any "Standard" die will work. I use a Hornady powder drop and powder cop on my loadmaster. You will have to buy die sets for different calibers.

 

[Elkins45]

You 'may' need to use the Lee lock rings. Some of the other brands are too wide for the small hole spacing on the Lee turrets. Other than the powder-thru expanded the other dies in the set should be fine.

 

[kingmt]

It depens how you want to set them up. They have a universal charge die. You could expand with your die & charge in station 3. This is a guess since I don't have that press.

 

[blarby]

What brand of dies do you have ?

 

[Mike 27]

I have found that dies are pretty standard. I have a Lee single stage and a Hornady LNL and all of my dies work in both. I have Lee, Hornady, Redding, RCBS, and I can't remember but I think another brand. They all work fine so I would think you are good to go.

 

[Bull Nutria]

In reply to Blarby---i have Herters dies in 38/357 and 44sp/44mag., i have 38sp CH seater die and a LEE 38/357 FCD and a Lyman 44sp/ 44 mag tungsten carbide sizer deprimer die.

my rifle dies are Lyman 30.06, 30-30 and RCBS in 308,7mm08.and 25.06

 

[dickttx]

I started out using my RCBS and Lyman dies in my LCT. However, as mentioned above, the lock rings sometimes were a problem. Also the height, and the different purposes for which the dies are used.
I soon gravitated to all new Lee 4 die sets. The dies, along with the Safety prime and the Pro Auto Disk really make the LCT hum.
If you want to use it as a single stage they will work fine.

 

[blarby]

I know for certain ( unless something is odd) that the RCBS and lyman dies will work.

I also know the lee dies will work They better darnit !

I have never used any Herters or CH dies... in looking at their websites, it appears the threading is the same.

If you are using them all in your current press, they should all thread and function fine.

You will need to reset depth, of course.

 

[Ravenmoon]

I have all types of dies in use with my LCT they All work if you add lee lock rings they work better. The Lee dies were made to work with this press so if you need new get Lee. The one die you will end up buying is the powder die if you want to get the most from your press and Pro Auto. I have a Lyman 55 spinning around on my LCT but can only use the primer system if I have the powder though die and the Lyman with 2 adapters. To be honest I wish I had ALL lee pistol dies it would be SO easy. Just ordered 9MM, 44 and 38/357 powder dies, cant wait for them to get here.

 

[dagger dog]

Elkins45 has a valid point. My Hornady New Diemension dies have unusually large lock rings and you can't fit two side by side in the Lee 4 hole Classic Turret press heads you have to use the Lee rings. I swapped out lock rings from a Lee die set set and things were good to go.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I have used RCBS, Hornady and an old set of Pacific .223 dies on my Lee Classic Turret press and all worked just fine. I'm sure most dies will work correctly on that press. All the companies try to make their presses compatible with all dies so as not to exclude themselves from any part of the market.

 

[Elkins45]

All the companies try to make their presses compatible with all dies so as not to exclude themselves from any part of the market.

Other than the specialized dies Dillon uses in the Square Deal I don't think anybody currently produces screw-in reloading dies in anything other than 7/8-14 thread. So there's little question the dies will screw into place. As I said above, there are some turret-style presses where the die holes are spaced so closely that you may need to use smaller lock rings than the ones they came from the factory with. I have one of the Lee three hole turret presses and 2 of the three dies have to have a Lee lock ring for them to all fit. I have found I can get away with one of the dies having one of the round RCBS split rings but not all of them. When I installed my RCBS pistol dies in my Lee turrets I hand to buy a handful of the Lee lock rings to make them fit.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The new RCBS lock rings with the setscrews are small enough to fit side by side on the 4 hole turrets.