Dillon Progressive - Lee Dies

[Werewolf]

The gubmint in it's infinite wisdom and generosity has kindly and graciously decided to give back to me $3500 that it stole from me last year.

So having that much discretionary cash laying around is burning a hole in my pocket.

I've considered using some of it to acquire a Dillon progressive (650?).

Currently I reload .38/.357, .44 Mag, .45ACP and .45LC and would hate to get no further use out of my Lee dies which have served me well for a long time. I was wondering if I could use my Lee carbide pistol dies on the Dillon?

 

[Zak Smith]

As long as they are standard threaded dies, they will work on all but the Square Deal B.

 

[Jim Watson]

Depending on the age of the Lee dies - I think they changed 3 or 4 years ago - they will either go right in or you might have to resort to some tricks like putting a thin lock ring UNDER the toolhead. I had an old CFC die that had about one turn of engagement with the lock ring on top of the toolhead, a new one had more threads.

 

[taliv]

make sure the lee dies have a radiused mouth

 

[oscar]

I use Lee 45 Colt and 9mm in my Dillon 550. They work just fine.

 

[Rabid Rabbit]

Not sure if combining Lee and Dillon parts are a good idea. If they react together like some Lee and Dillon fans on this board, your house will become engulfed in a ball of flame.

 

[MoNsTeR]

My vintage '02 Lee dies work fine in my 550B.

 

[Wayward]

LEE dies work fine in my 550B, although I use RCBS locking rings with them.

 

[BluesBear]

They will work just fine but you might not get top speed out of them because the lee dies aren't radiused as much at the mouth. Of course the same condition occurs on several other makes of dies when used in a progressive press.

Personally I prefer the increased resizing area over the raw speed. YMMV

 

[Werewolf]

Thanks for the responses guys - very informative.