Discontinued Lee Speed dies?

[KodeFore]

I was thinking of ordering some lee speed dies to load stuff I don't shoot a lot of but midway tells me they do not carry them any more because Lee does not make them any more.
I am sure I could order them from some place but I wonder if they are not being made made anymore what was wrong with them ?

 

[Jim Watson]

They probably did not sell well enough for Lee to keep making them. They were a gimmick deal. So what if you did not have to change the die body, you had to change the insert from step to step. And they were not much less expensive than a conventional die set, especially if you watch for sales.

 

[philbo]

You can still get them from Lee direct if you want:

http://www.leeprecision.com/html/catalog/surplus.html

$20.98 and $4 flat fee shipping. Thought about them, but as pointed out above, it's about the same price as a new set of dies anyway.

 

[tasco 74]

i got lee speed dies in .38 spl- .357 magnum and 9mm several years ago... i load from two single stage presses and they work just great for me... i got another die body and a custom bullet seater to fit the speed dies.. i don't consider them to be a gimmick as they do make better ammo than factory from my loading bench.

 

[Jim M]

LOL!

Naming those "Speed Dies" is on a par with the "Bank Secrecy Act", which does exactly the opposite of what the name suggests. The speed dies are slower, from what I have seen from a couple of people who tried them.

The regular Lee dies are quite inexpensive. When you measure the low initial price of the regular dies against the fact that the dies will last a lifetime, I don't see that a savings of a few bucks on the speed dies are worth it, when they will hold you back as long as you use them.

Get the regular dies from Midwouth Shooters Supply or some other mail/Internet order place, and they will cost less than you are probably planning on spending on the Speed Dies.

 

[tasco 74]

you are right jim m they are named wrong.. they might have been called unidies or something to make more sense.. however i do like the design as you can configure the die body to all the steps from resizeing to crimping with the same die body.. i'm still glad i got mine when i did...