I thought I was kinda funny about dies until I started hanging around here. For pistol calibers I much prefer RCBS or Hornady overall, with a slight edge to Hornady. That's mainly because Redding and Lyman typically cost more locally and are harder to find. I don't like Lee dies in pistol calibers. As for Hornady having the slight edge with me, I love their seating dies. The floating "sleeve" can be a real finger saver if you get slightly out of rhythm while running a progressive press. Hornady seating dies also keep a consistent seating depth without any nut that has to be tightened with a wrench. On my RCBS seating dies I find myself having to get the nut more than finger tight on the seating stem to keep it from coming out of adjustment. Not really a big deal once I get it where I want it, but I don't have to pick up the wrench with Hornady. For sizing dies I don't have a preference. For expanding dies I prefer RCBS, but not enough to make me want to buy two sets of dies for the same caliber or buy their expanding die separately. For crimping dies I'm good with RCBS or Hornady seating dies that roll crimp for appropriate calibers. I don't mind RCBS dies that taper crimp, but the one Lyman taper crimp only die (not a seating die) that I have works great and I'm considering buying more of them to separate all of my seating and crimping duties.
For rifle calibers I have no major problem with Lee dies. I don't like their lock-rings but I keep a fair supply of Hornady rings on hand. I don't like that Lee makes some of their die parts out of a fairly soft aluminum, like seating plugs, but those don't get stressed too much and last if you don't abuse them. Lee dies are also cheaper so they have to cut cost somewhere, good that its normally on low stress parts. The majority of my rifle dies are made by Lee. I have 2 sets of Hornady rifle dies, one set in .223, one set in 7.62x39. The sizing die in the .223 set doesn't get used since one rifle I load for has a tight chamber and the Hornady wasn't getting the job done. The x39 set hasn't been used at all, I don't currently have a rifle in that caliber but I'be had several in the past. And I have 2 sets of RCBS rifle dies, one in .223, one in 5.7x28 (which you could say is a pistol caliber, but the rifle came first, and its a bottlenecked cartridge). From the .223 set I only use the sizing die (small base die), I use the Hornady seating die. I use both of the 5.7 dies that came in the set, they get the job done and it can be a pain to try finding dies in that caliber. I can't say that I like the seating dies in RCBS sets. Sure, they work, but I don't like the method of adjustment on them, much prefer Hornady or Lee.
All that to say, you have to try different dies to figure out what YOU really like. But maybe that'll help give you some idea of what dies you'd like to try. My way is the only right way.…………for me at least.
