It's cuz with all the money Lee makes selling their junk, they give everyone on the internet a cut. It's a conspiracy. ROFL.
I have a potmetal Breechlock piece of junk that works ok. There are two key features of Lee SS presses that are appealing to me. For one, the priming arm comes out the right side, right where I want it to prime on the press. I have thrown away my hand priming tool, because priming on a Breechlock is superior in every way, IMO. It's the only way to prime, AFAIC.
The other feature is the adjustable length lever. Non-adjustable lever length = wasted motion and suboptimal feel. When you're just flaring or priming or seating (or heck, even sizing almost every normal caliber), you don't want all that leverage and motion. A shorter arm means less movement, more speed/efficiency, less "reloader's elbow," and more feel/feedback.* Having started on a Lee press, I found it curious the number of folks who prefer to use a handprimer. I repeatedly hear how you don't get feel on a press. I figured they had never experimented with the lever length on their press to get the feel they wanted. It was quite a surprise to me when I realized a good many presses have a fixed (very long) lever length. There are a lot of different operations a SS press is expected to perform, and scant few will benefit from the maximum leverage; most will be hindered by it. I might use the full lever length when push-thru sizing or some other high pressure operation. But the rest of the time it's much shorter.
*Feel when priming is self-explanatory. You can also sort out your brass that flares or seats too easy. I cull my 223 brass that expands too easy; I sort out my 45ACP cases (mostly R-P and S&B) that flare too easy for use with cast bullets, only; and I bench test any rounds that seat too easy. And with better feel, you can also prevent more mishaps when the case/bullet doesn't go in right when flaring and/or seating. A full length, max leverage system is a less efficient press that will crush more case-mouths and not give as much feedback as to neck tension.
I hear my press isn't very smooth or strong or durable, though. I want to buy a real press, but I'm still saving up for a pair of $300.00 braided speaker cables that were cold forged under a full moon. They sound so much better than regular copper wire, they're much heavier and more solid, they're backed by a lifetime guarantee, and they'll last many generations, so my grandkids will be able to enjoy that superior sound quality when I'm gone.
