Who uses LEE?

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Texaszach

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Hey guys

I have been reading and wanting to reload or a good few years now.
I finally was able to invest in a breech lock challenger kit and some 243 dies.

I am moving back to west texas next month so won't get to set up for just a bit, but at least now it's a reality.

Just wondering how many of you guys use the Lee products?

I'm not looking for a lee bash party.. I know what I bought and it will be perfect for my needs.

Anyways just wanted to hear from some folks and not just "use the search"

I can't wait to get my 243 loads going! Next on the list is 223 and 30-06
 
I use a lot of lee dies. Cant beat their dead length seating die. Also, their neck sizing dies are great. Yes, I load on a ....3 Hornadys LN Lap's . (also 2 single stage hornadys)
 
I have LEE Factory Crimp rifle dies for my .405 Winchester and.35 Whelen, also the FCD for .40 S&W. No complaints here, they work quite well for me. I must admit that I was very surprised to find that LEE actually made a FCD for the .405 since it ain't very common.
 
Well you will not hear any complaints from this particular reloader with respect to Lee products. They are all an outstanding value for the money spent IMHO. I own a couple Lee presses and at least 28 die sets. Zero problems and they make accurate ammo---what more could a reloader want.:D

Some dislike the Safety Scale but it is accurate just not easy to use, really.
 
I use Lee dies and Lee trimmers, and Lee bullet casting stuff. I tried a Hornady die set once and sent it back for a refund and bought Lee.

I don't think I'd buy a Lee progressive press.
 
I use Lee factory crimp dies for .223 loads. Carbide dies for my 9mm and I use Lee products to trim my rifle brass.
 
I use Lee dies, and trimmers. I used to use the Breech lock and turret press. Both are great presses. My guess is that just about every experienced reloader will tell you that Lee makes good/great dies, single stage and turret presses. The Lee bash party comes out when you talk about their progressives.
 
I would say 75% of my reloading tools are LEE.
Not saying the other producers are not any good.
I upgrade some when I can.
But LEE gives you the Cost/performance ratio no one can beat.
I would say some of their products are just plain better.
Then some are much better designs that are just held back because of the material choices used to keep costs down.
A load master made of the right stuff would be a world beater.
It would be cool to see some one with some skill and a mill. Copy one part for part out of steel.
Ooops I think I just gave my self a reloading stiffy.....

A good example would be the Classic cast single stage press. I dont think LEE really wanted to make it. They feel the Aluminum press is more than adequate.
But they did it any way, and I feel they have a top in class product, that still beats every one else's price. Plus it all USA made.
Their Classic cast turret press is no slouch ether. better that any one else's. Its not even a contest.
 
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Sure, use a lot of Lee stuff. Their dies are very decent, and quite good for the cost.

I went blue when it was time for a progressive ... of course. But I still use the dies and some other tools.
 
I use their dies, had good luck with them. Gave my granddaughters lee hand presses and single stage presses, good enough to start learning with. Don't use their molds anymore.
 
Virtually all Lee equipment performs as advertised at what appears to be a bargain price.

Over the past 20 years, i have moved way from Lee equipment because I found something that performed better or was not the bargain it appeared to be FOR ME (my emphasis).

I will consider that it is along the lines of a MOPOAR, GM and Ford debate. For many, Lee equipments performs to their expectations.
 
Only non-lee product I use on my press (Lee Pro 1000) is an RCBS 9mm taper crimp seating die. The dies are impossible to beat for the price and work every bit as good as every one else's basic offerings. The Pro auto disk might look cheap but it works awesome with every powder I've tried (just W231/HP38 ball powder, IMR4895 stick powder, and I'm sure it will work great with the CFE223 I have when I give that stuff a shot). The Pro 1000 is a bit finicky but there are tons of people out there who have created every mod under the sun to make them run smooth as butter. If you are on the poor side and don't mind (or even love) a bit of fiddling here and there, they rock. If you are well endowed and a stickler about things working out of the box you would probably be better served with a Hornady or Dillion progressive, but even those have issues occasionally that require a bit of fiddling. In terms of single stages they have several offerings that once again are the most competitive on pricing out there and work just dandy for most every task you can use them for.
 
LCT and many, many dies and extra turrets. Works for me, handguns and rifles.
Also have a Breech lock single stage.
 
I recently got into reloading and picked up a lee challanger kit too. As well as .223 and 9mm dies as that's all I shoot. I'm very happy with the kit so far. I may upgrade to a digital scale and better powderthrower at some point if the need presents itself but for right now the kit works great. I had a mismanufacturered die that had a problem right off the bat. The decapping pin collett was crossthreaded and LEE customerservice was fantastic and sent me a new die right away. No questions asked. There are a lot of guys that bash lee but for my needs it works great. For the price I think they are hard to beat and if you have the need to upgrade to a bigger press later you now have a cheap decapping press.
 
Most of my stuff is Lee. I didn't get a choice when I got started, as my dad gifted me a LCT set so I just kept going with Lee stuff. My wife did buy me an RCBS die set, but by the time I added what I needed to add to make it work the way I wanted I just returned it and got a lee set. My rifles are shooting sub MOA at 125 yrds from a novice reloader on "cheap" lee dies. That's good enough for me. My pistol ammo goes bang every time and puts holes in the paper as good as any other die set. A friend of mine ended up getting a Lee single stage with the removable dies and he's shooting good quality ammo as well.
 
Lee Classic Turret, die sets for 38/357, 40 S&W, 9mm, 8x57, & 7.62x54R. Haven't had any real problems out of 5000+ reloads.
 
Awesome to hear guys. I didn't expect so many responses this quick!

I know you guys read/contribute to this question all the time, but what's the one item you'd recommend to compliment my set?

Trimmer, calipers, bullet puller, etc?
 
Lee Classic Cast Turret press, ergo prime, auto prime, Collet dies, along with Redding type s, Forster, Sinclair,RCBS,Lyman and others. Nothing wrong with Lee.
 
I have a classic single stage and a pro 1000 along with several different calibers of Lee dies with out any complaints. I have been reloading for about 3 years and when I started Lee was all I cold afford now I see no reason to change.
 
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