Why buy Lyman stuff?

The Lee Universal Expander die is great - once you pair the die with NOE M-die expanders.

 

I have several die sets made by Lyman. As far as standard dies go I find them as good as the rest, RCBS, Lee, Hornady etc.

 

I bought the Ruger Jeff Quinn memorial 44 special revolver
One of the few gun guys I liked and miss him.

 

I was attracted to several Lee products when starting out purely due to cost. After trashing several hundred 9mm cases that my Lee 9mm sizing die ruined (which I initially attributed to the headstamp), and even ruining my Lee Universal Decapping die, I quit going for cheap, and chose quality instead. No regrets. However, I dearly missed the Lee dipper in my 9mm die set, and so I bought the entire Lee dipper set.
My goto brand is Hornady...never an issue. My next choice is Lyman...strictly for their MSR die sets (9mm, 458 SOCOM, 6.8 Rem SPC). I've only recently picked up a couple sets of RCBS dies...not impressed, and my worst experience with ANY die set was with Redding...where I spend far too much money trying to size 40S&W cases...including resorting to buying a Redding G-Rx "bulge buster". Turns out, none of my case were bulged, and my sizing woes were due to a defective carbide sizing ring in the Redding die. Redding changed the ring...but recessed it in the die, resulting in incomplete sizing. No worries...I bought a set of Hornady 40S&W dies.

 

I hadn't realized Lyman was more expensive - but then, I rarely buy reloading equipment any more, already having most of what I could foreseeably need.

My opinion of Lyman - and I use a bunch of it, along with a bunch of nearly everything else - is that it is medium quality. I consider it roughly on par with RCBS, not as good as Hornady or Redding, and better than Lee.

Having said that, while I enjoy working with higher quality tools, I generally have not found that they produce better handloads - bearing in mind that I am not playing with things like benchrest rifles. For handguns and hunting rifles, I have no way of telling whether my handloads came out of a Lee die or a Redding one - let alone a Lee press or a Redding one - and so generally don't care about the brand any more. Especially in today's wacky economy, if I need something for the reloading bench I snap up whatever is available, regardless of the name on the lid.

 

A quick search of the same item (2 die FL die set in 223) from one of the companies that I usually buy from shows Lee to be less expensive, across the board. Lyman was about the same as RCBS, Redding was more and Forster was even more. So, I'm not really seeing Lyman as costing more. Lyman makes good solid stuff. I could not find if they say where their stuff is made. Opinions vary about their customer service.

 

Redding & Dillon = Snap-on

Hornady & RCBS = Craftsman

Lee & Lyman = Harbor Freight

 

@gwpercle

CH4D are easy to come by, www.ch4d.com but you pay for quality.

I've talked to the owner before, nice guy. I have one of their H presses and 50 BMG dies.

 

I have various tools, dies and other stuff from virtually all of the major manufacturers except Dillon. I have found both good and bad characteristics about items from all of them. I have generally found that all of them do their job if used properly. When I need something I generally look at what is available and what sales are going on. I haven't seen that the Lyman dies or tools that I have bought are any better or worse than those of other manufacturers. Use them right and they do their job.

 

Has anyone ever compared dies against each other from different manufacturers?

Would be nice to see which ones have the least and most run out. Which ones are actually squared up, including shell holders and lock rings....

 

I can't complain about any of my Lyman equipment, it has all worked right out of the box, every time.

 

I bought a Lyman today at the LGS; polished up a bunch of 44 Mag and 45 ACP cases already.

 

While I will continue to trash Lyman customer service, I bought one of these and it lasted five years and functioned as advertised.

So, I was certainly satisfied. I actually killed it when I tried to fix it.

 

Interesting concept.

 

If you don't mind me asking, what happened when you contacted their customer service?

 

No problem. On a number of occasions, I wrote emails or made phone calls and left messages and I never heard back from them. Usually, it was for small stuff and I was willing to pay. But no response.

Recently it was for the rubber grommet on the top of the bowl that I lost, and I wanted to buy a replacement.

 

I've been debating buying that Lee powder thrower. My thought process is that i can set it to drop .5 grains less than what I want, then trickle the rest.

 

Here buy this. I love mine.
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1019622550?pid=443812