Let tjh flame wars begin

[mdi]

I find blaming Lee for bad reloads is just plain silly...

 

[wild willy]

I have 30+ sets of dies been loading 40 years.In that time I have gotten three defective dies all Lee.A 35 Remington sizing die the hole for the decapping rod was drilled of center,A .244/6mm sizing die that did nothing to the case neck,and 475/480 die that new had a broken sizing ring.I still buy Lee because I like the way some of there dies are designed and work.The having to send everything back on my dime when its there fault does suck.Its not always the reloader's fault some times it is the tool.

 

[35 Whelen]

As stated in Post #3, you get what you pay for. It really is that simple.

A couple of years ago I bought a Lee .45 caliber mould for my 45 Colt. Within two casting sessions one of the alignment pins had fallen completely out. A few months ago I bought one of their molds in .44 caliber for my .44 Specials and it's been fine. Got in on a group buy for a custom Lee mold and it was an unusable piece of junk. I've worn out the threads of the seater stem on my Lee 7.5 Swiss dies and the one on my .44 Special/Magnum die will need to be replaced soon .

My philosophy anymore is this: If I'm going to buy say, a bullet mould and a Lee cost $25, I deduct the price of the Lee from the price of the better quality mould. IOW, I'm going to be buying a mould regardless, so add a few dollars and get one that will last. A used Lee mould will have almost zero resale value while the better moulds will hold their value indefinitely.

When I buy RCBS, Hornady, Redding, etc., I know I will get a good product. When I buy Lee I know I might get a good product as their quality is very sporadic.

35W

 

[LiveLife]

As noted in earlier posts

You are the OP. What earlier posts are you talking about?

9mm ... 3-die set ... Lee carbide resizing die often required extraordinary force to resize cases (even when they were lubricated) even though some were easily resized. This difficulty occurred regardless of whether I was using the Lee resizing lubricant, the RCBS resizing lubricant or Hornady Unique. The resizer also left vertical lines on the resized cases even after a through cleaning.

I use Dillon/RCBS/Lee dies and actually have three 9mm Lee die sets. During 400,000+ rounds of 380/38Spl/9mm/40S&W/45ACP/45Colt reloads, I did not need to lube pistol brass when using brass tumbled with untreated/treated corn cob/walnut media.

I have found tumbling with media treated with NuFinish polish helps with resizing of brass due to residual polymer on surface which also help prevent tarnishing of brass.

I do not get vertical lines on resized cases. I would inspect the carbide sizer ring surface for damage (perhaps sizer ring is cracked?) and if you still get vertical lines after inspecting/cleaning the carbide sizer ring, I would contact Lee customer service for a replacement.

Lee Powder-Through expander die either expanded the case so little that seating the bullet caused the case's sidewall to collapse or made the case mouth look like a Pilgrim's blunderbuss.

Variation of flare on case mouth is from resized cases being different lengths.

I would measure some resized cases and use amount of flare that will work with even shorter cases.

no matter how carefully the bullet was aligned on the top of the case or how slowly the ram was raised, the Lee seater inevitably seated the bullet off-center leaving a bulge in one side of the case. Further, the sharp start of the crimp ring in the seating die regularly caused cases to hang up during the seating operation even though the die had been adjusted to not crimp the cases at all.

I would inspect the seating stem for crud build up and clean as necessary. Improper flare could contribute to bullet seating problem so I would address the resizing/case flare issues before bullet seating issue.

I have seated and taper crimped various lead/coated/plated/jacketed bullets without issues when minimal amount of taper crimp is used. I usually add .022" to the diameter of the bullet so for .355" sized bullets, I use .377" taper crimp and for .356" sized bullets, .378" taper crimp.

 

[LiveLife]

All in all, the problems with my 9mm reloads that I couldn't resolve by tinkering with my Lee dies were all fully resolved within the 30 minutes it took to set up my RCBS dies according to the instructions that came with them. The cases virtually "jumped into" the sizer die. The expander allowed adjustment in the amount of expansion within 0.001 inch and the cases didn't hang up on a sharp ridge at the start of the crimping throat.

I know the Lee enthusiasts are going to blame my problems with the Lee dies on my own incompetence. And that's fine. Despite nearly four decades experience reloading, I will accept that my problems are attributable to my own incompetence. But, when I accept that, the fact of the matter remains that in spite of that incompetence, I was able to set up dies from RCBS and resolve ALL of my problems within 30 minutes. Somehow, RCBS has developed a "fool proof" system for letting incompetents set up dies as accurately and precisely as experienced experts.

So your point is even a caveman can properly set up RCBS dies but a four decade seasoned reloader cannot?

While I do not consider Lee dies to be the "best" on the market, I do believe there are many reloaders new to Lee dies (and to reloading) who may not experience what you experienced.

Yes, another Lee bashing thread.

 

[cfullgraf]

I have had good service from thr Lee hand gun cartridge dies that I have used. But I do not care for the o-ring lock nut or Lee's storage boxes.

So, when I get done buying lock rings and a new storage box, the Lee savings has evaporated. Also, it can be frustrating at times to buy these auxilary components.

So, I buy only die sets outfitted in the way I prefer.

But, I do nit buy Hornady dies for similar reasons and the Forster micrometer seater die will not fit in my storage boxes so I do not buy them either.

Lee makes nice, budget priced reloading tools and equipment. But for similar reasoning as to why I drive a Subaru, I do not buy Lee reloading dies.

It is a good thing that we have purchasing options.

 

[tkroenlein]

Well, seeing as these were a discontinued product, I guess their success in the marketplace might bear out the quality of reloads they produced. That is really all that can and should be said about Lee products-they had a "lemon."

As far as reloading products in general, ALL brands have their nuances and even their problems. I have and use Hornady, Lee, RCBS and Redding dies. Some of my favorite handgun dies are Lee, especially their crimping dies. I've also benefitted from a little polishing on the mouth of their sizing dies as well though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GBExpat]

My oldest Lee dies are from the early '80s and my oldest RCBS are form the early '70s.

... As noted in earlier posts, the Lee carbide resizing die often required extraordinary force to resize cases (even when they were lubricated) ...

First I have ever heard of that ... and it does not match my experience with Lee carbide resizing dies.

... The resizer also left vertical lines on the resized cases even after a through cleaning. ...

Vertical lines and "extraordinary force" required (and I bet that it makes a scraping noise).

Interesting. That sounds like just what you would get if you were resizing your 9mm cases in a steel die (no carbide resizing ring) without lube. The scratches are the result of bits of case brass that has galled and adhered to the inside of the die surface.

BTW, normal cleaning efforts will not remove the bits of brass.

 

[ljnowell]

So your point is even a caveman can properly set up RCBS dies but a four decade seasoned reloader cannot?

While I do not consider Lee dies to be the "best" on the market, I do believe there are many reloaders new to Lee dies (and to reloading) who may not experience what you experienced.

Yes, another Lee bashing thread.

I now own two Lee progressive presses, the 1k and a loadmaster. I own all lee dies. Not a single problem. My progressives run great, the dies work find. I load bullseye match ammo on those lee progressives with lee dies. For being crappy equipment that makes crappy ammo my trophies sure keep piling up.

Btw, I have owned one die that wasn't a Lee. It was a redding. I scrapped it because it was junk.

 

[Walkalong]

Well, when you start a thread with "Let tjh flame wars begin"..........I guess that's what you get.

This is always a tough subject to discuss, and we are done for this one.