Your Press and Accessories Peeves, by Company brand: Lee

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Die Locking rings.
Can't use other companies set screw lock rings in turret press.
 
Inconsistent sizes in their molds. I walked away from three LEE factory 6 cavity tumble lube (TL) molds because they all cast bullets undersize.
Even some of the standard non TL molds cast undersize bullets. Oversize is pretty easy to deal with, but undersize bullets are not performance! My other beef is the spruce cutter handle. Instead of regular steel or stamped steel, it's a poor casting. That breaks. IRS an easy fix but LEE is a stubborn group....��
 
The sizing and seating dies are sh!t. I bought a ‘Ultimate’ set, pulled them apart to clean off the oils applied for storage/shipping only to find sharp metal burrs and flakes of metal from their sh!t as$ machining. Seating stem drilled off center and other imperfections.
I bet Norinco could make better dies. Never again.

That said, I’ve never had issue with the factory crimp dies.
 
No issues with most lee stuff until my latest mold purchase. Bullets wouldn't drop from one of the cavities no mater what I tried.
I got fed up and stuck a cast bullet on the end of a drill bit and gave it a couple of turns in the mold with some fine lapping compound.
working OK now, bullets drop as soon as you open the mold.
The Lee safety scale should be on a list describing items "can this be legally sold"....what a piece of wasted time, material and paint.
 
Have used Lee for a long time first issue I ever had was a recent prof a set of carbide 44 mag dies, the carbide sizer is over sized and after sizing bullets fall down into case, gonna buy a rcbs set here soon
 
Two words LEE, LOCKING RINGS. Good lord!
All of my LEE dies (6 FCD's and a set of 45-70 dies) have Hornady lock rings installed and really it's nice not to have to worry about them self-adjusting every time I screw them in and out.
The dies have been decent, but there's a reason why the other manufacturers have locking screws on their adjustment rings.
 
Collet slips on depriming rod on dies unless tightened extreme amount. Scale has no damping, slow and frustrating to use. Sharp edges on tooling, not well finished.
 
Removing decapping pin when the die is in the Lee Pro 1000. If you're not careful when you loosen the collet it falls down the ram where spent primers go. You have to unbolt the press and turn it over to get it out.
 
-The old cheap cast aluminum link plates on their presses, cheap but complete junk.
-The die lock rings suck.
-Never was a fan of their bench rifle powder measure and balance beam scale.
-Don’t like the priming system on the loadmaster, or much else about it...
I like most of their stuff though.
 
Funny, the die lock rings seem to be a common complaint. But i actually prefer the Lee version. But i use a Pro1000, a Classic Turret, and a Loadmaster, all of which use die plates. I have a separate die plate for each turret, so don't have the issue of having to reset the die each time.

Moreover i find that with other die locks, the tightening screw invariably ends up pointing in a direction where it is impossible to get at when mounted in the die plate.
 
Sizing dies machining quality. Sometimes you get lucky and get a good one but often it requires A LOT of polishing...too much not to spend on better dies. The only Lee dies I still buy are the factory crimps and the collet necks
 
Fastestmanalive said:
Sizing dies machining quality. Sometimes you get lucky and get a good one but often it requires A LOT of polishing...too much not to spend on better dies. The only Lee dies I still buy are the factory crimps and the collet necks
Click to expand...

Gotta agree, any dies dated 2016 and later I've bought have been very roughly made.
I use to like their FL dies, mandrel was always centered, seating dies are garbage. Collet and FCD are decent. Just can't bring myself to take a chance anymore. Redding or Forster will be it for sizing dies for me.
 
I have had great results with the collet neck die/bullet seater sets for .243 and .270. Recently purchased a set in .223 and I'm finding the bullet seater is leaving some nasty witness marks on the bullets.
 
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