Worthwhile buying a lee 50th anniversary and later buying upgrades?

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rtracer13

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Hey all,

I'm sure this must have been asked before but the search wouldn't find it for me...

as the title states, I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile paying for the lee kit which is half of the RCBS Supreme Master kit? Either way I'm having to save up for either kit, but would get the Lee much sooner and be able to get into loading sooner.

Out of the Lee gear which items are of comparable quality to the Supreme Master kit? Is it mostly just the scale and press in the RCBS kit that warrents the extra cost? I already have access to several reloading manuals so the spear manual in the RCBS is nice.. but not a need.

Edit: I'm going to be first starting to reload .303 british, 30-30, .30-06 and 9x19
 
Lee is very entry level & budget conscious. I started with Lee, but quickly upgraded components as a started to load for multiple calibers. The biggest b*tch about Lee is their presses. A lot of guys have busted them while full length sizing. I have never busted an Lee stuff, and still use quite a few items from my original set up. It is probably the best set up for you to determine that reloading is "your thing".
 
LuckyLuc82 said:
I'm in your boat and I got the lee, so far no complaints but I don't have anything to compare it to. I guess if you don't know any better it will do just fine.
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One of the items I noticed in the lee kit was that their scale could only weight accurately up to 100 grain I believe? whereas the RCBS scale can weigh accurately up to 505 grains? Is this really a big deal? For example, couldn't 180grain round not have 2 loads of 90grain?
 
Lee has been great for me... the quality is not always relative to cost. it would seem to me that the expensive kits are disporportionally priced. in the end you will be making bullets either way.
 
mikeystew said:
Lee has been great for me... the quality is not always relative to cost. it would seem to me that the expensive kits are disporportionally priced. in the end you will be making bullets either way.
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I hope I have made that clear, I'm trying to determine which items the quality of the item in the kit is relative to the cost? ie. the RCBS press is built better and can better withstand the stress of full-length sizing -so its cost is quantitative.

I know there are better presses out there than the RCBS also, but I have a tight budget so RCBS is the max I can afford right now to get into the hobby.
 
I have usede a Lee 50th anniversary for 4 years now, the toggle ling for the operating handle for the press finally broke 6 months ago, I sent LEE an e-mail with a picture, they sent me a new one at their cost, no questions asked. The scale is very accurate, I often check my loads from my digital scale on the lee scale, it is bang on. The Lee hand prime tool is awesome. I always full length resize, the Lee press holds up just fine.
As far as the scale is concerned, I have never had to weigh more than 100gr of powder at a time. You shouldnt ever have to unless you are loading 50 bmg. If you sort and weigh your bullets, then you might want something that goes higher than 100gr.
 
Who broke a Lee press full length sizing and what did the break... odds are that person would have also broke an RCBS Rockchucker too...

I have been using the Lee Challanger kit for my precision shooting and they work fine... I spend the money I would have on an rcbs kit to buy the chargemaster 1500... I spend my money on things that make a difference downrange not on the bench.

Lee has top notch customer service and will replace alot of broken parts no questions asked.

Also remember LEE is made in the USA... and RCBS is made in China... I dont like to support the USA due to restrictions they have against us as far as exporting shooting sports related products but I rather support them then China.
 
I bought a basic RCBS kit waaay back. It had the press, a balance scale, a funnel, a powder charger, lube pad and a tube of lube and some sweet words. I think the dealer threw in one set of dies and a shell holder for the press. I paid extra for a manual.

I was back a week later to buy a primer feeder and tray, a deburrer, some plastic trays to hold the casings conveniently and a bullet puller. All good things.

Since then, I've bought more dies, tossed the lube pad forever, traded up for an electronic scale, bought some other bits and pieces but most of what I bought back then is still in use. Most of the stuff on the market turns out good ammo; it's easy to get sidetracked (and broke) buying the latest, most sophisticated system.
 
I'm not into brand snobbery, I'm more into value. So I got the 50th Anniversary Kit about two months ago. I really like the breech lock idea instead of spinning the whole die in and out every time.

Things I added or upgraded;
- Classic Rifle Die
- a case length guage for your trimmer setup
- a shell holder for the case trimmer setup
- Lee auto primer hand priming tool
- shell holder for the Lee hand primer
- a powder trickler
- shell trays for your bench
- calipers
- a good manual
- I upgraded the scale because I'd heard a lot of people bash it, (brand snobs? I don't know)

Those are things I remember adding, there might be more items.

Things I don't use;
- the powder measure. I just use the lee scope that comes with the die and then trickle powder in until I hit my desired charge.
- the lee safety scale. I admit, I didn't even try it, I saw so much online #####ing about it I just passed it over. I might give it to a buddy who makes his own arrows.

I really like case prep with the lee setup. I chuck the case into the shell holder and spin it up, cut the case with the Lee case length guage and Lee cutter. It is consistently 2.012". Then I chamfer inside and outside and then give the case a good spin and pass over it with a scouring pad for pots and pans. It leaves a nice uniform finish.

I got the Lee kit from Cabela's Canada for about $150. With shipping and everything else I added plus bullets, primers and powder I think I got into reloading for about $440. I don't know if that was good or not, but most of that money was to support my local shop so prices might have been high, but at least I got to ask questions to an expert.

Good luck reloading, it's a whole hobby by itself, a lot of fun and very relaxing IMO.
 
I started with the Lee Anniversary Kit. I am one of the guys that actually broke the handle assembly. I wanted to get in to reloading and didn't have to the funds to go big at that time. I think I would have been better off collecting quality used components.

I also found that even after much adjusting, the powder chucker actually continued to leak fine ball powder like H110. I replaced it with a used Lyman chucker.

I went and bought a used RCBS Junior, and it is fine. Never an issue, or worry of breaking the handle assembly.

I do love Lee dies however. There collet dies are great.
 
As far as the scale goes how many times are you going to weight a charge greater than 100 grains? Based on what you posted, never.

What I have heard is that the beam on either scale is the same length. One goes to 500, the other to 100. Which do you think will give you better readings?

I think that if you are going to break the press you had better be trying something other than the calibers stated. Maybe if you are trying to make 300 win mag brass out of .22 Lr cases.

Maybe try the Lee press, then after making 5000-6000 rounds if, and I mean if you break it, buy the more expensive press.

Good luck with anything you choose. I have recently learned its great fun.
 
jkc said:
As far as the scale goes how many times are you going to weight a charge greater than 100 grains? Based on what you posted, never.

What I have heard is that the beam on either scale is the same length. One goes to 500, the other to 100. Which do you think will give you better readings?

I think that if you are going to break the press you had better be trying something other than the calibers stated. Maybe if you are trying to make 300 win mag brass out of .22 Lr cases.

Maybe try the Lee press, then after making 5000-6000 rounds if, and I mean if you break it, buy the more expensive press.

Good luck with anything you choose. I have recently learned its great fun.
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Once I became more familiar with reloading I was thinking of casting my own bullets too, and would likely use a scale to verify grain weight of bullets, but to start nope I wouldn't be going over 100.. I've been thinking it over and think I will go with the Lee breech lock challenger kit, since it has everything the 50th anniversary one has + the autoprimer and shellholders. Still open to any other warnings or advice on things from either kit that are not needed/ will want to be replaced right away..
 
I bought the Lee Kit, and found it to work wonderfully.
As I became more aware of the limitations of some of the components, I upgraded as finances would allow.
I had no trouble selling the Lee components that I was replacing.
I would buy it again in a heartbeat, because for a minimal amount of funds I was catapulted into the exciting world of reloading my own ammunition. KD
 
The answer to your question IMHO is yes.

If you do decide to investigate the somewhat pricier kits don't overlook the Redding BOSS kit. Redding kits contain no "throw away" items. Everything you'll get is keeper quality. P&D (sponsor) sells em.

Frequently, though not always, as guys increase their involvement and inve$tment in reloading, they'll retain that single stage press and simply add a Turret, or Progressive, or whatever to their bench. It isn't at all unusual for experienced reloaders to wind up owning several presses. At this point you may see "upgrading" as out with the old and in with the new. It may very well not turn out that way, just so you know ;).
 
I have the lee kit and find it is just fine. The only other things you really need are the dies, a loading block, and calipers (I got digi one from Canuck Tire for $20 bux). Get it and get loading.
 
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