Hello again, lol. I've been reloading for about a year now . Using RCBS equipment. .45 LC, .37/38,.223,.308. Im now looking for a set of .40 cal dies. I've seen a set of Lee on the EE for a good price and was wondering if they would be good enough for .40 cal? What's the difference? If any? Third world problems, I know ... But
Dies. Does brand name make a difference?
- Thread starter Brianma65
- Start date
- Location
- Central AB
I absolutely prefer Lee dies over any others. The best primer punches, best crimp dies. But they are inexpensive new from Higginson Powder, so you may just want to buy new.
- Location
- West Quebec
THere is nothing wrong with Lee Dies in fact I started out with them and still do use them, but as I moved to an additional press(Dillon) I find using their dies just fit better..
I use Lee dies for many of my loads and have had an issue with only a 223 die and a certain rifle. My Lee carbide pistol dies (45 ACP and 9 mm Luger) have been flawless for over 4,000+ reloads. Although I'm starting to mix and match brands of dies for specific applications, this is mainly for bottle-necked rifle cartridges. For pistol, I'm very satisfied with the Lee dies.
i wouldn't hesitate to use the 40 S&W dies if the price is right.
i wouldn't hesitate to use the 40 S&W dies if the price is right.
thepolinator
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Sudbury, ON
I prefer lee dies to my rcbs dies
- Location
- Calgary, AB
Forster is my preferred. I do like the Lee collet dies.
I started with RCBS and switched to Lee. I prefer the design of Lee dies, much better thought out and user friendly. Forster BR seater for .308 loads that really matter but to be honest Lee dies kept my Howa 1500 shooting around 1 moa with plenty of 3/4 and a few sub 1/2 moa groups this year. What more could I ask from a $600 rifle and the cheapest dies on the market?
- Location
- chilliwack BC.
I really like the Lee Factory Crimp die.
I have heard that SOME Lee dies don't quite fit right. Example is the sizing die for the 7.5x55 Swiss. It has been proven to be not correctly shaped and sized. not horribly out, but not conducive to accuracy.
I have heard that SOME Lee dies don't quite fit right. Example is the sizing die for the 7.5x55 Swiss. It has been proven to be not correctly shaped and sized. not horribly out, but not conducive to accuracy.
geotndtwine
CGN Regular
- Location
- Calgary, Alberta
I'm for the RCBS and Lyman because you can pre-set the depths with a locking set screw. But lee is nice and cheaper and I do use them, I just found if I am loading example a few hundred 38 the depth seams to float a few thou, which drives my OCD crazy.
Well the question the OP asked is actually moot. For most purposes the dies coming from the producers today are all excellent. The reason for this is the advent of CNC machines. Mind you if the set up goes awry for some reason there will be a lot of dies out there that are not true to their axis. The same goes for presses. I have seen a lot of presses that have had their bores drilled off center to their mandrels or the mandrel guide hole at a very slight angle etc. One press I recently picked up at a yard sale was one of those bargain basement LEE Aluminum models. To say I was surprised that the press was not true to its axis would be an understatement. I have no idea why it was off true but it was. No indication of any damage but not in line to make nice true cartridges.
IMHO Lee products are fantastic for the price and produce not only good hunting ammo but even some decent match grade cartridges.
The same thing can be said about the products of all of the commercial makers of reloading tooling. I don't know if it's still the norm but almost all of the North American commercial ammunition producers used Lee products to assemble their products. That says a lot for those dies. Most shooters are looking for an acceptably accurate product and if the cartridges are not assembled true to their axis they won't be accurate. Until the advent of the Juenke gauge to measure thicknesses of bullet jackets four inch groups from hunting ammo was considered accurate enough. With the advent of the new measuring device things changed pretty dramatically. Bullet jackets soon became extremely consistent as far as jacket thickness was concerned and new accuracy limits were set.
When it comes to dies, again IMHO, you need to decide which dies suit you purposes as well as ease of use. I have my preferences but they are based on the design of the cartridge I will be loading. I have several old Bonanza Bench Rest dies and several RCBS, Hornady, CH, Lyman, Pacific, Redding and Lee dies. All work well and produce accurate ammunition as long as I do my part.
That being said I have had a few bad sets of dies, one was the forming die and one was the seating die. No matter what I did, neither set would produce ammunition that was accurate. When you have a press that you trust for true to axis and it works well with other die sets then after some deliberate testing such as on a device that measures bullet and neck run out it's time to send the dies back to the manufacturer if they are still in business. Both of the dies I sent back were confirmed to have manufacturing issues and were replaced. One was made by Redding and the other was made by Hornady. The turn around time was quick and the reply was polite but not informative. I called the companies and asked to speak to the techs that had signed the letters that accompanied the replacement dies. They looked up the file number and weren't the least bit evasive. They both stated that mistakes are made but not regularly. They also stated that most shooters do not understand the functions of their tooling/firearms to track down the cause of inaccuracy. I had some very good teachers.
IMHO it is very uncommon to find a bad set of dies anymore. Some of the older stuff is likelier but even then very few and far in between.
Dies are like presses. You need to find out which will suit your purposes best. I have five presses set up on two benches. All are true to their axis and all are made of cast steel. The only aluminum press I have and it is very good is a Lee Hand Held model. It works well and assembles very accurate ammunition. Some dies are made to reload hundreds of thousands of rounds of accurate ammo. Some aren't. It's pretty easy to tell just by looking at them. That's how I decide when I purchase a new die set.
IMHO Lee products are fantastic for the price and produce not only good hunting ammo but even some decent match grade cartridges.
The same thing can be said about the products of all of the commercial makers of reloading tooling. I don't know if it's still the norm but almost all of the North American commercial ammunition producers used Lee products to assemble their products. That says a lot for those dies. Most shooters are looking for an acceptably accurate product and if the cartridges are not assembled true to their axis they won't be accurate. Until the advent of the Juenke gauge to measure thicknesses of bullet jackets four inch groups from hunting ammo was considered accurate enough. With the advent of the new measuring device things changed pretty dramatically. Bullet jackets soon became extremely consistent as far as jacket thickness was concerned and new accuracy limits were set.
When it comes to dies, again IMHO, you need to decide which dies suit you purposes as well as ease of use. I have my preferences but they are based on the design of the cartridge I will be loading. I have several old Bonanza Bench Rest dies and several RCBS, Hornady, CH, Lyman, Pacific, Redding and Lee dies. All work well and produce accurate ammunition as long as I do my part.
That being said I have had a few bad sets of dies, one was the forming die and one was the seating die. No matter what I did, neither set would produce ammunition that was accurate. When you have a press that you trust for true to axis and it works well with other die sets then after some deliberate testing such as on a device that measures bullet and neck run out it's time to send the dies back to the manufacturer if they are still in business. Both of the dies I sent back were confirmed to have manufacturing issues and were replaced. One was made by Redding and the other was made by Hornady. The turn around time was quick and the reply was polite but not informative. I called the companies and asked to speak to the techs that had signed the letters that accompanied the replacement dies. They looked up the file number and weren't the least bit evasive. They both stated that mistakes are made but not regularly. They also stated that most shooters do not understand the functions of their tooling/firearms to track down the cause of inaccuracy. I had some very good teachers.
IMHO it is very uncommon to find a bad set of dies anymore. Some of the older stuff is likelier but even then very few and far in between.
Dies are like presses. You need to find out which will suit your purposes best. I have five presses set up on two benches. All are true to their axis and all are made of cast steel. The only aluminum press I have and it is very good is a Lee Hand Held model. It works well and assembles very accurate ammunition. Some dies are made to reload hundreds of thousands of rounds of accurate ammo. Some aren't. It's pretty easy to tell just by looking at them. That's how I decide when I purchase a new die set.
That still doesn't allow you to lock the adjustment on the seater die. At least the other manufactures have lock nuts, but the big round knob on the LEE seater adjustment doesn't allow the addition of a lock nut.
