Lee Dies

444shooter said:
Or it’s recent manufactured Winchester brass. It needs all the help it can get lol.
Click to expand...

I almost started a thread on how ####ty the red/black bags of Win brass were today.
Loaded some 222, had to trim a pile off the new brass, way too long, and it was fun because the rims were all bent and wouldn't stay in my Lee case length lock on my drill, kept jumping out
Just garbage.
 
Hitzy said:
I almost started a thread on how ####ty the red/black bags of Win brass were today.
Loaded some 222, had to trim a pile off the new brass, way too long, and it was fun because the rims were all bent and wouldn't stay in my Lee case length lock on my drill, kept jumping out
Just garbage.
Click to expand...

Had a similar issue, ran the cases through the sizing die to get the necks round before trimming. - dan
 
I once bought a bag of new .300 WM brass (red/black W-W) and more than half of the cases had neck splits. Contacted Winchester and they had me send the brass to the Canadian distributor and I ended up getting a full refund. Terrible QC.
 
I like their pistol dies, and I've found uses for the factory crimp die on straight wall cases. Other than that, I'd stay away from them. RCBS aren't much more money, and they're of a much much better quality.
 
I got my 7 PRC die set and I thought I would try another set In 30-06 as I have being just using a RCBS 2+die set for years .

The 7 PRC is a 2 die Pacesetter set plus the crimper but the 30-06 is the Ultimate 4 Die set . Gonna give them a try soon as my PRC brass shows up .

GOT My ADG 7 PRC brass and 80 1x fired Hornady brass today . ;). OCT 4 - . RJ
 
Last edited:
BattleRife said:
.... And they are not high alloy or plated, so they are prone to rust in humid environments.
Click to expand...

For my needs, this is the only negative I can think of. It's not bad, mind you, but it might be important to some people.

Also, FWIW there have been a variety of bushing styles produced over the last decade or so. They all seem to work for me, but they are different and some work better than others for different types of jobs.
 
444shooter said:
I started reloading with Lee. Their dies are fine. Just not a fan of the linkage on the presses. Cheap pot metal and prone to break. Hopefully they have improved recently.
Click to expand...

I started with a Lee 3 holer as well. Sort of got tired of busting it after while, upgrades or not. The replacement parts weren't free and were usually 3 weeks away. I threw it under the bench for the longest time but my son eventually pulled it out and left it set-up for 44 Mag in the dusty 4 hole but fixed configuration that I left it in. After breaking 2 handles off due to metal fatigue he had enough too, and rolled the chair back to one of the single stages for all his handguns. I eventually got him a Dillon 550 on the condition that I never had to load another handgun round again, which is a similar deal to bullets casting for same.

I never loved Lee Dies but for a lot of things they were good enough. Not the best, but I've had worse in some of the big names. The one thing I really couldn't stand is the unbreakable decapping pin isn't that, and if you broke one it was wait for weeks or buy another set of something else.
 
On their Challenger press, the pot metal linkage didn't play well with their Factory Crimp. The answer was to use the linkage off the 1000 press. It took Lee a number of years to ship them out already done.

Higginson has some Lee die parts, like stem assemblies.

I haven't done it yet, but one of the methods to make 350RM brass is to take a 7mmRM die and cut it to 350RM length , then use as a trim to length die. A cheap Lee Pacemaker 7mmRM set sits on my bench ready for the Zip-Cut attack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom