Lee presses and kits, any good ?

I have had the lee turret 1000, excellent unit and shot lots of IPSC and silouhette during that time.
I now have a Dillon 650, and a lee single stage.
Lee is a great product for the money, never had any issues, and I still have lots of lee dies.
Wouldn’t hesitate to purchase and use this product..
 
I bought the Lee Anniversary kit years ago when I started reloading, and it was an inexpensive way to learn all the basics of reloading. Since then, I have replaced everything that came in the kit with newer and better pieces as I got more invested in reloading, except for the press itself which I still use for all of my rifle reloads (I have a Dillon SDB for 9mm).
 
Only Lee press I'd say Ive been less than par with. Was the new Lee Breech Lock Pro. Which is being sold soon, once I rebuild it again. They put plastic covers on the carrier, that a simple case jam, will gouge the plastic, causing issues. Plastic parts kits are around 5 to 7$, but 20$ for shipping. I leaned towards this system due to the simpler primer system. But I hand prime now.

Did pick up a New model, Lee Pro 1000, for 208$ with case feeder tubes, 40 S&W dies, and powder measure ( all new )

Also should say I got a Lee 4 hole turret press I like.
 
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I work with tools for a living and I can tell you this. You always have gear snobs who need the most expensive tools out there. At the end of the day the tools whether very expensive or cheap as dirt all get the job done. More often than not the biggest factor is the skill of the operator.

If you know what you're doing any press will work. The lee presses are simple affordable machines. Not the smoothest and no bells or whistles just what's necessary to do the job.

At the end of the day a poor craftsman blames his tool.
 
TSPIRI said:
I work with tools for a living and I can tell you this. You always have gear snobs who need the most expensive tools out there. At the end of the day the tools whether very expensive or cheap as dirt all get the job done. More often than not the biggest factor is the skill of the operator.

If you know what you're doing any press will work. The lee presses are simple affordable machines. Not the smoothest and no bells or whistles just what's necessary to do the job.

At the end of the day a poor craftsman blames his tool.
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Exactly.
 
TSPIRI said:
At the end of the day a poor craftsman blames his tool.
Click to expand...

Well some of the newer LEE products are pretty bad. Compared to older versions. SO it's not always the user fault. Trying to cut costs.

The new Lee auto prime, with the primer elevator jams up quite often. I ran a Frankford Arsenal, I primed 800 cases with zero issues. My Lee AP, I couldn't do 50 cases without handful of jams.

I mean with Lee presses timing gets knocked off often, and crushed cases happens. Well with the Breech Lock Pro, this happens. It slows down the case slide, messes up timings, makes cases tip over. The indexing rod was thin and bends easy.


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Loaded on a Lee Pro 1000 for a couple years, then upgraded to a Lee Loadmaster for a few more. Probably loaded 100k on Lee’s all total. Then I got a Dillon. You know that phrase, “Ignorance is bliss’? Well, it applies 100% to Lee progressives. When you load for an hour on a good brand, and think - “wait a minute... I never messed with the press once.” You realize what junk the Lee progressives are. Dies - great, Turret - great, but those progressives - run.

Think about this. You will never see a post here of someone with a Hornady or Dillon saying they’re ditching their press for a Lee.
You’ll find plenty of posts that go the other way, though.
 
Lee reloading equipment is not top of the line but the price is not either.
I have a turrent press that is over 30th yrs old.
For the cost Lee is the best bang for the buck.
 
I own 6 Lee presses for metallic & shotshell. The dies are great. The progressive shotshell press (no longer made) is a b!tch to operate but the rest are still going strong after for over 30 years. I also own Dillon, Mec, Echo & Pacific presses. Buy what you can afford. I agree some of the new Lee products aren't the same quality of their older stuff though.
 
Brewster20 said:
I am looking into reloading, but on a small scale. I shoot .380 ACP, & .226 Rem. I am mainly interested in loading for accuracy, not quantity.
I have been down the "expensive" press route when I was in handgun competitions, (Dillon, Hornady LnL, etc). Got rid of all my reloading stuff years ago. Now, I might take it up again, but on a smaller scale. Looking at the Lee presses and kits (I think a kit is the best bang for the buck!) their prices seem very reasonable, but is the quality there ? I would probably change out the scale, I prefer electronic, but otherwise go with a kit.
Thanks
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I have a lot of Lee equipment (as do a lot of people i know). The only piece of Lee equipment i don't like, are their full length sizing dies... when doing lots of volume rounds like 556. The decapping pin retention is a PITA. Same goes for the universal decapper. I prefer RCBS for this task. That said, i do like their collet and factory crimp dies. Hard to beat the collet dies for accuracy to price ratio.
Bang for the buck, they are hard to beat, however, there are lots of deals to be had on other brands. I started on a RCBS Partner press kit ($80 new on special at Cabela's) and have reloaded 1000's and 1000's of rounds on that little press. Most of the scales in the kits are crap. So i'd get the manual scale, leave it in the box and invest in a decent digital scale for the rifle reloading (depending on volume) and a powder thrower (probably a Hornady LnL) for the 380. That would cover all your bases, and wouldn't be a huge investment.
 
I have the classic cast series. Both Turret and single. Been great. Sold my old RCBS Jr press years ago. Finally had to replace some parts on the turret as the timing was getting out. Was cheap enough. Since it probably loaded 10,000 rounds.
Lee carbide dies are great. Not a big fan of their rifle dies, not really sure why. Always got RCBS or Redding instead.
The Classic single also loads 50bmg.
 
The "for and against" is running pretty well equal, good points on both sides. One take-away is that a kit may not be the best option, buying the press, and supplementing it with a good electronic scale, primer tool, powder thrower etc. may be the best option in the long run. But this begs the question, why not buy Rock Chucker press (or other similar stand-alone presses) and do the same...the presses alone are within the same ballpark price wise, but the quality is another question.
 
I've been reloading since 1963.
I've had all kinds of presses.
I 've had the big RCBS ROCK CHUCKER,VERY GOOD.
SOLD IT and bought 2 small lee presses, one broke a toggle while I was doing some 223's
LEE WOULD NOT COME GOOD FOR IT:
SO NOW [IN MY EYES],[ THEY ARE JUNK], AND WOULD NOT RECCOMEND THEM.
SOLD THEM BOTH.
SO NOW I HAVE THE BIG LEE PRESS.
I REALLY LIKE IT, AND IT IS REALLY HEAVY DUTY.
I THINK IT IS JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER THAN THE BIG RCBS PRESS.
 
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you're not the first to complain about the lee priming tools-i'm sticking with my old ROUND ONES until the toggle breaks, even then I might go to the t handle that comes on the press, but I do my priming ONE AT A TIME so I can FEEL THE DEPTH
 
t-star said:
you're not the first to complain about the lee priming tools-i'm sticking with my old ROUND ONES until the toggle breaks, even then I might go to the t handle that comes on the press, but I do my priming ONE AT A TIME so I can FEEL THE DEPTH
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Get the Frankford, you can adjust the depth.
 
I don’t mind the Lee safety prime with the little swivel arm to receive the primer and then seat it on the downstroke. I am also fairly new to reloading though and like the feel and control this offers over the speed of other priming units
 
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