Best thing since dry toilet paper!

[1Shirt]

Know that there a whole whoop of folks on this forum who are anything but fans of Lee products. Used to be that I was one of them! Times have changed and so have my opinions of some of the Lee products. Specificly, I have come to love the collet neck sizing dies, the factory crimp dies, and the per cal case trimmers. Over the last couple of years, and as finances has allowed, have bought one of each for each rifle ctg. that I load. The collet dies are fast, make cases like 303 Brit have greatly extended life, don't require lube etc.etc. etc. From experiance, I have found useing these dies, I have to trim on the average of every 5-6 loadings with cast. (Probably would be more with jacketed) Using the factory crimp dies, (I set them to crimp just a bit, and find that I seem to get slightly better accuracy than when I do not crimp, some more than others. (does vary accuracy wise from ctg. to ctg however). The trimmers I use in a battery charged 3/8" drill, on my lap, with a cloth to catch the cuttings. I also use a deburring tool for the outside of the neck when appreciable, but use a Forrester for that as the little lee deburring tool leaves something to be desired.

There are a few things about these products that could be improved regarding purchase however. Lee sells the single collet size die for a number of popular ctgs, but only with seating die at an increased price for less popular ctgs. Wish they would sell the individual dies for a larger percentage of the ctgs that I load for.

Am also fond of the push thru sizing dies for some things because of the ability of running blts base first, a plus for flat nose blts w/gc in my opinion.

Lastly, I have had good luck with lee molds in the last 3-4 years, with emphasis on the Ranch Dog molds, and the special order lee molds from Mid South. Some of the earlier ones I will admit had more than a few problems for some. I was lucky, as all my early ones were at least minimal satisfactory in handgun and round ball projectiles!

Lastly, am thankful that Lee is around as I firmly believe that because of them, the prices of competitor products is less than it would be if Lee were not in the market.

Anyhow, am sure that this thread will be flamed repeatedly, but for me, I use what works, and if it works, I try not to fix it.

1Shirt!

[pdawg_shooter]

I am with you 1shirt, there are lots of Lee products I use.

[sqlbullet]

Lots of Lee stuff on my bench too. Definitely they are a benefit to the market.

[mpmarty]

+1 on LEE engineering excellence. I am a great fan of their collet crimp dies as well as their dead simple trim stuff. I wish the darn DeWalt batteries were cheaper.

[gandydancer]

there is not much lee makes that I don't have and use.. also had them make me some custom collet dies for my 250 donaldson ace 25 caliber 30" by 1" douglas bbl on a springfield action mfr in the 50"s by harvy donaldson. I call it my ugly rifle. GD

[44wcf]

I aggree with you. I have several collet dies and crimp dies aswell as push thruogh sizers.

[fatelk]

I use the Lee trimmers too, have a box full of them in different calibers.

Years ago I bought a rifle chambered in 30-06 Ackley Improved. I wasn't interested in wildcat calibers, and it had a custom barrel of unknown quality. I bought it just for the action, as I worked for a gunsmith at the time and thought I make a custom rifle out of it. It shot so good as is that it's still as it was. The reason I tell the story is that I was too cheap to buy '06AI dies and I had an old set of '06 collet dies. They work just as good for the improved '06 as they do for regular rounds.

[45-70 Chevroner]

I have a lot of Lee stuff as well. The lee case trimmers are great, I have one for each caliber I shoot. About two years ago I got a new single stage Lee breech lock press, to replace my old (very old) RCBS junior single stage. That old press will make a good starter press for one of my grand kids. I really do like Lees stuff at least most of it. I also have 3 Dillons two RL55Bs and a Square deal. If I had to replace them today I would not be able to afford them. I have heard good things and bad things about Lee's progressive's but have never used one.

[big dale]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the priming tools yet. I have a whole cigar box full of them. I started with one of the little aluminium ones and used it till the handle broke off when it crystialized and I simply replaced it. When the second one did the same again I just bought another. I seem to recall that the red plastic one came with one of the target tools. I also have a couple of the ones with the round plasiic primer trays and keep one set up for small primers and the other for the large primers.

I also have a milk crate with a couple of dozen of the old 10 buck loading tools. The first reloading I ever did was while I was in high school back in the early 60's with one of those tools for the 38 Special. During the late 80's I bought three of the progressive 1000 presses so I could just leave one set up for 45 auto, One for 9mm and one for 44 mag at all times. Today I load just about everything on my lee classic turret.

I also have a whisky box full of the single and double cavity molds from the 70's and 80's. I also have a bunch of the six cavity mold blocks and about a dozen pair of handles for them. I am on my third 25/06 barrel with those collet neck sizing dies.

Sure am glad I don't have to figure how much I have spent on all of the Lee stuff for all these years.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[WHITETAIL]

I also like the Lee factory crimper.
I have one in 45-70.

[JeffinNZ]

Lee collet and .303 Brit is the only way to go. I have cases, that I anneal often, run with reduced loads, that must have been loaded 80 times.

[geargnasher]

Lee makes a ton of affordable, good stuff for use to enjoy. They make a few things that are garbage, like their "chamfer" tools, but by and large they make handy, inexpensive things that in many cases can't even be had by other manufacturers.

I also maintain that Lee makes a few products that are the absolute best that can be had at any price like the Classic Turret press, the rifle FCD, primer pocked cleaner, Dead Length seater die, Classic Turret press, Collet rifle die sets, Breech-Lock hand press, Classic Turret press, you get the idea!

It would cost me five figures to own the equivalent items in one of the "Major" brands that I do in Lee.

Gear

[Jack Stanley]

No flames from here 1shirt , that's a nicely written post I think . I'm not one that sings the praises of LEEs stuff all the time but I do use some of it and I too am glad it's there .

I will not however attempt to trim a five gallon bucket of brass with their trimmer

Jack

[Lizard333]

I just recently bought my first lee six banger a week ago and I absolutely love it!! Up toll now all my molds have been 2 cavity but you can really crank out some boolits with the six cavity. I was worried that I would have issues and have to "leement" the molds but after a thorough cleaning, it has been great!

[hk33ka1]

I can afford other brands, and I own other brands, but I find myself using Lee tools for a lot of my reloading needs.

[Bill Torzsok]

I am a big Fan of Lee precision producks they do a good job
along the lines of the KISS principle. They work well IMO.

[MtGun44]

Yep. Collet sizer and collet crimper are excellent and unique. Primer tools are pretty darned
good, too. No fan of LLA, but I know many love it and it is DEFINITELY a cheap entry into
the hobby. I have a lot of Lee stuff, but it is not always my favorite.

Go Lee!

Bill

[rintinglen]

I own and use a lot of Lee stuff, I don't care for their molds--I don't like Aluminum Molds period, regardless of who makes them, but I like the hand primers, their shell holder sets, their little hand press. I don't like their progressive presses, but the Classic Turret Press is nearly as good as Gear Makes it out to be.

[Hurricane]

Don't forget the Lee Reloading Manual. Both editions are full of useful information not found anywhere else. I especially like the chapters on cast bullets and methods to calculate the expected velocity of reduced loads. I am also a user of the dipper powder measures.

[frkelly74]

Their factory service is pretty darn good too, from my experience.