How Many Started With Lee And Upgraded

[r08ert209cali]

Just to give beginners an idea about if they really want to spend money on lee equipment mainly presses. How many have upgraded from lee products and how soon? also post good and bad reviews of you're favorite press and most despised press.

No Never have lee but never upgraded and are satisfied.
Yes Very soon Bought a lee upgraded within 6 mos to a year.
Yes After awhile bought lee and upgraded after 1-3 years.

P.S. Lets keep the clever comments to a minimum. Just state why you dislike or like what you have used and why. None of the you are going to buy a dillon anyways so why waste your money type comments respect everyone's view and let people make their own conclusion. Thank You.

[Stringer]

I have upgraded from Lee dies. Haven't used any of their presses though.

[Darklyte27]

I still have my LEE press, its only 8 months old.
I will only load precision rds with it. any bulk plinking rds will be done at my friends dillion.

[ilbob]

I have three presses. A Lyman O-mag single stage press, a Lee 1000 progressive, and a Dillon 650.

The 1000 is setup to make target loads for my model 52.

The Dillon is setup for 9mm and 45.

The O-mag is used for miscellaneous stuff and rifle cartridge reloading.

I have a mixture of Lee, RCBS, and Dillon dies. Can't tell as there is a whole lot of difference in how well they work.

The Lyman was my first press, bought around 1980. The Lee was acquired in the mid 80s. The Dillon in the early 90s. I have seen good service from all of them.

IMO, Lee equipment is value oriented, but is pretty solid stuff.

[sza]

I started with other, more expensive brands, and find myself going to Lee for some equipment.

- I use a Lee decapping die and love it
- I use the Lee factory crimp dies and love them
- I use the decapping pin from a Lee Loader set to clean tumbling media from primer pockets, and to decap .338LM brass that doesn't fit into my decapping die
- I've completely fallen in love with Lee bullet molds. I have a number of (expensive) Lyman molds that are far more finicky and produce bullets of lower quality than the cheap, ugly aluminum Lee molds
- When I'm feeling lazy or dealing with cast plinking bullets, I lube them with Lee Liquid Alox and shoot them unsized, as opposed to running them through my Lyman lubrisizer (they seem to shoot just as well)

Lee equipment definitely has a place in the world in my opinion. It's not as overbuilt as a lot of the other equipment on the market, but quite often it's apparent that there was a lot of thought and care taken in the design, relative to other brands.

I've never used one of their presses, but their other equipment shares my reloading bench with Wilson, Forster, Redding, RCBS, Dillon and Hornady equipment.

[Mikeb]

I had a lee turret press as my first and upgraded to a Lee Loadmaster, which works just fine and makes good ammo.
Does that count?
At this point I have two presses a Rockchucker and the Loadmaster.
I did have a Dillon Square D but the handle broke and I sold it for about what I payed for it used. They do hold their value.
take care
Mike

[qbi2001]

Growing up my dad had a Lee Loadmaster, but when I stared reloading on my own I went with RCBS. Not that I had anything against Lee I just got a really good deal on my RCBS.

[joelogic]

I learned to ride my motorcycle in the parking lot of the dealer I bought it from. Signed the paper, handed me the keys, I rode home. I bought a XL650 when I started.

[mif_slim]

I got myself a Lee hand press and a pro 1000. I also have a Rock chucker for single stage. I use RCBS Dies and Lee dies, they both seem to work the same. I cant tell the diffrence especially when they make the same group on paper. I never upgraded since these have served me well over the past 8 years or so.

[bohoki]

only have a few lee things

lee safety scale, lee dies,lee trimmers,lee debur tool,lee perfect powder measure


the only thing ive upraded is the debur tool because its outside debur function stopped after 300 and it turned into a bur roundover tool i bought one of those lyman ones for $14 a lot more expensive than the $3 one but it works

i never use the scale since i got a digital but its not because it is a lee but because digital is quicker

its the difference from a verner caliper and a digital

[Blwnbwtie]

I didnt vote because i still havent received my new press. I have a Lee challenger and a Lee loadmaster. The challenger is okay, but the loadmaster is really finicky. It works okay for a little while but the primer system is a piece of junk and it gets really old dealing with that. I have had a bunch of times where the thing just stops indexing. I have a Hornady LNL on backorder. I also used to use lee rifle dies but i have since upgraded to redding dies. The universal decapping die is pretty good though. The pistol dies work well enough, but after using Hornady pistol dies i plan on upgrading for the pistol calibers that i use most frequently

[rg_1111@yahoo.com]

I started with a Lee, Going to upgrade.

[Linus]

Upgraded from lee dies but still and will continue to use their press.

[semperfaux]

I have upward of 50 sets of dies the bulk of which are a mixture of Lee & RCBS.

I have a Dillon 1000 (yes the old one) a Lee 1000, Lee 4 station and 3 station turret press an RCBS Rock Chucker a Lee Challenger press (now dedicated to priming) a Lee Classic Cast (I use this for 50 bmg)

I have seen value in all my Lee purchases and never looked at them as things from which to upgrade at a latter date.

[xrMike]

My first press, a Lee Classic Turret, still serves me well and produces sub-MOA .223 rounds and accurate, consistent .45 ACP. I don't shoot a lot of .45, but if I did, I'd probably buy a Dillon progressive for that. I see no reason to ever updgrade, quality-wise; and quantity-wise I don't either, given my current shooting habits.

I also use Lee dies. And the Lee trim and chamfer tools. The dies are great, especially the .45 factory crimp die. I've never broken a decapping pin, or had a stuck case with their .223 dies either. Their trim and chamfer tools are now dulling and becoming a pain to use, but they were pretty cheap relative to the other brands, so I'm not complaining about that. I'll probably upgrade to a Giraud trimmer at some point.

All of the major players are making quality reloading gear. Your knowledge, methods, and attention to detail are going to matter more than the equipment you choose, in most cases.